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Meet our Market Analyst

Ellis Bezant featured in TVBEurope’s “Meet The” Series where they talk to a range of people working within the media and entertainment industry about their average working day in their roles. The piece can be found online here.

Talk us through an average day in your role

No two days are the same. One day I am researching a new piece of technology, the next I’m analysing our internal pipeline and seeing where I can spot trends/patterns which I then present to internal and external stakeholders. I’m responsible for continuously reviewing the market, identifying where we are within it, and seeking out potential adjacent markets. I’m very project driven; I like to establish where I can add value but also highlight where Pebble as a business can provide value to existing and new customer bases. 

Given Pebble is a PLC I also work closely with the CEO to review and plan longer-term strategies in line with market movements. My role means I’ve had the opportunity to liaise with company lawyers to understand the implications of executing strategies to further advance the ambitions of the business.

How did you get started in the media industry?

Pebble is my first role in the industry. I previously worked in electronic components and this experience has proved to be useful in my current role. I can easily understand the supply chain issues we’re seeing across the industry as a result of the hangovers I witnessed working on the component side. There is a strange connection there I didn’t expect to see. I really enjoy being a market analyst for Pebble…it is somewhat of a happy accident and I’m glad I’m here!

What training did you have before entering the industry?

I have a degree in politics from the University of Essex. I’ve always been absolutely fascinated with why things are the way they are, why the current social constructs exist, and understanding human behaviour. What is it to be human in the world we live in?! Working in market research allows me to expand on that passion and apply my natural curiosity about the world in a professional sphere. It helps me understand what’s happening in the market in a holistic and pragmatic way.

Why do you enjoy working in the industry?

The industry is its own beast. It is so varied yet so tight-knit as a community. Where is it heading and who is pioneering the way forward? These are questions I’m regularly asking myself on a day-to-day basis given what I do. I love hearing people talk about the things/technologies they’re passionate about and why. This is something that is in abundance in this industry! I’ve been able to meet so many fantastic people and to have the opportunity to hear what they’re trying to achieve is really rather brilliant.

What piece of advice would you offer someone looking to explore a role similar to yours?

I have the autonomy to manage my time how I see fit and this means I am very self-driven. It isn’t for everyone though. I work very independently yet at other times I need to be highly collaborative. Being a market analyst requires you to be comfortable wearing both hats when it comes to working in solitude and then switching to work with big teams. And the nature of research means you can go down a rabbit hole to establish findings. It can be quite disheartening if it’s decided that a project or piece of work cannot continue. It’s certainly a good way to build resilience! On the other hand, it’s really exciting to see the fruits of my labour, especially when business decisions are being made as a result of my work. I’m very eager to see what happens this year as we have so many exciting things to push forward!

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Pebble provides Al Mashhad with state-of-the-art channel solutions

Al Mashhad aims to integrate digital broadcasting with television for a new generation of viewers.

Epsom, Surrey, UK, 18 May 2023: Pebble, the leading automation, content management, and integrated channel specialist, is delighted to announce that its automaton and integrated channel solutions have been selected by Al Mashhad for the launch of its 1+1+1 channel of the same name, Al Mashhad.

Based in Dubai Studio City and with systems integration by Diversified, Al Mashhad is a television channel and interactive digital platform that offers a diverse programme and slate of news. The channel aims to bring about change and development in Arab media, engaging younger generations and helping further enable digital transformation in the MENA region. As such it needs to be agile and adaptive and has been set up from the start with a secondary playlist providing the flexibility to launch a new pop-up to respond to market opportunities.

Pebble has provided several 12G-ready key components for the   channel, notably Pebble Automation and Pebble Integrated Channel devices. As a system dedicated to managing the continuous playout and broadcast of video material, Automation not only controls all the devices involved in the playout, but an additional workload of video servers, routers, and graphic devices. All key components (database servers, integrated device servers, etc) are fully redundant, while for business continuity both main and backup lists each playout in parallel and there is seamless movement between main and DR sites built into the system.

Pebble Remote, a web-based monitoring, management and control tool for the automation environment is also an important part of the channel architecture. NDI connectivity ensures that video previews can be played on the Pebble Remote interface, providing perfect visibility into channel output with minimal latency. Care has also had to be paid to ensure the required third-party integrations within the Al Mashhad workflow are seamless, including those to third-party traffic, content management, MAM, and graphic systems.

Using the latest SDI 12G cards, the channel is currently broadcast in HD but is also UHD-ready.

“When launching Al Mashhad we had to balance the demands of robust reliability with the flexibility to accommodate new demands on our broadcast workflow, both now and into the future, and Pebble’s solutions do that,” comments Srinivas Kuppa, Head of Technology, Al-Mashhad.”

“We are delighted to be providing such key components to the new Al Mashhad channel and adding it to the growing list of broadcasters basing their systems on Pebble playout and automation in the region,” comments Samir Isbaih, VP Sales for Middle East and APAC, at Pebble. “SDI remains a popular choice for many new broadcasters, and it’s brilliant that Pebble is providing a future-proof 12G system that will enable Al Mashhad to adapt and evolve its service over the years ahead.”

