Autumn 2023

Magazine Features

How to Get Up-to-Speed in the European FAST Market

Free ad-supported television (FAST) has been a rapidly rising element of the streaming industry since the beginning of the pandemic. But while the FAST sector has soared in the US, it faces distinct challenges in Europe and international markets that have prevented it from reaching equal viewership heights enjoyed in the US. This article outlines ways to get up-to-speed in the European FAST market.

Practical Approaches to Sustainable Streaming

In this article I'll expand on prior sustainability approaches, detail reasons to consider additional areas of power-consumption optimisation, and invite diverse stakeholders across streaming workflows to engage with Streaming Media magazine, GoS, and like-minded stakeholders in a mid- to late-2023 initiative around the LESS Accord, with an overall goal of readers recommending measurable best practices for consideration by September 2023.

Review: Magewell USB Fusion

The USB Fusion is a device that can be used in a production environment for local content feeds/sources. It can be used to input various sources such as HDMI devices, webcams, USB microphones, videos, images, screenshares, and other items. The USB Fusion is touted as a tool to make your online lectures and virtual events more engaging and to easily combine numerous sources into attractive live presentations for remote education, webinars, live streaming, and video conferencing.

Review: ViCueSoft CodecWar

CodecWar is an analysis service created by ViCueSoft, the developer of codec analy­sis tools VQ Analyzer, VQ DVK, and VQ Probe. As currently configured, the site's ideal users are researchers who are looking for a convenient way to compare codecs using relevant datasets and codec developers who are looking for a structured way to benchmark their codecs against others. In contrast, it's not a particularly convenient way for streaming producers to run experiments to optimise their encoding parameters, although it could grow into this.

The 2023 Streaming Media Innovation Award Winners

The 15th annual Streaming Media Europe Innovation Awards competition—formerly known as the Readers' Choice Awards—returns with 13 categories. With nearly 10,000 votes, who are the finalists? And who are this year's winners?

The State of VVC Adoption and Implementation

If you're a video publisher who doesn't rank high in the VVC patent list, it's likely that you won't consider VVC until 2026 or later. If you're looking to augment your H.264 encodes with a more efficient codec before then, your most likely choices are HEVC and AV1, with LCEVC also an option. However, if you're a product or service provider in the streaming media ecosystem, it's long past the time to start considering where and when VVC is going to fit in for you and your target customers.

Editor's Note

Synthetic Scabs Are Awful: Netflix, AI, and the M&E Industry's Ongoing Labor Struggle

Somehow, greenlighting "Joan Is Awful" has made Netflix look oddly actor strike-sympatico, via its winking endorsement of a show that warns against a writer-less, actor-less "profits without people" media and entertainment future from whose realisation they stand to benefit.

Spotlights

Interview with Jonas Engwall, Chief Executive Officer of Bedrock

An interview with Bedrock CEO Jonas Engwall. With more than 20 years' experience in the media and technology industry, and a professional career spanning almost a dozen countries, Jonas brings extensive expertise and a proven trackrecord for leading business growth and international expansion.

Interview with Pieter-Jan Speelmans, Technical Working Group Chair of HESP Alliance

An interview with Pieter-Jan Speelmans, Technical Working Group Chair of HESP Alliance. Over the past three years, he has been working actively to reduce the complexity in video pipelines and improve the viewer Quality of Experience (QoE) from perspectives beyond the video player with the High Efficiency Streaming Protocol, a highly scalable ultra-low latency streaming protocol for the next generation of streaming services.

The Future of Interactivity: nanocosmos

Demands for interactive streaming - streaming with ultra-low latency to enable smooth interaction - is at an all-time high. This is because with communication across industries we aim to engage audiences, often worldwide and at any given time. While traditional use cases like live auctions, games and bets hold a stronger position than ever, various new scenarios made it to the forefront position when it comes to bidirectional streaming: Townhall meetings with vivid discussions, polls, microbetting and even engaging concerts can happen online or in hybrid format.