Wowza CEO Krish Kumar talks Product Strategy, Enhanced Analytics, and AI for Encoding and Metadata

In November 2024, Wowza appointed Krish Kumar CEO. Understanding where Kumar plans to take Wowza is critical to all those whose businesses touch streaming video. To learn more about Krish and Wowza's future direction, contributing editor Jan Ozer interviewed him about ten days before NAB 2025.

NAB 2025: Performance Storytelling in the CTV Era

On April 7 at NAB 2025's Streaming Summit, conference chair Dan Rayburn and LG Ad Solutions CMO Tony Marlow squared off in a fireside chat on "Performance Storytelling in the CTV Era." From the outset, Marlow declared, the challenge and the goal LG Ad Solutions sets for itself is to "monetise CTV premium ads from the moment you turn on your TV."

Via LA HEVC Patent Pool licensors sue Microsoft over HEVC use in Germany

Three licensors of the Via LA HEVC Patent Pool (M&K Holdings, Gensquare, and Tagivan II) have filed a patent infringement suit against Microsoft in the Landgericht Duesseldorf court in Germany, alleging unlicensed use of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) technology in several Microsoft products.

Patent Attorney Gottfried Schüll talks Via LA HEVC Patent Pool vs. Microsoft Infringement Suit

Three licensors of the Via LA HEVC Patent Pool (M&K Holdings, Gensquare, and Tagivan II) have filed a patent infringement suit against Microsoft in the Landgericht Duesseldorf court in Germany, alleging unlicensed use of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) technology in several Microsoft products. In this interview with Streaming Learning Center's Jan Ozer, patent attorney Gottfried Schull, who is representing Via LA HEVC, discusses what's at issue in the lawsuit.

Relo Metrics gets up to speed with F1 sponsorship

F1 is experiencing explosive commercial growth and attracting 100+ million weekly viewers. Sponsorship spend across F1 and its teams for the 2025 season is projected to reach more than $2.9 billion. Debuting at the Australian Grand Prix, Relo's Census platform enables brands, teams, and agencies to track sponsorship performance instantly and optimise investments mid-season.

Streaming Viewers Are Willing to Accept Ads, But Not If They're Paying for it, Tubi Finds

As more and more streamers pile into advertising led subscription services there are signs of a potential backlash among consumers with nearly 80% agreeing that if they're paying for a streaming service, they expect no ads at all. That's according to a new survey by Tubi, which also found that nearly half of Gen Z viewers found ads that seem misaligned with their own preferences to "significantly disrupt" their enjoyment of the streaming experience.

Maximising Content Value with Subtitles and Dubbing

AI-driven dubbing has recently gained attention as major platforms like Amazon Prime Video and YouTube roll out new tools designed to expand their content's global reach. Amazon is testing AI-assisted dubbing on licensed content, while YouTube has introduced auto-dubbing for thousands of channels. Both efforts reflect a growing belief that dubbing can help platforms engage new audiences—but the results so far have been mixed.

Telcos look to capitalise on the AI Revolution

It's been three years since ChatGPT opened people's eyes to the potential of AI yet many telcos and their enterprise customers have struggled with how to get a return on investment. The dial is now switching from proof of concept to deployments at scale, according to executives at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

NPAW's Bruno Giner and ESHAP's Evan Shapiro Talk Better Data for Better Business Outcomes at Streaming Media Connect 2025

Streaming Media Connect 2025's featured a fascinating Keynote Fireside Chat featuring NPAW VP Sales Global | DXI Bruno Giner and Media Universe Cartographer Evan Shapiro. The discussion focused on the importance of data in the streaming industry and NPAW's strategic approach to it, emphasizing the need for democratization and unification of data across departments to improve business outcomes.

ICYMI: Streaming Media Connect February 2025

Streaming Media presented its 16th Connect virtual conference February 25-27, featuring speakers from YouTube, Meta, Amazon, Roku, Akamai, NPAWm Google Cloud, Plex, DAZN, Fremantle, A+E, Vevo, Philo, Tubi, The Trade Desk, Sinclair, Vizio, Revry, and more, and session topics ranging from live streaming delivery and FAST infrastructure and monetisation to app and UX to programmatic vs. direct advertising to CTV and the OS wars.

European telcos cry foul over OTT traffic—again

Telcos have been crying that they are being treated unfairly by Big Tech for at least a decade and the record seems to have stuck. MWC in Barcelona provided another chance for European operators to vent their frustration and this time they are armed with the provisional backing of the European Union.

Trump trade war rewires the geo-political importance of Big Tech

Sweeping tariffs imposed by the US on China, Canada, Mexico and potentially the European Union represent a potential rewiring of the global trade order with technologies like AI at the center of the power struggle.

Netflix revenues to overtake YouTube while Barb announce landmark YouTube measurement

Underlining YouTube's own declaration that "YouTube is the new television," UK TV measurement body Barb is to become the world's first to report YouTube viewing on TV set.

Challenges and Opportunities in the CTV Ecosystem: Evan Shapiro in Conversation With Matthew Henick of The Trade Desk

Kicking off the latest Streaming Media Connect, media universe cartographer Evan Shapiro sat down for an in-depth discussion about the challenges and opportunities of the CTV ecosystem with Matthew Henick of The Trade Desk. They discussed the importance of fairness, transparency, and user-centric strategies in the ad-supported streaming landscape, and they highlighted the need for better ad personalization, efficient ad inventory management, and the alignment of incentives to enhance the overall user experience and support premium content creation.

Sustainability Slips Down Industry’s Agenda Says Bitmovin Video Developer Report

The latest Video Developer Report compiled by Bitmovin shows sustainability slipping down the list of priorities, a casualty of the search for short term profit. The report made clear the industry's top priority is monetizing content more effectively with ad tech, which can be attributed to the huge spike in AVOD and FAST business models.

Meta's David Ronca Talks Benchmarking and Deploying AV1 in the Android Ecosystem

The arc of AV1 codec adoption at large-scale content owners has been long and complex, as Meta Senior Media Software Engineer David Ronca (who also spent 12 years developing encoding solutions at Netflix) knows as well as anyone. In this interview with Jan Ozer of Streaming Media and Streaming Learning Center, Ronca discusses the integration of AV1 into the Android ecosystem, focusing on the challenges and solutions for mobile devices. 

One quarter of video subscriptions will be managed by telcos in 2028

As subscription fatigue appears to be taking hold globally, content providers are turning to telcos as a key intermediary between themselves and the consumer in aggregating subscription services into Super Bundles. The global value of the subscription economy is U$331 billion, per Juniper Research, rising to US $996bn by 2028 of which a quarter will be delivered by telcos according to Omdia.

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.

Roku Data Cloud Arrives—Is Data (Finally) Becoming More Transparent?

Roku is betting on their Data Cloud to provide better, more targeted advertising for media, agencies, and brand customers and more valuable advertising budgets to Roku. In this interview with Roku's Miles Fisher, we discuss why Roku created the Data Cloud and what it will provide in terms of measurement and data.

Sneak Preview: OS Wars - The New CTV Playing Field

On Thursday, February 27, Mark Loughney, Senior Consultant, Hub Entertainment Research, will moderate the Streaming Media Connect panel "OS Wars: The New CTV Playing Field." From live linear to FAST, AVOD, and all flavors of free streaming, how are the OEM and OS wars transforming the way TV is distributed and monetised? As the global battle for TV interface dominance persists, and powerhouse OEMs increasingly assert their role as content gatekeeper, are we moving toward a closed society when it comes to CTV? Confirmed panelists include experts from Revry, Hartbeat, Shout! Factory, and Whale TV.