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Pebble strengthens leadership team to build on its continued success in delivering playout automation solutions

Pebble’s leadership team expands to include new strategic hire and key internal promotion

Epsom, Surrey, UK, 17 May 2023: Pebble, the leading automation, content management, and integrated channel specialist is thrilled to announce the expansion of its leadership team. Neil Maycock joins Pebble as Chief Commercial Officer and Alison Pavitt has been promoted to Chief Revenue Officer following a successful two years as Director of Sales and Marketing at the company. Following the recent announcement of Jon Briggs’s appointment as Chief Operating Officer, the leadership team has been strengthened to reinforce its position as a leading provider in the playout automation market.

As CCO, Neil is responsible for the development and execution of the company’s ambitious market-led strategy. Neil has extensive industry expertise built up from over 30 years’ of working in senior positions for some of the most innovative and transformational technology companies in the broadcast industry. These include the position of EVP & General Manager at Snell Advanced Media and prior to this he served as President of the Americas at Pro-Bel. In his last role as ex-CMO and EVP Delivery and Support for Grass Valley, he was responsible for its global marketing and customer service operations. He has a history of successfully leading companies through mergers and acquisition, building brands in complex broadcast markets.

Alison Pavitt moves into the role of Chief Revenue Officer delivering a focus wholly on the sales function for the organisation, to build on the success garnered as Director of Sales and Marketing where she was responsible for global sales and marketing. A long-standing figure in the industry, she is a board member of the IABM and sits on the IBC Exhibitor Steering Group.

Alison first joined the industry in a sales role with broadcast graphics specialists Aston. Here she grew a network of international resellers, whilst also being hands-on with product demonstrations, as well as operator and reseller training. She joined Pebble in 2009 as Marketing Manager where she played a key role in the evolution of the company’s marketing, as well as overseeing its recent rebrand and being closely involved in company-wide initiatives to establish brand values and ensuring focus on the customer journey.

Peter Mayhead said of the appointments: “The expansion of our leadership team is another exciting phase of the business as we move forward with our ambitions as a market-led organisation. I am delighted Neil has joined us and with Alison’s promotion, this brings a fantastic mix of experience between them to support our customers and be the expert partner for hybrid cloud playout and transition to IP. Together with Jon’s recent appointment as COO, this creates a solid and significant intention to drive our ambitions for continued business growth.”

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Pebble Powers OTT Headend New Facility in Saudi Arabia for Intigral

Pebble provides Intigral, the media and entertainment arm of stc Group with powerful multi-channel delivery

Epsom, Surrey, UK, 16 May 2023: Pebble, the leading automation, content management, and integrated channel specialist, has been engaged to design, supply and build its playout solutions for a new headend facility for leading Saudi digital entertainment company Intigral. The facility will combine Pebble Automation, Integrated Channel and Pebble Remote for multichannel ingest, content management and playout.

Intigral, a leading provider of digital entertainment and sports in the MENA region and a subsidiary of stc, has partnered with Pebble since 2012. After winning a competitive tender for the contract, Pebble completed a technical evaluation for the new site taking into account Intigral’s desire to maintain the continuity of their workflows.

At the core of the new system is Pebble’s scalable software-defined Integrated Channel. This provides audio, video and graphics functionality in a compact, cost-effective format to meet Intigral’s ingest, channel branding, and frame-accurate multi-channel playout requirements.

The solutions incorporate the latest NDI standard inputs and outputs for video and audio monitoring, in addition to Advanced SCTE Insertion for AD Replacement and monetisation.

Multiple HD and SD feeds will ingest directly into shared storage for live recording and playout. Enterprise-level automationwillensure continuity on air with robust and fully redundant content monitoring and management. Web-based monitoring, management and control across the new automated environment will be provided via Pebble Remote. Another customer requirement is the restoration of multilingual subtitle files, a process enabled by Pebble’s automated workflow solutions. Delivery of this solution is scheduled for later this year.

Eyad Al Dwaik, Director of Engineering operations at Intigral said, “Intigral is dedicated to delivering exceptional digital entertainment experiences and seeks to proactively innovate to continue to thrive in this space. Working with innovative partners like Pebble over the last decade has empowered us to enhance our home grown channel generation capabilities and create high-value experiences for our audiences across the region. Today, we are delighted to be extending this collaboration to design and implement ingest and playout for our new OTT head-end facility which we are looking forward to going live with later in the year.”

Samir Isbaih, VP Sales for Middle East and APAC at Pebble says, “Pebble is dedicated to delivering top-tier solutions for our clients and we were delighted to work with Intigral – part of stc Group – on this major new project. The new OTT headend facility features a uniquely flexible channel pipeline design for ingest, monitoring and management of multiple feeds and multiple file formats. Broadcasters and service providers worldwide entrust the automation of their playout operations to Pebble because our proven solutions offer our customers the confidence that we can launch their channels to air reliably.”

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