Hong Kong – CASBAA, the Asia Pacific association for the broadcasting and related industries, held its inaugural CASBAA OTT Summit 2014: On Top of OTT on March 25 at the Grand Hyatt, Singapore. Focusing on the fast developing over-the-top (OTT) television services market, the event brought together thought leaders from across industries to share their experiences and insights into the evolving world of alternative content delivery, changing content consumption, technology, and revenue streams.
“CASBAA’s first summit dealing solely with the topic of OTT was an unparalleled success,” said Christopher Slaughter, CEO, CASBAA. “With nearly 160 delegates, speakers and media in attendance, we have received positive feedback from our attendees about this very important extension of the broadcasting industry.”
During the opening Asia Pacific market review session, Kerry Brown, VP, Southeast Asia, comScore revealed some impressive regional numbers for online audiences. Having first clarified that online traffic and online video audiences are virtually synonymous terms nowadays; Brown’s data indicated that Asia Pacific now accounts for 41% of all global online audiences, with China accounting for nearly 60% of all online traffic in the region. Another interesting fact that came out of the comScore research was that over 75% of online audiences in India and Southeast Asia were below the age of 35 – something to keep in mind when building an online strategy, she mentioned.
On the importance on social media to today’s television experience, Danny Keens, Director of Media Partnerships, Twitter Australia said the role of Twitter was to “aid in getting content distributed and discovered.” Keens also stated that the platform was ideally suited for this purpose because Twitter was “live”, where discussions happen in real time; “public”, with no filters or editing of comments; and, “conversational”, providing a means of having a two-way dialogue with audiences.
Rounding out the day, a high-profile roster of industry experts took to the stage in various panel discussions including Nick Chuah (Business Director, Asia, Videoplaza), Jean Huang Lundgren (Head of Video Partnerships, Greater China and South East Asia, YouTube), Steven Kopec (Director, Emerging Technology, Turner International Asia Pacific), Kenneth Lee (Director, Media Networks Technology, Asia, The Walt Disney Company (South East Asia), Tony McGinn (CEO, Movideo), Cameron Moore (CTO, Movideo), Nick Seckold (CEO, Mindshare Singapore), Shu Fen Lin (VP, Home Solutions, Starhub), Dennis Rose (SVP, Asia Pacific & Japan, Brightcove), David Simonsen (SVP, Business Development, HBO Asia), Elle Todd (Partner, Olswang Asia), Reuben Verghese (VP Asia, Accedo) and many more.
