No Difference

Just back from Streaming Media Europe, which unfortunately seemed a very quiet affair. As my diary attests, there are just too many events in the Internet TV market at the moment and quantity is overtaking quality.

However, the standard of debate in the conference was very high and there seems to be a consensus developing on how the next five years will evolve:

• an increasingly wired marketplace with technologies such as WiFi making a real impact resulting in an 'always on' world.
• streaming will overtake downloads as the main form of consumption
• on demand will overtake scheduled content (although I personally disagree with this)
• hybrid devices are set to become the norm
• PCs are set to become very small - 'ultra portable', so they can be carried around and will link to screens and keyboards via bluetooth or WiFi
• there will be a place for both short form and long form content

It was also interesting to note how much more informed the audience was, but they still complained that 'every company gave them the same pitch'. Differentiators are difficult to find in this market at the moment.