I was pleased to take part in yesterday’s Forecast:Hollywood event in Beverly Hills, focusing on the outlook for multiscreen and OTT video and TV. The event is one of many offered by industry body MESA (Media and Entertainment Services Alliance) and draws an audience from the surrounding community of studios and related technology and media firms.

It was valuable to hear a variety of views on the changes which are engulfing the media industry. IBM and EY (Ernst and Young) took the management consulting perspective and suggested ways in which media firms could transform their businesses to deal with the emergence of the connected society and social enterprises. I was encouraged to hear the findings of IBM’s research of CxOs, who believe that technology is now the biggest disruptive threat to their businesses, and that understanding consumers is critical, whatever their position in the value chain. That can only be good for a consulting firm like Strategy Analytics which focuses on consumers and the impact of technology.

My own panel concluded the event with a discussion of the future of television. My presentation kicked off the debate by suggesting, contrary to persistent press articles, that TV is changing rather than dying. The global population of TV-addressable displays is going to reach more than 7 billion within the next five years, driven by personal and mobile devices. In fact, my analysis shows that we are in the second major growth wave of TV-addressable devices in recent years. Hollywood and the TV firms must start to embrace this world of new TV devices as their own.

Strategy Analytics clients are welcome to contact me at dmercer@strategyanalytics.com for a copy of the full presentation.