What Drives Up Cloud Streaming Costs?

What are the predictable and unpredictable factors that drive up the cost of cloud streaming workflows as complications arise and projects scale? AWS' John Barber, IMAX's Abdul Rehman, Zixi's Eric Bolten, and SVTA's Jason Thibeault offer practical tips for keeping cloud costs in check in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

What Is Contextual Advertising and How Is it Changing TV?

"Contextual advertising is a really hot topic in TV advertising right now," declared TVREV's Alan Wolk at Streaming Media Connect 2024. But what exactly is it, and how is its growing presence in CTV and streaming changing the TV experience and particularly the way advertisers buy media? Wolk, Estrella MediaCo's Christina Chung, and Mad Leo Consulting's C.J. Leonard explore these issues in this clip from their panel at Streaming Media Connect.

Streaming’s Great Rebundling and the Fight Against Churn

Preventing subscriber churn is the oldest problem in the streaming subscription business, and bundling is hardly a new solution, as analyst Paul Erickson points out in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024. So with a purported "Great Rebundling" upon us—and with tiered offerings, hybrid ad models, and other revenue-generating approaches increasingly holding sway—how do contemporary bundling/rebundling strategies differ from old ones and offer greater avenues to success? Ampere Analysis' Guy Bisson, Hub's Jon Giegengack, and Antenna's Rameez Tase offer their takes on current bundling and aggregation strategies and which ones are working in 2024.

How Can Publishers and Advertisers Monetise Roku’s Platform?

Head of Roku Exchange Charlie Goodman and Future Today Marketplace VP Tim Ware discuss the opportunities and the challenges of monetizing the Roku Channel and Exchange for programmers, distributors, and advertisers alike in this clip from their panel at Streaming Media Connect 2024.

What Are Walled Gardens in CTV Advertising?

Future Today Marketplace VP Tim Ware goes 'round the horn with Roku's Charlie Goodman, Streaming Made Easy's Marion Ranchet, TVREV's Alan Wolk, and IAB Tech Lab's Anthony Katsur on the definition of walled gardens in the CTV advertising marketplace in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

How Bloomberg Transitioned to FAST Free Streaming News

How does a multiplatform news media organisation bring free streaming content distribution into its portfolio? What are the digital transformation, architectural, content strategy, and adtech challenges? Bloomberg Media GM of Video & Audio Travis Winkler explains Bloomberg's journey to FAST news in this discussion with The Local Act's Marion Ranchet at Streaming Media Connect 2024.

Where Streaming Measurement Isn’t Measuring Up

The lack of consistent measurement tools, metrics, and standards across multiple platforms continues to limit the success of streaming ads and frustrate content publishers looking to deliver optimal experiences to advertisers and end users. TVREV's Alan Wolk, Vevo's Julie Triolo, Estrella MediaCo's Christina Chung, Advertiser Perceptions' Erin Firneno, and Mad Leo Consulting's C.J. Leonard discuss the current challenges facing OTT and CTV publishers and advertisers alike in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

Who’s Watching? How CTV Publishers Measure Viewership for Buyers

How do CTV publishers deliver credible and actionable performance metrics to the buy-side brands that support them? Estrella MediaCo's Christina Chung, Vevo's Julie Triolo, and TVREV's Alan Wolk discuss the current challenges publishers face in measuring and communicating CTV performance to buyers in a clear and common language and the growing role of metadata in delivering usable metrics in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

The State of Ad-ID in CTV and Streaming

Launched by the IAB Tech Lab's Advanced Television Systems Committee and designed to "provide standardsed identity management for ad creatives" through metadata, Ad-ID is designed to bring streaming ad insertion—particularly for live events—out of "the Wild West," according to Paramount's Jarred Wilichinsky, and to stop, among other things, the mindless repetition of ads that drags down so many streaming experiences. Wilichinsky, Roku's Charlie Goodman, JWP's David Palomento, Akamai's Peter Chave, and Infinitive's C.J. Leonard weigh in on Ad-ID's progress and its potential impact on the streaming ecosystem in this discussion with Reality Software's Nadine Krefetz at Streaming Media NYC.

What Makes Streaming Bundles Work

When it comes to bundling streaming services, there are other factors to consider beyond the price point, product differentiation, and the content offering the bundle will deliver. According to Roku's Anastasia Pronin, Philo's Adam Salmons, and Bango's Giles Tongue, the key to an effective and profitable streaming bundle is identifying consumer needs and pain points and delivering a bundle that addresses those needs, and they explain how to do it in this clip from Streaming Media NYC.

Are FAST Bets Paying Off for Independent Streamers?

