Videonet Connected TV Awards

This category recognises outstanding achievement in the delivery of a premium TV service and/or premium TV programming to consumers.

Videonet magazine will lead an ‘Oscars style’ compilation of candidates that are presented to judges for shortlisting. You are welcome to propose an entrant for consideration (your own company or a third-party) by emailing john.moulding@mediatelevents.com by Friday, October 18, 2019. It does not cost anything to propose someone for consideration.

We will consider Pay TV and free-to-air platform owners, broadcasters and subscription channel owners, SVOD providers, Pay Lite/Skinny services, direct-to-consumer distributors, social TV curators and any other media company offering content that is deemed by the judges to be of premium quality (which excludes user-generated and very low-budget).

We do not consider individuals for this category. If you are interested in nominating a person for an award, please see the ‘Lifetime Television Industry Achievement Award’.

Last year’s winner was Amazon Channels.

This category rewards technology/solution providers, video service providers (e.g. content producers, curators, aggregators or distributors), network operators and device/app developers for the use of data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) to improve television (as a form of entertainment, as an operations process or as a business).

The use of machine learning to enrich metadata or to identify parts of a sports match that should be turned into highlights, or the use of AI to improve responses to network errors, and the use of data analytics to predict churn are examples of the wide range of applications that are relevant to this category. The use of machine learning to enhance video compression is another example.

Any entries relating to advertising should be limited to applications with a technical outcome/function, like predicting when an ad break will appear in live sports. In this category, we are not looking for analytics used to improve media forecasting, planning, reporting or similar – these kinds of entries will be welcomed in the ‘Game-changing Advertising Technology’ category.

Please refer to ‘Judging criteria used across all categories’ for a full explanation about the criteria judges will use to choose shortlists and winners. Here is a brief summary: Technical/commercial innovation; Market leadership; Uniqueness; Performance; Market need; Impact; Commercial success; Boldness and good judgment; Potential for change/disruption.

Last year’s winner was Synamedia with Synamedia Credentials Sharing Insight.

This category is focused on product/technology/service/process innovations that can demonstrate a clear improvement at any point in the advertising value chain, with examples being ad content delivery workflows, making media planning easier or more effective, improving measurement, reporting or attribution, improving the way in which ads are served to homes or inserted into existing video streams, or how consumers are profiled and audiences segmented, etc.

Please refer to ‘Judging criteria used across all categories’ for a full explanation about the criteria judges will use to choose shortlists and winners. Here is a brief summary: Technical/commercial innovation; Market leadership; Uniqueness; Performance; Market need; Impact; Commercial success; Boldness and good judgment; Potential for change/disruption.

In this category we want to hear from companies (vendors/media owners) who are helping to improve the management, delivery or consumption of online/streaming video. Solutions could boost the capacity to serve streaming video, reduce the cost of creating or delivering streaming video, increase the reliability or quality of streaming, or reduce the operational complexity associated with it, as examples.

Streaming video is defined as video delivered over the open Internet, although the delivery path could be carefully managed, and live/linear or on-demand video (including downloads) are applicable. As a minimum, the solution must enable streaming to smartphones but beyond this benchmark, delivery to any kind of screen is relevant.

Please refer to ‘Judging criteria used across all categories’ for a full explanation about the criteria judges will use to choose shortlists and winners. Here is a brief summary: Technical/commercial innovation; Market leadership; Uniqueness; Performance; Market need; Impact; Commercial success; Boldness and good judgment; Potential for change/disruption.

For the purposes of this category, ‘User Experience’ covers the relationship between a TV service and viewer/user/customer while they are within the service with the primary purpose of entertaining themselves. It does not cover innovations in the wider Customer Experience (CX) domain and so will not consider elements like billing and customer care.

The User Experience (UX) innovation could be in-programme (like the addition of interactivity) or around programming (like content discovery and navigation). The UX innovation could be contained on one screen or make use of synchronised screens.

Judges will make their decisions based on opinions of what will increase user enjoyment/engagement levels. They will consider any KPI-based evidence provided, such as viewing levels, net promoter scores, churn, subscription numbers and fees, viewer loyalty, etc. We will even consider positive consumer ‘buzz’ as a success metric.

Please refer to ‘Judging criteria used across all categories’ for a full explanation about the criteria judges will use to choose shortlists and winners. Here is a brief summary: Technical/commercial innovation; Market leadership; Uniqueness; Performance; Market need; Impact; Commercial success; Boldness and good judgment; Potential for change/disruption.

Last year’s winner was Com Hem with Com Hem Tv Hub. OnePlace from Canal Digital, supported by 3SS, was Highly Commended in 2019.

