Suitable applicants will have completed a relevant degree course in journalism, media/marketing, or PR and have demonstrated a desire to be part of the PR industry through work experience.

The assignment will commence on July 2^nd 2012. It is a paid 12 month internship, with a salary of £11,500 and 25 days paid holiday, plus public holidays.

If you would like to know more about the programme or to apply please submit your CV and covering letter by 11th May 2012 to chloe.pope@platformpr.com .

All applicants will be contacted regarding their application status. Interviews will take place in May/June.

As a 21 year old, I thought that this would be simple; I have grown up with all kinds of social media (Myspace, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, the lot), and am pretty much the target audience for most social networking sites. But little did I know there is a lot more to social media than just what I ate for breakfast.

The first major difference I noticed is the amount of thought that goes into tweets. I don’t proclaim to be the world’s most interesting tweeter (most of my tweets are dedicated to food and what happened on last night’s EastEnders). My personal tweets are pretty much what I’m thinking or doing at that particular time and what I feel to share with my equally as uninteresting followers.

But tweeting on behalf of a business is a carefully planned thought process. Before I have even thought about what to tweet, I have to consider: what is happening in the industry, who are the major players – what are they doing? Who is the competition – what are they doing? And finally, what is the most recent news that covers all of this? A far cry from my thoughts about Ben Mitchell.

What is equally as important is building a presence amongst twitizens- if this is what it takes to write a tweet, I’m making sure that someone sees it! For me personally, it’s merely a case of following friends, the TOWIE cast and the MasterChef judges. But for businesses, it’s a lot more strategic than I had anticipated. In B2B tweeting, it’s important to follow, and have follow you – players in the industry, journalists and press, clients, associates and prospects, as well as ensuring that anyone else relevant in the market knows you exist.

Building up a reputable following isn’t as easy as it sounds- following someone doesn’t necessarily mean that they are a member of #teamfollowback. Interesting tweets and media, mentions and hashtags all contribute to that crucial Twitter following that businesses need.

Growing up with social media means that it has become second nature to me and my generation, and I regularly see tweeters asking for jobs or freebies, making deals or arranging meetings on my timeline. Maybe this has something to do with the generation gap, but it seems that all of this is still slightly taboo to tweet from a B2B profile.

I have been tweeting from client Twitter profiles for about a month now, and I already feel like I’m grasping the art of B2B tweeting. I’ve learnt more about the industry, witnessed the benefits of social media as a PR tool and even upped my client’s follower count! It seems that business profiles should be used more as an interaction tool rather than another promotional outlet- a habit that many can fall into. So now one thing is for sure- I think a lot more about what I tweet, and not just what I ate for breakfast!

NAB 2012 (14-19 April) brings our clients and fellow media and entertainment professionals in Las Vegas to discuss some of today’s hot topics in the broadcasting industry. This year talk turns to content as the show focuses on content creation and management, cloud computing, multiplatform distribution and social TV.

The following client’s will be available throughout the show to showcase their latest technology offerings. If you would like to set up a meeting, then please get in touch here.

Appear TV, (SU6507) a leading global provider of next-generation head-ends for broadcast and IP television, will host demonstrations of its in-house designed advanced encoding and transcoding platform.

Civolution, (SU7923) the leading provider of technology and solutions for identifying, managing and monetizing media content, will be demonstrating its market leading solutions, including a major upgrade to its Teletrax platform, its award winning Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) solutions and the latest advancements to its media protection product line.

Ericsson (SU819) is demonstrating how it has the solutions and expertise to ensure any operator looking to offer the richest consumer experience can leverage full multi-platform delivery networks and architectures.

T-VIPS (SU7907), a global leader in professional video contribution and distribution solutions, will be demonstrating best-in-class solutions in live contribution, HD DTV broadcasting, managed video services and reliable IP video transport. T-VIPS will launch its new TNS547 DTT Monitor for DVB-T and DVB-T2 networks.

