Broadcasters can no longer ignore online delivery. The use of broadband networks to reach audiences, whether over the open internet or via dedicated Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), is an increasingly important element of a broadcaster's distribution strategy. Many of the key questions and challenges that broadcasters face came up at BroadThinking 2013.

The growing importance of online channels was demonstrated via presentations from IHS and NPO during the opening session. But they also highlighted the fact that linear TV over broadcast still dominates and that online consumption represents a very small percentage of overall viewing. This provided something of a reality check, particularly given the considerably higher costs - and environmental footprint - that come with broadband delivery.

Broadcasters, who made up more than a third of the delegates at the event, heard about some of the technologies that will dominate in the years ahead. A combination of HEVC video coding plus MPEG DASH adaptive streaming is likely to be the standard for online distribution, over fixed and mobile broadband networks. Work on these standards is progressing well - and the DASH Industry Forum held meetings in Geneva earlier this week.

Day 2 opened with a session around CDNs, with all presentations prompting questions from the floor. Representatives from some of the key players in the domain gave participants a good overview of some of the options, from building your own CDN to using CDN federation to reduce costs and increase reach.

A session on hybrid TV platforms rounded off the day, with lots of positive news on the spread of services throughout Europe.

All presentations from BroadThinking are available to EBU Members online. Next year's event will take place on 26-27 March.

Photo: NPO's Jeroen Verspeek provided an insight into how the audience is engaging with online content