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Posted:
April 29, 2021

10 Innovators to Watch Discuss Rebuilding Their Companies Amid the Pandemic

“It was a collective creative effort to survive,” said Fabrice Sergent, referring to his company Bandsintown’s transformation amid the pandemic. “You have to go deep into the mission of the company, its values and its constituencies, to rebirth out of such a radical threat.”

Trailblazing leaders at the intersection of technology and entertainment gathered virtually April 28 at the 10 Innovators to Watch panel in the  Variety Streaming Room presented by the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E and hosted by Andrew Wallenstein, president and chief media analyst at  Variety Intelligence Platform.

The panelists included Sergent, co-founder and managing partner at Bandsintown; Sam Lucas, CEO and co-founder of Special.tv; Asad Malik, founder of Jadu; Alex Cyrell, CEO and co-founder of Evercast; Jichul Lee, partner and executive creative director of Giantstep; Kirin Sinha, CEO of Illumix; Steve Johnson, vice president of product and studio design at Netflix; Vidya Narayanan, CEO and co-founder of Rizzle; Chuck Parker, CEO of Sohonet; and Teresa Phillips, CEO and co-founder of Spherex.

The innovators discussed the difficulties and unique opportunities of building and rebuilding their businesses during the pandemic.

“We have not existed in a pre-COVID world,” Malik said about his immersive hologram company. “Jadu came out in March 2020, when suddenly everyone wanted to be a hologram.”

Malik added that with the lack of touring in the music industry, creators have pursued more experimental artistic media. Likewise, Phillips said that the pandemic forced Spherex’s clients to develop other processes for production of content.

“It required a lot more service and support than what we were accustomed to,” Phillips said.

The pandemic caused some companies, including Illumix, to completely shift gears.

“Prior to COVID, we were very focused around the gaming media and entertainment sectors as the major application for AR,” Sinha said. “But what COVID did was open up a whole new sector that we really hadn’t considered inside the world of e-commerce, and retail brands who were looking for a new way to reach their customers.”

Source: variety.com

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VA Media Selects SpherexAI for Global Compliance on YouTube

VA Media partners with Spherex to support the growth of its rapidly expanding film catalog on YouTube

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 10, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Spherex, a global leader providing AI solutions for video compliance, announced today that VA Media, a global network of genre-based movie, TV, and creator channels on YouTube, will utilize SpherexAI for international compliance.

SpherexAI's implementation will cover VA Media's YouTube film channels, providing a consistent and reliable framework for compliance. Adopting SpherexAI is a strategic move for VA Media as it continues expanding its global reach. By automating content review to ensure compliance with YouTube guidelines, VA Media can confidently deliver high-quality, engaging content to its audience, knowing its content adheres to community standards and optimizes audience engagement and monetization.

Leveraging advanced AI and machine learning technologies, SpherexAI ensures that content meets global regulatory requirements and aligns with regional cultural norms. SpherexAI automates the review process and identifies content, including dialogue, scenes, images, sounds, and cultural references that a platform or territory may find non-compliant.

"As the consumption of long-form content continues to grow on YouTube, maintaining compliance across multiple territories is a complex and critical task. It's essential to protecting brand integrity, maximizing reach, and unlocking monetization opportunities," said Teresa Phillips, CEO and co-founder of Spherex. "We're excited to partner with VA Media to support their global compliance needs, ensuring their content adheres to platform standards while reaching diverse audiences worldwide.

"SpherexAI is an ideal partner for our extensive and rapidly expanding film catalog on YouTube. As we continue our international growth, it is crucial to maintain our brand's integrity at the highest level while navigating the complexities of global regulatory and cultural standards," said Mark Ashbridge, CEO of VA Media. "SpherexAI's intelligent platform provides the precision and efficiency necessary to ensure our content's compliance and relevance worldwide."

