in
P u t
What Is The M.E.T. Effect?
A Q&A with Chris Brown, NAB Executive VP,
Conventions & Business Operations
T
he National Association of Broad-
casters has trumpeted The M.E.T.
Effect as a major focus of the 2017
NAB Show, but what exactly is it?
NAB coined the term to represent
the results of the ongoing convergence
between the once-separate fields of media,
entertainment, and technology. The cultural
phenomenon is being fuelled by things
like increasingly sophisticated integrated
systems and boundless connectivity and,
according to the association, is rapidly
changing how we live, work, and play.
PS: What informed the decision to coin
the term "The M.E.T. Effect" and make
it the focus of the NAB Show at this
particular time?
CB: We wanted to recognize that life has
changed, not that people haven’t figured
that out. There’s still some sorting hap-
pening as people are trying to wrap their
heads around the change and what it is,
what it looks like... We’re trying to suggest
one way to look at it, which is the blending
of media, entertainment, and technology.
The other important thing for us is that the
NAB Show has typically been thought of
as a technology event, but it hasn’t been
just about technology for 15 or 20 years. It’s
evolved way beyond that, and we wanted
to make sure people understand that the
media, entertainment, and business aspects
are all intertwined with technology. They all
affect and influence each other and it’s not
that people haven’t recognized that, but we
wanted to give it shape, give it form.
PS: What are some of the key emerg-
ing technologies, platforms, or trends
at the forefront of The M.E.T. Effect
that you feel have been or will be most
prominent in its development and
advancement?
CB: There are a few, and it’s hard to zero in
on one or two, but a couple that I think are
important are, one, the cloud. All of this has
been driven by digitization and the internet.
As we’re seeing the impact of that and
as things continue to migrate from what
would’ve been linear workflows to work-
flows that are completely flexible, based on
digitized content, it opens up a whole new
world of possibilities and efficiencies.
We’ve seen a big shift from what’s tra-
ditionally been a hardware approach in the
world of media and entertainment to more
of a software approach, which leads us to
cloud-based technologies and the oppor-
tunities that represents. The cloud is kind of
the ultimate M.E.T. Effect enabler, if you will,
because once things are in the cloud, all
kinds of collaboration can occur.
Related to that is over-the-top content
(OTT), and I think that today, more and
more, we’re seeing new trends around the
way companies are bundling and deliver-
ing their content. Skinny bundles are still
a new concept and kind of underscoring
the segregation of content, or breaking
down of traditional bundles. I think that’s
been interesting and scary and disruptive
for a lot of people, but on the other side, it’s
opening up a lot of opportunity, so content
providers pretty much universally under-
stand their business is more on the content
side of the equation and less dependant on
the platform or distribution.
PS: What are some ways or examples of
how professionals representing any of
these three fields – media, entertain-
ment, and technology – have come to-
gether with others for a successful union?
CB: That’s a great question because it’s some-
thing we’ve spent a lot of time looking at, and
the more we can point to things, the better.
Almost anywhere you look, you can find really
interesting examples, and a number of us here
have this fun chart we grabbed from Bloom-
berg that lists some traditional media players
and then under that are companies they own
or have investments in and the crossover is
very interesting.
So for example, there’s Disney, with its
ownership of Maker Studios or investment
in Vice Media. And there’s Hearst, whose
CEO is opening our Monday morning, and
they’re investing in Vice Media and other
new media companies. A lot of people
would look at Hearst and think, that’s a
really traditional media company, who own
a lot of print media as well, but they’re obvi-
ously capitalizing and looking for ways to
diversify and leverage all the great content
assets they have.
Even Verizon is an owner of The Huff-
ington Post and TechCrunch. These are the
intersections that are very interesting.
Another thing is, look at what to me are
obviously the new content networks in this
universe – Netflix and Amazon and those
companies. Is Netflix a tech company? Are
they a media company? Entertainment? The
answer is all of the above, and you could
say the same about YouTube or Amazon.
PS: How can professionals working in
these three markets best poise them-
selves to be prepared to welcome and
capitalize on this trend?
CB: This is a tough question. I’d say on the
general side, you have to be open-minded.
You have to be willing to understand the
other sides of this. If you’re coming at this
from a traditional media perspective, I think
you’ve got to be open to understanding the
technological side of things – where those
people are coming from, both from a strategy
perspective and a technology perspective.
How is their technology having an impact
on you? Even if it doesn’t seem like part of
your world, the reality is that it is, in some way,
shape, or form, so be open and take the time
to understand what’s happening.
For [NAB members], the important
part is talking to other people. Invite that
dialogue across these platforms and don’t
isolate yourself. That’s why our show sits
at this important intersection, because
we bring people from all of those sides
together in one place and give them an
opportunity to talk and figure things out.
Out of that comes more opportunity,
and if nothing else, you walk away with a
better understanding of the competitive
environment.
PROFESSIONAL SOUND 9