“Technology today goes far beyond gaming — it shapes the values, forms, and types of content that consumers and audiences enjoy worldwide. Without technology, our experience of entertainment would be vastly different. Thanks to information tech, the sky’s the limit for creative expression.”
Valentina Martelli – Founder and CEO, ITTV International Forum
TECH IN ENTERTAINMENT
In 2022, in response to the need for continuing updates to technological advancements as they apply to the entertainment industry, ITTV International Forum developed a spinoff program, “Tech in Entertainment”. Tech in Entertainment was imagined as a global hub where established industry players and startups could converge for networking, discussion, co-development, and co-financing.
TIE’s debut included forums and panels on digital distribution and Metaverse development as it relates to film, TV, and publishing. The program also featured an overview on the state of the international media industry and emerging global streaming platforms.
AI, dynamic marketing, SFX, VR, and other advancements continue to revolutionize the way audiences discover and engage with content. From streaming services using recommendation algorithms to game developers experimenting with augmented reality, the entertainment and tech industries are more intertwined than ever before.
But that’s not all.
The “metaverse” — that online, interconnected digital environment where we will soon socialize, play, explore virtual worlds and share seemingly infinite entertainment experiences, has developed by leaps and bounds in recent years. Even Disney, Hollywood’s most “classic” studio brand, has created an entire division dedicated to exploring metaverse opportunities — they even have plans to open a metaverse theme park.
NFTs — the blockchain-hosted certificates used to record unique ownership of digital assets — represent another controversial, yet undeniably revolutionary phenomenon, poised to impact general IP management in ways both transformative and unknown.
More broadly, mainstream and mass-market media is projected to continue losing ground to more personalized, niche, and creator-driven content. This is why, as ITTV explores new and alternative means for developing and realizing audiovisual content, we focus on cutting-edge technologies, such as the blockchain, DAOs, and decentralized finance.
In 2023, Tech in Entertainment becomes a permanent offshoot of ITTV, offering programming alongside the ITTV International Forum, but also continuing as a standalone project in various forms throughout the year. TIE aims to become a global hub for discussion, networking, and content development, serving as a conduit between the technology and entertainment
industries. In pursuing these ambitious goals, we are grateful for the support of our management and advisory boards, as well as our esteemed industry partners, including CAA, Amazon, Rai, and V-Channels.
In 2022 “Tech In Entertainment” was born as a spinoff of the ITTV International Forum to address the need for continuing and expert updates on technological advancement as it applies to the entertainment industry, aiming to become a global hub for international industry players and select initiatives to converge into for discussion, networking, co-development and co-financing.
TIE’s debut included forums and panels on global digital distribution, metaverse development as it applies to film, tv and publishing as well as an overview on the state of the international media industry and on new emerging streaming platforms around the world.
As artificial intelligence, dynamic advertising, cutting edge special effects and relentlessly evolving visual, auditory and perceptive enhancements continue to alter the way we discover, engage with, and consume content, the entertainment industry is more dependent than ever on the advancement of new technologies.
Streaming services, which rely on recommendation technologies to more efficiently and accurately surface content for their target audiences, are only a part of the distribution outlets that take advantage of these advancements. Technology is totally ubiquitous, and it affects everything in our online lives, from social media platforms to video gaming and even sports betting, where bookmakers are switching to 5G to optimize the process, as well as retail outlets, increasingly relying on augmented reality to showcase and sell their products.
But that’s not all.
The “metaverse”, a word pointing at those online, interconnected digital environments where we are soon going to socialize, play, explore virtual worlds and share seemingly infinite entertainment experiences is become more relevant. Even Disney, one of the most “classic” among the Hollywood Studios, has announced plans to create a metaverse theme park and is creating an entire division to pursue opportunities in this environment.
But another controversial, yet undeniably revolutionary phenomenon is represented by NFTs, the blockchain-dwelling certificates used to record unique ownership of digital assets and with a potentially transformative impact on IP management generally. Mainstream and mass-market forms of media and entertainment, in the meanwhile, will continue to lose ground to more personalized, niche and community-driven “creator economy”. This is why ITTV intends to look closely at transformative technologies and at the opportunities offered by the blockchain, DAOs and decentralized finance as new, alternative means to develop and realize audiovisual content.
As 2023 commences, TIE announces its evolution into a permanent, standalone program which will debut once again as a companion to this year’s edition of ITTV to then continue throughout the rest of the current and following year in an itinerant, multi-territory format adapting to the changing technological trends. For TIE to carry on its ambitious plan and become a global discussion, networking and content development hub in the business, it will rely on the support of management and advisory boards as well as of prominent industry contributors, such as CAA, AMAZON, RAI, and V-Channels.