The 2012 Streaming Media Dream Team
BASTIAN MANINTVELD
Founder, BeBanjo
PREVIOUS JOB TITLES
- General Manager, Southern Europe and Latin America, ON Demand Group
PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENTS
- Several of the VOD services we’ve been able to launch and contribute to across Europe and Latin America
- Starting BeBanjo with my co-founder Jorge Gómez and building it into a successful company without external investment until we sold it to the TDF Group
NEXT BIG THING
- We’d like the BeBanjo system to become a global reference for anyone who is involved in the management of nonlinear television services
BIGGEST TREND
- Previously, big names in content were interested in having a direct relationship with end users without any intermediaries. Nowadays you see that they’re more interested in disseminating their content and brand to as many screens as possible in order to reach a wider audience.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
- The huge discrepancy between revenues from on-demand and the proportion of content that’s consumed that way.
IAN MECKLENBURGH
Director, Consumer Platforms and Devices, Virgin Media
PREVIOUS JOB EXPERIENCE
- Managing Director, Infotainment Ltd.
- Senior digital media and technology positions at BBC, Cable and Wireless, HomeChoice, and ICL
PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENTS
- Launching Virgin Media TiVo! We brought our next-generation digital entertainment service to market in 12 months, and people love it.
- Getting some of the first ISPs off the ground while people were still debating whether the “InterNet” would catch on!
NEXT BIG THING
- I’ve been working on TiVo companions and am looking at a range of content and services to take across platforms and devices. We’ll get the consumer experience absolutely spot on, as we roll out new ways to put the strength of our fibre optic network wherever people need it. Things such as our forthcoming Wi-Fi service on London Underground also point to some interesting developments.
BIGGEST TREND
- We embrace the trend toward more choice, depth, and breadth of video. With TiVo, we embraced “through the middle” (TTM), which brought OTT services into a well-managed (and safe) environment.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
- Building really easy-to-use and configure next-generation services for everyone, from early adopters to families, parents, and silver surfers.
PHILIP RADLEY-SMITH
Managing Director, U.K.,CEO, U.S., i2i Media U.K., i2i Media U.S.
PREVIOUS JOB TITLES
- Managing Director, i2i Technology
PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENTS
- Receiving the Streaming Media Europe Award for innovation in 2002 for Europe’s first scheduled internet TV channel
- My “wearable computer” and display patents
- All of my black belts
NEXT BIG THING
- Streaming to wearable computers and displays, particularly bracelets, that link to app stores and have personal targeted advertising triggered and displayed
BIGGEST TREND
- It’s still multiplatform delivery and the present “lame” attempt to link computers to TVs, where the TV is nothing more than a large monitor
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
- We’re still waiting for a truly connected TV that has its own navigation and does not have to rely on a tablet or other PC. When this comes, it will finally open the door to thousands of niche broadcasters who own or have access to content.
EINAR KRISTIAN FUGLESANG VÅGMO
Technical Manager Streaming Media, Comoyo
PREVIOUS JOB TITLES
- Product Manager Online TV & CDN, Telenor Norway
PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENTS
- Work related, I would say the journey for the past 4 years. It started with an idea of a Video On Demand store for Telenor’s broadband customers. Nine months later, the baby Online TV was born. We continued the product development in the next years, while online video and the industry were in an extreme growth. In January 2011, the Telenor Group decided to start an over-the-top initiative, and Telenor Comoyo was born. Nine months later the second baby Comoyo.no was born, and when we launched the service we were the chosen partner for a precinema VOD-view of one of the biggest Norwegian movies that year.
NEXT BIG THING
- First of all, make a subscription-based video-service. Second, get our services available on more devices.
BIGGEST TREND
- The accessibility and simplicity of online video services. By accessibility I mean that online video services are now available on all kind of devices, such as mobiles, game consoles, connected TVs, etc.
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
- Standardisation across platforms in a fragmented technology landscape. The consumers are expecting all of the content shall be available in high quality, on all of their devices, available anywhere.
NICO VERSPAGET
CEO, Quadia Web TV
PREVIOUS JOB TITLES
- Director Business Development and Marketing, Cisco Systems
- Director of Sales and Marketing at Copaco
- Sales Manager Enterprise at Dell Computer
PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENTS
- Starting up Quadia 7 years ago
- Establishing Oncology TV: nowadays the most important online information source for medical oncologists in the Netherlands
NEXT BIG THING
- Entering the German market with Quadia
- Crossing the chasm with our new version of our Online Video Platform (V4), a platform to manage, publish, distribute, and analyse online video
BIGGEST TRENDS
- Seamless usage of video on all available devices
- Integration of video with business applications to improve processes and customer satisfaction
BIGGEST CHALLENGE
- Standardisation for video on all levels (software, devices, infrastructure)
MIKE VERSTEEG
Owner, CombiTech
PREVIOUS JOB TITLES
- I’ve been a hardware and software engineer for various companies; I started CombiTech in 1991.
PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENTS
- Thinking outside the box and being commercially successful doing so
NEXT BIG THING
- The next version of VidBlaster
BIGGEST TREND
- Live streamed online video is going to be huge. There are a lot of emerging markets that have only recently started to explore this technology. At the same time, it will be getting easier and more affordable to stream live video.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2012 issue of Streaming Media European Edition.
Related Articles
As the Streaming Media Dream Team enters its third year, we find ourselves honouring more and more new faces while still finding that there are plenty of names from online video's "old guard" that deserve recognition.
26 Apr 2011
Since last year's Streaming Media Dream Team marked our first attempt to honour the leading lights in the world of online video and audio, we cast our net both wide and deep. So it was no surprise, really, that many of the names on the list were, well, no surprise.
01 May 2010
Our picks for the most influential, innovative, and important people in the European online video space.
16 Apr 2009