Connections

The media and entertainment industry is constantly evolving, with new technologies and shifting consumer demands shaping the landscape, and economic disruptions only accelerating these changes, requiring industry leaders to adapt quickly and proactively to succeed.

But embracing disruption and innovating through economic turbulence can drive success in the sector, according to executives from technology company Ascendion and Camilla Formica, chief program officer at The Cable Center, who spoke May 23 at the Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit (HITS) at The Culver Theater, during the panel session “Embracing Disruption: Innovating through Economic Turbulence for M+E.”

During the session, they delved into the role of engineering and shared practical and proven strategies for navigating the challenges and opportunities of disruption.

Moderator Guy Finley, CEO of MESA, reflected back to the time when new networks including ESPN and HBO started threatening the major TV networks. “The big three were afraid” of the disruption those other networks brought with them, he said.

“Let’s talk a little bit about destruction because there’s phases,” Finley said. “There’s stages, and I think understanding what we’re going to embrace, I think, is important if we’re going to innovate through it.”

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” said Abhishek Verma, associate VP, strategic accounts at Ascendion, agreeing with a comment by Formica earlier in the session. “Yes but not always. Sometimes it’s just the hunger to do something new, something fresh, and that’s where innovation comes from. So when innovation is happening … you need to understand what kind of disruption to work against to go and do innovation…… Disruption comes in multiple forms and you can slice and dice it away.”

He added: “I would just put it simply, saying: “Hey, [of] the past disruptions that we have seen, the biggest was technology.

But he said: “The current disruption, which you know, catalysed everything is the pandemic,” when tech advancements that were “going to happen in 10 years from now, happened yesterday.”

He gave an example of another kind of disruption, noting: “I go to my friend’s house. He has a 12 year old. I walk into his room and this guy’s playing a video game on one of his screens. The other screen is streaming a YouTuber who played that game already. On another screen, which is my iPad, he has a Discord server going. He’s talking to six of his friends. And, mind you, this is a 12 year old talking to a group of six friends who are playing the same game at the same time.”

He added: “I was just struck by what’s going on. And I was like, ‘Oh, when he is going to join the workforce, he’s going to expect this, with the supply chain, with the media orchestration, with all of these things.’ And if you’re not thinking about that disruption, you’re already missing out.”

Earlier in the session, the Cable Center’s Formica said: “The entrepreneurs who founded the cable industry … were cable pioneers” who also faced disruption and  innovation, and “they were trying to figure [it] out, because back in that day, we’re talking the beginning of cable, they were trying to figure out how to get television reception in valleys.”

She noted that, back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, those pioneers were trying to get TV reception “down into valleys, where they couldn’t get it, so necessity was the mother of invention.”

She added: “They were climbing onto hills, putting towers up there, and then bringing cable down so that rural little communities that were in valleys could get television.”

She added: “Fast forward now and imagine that, from that, comes fibre in the ground, comes broadband, comes the ability to stream.

The speakers also included Inna Sheiman, VP and head of media at Ascendion.

The Hollywood Innovation and Transformation Summit event was produced by MESA in association with the Hollywood IT Society (HITS) and presented by Amazon Studios Technology, with sponsorship by Fortinet, Genpact, Prime Focus Technologies, Signiant, Softtek, Convergent, Gracenote, Altman Solon, AppTek, Ascendion, CoreSite, EPAM, MicroStrategy, Veritone, CDSA, EIDR and PDG Consulting.