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.

SMNYC 2024: Bedrock CEO Jonas Engwall Talks Pan-European Streaming Platform Growth

Streaming Media's Tim Siglin interviews Bedrock Streaming CEO Jonas Engwall at Streaming Media NYC 2024. Bedrock is a leading streaming tech company in Europe, and Engwall discusses their new M6+ platform, which features short-form content in a vertical form, podcasts, and advanced AI search. Engwall also talks about how Bedrock aims to help stakeholders pivot into the streaming world, offering a platform that can be tailored to different countries and partners' needs.

NAB 2024: Allen & Heath Talks CQ Series Digital Audio Mixers

Allen & Heath Marketing Specialist Richard Starr gives viewers a close-up look at Allen & Heath's CQ Series digital audio mixers with their touchscreen and physical controls, automatic mic mixer, presets for conferences, garage bands, and more, and remote operation capabilities in this interview with Streaming Media's Shawn Lam from the Allen & Heath booth at NAB 2024.

NAB 2024: vMix Talks vMix 27 and Zoom Integration

Among the key features of vMix 27 are Zoom integration, enabling remote streaming producers to bring in (theoretically) an unlimited number of remote guests, vMix Senior Systems Engineer Heath Barker reports in this interview with Streaming Media's Shawn Lam in the vMix booth at NAB. Barker also does a quick hands-on demo of how the feature works.

How Can Sports Streaming Surpass Broadcast and Cable?

The first measure of sports streaming success is replicating the cable/broadcast experience, but AWS' Julie Neenan Souza insists that sports streamers should be aiming higher when it comes to leveraging streaming's core strengths, from interactivity to betting to personalization to live ecommerce. Meanwhile ViewLift's Chance Mason contends that the key to next-level sports streaming delivery is streaming infrastructure companies like AWS embracing their emerging role as D2C media companies and partnering with sports leagues and sports rights holders at that level. Souza, Mason, and Altman Solon's Matt del Percio discuss these and other emerging opportunities for sports streaming in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

How Globo Handles Latency Costs for Live Sports Streaming at Scale

When it comes to implementing streaming tech for large-scale, high-stakes live sports, often decisions around managing latency are driven as much by cost concerns as network conditions, audience expectations, and the like. Globo Digital Products, Platform & Adtech Manager Jonas Ribeiro reveals the latency Globo delivers on typical sports streams at scale and what factors into those numbers in this discussion with Eyevinn Technology's Magnus Svensson at Streaming Media Connect 2024.

Can Data Normalisation Fix FAST?

Arguably, the two biggest challenges in the FAST ecosystem are managing the ad experience and delivering ROI for the brands that support the platform. Experts, from Fremantle's Laura Florence to Fuse Media's Patrick Courtney to Media Cartographer Evan Shapiro, agree that standardising the data they collect and delivering on the promise of programmatic advertising is the key to making it all work. But as this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024 reveals, it's easier said than done.

How Premium Sports Streaming Licensing Will Shake Out in 2024 and Beyond

As the prices paid for top-tier sports streaming rights continue to reach astronomical levels, and the potential disruption created by the blockbuster ESPN/Fox/Warner Bros. joint venture (popularly termed "Spulu") teased in February, what sports licensing will look like as 2024 rolls on and who will be able to afford it is anybody's guess. Will it play out differently in the U.S. and Europe? And as costs are passed on to users, why wouldn't sports fans just stick with cable? Find out what top analysts like ESHAP's Evan Shapiro, Erickson's Paul Erickson, Dataxis' Ophelie Boucaud, and TVREV's Alan Wolk, say in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

How to Solve Interactive Streaming’s Latency Challenges

What are the biggest challenges to delivering successful large-scale interactive live streams, particularly achieving the requisite low latency, and what technology solutions apply? Nanocosmos CEO Oliver Leitz, Help Me Stream's Tim Siglin, and Motoworlds' Darcy Lorincz identify real-world interactive streaming problems and how to address them and deliver high-quality user experiences from traditional streaming to the metaverse in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

Are Super Bundles the Future of Subscription-Based Streaming?

Churn is an unavoidable fact of life for streaming services, and much of the strategic thinking that goes into trying to make SVOD profitable focuses on how to minimise its impact, whether by offering more content, incorporating ad tiers, or entering into various bundling scenarios. So what's working in 2024 and what isn't? Five leading M & E analysts—ESHAP's Evan Shapiro, Erickson's Paul Erickson, Dataxis' Ophelie Boucaud, TVREV's Alan Wolk, and Hub's Jon Giegengack—discuss current strategies to ward off churn-pocalypse in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

Synchronization vs. Latency - Which Matters More in Enterprise and Sports Streaming?

Chris Packard, Global Live Operations Lead at LinkedIn, discusses the role of interactivity in enterprise streaming, what the essential elements are of a successful user experience, and striking a realistic balance between ultra-low latency and synchronization, in this discussion with nanocosmos' Oliver Lietz and Help Me Stream's Tim Siglin from Streaming Media Connect 2024.