tms_1 07/03/2014 09:02 Page 1
Recently, Morten
Trolle, general
manager of Europe
for Tribune Media
Services (TMS),
joined us to share
his take on the state
of the European TV
ecosystem today,
where things are
headed next, his own
company’s recent
integration with TMS
and the value of high
quality metadata as an
economic driver for the
business of TV.
TMS customers include MVPDs, CE
manufactures, recommendation services,
middleware providers, application developers
and more. Companies such as Time Warner
Cable, Verizon FiOS, Virgin Media UK, Com
Hem, DirecTV Latin America, TiVo, Yahoo!,
Microsoft, ThinkAnalytics, Jinni and Shazam
rely on TMS data to enable advanced search
and discovery within their consumer-facing
the quality expectations of the local
Danish market. By 2011, as new
types of players began offering TV
guides and UIs, EPG Systems was
positioned as a key disruptor. We
expanded throughout Europe in 2012
and began to focus on raising the bar
for quality.
Fortunately, these efforts paid off
– we witnessed average growth of
50% from 2010-2013, and 70% in
2013 alone.
Q. Did you foresee the need for
high quality metadata by as
many players from big to small,
or did this diversification of providers
take you by surprise?
A. Although I couldn’t predict the specific
changes we’ve seen in the types of players who
now require TV metadata, the industry’s trend
toward diversification was very clear. The
rapid changes in consumer electronics and
video delivery platforms, plus the rise of social
media, created a perfect environment for
Data Drives Discovery
rolle, based in Copenhagen, is a
technologist at heart. With a
background in systems
architecture, he launched the private
company EPG Systems in 2005. In its
early days, the start-up provided TV
listings and programme information
primarily to cable TV operators, telcos
and newspapers. This customer roster
diversified over the next several years
as the TV ecosystem underwent
dramatic change and new players
including IPTV operators, middleware
providers and application developers
entered the space. Customers today
cover the full spectrum of providers:
cable/broadband (Stofa), fibre-optic
(Waoo!), cloud-delivery (Magine),
telecoms (Siminn) and consumer
electronics (MeeTV).
Not surprisingly, EPGS’ success in Europe
caught the attention of Tribune Media
Services, a leading international provider of
enhanced TV, movie and celebrity metadata
and creator of the TMS Unique ID, the
industry standard for synchronising
entertainment assets across various datasets.
T
26 IP television
entertainment guides and UIs.
TMS acquired EPG Systems in Q4, 2013.
As part of the deal, Trolle and his top
lieutenant Daniel Rühmann joined TMS while
maintaining their Copenhagen office.
Now, between managing EPGS’ integration
with TMS, defining the product roadmap,
servicing existing customers and acquiring
new ones, Trolle has his hands full. But the
times have never been more exciting and
Trolle is decidedly bullish on the future. In his
estimation, the great change in the TV
ecosystem brings with it great opportunity.
Read on for Morten Trolle’s perspective.
Q. What originally inspired you to start
a business built on TV information?
A. Like many entrepreneurs, I found
inspiration as a result of frustration. In 2003
as a TV consumer I was very disappointed in
the lack of a strong online TV guide for local
programming. I began building my own as a
hobby, and over the next two years I
continued developing the technology for
commercial use.
When EPG Systems was launched, our
high degree of automation enabled us to offer
competitive pricing with a product that met
innovation and change.
In such a dynamic situation we found it
best to stay nimble and focus on satisfying the
end consumer. EPG Systems at the time was
providing our own consumer-facing guide,
and so we made it a priority to increase the
depth and quality of our metadata to support
new features for the UI. This approach
allowed us to stay ahead of the demands of
our B2B customers as new players emerged
and all parties began to realise the need for
images and other rich metadata.
My philosophy has always been that the
entertainment guide is a platform for selling
content to consumers, and data is the
information that successfully makes the sale.
Data such as accurate locators, quality images,
interesting descriptions and proper cast and
crew details are essential for influencing a
consumer’s viewing decision. Our most
successful customers – big and small – are the
ones who have figured this out.
Q. From your vantage, what are the
biggest challenges facing pay-TV
providers in Europe?
A. One of toughest tasks is updating the guide
to reflect programming changes as they occur.