Eurovision Media Services (EMS) – the business arm of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) – took to the stage at this year's SportsPro OTT Summit in Madrid to discuss the future of broadcast services.

On 28-29 November 2018, more than 600 sports media professionals gathered in Madrid to discuss OTT at this year's SportsPro Summit. As an official event partner and active Member of the Advisory Board, EMS took part in the panel discussion, OTT vs. Linear, focusing on how traditional and digital broadcast can complement each other.

“It’s not only about the platform, it's also about delivering the right content to the right audiences at the right time,” said Michele Gosetti, Head of Global Sales at EMS.

For many media organisations, the main broadcast feed is transmitted on TV and additional footage, clips and data are available on digital. Online platforms now allow for much more interaction with the viewers. For example, producers can easily bring in comments or opinion poll results to the conversation in the TV studio.

Looking to the future, panellists concluded that OTT opened the doors for content publishers to get to know their audiences even more and create a sense of customer intimacy by involving them in the programming. Localisation and personalisation of content is where the market continues to head.

"From adapting or enhancing the content to the device, local language, or units, the possibilities are endless for media organisations and on-screen event sponsors. As far as EMS is concerned, we have focused our energy on the live experience. For example, earlier this year we released our latest remote graphics solution to adapt TV graphical overlays for different geographies," said Michele Gosetti.

Other panellists in the session included: Guy-Laurent Epstein, Marketing Director at UEFA, Anne Sophie Vaumard, VP Broadcast & Media Rights at the IOC, and Hans Gabbe, Senior Vice President Sports Rights & Commercialisation at Sky Deutschland.