I write this just after having cancelled my Netflix subscription – after my free 1 month trial had expired.

After all the hype, and its undisputable success in the US, I was keen to see what all the fuss was about, particularly as an iPad owner, Android mobile phone user and self-confessed TV addict. This would revolutionise my life, surely?!

Well, not exactly. I don’t dispute that the ‘experience’ is definitely something that I believe in and am happy to adopt – TV and movie content available whenever I want it, on any device I choose to watch it on. But the problem is – and this is a pretty major problem – I don’t really want to watch much of the available content.

Admittedly I’m not the biggest movie buff, but having rated some of my preferences, hoping that it would help me discover something new that I could get stuck into, the recommendations really didn’t appeal and seemed pretty old. Although admittedly still in its infancy in the UK, I was disappointed with the range of content or availability of anything remotely ‘new’. There’s only so many times you can be recommended a documentary about the evils of eating burgers before you give up.

Netflix spokesperson Steve Swasey is quoted as saying, “Not many people are coming to Netflix for new releases since they can get them elsewhere,” but I then find myself asking how exactly they will stop subscribers churning and keep them paying.

Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely believe that multi-screen TV services are going to be a huge success, and that everyone’s tastes are different – but if it’s going to be a real success, the experience should be made relevant. For example, as a Sky Sports subscriber, I can watch live football on my iPad while my girlfriend watches something else on the TV, and it doesn’t cost me anything extra.

At IP&TV World Forum next week at Olympia, London, I’m keen to take a look at some of the multi-screen solutions on show that go beyond just enabling viewers to watch content on a different screen. It’s not just about that anymore – it has to be about the balance between flexibility of experience and the content that consumers really want. Get this right and my willingness to pay for such services might go large.

Ian Westover
@ian_platform

Having graduated from King’s College London in 2009 with previous experience in Online Marketing and Events, Rajin now joins David Bramley’s account group and will be working on various projects for a number of Platform clients including ACCESS, Appear TV, Civolution, Connect TV and T-VIPS.

James has joined Ian Westover’s team and will be working on a range of client projects for Ericsson, Tvinci and Ruwido. James graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2009 with an MA in Print Journalism and has previous experience in Social Media Marketing.

It’s always exciting to add fresh faces to our team, and we look forward to James and Rajin playing an important role in the future of Platform.

All of our clients will be available throughout the show, so please get in touch here if you would like to arrange a meeting and see their exciting technologies in action.

(Stand: 127) ACCESS will be demonstrating market-leading solutions for multi-screen media access in DLNA, HbbTV and OTT. Visitors to the stand will be able to see advanced new functionality in ACCESS’ DLNA solution, NetFront Living Connect. ACCESS will also exhibit its new webkit-based NetFront Browser NX, a fully-fledged HTML5 browser and ACCESSMyTV, an OTT multi-screen video platform which allows consumers to create, watch and share personal video channels. ACCESS NetFront products have now shipped in over one billion products worldwide.

(Stand: 123) Appear TV, the provider of next-generation head-end solutions for broadcast and IP network video delivery, will be showing its broadcast quality, high channel density multi-format transcoding & encoding solutions and high density decoding & descrambling solutions which are ideal for re-distribution and service grooming.  All Appear TV solutions produce class-leading power and functionality through a highly modular integrated architecture offering design flexibility combined with industry leading density.

(Stand: 297) Capablue, the specialist in the integration of content and commerce across multiple devices, will be launching its suite of Connected products. Connected is a unique cloud-based delivery platform that harnesses the combined power of the web and TV by integrating content, social media and commerce to develop new revenue opportunities for broadcasters and brands.

(Stand: 117) Ericsson will demonstrate how it is powering the evolution of IPTV into true multi-screen consumer experiences. On-stand demonstrations will show the industry’s most complete portfolio of open, flexible, pre-integrated and convergent solutions. Visitors to Ericsson’s stand will learn how the company is enabling operators, broadcasters and content owners to harness greater efficiencies, launch new differentiating services and grow revenues to provide the next-generation, personalized and interactive TV experiences consumers crave.

