On Wednesday the 23rd of August our CEO James Burstall took part in a highly topical and engaging panel session at the prestigious Edinburgh TV Festival. The panel explored the current and future crises, challenges, and opportunities across the TV industry.
How to Navigate the Next Global Crisis was expertly chaired by rising star of the Channel 4 newsroom Symeon Brown, with panelists including Albert director Carys Taylor, Wall of Entertainment’s MD Tafara Makopa, leading market analysts MTM represented by Rob Collier (as well as our very own James Burstall). Against a backdrop – outlined by Rob at MTM – of long-term declines in traditional TV viewing and commissioning spend, to the challenges faced by the SVODs, the panelists brought insight and inspiration from their fields. During the session Carys outlined the power of TV to drive change and opportunities, and outlined what the Climate Content Pledge will mean in practice for producers. With Wall of Entertainment born in the digital space, Taf highlighted the differences in the production processes between TV and online and explained how, with billions of monthly views, brands continue to fund online content. Finally, James discussed the importance of looking after your people, putting values at the core of your business to successfully ride through a new era of permacrisis. Our thanks go out to all those involved with organizing the event and all those who attended.