AVEQ co-founder and Managing Director Dr. Werner Robitza has received the Rudolf-Urtel-Preis from the Fernseh- und Kinotechnische Gesellschaft (FKTG). The award recognizes his doctoral research on behavior-based Quality of Experience (QoE) assessment of over-the-top video streaming services. It was presented during the 31st FKTG-Fachtagung, held at Riedel Communications in Wuppertal on November 10–12, 2026.
Werner with the recipients of the FKTG Hochschulabsolventenpreis at the 2026 conference.
Research into the Viewer’s Experience
Werner completed his Ph.D. at TU Ilmenau with the thesis “Behavior-oriented Quality of Experience Assessment of Over-the-Top Video Services”. His work examines how streaming quality can be assessed, through algorithms and user behavior: how people respond to the quality of the service they are watching.
That perspective is central to our work at AVEQ. His work shaped the standards we implement, and our approach to user-centric testing. A streaming service’s technical performance translates into the viewer’s experience — and we aim to find out how. Understanding that relationship helps providers identify quality problems and decide what improvements will make a difference. Our research activities and the development of Surfmeter bring those questions into practical measurement tools. That has been the core vision of AVEQ since our founding, and it continues today.
About the Rudolf-Urtel-Preis
The Rudolf-Urtel-Preis recognizes outstanding scientific and technical work by early-career engineers in television, film, and electronic media. It is named after television pioneer Rudolf Urtel, a founding member of the FTG, one of the FKTG’s predecessors. His work included vestigial-sideband transmission (“Restseitenbandübertragung”), which reduced the bandwidth required for analog television.
In his LinkedIn post about the award, Werner draws a connection to a challenge that remains familiar in streaming today: maintaining acceptable quality while reducing the data rate. He also reflects on his own path from academic research to the combination of product development and commercial work at AVEQ.
We thank the FKTG committee, particularly Prof. Dr. Peter C. Slansky and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Ruppel, as well as Werner’s supervisor Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alexander Raake and the colleagues at TU Berlin, T-Labs, and TU Ilmenau who supported his research. Congratulations to the recipients of the Hochschulabsolventenpreis, too!
