Friday, August 15, 2008

Speaker Interview with Stephen Reeder, Managing Director, Europe, ActiveVideo Networks

What is your company's newest initiative?

ActiveVideo Networks's continued focus on web infused television is keeping us at the forefront of media evolution. Today, we're most active in the field of improving the way in which Web content can make the transition to television with a particular focus on enabling its delivery and monetisation.

Over the past few months we've added to our original model of partnerships with service providers with an expanded strategy of delivering ActiveVideo Channels to any Web-connected device. As a result, traditional and Web programmers and advertisers can create content once for ubiquitous delivery to Web-connected TVs, Blu-Ray players, video game consoles and other devices, as well as cable and IPTV set-top boxes. We've also begun to work with the advertising community to develop and deploy targeted, actionable advertising and sponsorship opportunities that leverage the capabilities of the ActiveVideo platform using the same "create once, deploy everywhere"philosophy.

What is your company's biggest challenge?

Like many market-changing solutions, our biggest challenge has been cutting through the pre-conceived notions of our various customer audiences. The concept of Web video on television with no new CE equipment is quite different from the conventional wisdom in a market that talks about DVRs, AppleTV and other devices. But as our customers have grasped how server-side interactivity can significantly increase their ability to keep viewers at the television,, and boosted by brand names as Fox, CNN, HSN and Reuters, we've built tremendous momentum that has helped us get over that hurdle.

What are your company's long term goals?

What's most important for us is that the technical fragmentation that has hindered the growth of television-based interactivity for so many years be eliminated so the market can grow. The best example of what we're seeking to achieve is on the Web: While some sites are optimized for specific browsers, there are no restrictions on Web surfing as a result of the make and model of the PC you're using. We believe that bringing a similarly ubiquitous content delivery policy to the television-based interactivity would help the media industry and consumers in general, which in turn would be good for ActiveVideo Networks.

What is your company's most successful product/service?

Our primary focus is ActiveVideo, a platform that infuses TV with Web content and interactivity via existing cable and IPTV set-top boxes or any Web-connected CE device. ActiveVideo allows television viewing to be shaped by a wide range of entities, including traditional and Web-based programmers, local cable affiliates, consumer electronics companies, advertisers, social networks and even the audience itself.

Using standard remote controls, ActiveVideo viewers can immerse themselves in and navigate through an engaging experience that combines Web video, casual gaming, Web 2.0 functionality and traditional television -- all delivered with the quality, reliability and immediacy viewers expect from TV.

Recently gathered usage data suggests that, through ActiveVideo, interactive television applications can draw audiences equivalent to those of the most popular TV shows making monetisation through advertising a relatively straightforward task.

What do you perceive as your company's greatest strength?

Our most important strengths are the capabilities, the scalability and the proven nature of our platform. ActiveVideo Networks has been a leader in network-based interactive technology for more than 10 years, and has created a solution that is highly efficient, extremely robust and easily integrated into the workflows or architectures of service providers, CE manufacturers, programmers and advertisers.

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