Now that FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) has arguably moved past the "landgrab for distribution" phase and matured well beyond its initial preponderance of legacy content, are independent streamers' investments in FAST proving worthwhile? Execs from Crackle, Tastemade, and DangerTV—all members of the Independent Streaming Alliance (ISA)—discuss the challenges overcome and the challenges ahead in this discussion with Streaming Made Easy's Marion Ranchet at Streaming Media NYC.

FAST, Data, and Tracking Diverse Audiences

Given that traditional media measurement companies have always underrepresented diverse audiences, minority-owned content companies targeting multicultural audiences face unique challenges in tracking those audiences and leveraging the data to monetise their channels, as Publicis Media EVP Cultural Investment & Innovation Stephen Paez explains in this candid discussion with media universe cartographer Evan Shapiro at Streaming Media NYC.

How DAZN Leans Into the Curves of Consumer Engagement

Delivering premium content to broad audiences means acclimating to the viewing habits of different consumer demographics, which can make serving younger viewers with typically longform content like live sports challenging for sports streamers like DAZN. In this clip from Streaming Media NYC 2024, DAZN Global CRO and President USA Walker Jacobs discusses the engagement curves of social and CTV viewers and how DAZN has learned to lean into them.

Securing Streams: What Are We Trying to Protect?

Few streaming stakeholders, from entertainment to enterprise, would deny that stream security and anti-piracy matter, but what are we really protecting when we apply DRM or other methods to curb the inappropriate appropriations of streaming content? Are we protecting user experiences? Profitability? Proprietary content? An international panel of industry experts from Synamedia, EZDRM, Vindral, United Cloud, and Help Me Stream weigh in on this critical question in this clip from Streaming Media NYC 2024.

How Google Leverages First-Party and Partner Data to Improve Consumer Experiences

For "data machines" like Google, the problem is never having too little customer data—it's all about managing the data overload to pinpoint the right data to leverage to build customised, targeted, personalised experiences that satisfy users and keep them engaged. Increasingly, according to Google TV Product Manager UX Rob Caruso in this interview with Media Universe Cartographer Evan Shapiro at Streaming Media NYC, it's working with partners to identify the right mix of first-party and partner data to take personalization to the next level.

SMNYC 2024: United Cloud's Boban Kasalovic Talks End-to-End Streaming and Content Security

Streaming Media's Tim Siglin interviews United Cloud's Boban Kasalovic at Streaming Media NYC. Kasalovic discusses United Cloud's development of an end-to-end streaming solution and an anti-piracy platform called Gladiator. The platform uses machine learning and AI to analyze data and identify critical behavior that could lead to piracy. The company has also implemented Widevine CAS for its hybrid solution.

SMNYC 2024: Synamedia's Robin Oakley Talks Stream Security and the Consumer Experience

Streaming Media's Tim Siglin interviews Synamedia's Robin Oakley at Streaming Media NYC 2024. He emphasises the importance of a proactive approach to security and highlights the company's work with the common access token format, a CTA Wave initiative that aims to create a common CDN token syntax that can be used across multiple CDNs. He also touches on the challenges of protecting content while maintaining a quality experience for the consumer and the increasing sophistication of piracy.

SMNYC 2024: Tastemade's Evan Bregman Talks Independent Streaming Alliance and Standardising Measurement

At Streaming Media NYC, Tim Siglin interviews Evan Bregman of Tastemade and the Independent Streaming Alliance (ISA) about the fast growth of Tastemade's streaming service and the ISA's aims to overcome hurdles in the streaming industry through collaboration and standardising measurement in a fragmented ecosystem.

Grabyo's Clare Butler Talks Cloud Streaming Services and Pricing Models

Streaming Media's Tim Siglin interviews Grabyo's Clare Butler at Streaming Media NYC 2024. She highlights that Grabyo is not geographically bound and caters to anyone working in the live space, including news broadcasters, sports clubs, and entertainment producers. She also emphasises the cost-effectiveness of cloud solutions, noting that cloud technology is now at parity with on-prem solutions, offering features like instant replay and SCTE-35 ad insertions.

SMNYC 2024: Paramount's Steve Ellis Talks Premium Content, Ads, and Measurement

Streaming Media's Tim Siglin interviews Paramount Advertising COO Steve Ellis at Streaming Media NYC 2024. Ellis discusses the growth of ad-supported streaming and Paramount's role as a pioneer in this space, and he highlights the importance of full-episode programming in reaching and engaging audiences effectively. He and Siglin also talk about the new Nielsen gauge measurement that shows the total reach of audiences across all premium publishers and YouTube, and he emphasises the need for effective ads that align with the objectives of awareness, consideration, and last-click attribution.