Grey Juice Lab, the experts in non-linear content, will be on-hand to discuss the current status of VoD, the growth of multi-screen and how companion devices are beginning to redefine the way consumers interact with the TV. Grey Juice Lab helps top tier operators in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Latin America acquire, package and market on-demand and OTT services to their consumers.

Media technology company, Nativ will be on site to discuss how the combination of a fully featured asset management solution and the flexibility of the cloud is shaping the way broadcasters and content owners now buy and use technology. Nativ will showcase its media management solutions, MioEverywhere and Mio On Demand, which represent a new way for content owners to adapt their offerings to include the Connected Home.

(Stand: 120) Demonstrations at ruwido’s stand will show how the company’s input devices and interactive solutions present the next step in ‘user experience excellence’ within the living room. ruwido will discuss how, by changing the way users feel about their viewing experience and how they interact and engage with their TV offering, service providers have the ability to open up a range of new revenue opportunities.

(Stand: 63) Tvinci will present its Pay OTT TV platform, which enables TV operators, broadcasters and media companies to offer users linear content, catch-up TV and VOD on multiple devices. Demonstrations will include Tvinci’s companion screen apps, which create an intuitive cross-device TV experience, functioning both as a ‘first screen’ and a ‘second screen,’ meaning users can choose whether to watch content directly via the tablet or use it as a companion device to the main TV set.

Talking to industry friends and colleagues we all feel that the media/tech world’s really hotting-up. I’ve been thinking about why and I’ve come up a few ideas and things to watch out for:

• We’re at the weigh-in stage in the upcoming fight over TV and other media distribution and aggregation. That’s the bit where the contenders make rather foolish appraisals of their competitor’s parentage. Friends fall out and enemies become friends; all before enmity sets in again. This is going to run-and-run. I’ve been anticipating and thinking hard about this fight for over 15 years. So it’s pretty exciting to see that it’s starting to happen.

• CE devices not only make great copy but also are really important. Watch the money is good advice. But watching what content is being watched on is a good idea too.

• Music’s an interesting battleground, but be careful you don’t extrapolate too far.

• Distributing video to the end user has traditionally been a local business. Globalising video distribution (pay and free OTT) has huge potential – and broadband access makes this possible.

• Very large and well-funded companies full of very intelligent people will continue to make very poor decisions about the TV and video industry.

• That doesn’t mean that they will continue to make major mistakes. Microsoft made the cardinal error of not understanding that it didn’t understand TV. That was bad news for Microsoft and even worse news for its large telco customers. Google has clearly made mistakes, but may be bright enough to realise it in time.

• What if video distribution is not the ultimate fight – the space could become a loss-leading battle ground for the next big thing: the connected home. How would your business model stand-up under that scenario?

I’m really looking forward to the next 12 months. I’m seeing some very exciting developments just from the clients that I handle personally, let alone the rest of the agency and media/tech industry. I want to finish with one cautionary note: providing new ways to access video and entertainment doesn’t necessarily persuade consumers to make incremental media purchases. New market entrants and the existing media distributors, in the developed markets at least, are likely to be fighting over a slow growing fist full of entertainment dollars for some time to come.

David Bramley
@david_platform

It was therefore interesting to follow the recent debate and discussion regarding Apple’s (albeit speculated at the time of writing) plans to deploy Siri, its artificial intelligence software, as the control mechanism for any future TV development. Nick Bilton, (@nickbilton) in his blog for The New York Times, ‘What’s Really Next for Apple in Television’, argues that it’s “not a matter of if…it’s a matter of when” Apple enables you to talk to your TV, while Microsoft has seemingly stolen a march by announcing Xbox TV services will be live by the end of the year, using voice commands via Kinect to select content. “It’s about time” claims this promotional video from the company.

