The seventh edition of New Europe Market, an exclusive event gathering the best media professionals with a focus on the CEE region, opened on Monday in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Pickbox NOW’s fifth birthday party with the performance of Bojan Jambrošić and Ashley Colburn in the Hotel Dubrovnik Palace was an introduction to three days of interesting discussions and networking.

In five years of its existence Croatian based SVoD Pickbox NOW has not only been a standalone service but also an integral part of TV packages on many telecoms in the region. Being recently rebranded into Pickbox NOW, it has made availability of the service on different platforms one of its main priorities, as well as investing in user experience.

Sanja Božić-Ljubičić, CEO and Owner at Mediatranslations, Mediavision and Pickbox, took a chance to look back at the beginnings of Pickbox NOW on its fifth birthday.

“Many things have changed in five years, but the quality of content and translations remained our top priority. What has also stayed the same during all these years is the dedicated team of people who work in this small company, but love it! Unlike in the beginning, Pickbox NOW is no longer the only SVoD in the region and the competition is fierce, but we are hanging in there doing our best to give our users the best experience and the best content we can”, said Božić-Ljubičić.

The second day of the NEM conference welcomed Hollywood stars Alan Cumming, Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba. Alan Cumming talked about his starring CBS Studios International series Instinct, while Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba presented Sony Pictures Television’s new series L.A.’s Finest. Other discussions in the Panel Room will be dedicated to the customers, their needs and preferences in form of free trials and sports streaming services.

The third day of the NEM conference will be all about the newest trends and their effects on the media market. The experts will compare on demand platforms with TV channels and try to find a solution for combining them in order to reach the best results. Also, the participants will have a chance to learn about the great overall digital experience from Applicaster.

The last day NEM will shift its focus to the local productions that are more welcome today in the European market than they have ever been. Therefore, the experts will explain why they encourage the cooperation of these productions in order to create quality and original content. One of the last sessions of this year’s NEM conference will be a Q&A with Christopher Peter Marcich, CEO of Croatian Audiovisual Center, who will share his view on the role of the Audiovisual Center and give introduction into his future plans.