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.

Sneak Preview: FAST Forward - How FAST Platform and Infrastructure Providers Can Better Serve the Market

On Thursday, February 27, leading industry consultant Brian Ring will moderate the Streaming Media Connect panel "FAST Forward: How FAST Platform and Infrastructure Providers Can Better Serve the Market." As with any other type of streaming delivery, FAST needs to "just work" to support publishers' monetization goals, but that's nowhere as simple as it sounds. This panel examines essential infrastructure challenges and key emerging strategies for better FAST delivery. Join us to learn about manifest manipulation vs. encoded playout; optimizing and maximizing "Be Right Back" slots as in-house inventory; using GenAI to program the channel; solving the context/genre madness with LLMs and captions; advanced graphics for background, tune-in, and monetization; QR code execution, a must-have skillset; and how to execute picture-in-picture content programming. Confirmed panelists include experts from A+E, Plex, Revry, and Freemantle.

ISE2025: Use GenAI to unlock ‘unknown unknowns’ to innovate not iterate

AI was the buzzword at professional AV show ISE 2025. Microsoft talked about the AI-powered Workplace, AI postproduction tools were said to be "transforming the industry" and UK firm Synthesia claimed it was building the world's first enterprise AI video platform.

H.267: A Codec for (One Possible) Future

H.267 should be finalized between July and October 2028. If history holds, this means H.267 won't see meaningful deployment until 2034-2036, long after I hang up my keyboard. Here's a brief description of what the standard is designed to deliver and my free and totally unsolicited advice to the committees and technology developers that will create it.

ISE 2025: Broadcast AV fuels Pro AV bonanza

Unveiling fresh data industry data at the ISE show in Barcelona this week, co-organizer AVIXA pointed to the rise of ‘Broadcast AV' and the related boom of the ‘experience economy' as some of the most significant factors impacting this burgeoning side of the business.

Broadcast news splinters and paywalls in last ditch bid to save “high quality, fair-minded, trustworthy sources”

Cost-cutting combined with transition to streaming and attempts to diversify business models are part of an ongoing response by news organizations, traditional print and TV, to irreversible shifts in the way audiences everywhere consume news. That's the background to a number of incremental and sweeping changes reshaping broadcast news--among them the pending shake-up at European broadcaster Sky News, which includes plans to create a paid model for some content and services.

Sneak Preview: Will Programmatic Advertising Overtake Brand Advertising in 2025?

On Thursday, February 27, Alan Wolk, one of the industry's most influential thought leaders, will moderate the Streaming Media Connect debate "Will Programmatic Advertising Overtake Brand Advertising in 2025?" The ability of digital media advertisers to deliver targeted messages through automated platforms—aka programmatic advertising—has enabled them to buy audiences, rather than space or time as in traditional brand advertising. In streaming and CTV, this creates the potential for substantially lower CPMs. But such a hands-off approach also raises considerable brand safety concerns, and its effectiveness remains comparatively untested. So, is the programmatic ad revolution really upon us? Confirmed debate panelists include leading industry figures from Roku, Philo, Vevo, and Fremantle.

Plateauing subscriptions push EU streamers to Freemium and consumers like it

Almost all major streamers have launched ad-supported services (Apple being the main exception) as they look to diversify their revenue streams in markets which are already saturated with SVOD. These ad models are succeeding in converting existing subscribers and growing overall subs numbers, as is evidenced in Germany.

What to expect from FAST in 2025

The rapid growth of FAST channels in 2024 shows no signs of slowing, with ad-supported streaming set to dominate as its popularity rises worldwide and the gap between ad-supported and ad-free tiers widens. But with the space evolving so quickly, one question lingers: how long can this momentum last? FAST Channels TV has just released its What to Expect from FAST in 2025 Trends Report, and Russell Foy, CEO of FAST Channels TV, outlines how FAST platforms can remain competitive in this rapidly developing streaming space.

Is This the End of the CDN As We Know It?

Recent news, like the shuttering of Edgio, signals to many the imminent death of traditional content delivery networks (CDNs). But does it really? CDN Alliance Chair Mark de Jong shares his take.

Access Advance LLC CEO Pete Moller Talks Video Distribution Patent (VDP) Pool Launch

Today, Access Advance announced the launch of its Video Distribution Patent (VDP) Pool, a comprehensive licensing program for streaming content encoded with HEVC, VVC, AV1, and VP9 codecs. The pool aims to simplify licensing for content distributors while addressing industry challenges around codec adoption, royalty costs, and patent litigation. Jan Ozer interviewed CEO Pete Moller to discuss the motivation behind the pool, its structure, and the expected impact on the industry.

G&L CEO Alexander Leschinsky Talks C2PA and Today's Digital Content Landscape

Provenance and authenticity of content have become critical issues as Generative AI-derived content and disinformation flood the digital world. The Coalition from Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) has formed to cryptographically prove content authenticity in today's digital landscape, with an eye to combatting fake content and restoring trust in media. In this interview with Streaming Media's Steve Nathans-Kelly, G&L Systemhaus CEO Alexander Leschinsky discusses the challenges and limitations of C2PA--particularly with live content--and G&L's role in helping broadcasters and media companies implement C2PA standards.

Warner Bros. Discovery the Big Loser in Disney’s Fubo Sports Move

The agreement to merge Disney's Hulu + Live TV with Fubo will not only see Fubo dropping its anti-trust lawsuit against Venu but appears to cast Venu's other main partner, Warner Bros Discovery, out in the cold.

Global Streaming Subs Set to Reach 2bn by 2029, Ampere Reports

The global video streaming market is poised to generate $190bn annually from 2bn paid subscriptions by 2029, according to new analysis from Ampere. Key strategic developments, like Netflix's account-sharing crackdown and cheaper ad tier offer, and rivals Disney+ and Max's aggressive approach to bundling, are driving revenue growth in saturated streaming markets. Maria Dunleavey, Research Manager, provides some additional insight into these findings.

Roundup: Streaming Industry Predictions for 2025

In the last few weeks, my own editorial inbox has filled to bursting with unsolicited but much-welcomed season's greetings from a disparate array of industry experts and thought leaders ringing in "End-of-Year Prediction Season" with all manner of prognostications about what's to come in 2025. Here's a quick roundup of the most intriguing, thoughtful, and surprising ones, organised into some rough categories.

Why the DAZN and NFL Game Pass Partnership is Thriving - a Q&A With Zander Berlinski

The NFL has shared its pleasure with the existing ten-year DAZN Partnership for NFL Game Pass. DAZN's global footprint gives the NFL a much wider reach, which is hugely important as it continues to expand worldwide. In this Q&A with Zander Berlinski, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development at DAZN, he highlights the factors that make this partnership a success, such as improved live streaming quality, expanding device distribution, investing in proprietary tech stacks, enhancing user experience with features like the "Home of NFL" section, and much more.

Ultra-Low Latency Interactive Live Streaming Survey Report Launches

This report expands on live presentations from a recent Streaming Connect keynote.

Why Ad Tech Is Becoming Smarter Than Ad Buying

SGAI is an ad-insertion technique that combines the advantages of CSAI and SSAI. This approach allows for more targeted ads and better technical delivery. It's part of an industrywide effort to standardise the ad-insertion process in which the server and client video player share the responsibility of ad insertion.

How Will AI Change Your Streaming Business?

AI is the buzz term of 2024, and indeed, tech companies have put a lot of resources and commitment into adding or improving AI components in their products and services. The term AI covers a wide swath of technologies, but for this column, I'll focus mainly on generative AI, or services that can generate human-like output based on input that we humans provide.