Whether it’s using voice commands or not, it is certainly about time that the way in which TV viewers interact with, browse and select their content is re-evaluated. Personally, I can’t imagine using voice commands to control the TV, as I believe that you actually lose the most important element here – control. While I don’t think outside or ambient noise will be a problem – the technology is too sophisticated for that – there is the problem of who exactly the TV listens to. We’ve all had the debate at home as to who has the remote control in their possession for the next hour, and allowances have to be made (we usually ‘agree’ in my house that I’ll have it). But if the TV just does what it’s told, living rooms up and down the country could see the TV flicking between Match of the Day and X Factor every 5 seconds. Where’s the control there?

I’m also dubious about browsing through what’s on. While search and recommendation features are getting much more accurate and relevant, I’ve certainly been guilty of scrolling through every available channel before just to see what’s available. If I sat at home and said “scroll” or “next page” 50 times, I think that might even get even more annoying for those around me.

I don’t want to be too dismissive right now though – it would be foolish to before I’ve seen and tried it for myself. But it is really interesting to see the remote control back as the centre of attention. ruwido, a Platform client, has been researching consumer behaviour and developing highly innovative remote control devices for 40 years, and is now using tactile feedback in its devices. You can find out more about their solutions here.

Who knows, maybe in another 20 years we’ll look back fondly at quiz shows giving away TVs with voice control (“Oooooooooh”) and remember the time that wasn’t seen as the norm, but navigation devices and methods are, right now, central to an interesting debate that has been long overdue.

Now, where did I put that remote…?

Ian Westover
@ian_platform

Starting as a pure play cable and satellite forum, CASBAA has expanded its horizons in recent years and the traditional TV speakers on this year’s programme were joined by representatives from ‘the enemy’ – Hulu, YouTube/Google, Facebook and the like. There is no doubt that the face of TV is changing and no more so than in Asia, ‘the most exciting and high growth TV market’. The threat of over-the-top TV is being taken seriously by traditional players. Liang Xiao Tao, President of China’s CITVC stated: “Hulu and YouTube are killing TV” going on to talk about how that threat is driving CCTV/CITVC to innovate more and use multi-platform convergence for service differentiation – a healthy competitive landscape that can only benefit the consumer.

There was also mass agreement that linear TV is here to stay, with live TV viewing figures rising and consumers using social media to share their live TV experiences – taking linear deeper than ever before. BBC Worldwide President, Jana Bennett talked about the need for TV producers to “create TV moments” and announced plans for near simultaneous global launch dates for top BBC shows such as Top Gear and BBC Earth as a way to create global live TV momentum and avoid piracy.

As a communications person I am always thinking about how we can use fresh language to describe the TV business. I really liked the BBC’s concept of ‘curating’ the iplayer and mining niches in production archives to create strong TV brands. On the other hand, Microsoft’s alternative term for tablets, ‘smart glass’ as used by the firm’s Blair Westlake made the dim sum churn in my tummy. As my friend and TV Genius CEO Tom Weiss @tom_weiss tweeted – “Microsoft prefers the term ’smart glass’ to ‘tablet’. Presumably because they have zero market share in tablets.”

All fairness to Microsoft they did also show a fantastic video of the Xbox for TV – with a voice controlled interface that makes talk of a Siri controlled Apple TV look almost like old news.

UK based journalist (and top shopper) Kate Bulkley hosted a great panel – The 365 Experience – which featured speakers from Disney, BBC World News, Starhub, TV5Monde and GroupM – and explored what service providers and content owners need to do to truly engage and entertain today’s digital savvy consumer.

Wednesday morning was kicked off with an interview with Jeff Shell, president of NBCUniversal International who updated us on progress between the Comcast and NBCU merger, its approach to building out its Asian business and quaintly described Downton Abbey as a British period soap opera. Judging by the final episode of the series which I watched on Sky+ last night, he was spot on.