This category rewards an organisation/company for outstanding achievements in advancing the use of TV/premium video as an advertising medium. They could be recognised on the basis of a single project/innovation or a whole catalogue of innovations that, over a period of time, add up to a narrative of market leadership.

Videonet magazine will lead an ‘Oscars style’ compilation of candidates that are presented to judges for shortlisting. You are welcome to propose an entrant for consideration (your own company or a third-party) by emailing john.moulding@mediatelevents.com by Friday, October 18, 2019. It does not cost anything to propose someone for consideration.

We will consider media owners, media buyers, industry alliances, advocacy organisations, standards bodies, etc, but not individuals. If you are interested in nominating a person for an award, please see ‘Lifetime Television Industry Achievement Award’.

Awards candidates in this category will improve the premium video entertainment lives of consumers in their homes or help media owners/platform operators/network operators deliver and/or manage better services within homes. We will also consider device/software ecosystems that support the integration of premium video and smart home services – an example would be the integration of home automation or home security into a television UI. The awards candidates can be hardware or software related.

All of the following technologies will be welcome in this category (and this list is not exhaustive): wired LAN distribution, wireless LAN distribution, service reception on fixed devices like set-top boxes, smart TVs and connected TV streamer boxes, service reception on portable devices like laptops and tablets, digital assistants/voice assistants, soundbars, speakers or other sound systems used to enhance television services, QoE/QoS management of services where management is focused on the in-home experience.

Please refer to ‘Judging criteria used across all categories’ for a full explanation about the criteria judges will use to choose shortlists and winners. Here is a brief summary: Technical/commercial innovation; Market leadership; Uniqueness; Performance; Market need; Impact; Commercial success; Boldness and good judgment; Potential for change/disruption.

This category rewards technologies/solutions/processes that protect premium video content against unauthorised copying/distribution or redistribution and unauthorised sharing of authentication details or passwords.

Innovations across the full spectrum of content and service protection can be entered, including (but not limited to), CAS/DRM, fingerprinting, watermarking, obfuscation, device hardening, hardware/systems auditing, content protection testing, piracy detection and monitoring, piracy shutdown, anti-piracy legal enforcement, and cybersecurity where it relates to protecting content and its associated data stored on the premises of a content creator/media owner.

Please refer to ‘Judging criteria used across all categories’ for a full explanation about the criteria judges will use to choose shortlists and winners. Here is a brief summary: Technical/commercial innovation; Market leadership; Uniqueness; Performance; Market need; Impact; Commercial success; Boldness and good judgment; Potential for change/disruption.

This category rewards the technologies/solutions/process innovations that directly impact the efficiency with which premium video service operations are conducted. Solutions could come from across the content-to-consumer delivery chain including contribution, headend, playout, distribution network and CPE. Thus compression, packaging, metadata, storage, STB software updates, network health, etc. are just some of the functions that fall into this category.

In this category, even more than most, judges will be looking for the potential to reduce cost, increase agility, reduce complexity, boost capacity, raise service quality and increase reliability.

Please refer to ‘Judging criteria used across all categories’ for a full explanation about the criteria judges will use to choose shortlists and winners. Here is a brief summary: Technical/commercial innovation; Market leadership; Uniqueness; Performance; Market need; Impact; Commercial success; Boldness and good judgment; Potential for change/disruption.

This is our individual-level category where you can nominate yourself, a colleague or other working acquaintance, or even someone you have never met, for their contribution to the television industry.

The person you nominate must have spent at least eight years working in the television industry in some capacity, in total (this period does not have to be contiguous). LinkedIn profiles will be used as a reference point for service longevity in the absence of other readily obtainable biographical materials. Videonet will check the validity of nominations.

We are looking for people who have changed our industry – leaders, champions, disruptors. Among other things, this person may have:

• - Driven a media company, advocacy organisation, standards body or tech vendor (or other relevant outfit) to new heights


• - Demonstrated leadership that transcended their own organisations, was an inspiration to others and which had a lasting impact upon the wider industry beyond their employer


• - Overseen transformational strategic roadmaps that resulted in successful outcomes or which are generally acknowledged to have set a company/organisation on a new and promising course


• - Been largely responsible for an industry innovation/development that was/is so exceptional and important that this alone should be acknowledged with an award, where the outcome from their work can already be shown to have been a success

Please send your nomination to john.moulding@mediatelevents.com, stating who you want to nominate and giving five strong reasons why they should be considered.

There is no entry form for this category or fee associated with proposing entries.

With the exceptions of ‘The Premium TV Award’, ‘The Advertising Leadership Award’ and ‘Lifetime Television Industry Achievement Award’, all category winners will be considered for the Videonet Grand Prix. This category is effectively the ‘winner of winners’ for our 2020 awards. Subsequently, this category does not require a submission.

Last year’s winner was Com Hem with Com Hem TV Hub.