About VA Media

VA Media is a global media company based in Australia and Los Angeles that specializes in AVOD and social video monetization. The home for a global network of genre-based movie, TV, and creator channels on YouTube, Facebook, SNAP, and other AVOD streaming platforms, it is one of the largest entertainment partners for movies and TV for YouTube in Australia and the US. VA Media's independent network of over 21 million subscribers and 120 million views every month helps leading studios and major film and distribution businesses from around the world reach its tailored global audiences. www.vamedianetwork.com

About Spherex:

Spherex is a global technology company transforming how media and entertainment enterprises create, adapt, and deliver film and television to audiences worldwide through expert-centered AI and machine learning. With unmatched expertise in culture and regulatory compliance, Spherex works with the world's largest media companies, movie studios, networks, distributors, and streamers to build larger audiences, speed up content discovery, drive more video views, and generate higher revenue. Learn more at www.spherex.com.

Media Contact

Tracy Akselrud, Spherex, 1 3107091560, tracy.akselrud@spherex.com, https://www.spherex.com/

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Spherex Expands AI Product to Power Contextual Advertising

Spherex, which offers video content compliance and analysis for the media and entertainment industry, has expanded its flagship product, SpherexAI, to power contextual advertising.

The new feature enables advertisers to target audiences more precisely based on the cultural and emotional context surrounding the content they are viewing to maximize campaign effectiveness, according to Spherex.

SpherexAI’s multimodal platform analyzes streaming video by evaluating thousands of visual, audio, dialogue, and on-screen text signals to generate scene-level metadata. This scene-level intelligence helps advertisers match ads at the right moment based on the mood, theme, and tone of the content to strengthen connections with audiences, according to Spherex.

SpherexAI further allows advertisers to deliver more relevant ads within content, ensuring cultural sensitivity and brand safety, according to the company.

“Leveraging its patented Cultural Knowledge Graph, SpherexAI helps advertisers tailor campaigns for audiences in any market, ensuring they align with local market regulations and cultural norms across more than 200 countries and territories,” according to a Spherex press release. “Spherex’s deep understanding of regional values and local sensitivities enables advertisers to convey culturally relevant messages while avoiding ad placements in potentially controversial or offensive scenes, reducing the risk of backlash that could harm a brand’s reputation.”

According to the company, SpherexAI uniquely enables advertisers to:

  • Ensure Strategic Ad Placement: Scene-level intelligence understands key moments within scenes, enabling ads to be positioned precisely when viewers are most emotionally receptive, increasing engagement and effectiveness.
  • Boost Engagement and Recall: By identifying context at the scene level before the break, ads seamlessly integrate into the storytelling experience, reinforcing brand messages rather than disrupting them.
  • Scale Across Global Markets: SpherexAI is the only platform with global cultural intelligence to accurately predict how local audiences perceive video content in more than 200 countries and territories, aligning with local values, norms, and cultural expectations.
  • Enhance Brand Safety: SpherexAI prevents ad placement in contexts that may be inappropriate, offensive, or conflict with brand values or cultural sensitivities.

“Spherex is leveraging its expertise in video compliance to help advertisers navigate the complexities of brand safety and monetization,” Teresa Phillips, CEO of Spherex, said in a statement. “SpherexAI is the only solution that blends scene-level intelligence with deep cultural and emotional insights, giving advertisers a powerful tool to ensure strategic ad placement and engagement.”

Spherex will demo SpherexAI at Booth W1456 at NAB 2025 in Las Vegas. To book a meeting and demonstration at NAB, visit the Spherex Booking page.

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Foreign Censors Blocking Your Content? Culturalize It!

There are 246 territories among 195 countries, and each has rules and regulations about what is acceptable in a movie or show. If you do not want your content to fall afoul of censors, you need to culturalize it!

In this interview with the Founder and CEO of Spherex Teresa Phillips, she explains why culturalization matters and the Spherex approach to getting it done.

Source: nscreenmedia.com

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