Overall I’d say the Asian TV market is looking very healthy. Some of the operator thinking is a little behind the trailblazing of some services in Europe and US, but Asia has often used that lag to its ultimate advantage, leapfrogging its Western counterparts just at the moment when consumer demand is right – take HD, high speed and mobile Broadband, Smartphones. With forecasts for rapid digital TV growth in the coming years, one can also see huge potential for ‘new’ TV experiences such as tablets/companion devices, iPlayer style services, over-the-top delivery and sophisticated content discovery. There has never been a better time to be doing business in Asia and I’m excited and honoured to be involved in the region and the development of its TV landscape.

Gay Bell
@gay_platform

Nativ, which specialises in “Total Video Logistics”, is a great addition to Platform’s high calibre portfolio of clients and this win is a perfect end to the already hugely successful IBC period. We are looking forward to expanding our relationship with Nativ as it is a really exciting and fast growing company in the hub of the broadcast industry.

John Folland, Nativ’s CEO said “Platform’s approach to PR and its specialist knowledge of the industry has been a real asset for us. They really understand both our business and communications objectives and have tailor-made a communications programme that delivers. Our Platform team has worked hard from day one to quickly become an extension of our internal marketing department and has been instrumental in helping us successfully launch our latest offering at IBC this year.”

Nativ’s MioEverywhere platform is a business process automation solution that removes the complexity of digital media management and distribution. Nativ helps some of the biggest content owners and brands reach their audiences with the highest quality audio-visual experience on any platform, and reduce their costs.

For Platform it was a monumental year with our growing team on hand to support 11 of our clients, all of which had an extremely successful show.

Over the past few months we have worked hard to produce great results with no less than 170 press meetings organised, 43 press releases issued and 6 award wins across our clients.  The success continued throughout the show with 19 hits in the IBC Daily and 5 IBC TV News videos, producing great coverage and an increased profile for all our clients.

“We’re delighted to be able to look back on the challenges and successes of another IBC and see such satisfying figures be produced at the end of the show” said Gay Bell, CEO. “We were pleased to be able to work with and help our longstanding clients for another year running as well as be there to support some of our new clients for the first time. IBC is integral to the industry and a key event for our clients and it is great to be able to celebrate this success with them”

TV Genius gained 2 nominations whilst ADB, ACCESS, and Civolution received one each.

There were over 150 entries from organisations in 27 countries, so this result is a fantastic achievement for our clients. The Connected World Awards recognise the creativity of broadcasters, independent producers, technology companies and consumer electronics manufacturers pioneering the business of ‘content everywhere’.

Results will be confirmed on the penultimate night of IBC 2011, Monday 12^th September.

The finalists and category break-down is as follows:

TV Genius

Portable Device Application Award – Brand engagement app for Freeview DTT service

Search & Content Discovery Award – Social feature for content discovery platform

ACCESS

Bulding Block Award – Netfront Browser DTV Profile HbbTV Edition

ADB

Service Delivery Platform Award – Connected TV Portal

Civolution

Service Delivery Platform Award – VideoSync 2^nd Screen Synchronisation

Ericsson is nominated for four awards, Civolution and T-VIPS for two awards each and ADB,  Appear TV and Tvinci for one.

Winners will be announced on Friday 9^th September at IBC and we wish all our clients luck on the night.

Platform clients’ CSI Product of the Year nominations are as follows:

Ericsson

Multi-Platform Stream Processor - Best digital video processing technology

Voyager II - Best satellite contribution/distribution/transmission solution

Media Delivery Management System - Best content-on-demand solution

Multiscreen TV Solution - TV Everywhere/multi-screen video – NEW

Civolution

NexGuard - Best content protection technology

Video Synchronization – Best interactive TV technology or application

T-VIPS

TVG425 Transport Stream Gateway - Best cable or fibre contribution/distribution/transmission solution

DVB-T2/SFN Seamless Switching Solution - Best HDTV technology or project

ADB

Multiroom Solution - Best customer premises technology

Appear TV

Universal Distribution Headend - Best digital video processing technology

Tvinci

OTT Platform - Best Web TV technology or service