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When should you licence a third-party commercial codec?

For some streamers, open-source solutions meet all their needs. For others, commercial codecs deliver efficiency and optimisations that justify the cost. This article explores the factors that influence those decisions.

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How YouTube and Paramount Maximise QoS and QoE in Live Streaming Workflows

Although quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) are critical to successful VOD and live streaming delivery, the metrics used and the workflow challenges are different for live. YouTube's Sean McCarthy and Paramount's Nishant Sirohi enumerate the differences and the key strategies for succeeding with live when the stakes are high in this conversation with PADEM Media Group's Allan McLennan at Streaming Media Connect.

How Post-Peak TV Has Changed Streaming Consumer Behavior

How have streaming viewer consumption habits changed with respect to premium TV in the post-peak TV entertainment landscape? Media universe cartographer Evan Shapiro, Deltatre's Alex Gruber, and Hub Entertainment Research Jon Giegengack discuss changes in brand loyalty and awareness, churn patterns, the impact of premium sports, and more in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024

Will Native 4K Live Sports Streaming Arrive in 2025?

When it comes to 4K for live sports streaming, much of today's content delivery arguably operates in a kind of limbo where the 4K viewers see may well be up-rez'd 1080p. The landscape is even murkier when it comes to ATSC 3.0/Next-Gen OTA TV in the U.S., according to Your Media Transformation Managing Director Thierry Fautier, due to the current regulatory environment. SVTA CEO Jason Thibeault, Media Technology Director Corey Smith, and Faultline's Tommy Flanagan discuss the current impediments and future prospects for native 4K sports streaming delivery in this raucous debate from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

Leveraging Gen AI to Improve Discovery and Streaming Engagement

The applications of Generative AI in streaming are seemingly endless, but what are specific ways that AI can make streaming content more discoverable, more personalised, more engaging, interactive, and more effective for advertisers in leveraging targeted content to reach the right customers? Microsoft's Andy Beach, Vecima's Paul Strickland, mireality's Maria Ingold, Alvarez & Marsal's Ethan Dreilinger, and Reality Software's Nadine Krefetz explore the possibilities in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

Streaming Media Columns

Talking Localisation

Today, localisation remains a critical budgetary line item for content owners delivering shows to diverse and transnational audiences, and it is probably one whose typical costs have not, until recently, changed considerably in quite some time. The increasingly prevalent use of AI in content localisation, subtitling, and translation promises to change all of that—particularly through the controversial and ethically fraught use of imitative synthetic voices.

Post-Peak Performance in the M&E Universe

The recent Subscription Wars report commissioned by U.K.-based digital payments tech company Bango points to consumer dissatisfaction with the fractured state of subscription services in general and the increasing appeal of indirect subscription options and super-bundles of aggregated services sold through telcos like Optus in Australia. Perhaps it's another sign of less-than-inspiring times that the best thing consumers say streaming services can do for them is to stop standing out from the crowd and start disappearing into it.

Is 2024 the Year of WebRTC?

With large sports-streaming operators, WebRTC provides a real opportunity for ultra-low-latency streaming. But those same operators, which spend billions on licensing rights, can't afford to just swap the ability to stream content in real time for basic OTT functionality like SSAI and DRM.

Everything in Streaming Has Its Price

This column isn't meant to be a downer, especially because the overall economy seems to be plugging along. But it is meant to ask those of you in the industry to share anecdotes and stories about the pain points you're facing. We know that everything in streaming has its price, but you are in a better position to help us fully understand what that price entails.