The keynote features the pivotal moments in recent history that led us to this Age of Abundance. How did we come to be bombarded by content? How did we get from “must see TV” to “there’s too much to see on TV”? Without dwelling too much on the past, the keynote sparks the conversation, raises key points and encourages you to think outside the box. While you may be left with more questions, providing no answers, this is the perfect start to the Discoverability Summit!

YidLife Crisis is a unique online series. In this case study, Eli Batalion describes its origins and how it has evolved over the past few years. Topics include: understanding (niche) audiences through platform analytics, going after different sets of audiences and the interplay between bridging these audiences digitally and in-person, the growth of a creative process as the series receives more audience feedback, and what it means to use a web series as the flagship content of a homegrown brand.

Do vampires get their periods? Toronto-based production company Shaftesbury/Smokebomb and brand agency shift2 teamed up, with feminine care brand U by Kotex, to answer that question in their hit YouTube series Carmilla. The award-winning digital series puts a modern spin on the classic cult vampire novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and has generated 50 million views and counting. In this case study, Jay Bennett explores how to build an audience from the ground up, the rules of brand engagement, and the power of branded entertainment.

From kids content to prime-time comedy – DHX Media’s President and COO, Steven DeNure, talks about how the company works across multiple platforms to build audiences nationally and internationally.

Come learn and play in this digital playground! Congregate in the main hub and interact with vendors and device manufacturers and test products, all while continuing to network and engage with your peers.

The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage

In this keynote, James Milward, winner of the first Prime Time Emmy® awarded to a VR project, describes the current state of Virtual and Mixed Reality, how it’s currently being used in entertainment and the potential of the platform in the near future. Will Virtual and Augmented Reality become a compelling and dominant platform or burst and fade away? What are the revenue streams and viability? What makes VR and AR production possible? What will it take for these platforms and content formats to be accessible and engaged in by audiences? Who will the key players be in both content and platform moving forward?

Created in 2010, ICI Tou.tv was the first French-language online platform entirely devoted to TV viewing. Since its launch, ICI Tou.tv has stood out for the depth and variety of its content, as well as its wide accessibility. Its free offering remains the only French-language streaming video service on the market open to all audiences. Christiane Asselin shares the ingredients that make ICI Tou.tv a leader on the French-language mediascape at home and across the Francophonie.

Speaking of his path that led to the web, Jonathan Roberge gives an overview of his career as a comedian. Launching a web-series to increase visibility for his fans, Jonathan Roberge discusses his view of the web industry and his creative process over time. Now, with nearly 100,000 followers on Facebook and more than 30M clicks on all his work, this pioneer of successful web series (Contrat de gars, Vie de vrai gars, Fiston and Papa) continues to expand his universe and produce advertising and series to show the whole impact the web can have on a business.