Returning to IBC after three years on ice was a reminder that one cannot breeze through a hall without seeing the word ‘analytics’ vaguely brandished on stand-side product portfolios. The pure video analytics and network analytics outfits will claim most of these are rudimentary analytics systems pulling and analyzing data to enhance a company’s core technology, whether that be encoders, CDNs, ad insertion systems, hardware, you name it. The analytics world has experienced colossal consolidation in recent years as the likes of Telestream (IneoQuest, Tektronix) wrap up the quality control and performance monitoring side, while the specialized suppliers of QoE video analytics are left plugging gaps, reselling tools to larger vendors and worrying where the next paycheck is coming from.…