ICYMI: Streaming Media Connect February 2026

Streaming Media Connect February 2026 was all about the business and tech of ad-supported streaming and featured exclusive keynote fireside chats with Michelle Auguste of the NBA, Michelle Munson of Eluvio, and Kimmy Li of GAMELOOP and a slate of expert panels panels packed with speakers from YouTube, Disney, DAZN, Fubo, Fremantle, FloSports, Fuse, LG, Philo, Bitmovin, CacheFly, Tavant, and more. Check out a playlist with Streaming Media Connect sessions on Streaming Media's YouTube channel to catch the sessions you missed and revel in the ones you want to relive through the magic of VOD.

Vertical Leap: Growing the Free Vertical Drama Business at Streaming Media Connect

On Thursday, February 26, at Streaming Media Connect, the panel "Vertical Leap: Growing the Free Vertical Drama Business at Streaming Media Connect" assembled expert practitioners from Celestine Pictures, Hudson Vertical, Stratagem Vertical, and GoodShort to explore the ways that vertical drama is exploding on free streaming platforms, driven by mobile-first viewing, bingeable formats, and a new generation of viewers and global creators.

MWC26 Barcelona: Operators shift from selling connectivity to selling experience

The global mobile industry may be the "nervous system" of the digital world but its perennial moan to regulators, governments, and policy makers is that network operators are never sufficiently valued. At Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, industry leaders are now exploring greater connectivity by linking cell phones with satellite systems and by hoping to finally earn revenue from 5G.

Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery Reshape Streaming’s Power Balance

The proposed merger of Paramount Skydance Global with Warner Bros. Discovery is being framed through the usual lenses—debt loads, political sensitivities, and regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe. But the real story is simpler and more strategic: this is a scale play built around intellectual property.

Fox Sports to Deliver Vertical Coverage of FIFA World Cup with AWS Elemental Inference

AWS is the latest vendor to offer a solution to reformatting and syndicating vertical video for live sport as rights holders look to capitalise on the mobile first boom. Developed over 18 months with beta customers NBC Sports and Fox Sports, the ambition goes beyond reformatting highlights for vertical viewing but potentially live streaming whole games in the format.

Neutral Wireless Brings Flying Private 5G to MWC26 Barcelona with Real-World Deployments Across Land, Sea, and Air

Rapid-deployment private 5G moves from concept to operational reality at MWC Barcelona

Sneak Preview: Finder’s Feat: Optimising Search & Discovery With Metadata & Machine Learning at Streaming Media Connect

In this era of constant content proliferation and channel saturation, discovery is critical to content monetisation. Join an expert panel at Streaming Media Connect on February 26 to explore how structured metadata and machine learning-powered discovery tools bring great content to light, improving relevance, boosting engagement, and driving measurable revenue impact.

Sneak Preview: Vertical Leap: Growing the Free Vertical Drama Business at Streaming Media Connect

Vertical drama is exploding on free streaming platforms, driven by mobile-first viewing, bingeable formats, and a new generation of viewers and global creators. Tune in on February 26 at Streaming Media Connect as experts from Celestine Pictures, Hudson Vertical, Stratagem Vertical, and GoodShort break down the business models, distribution strategies, and monetisation tactics driving the vertical drama boom—and explain how to scale it effectively.

Private 5G Across Land, Sea, and Air

Private 5G does not reinvent live sport. It gives production teams greater control over environments they already operate in, and the agility to take the network with them wherever the story goes.

Sky ‘super bundle’ moves pay TV from linear to streaming

UK pay TV service Sky's announcement of a "world-first" grouping of streamers under one belt could fire the starting gun on further super bundles - though this particular union does not embrace either Apple TV or Amazon.

Sneak Preview: Forging FAST’s Middle Mile: Building Live Linear Streaming Infrastructure

On Tuesday, February 24, Nadine Krefetz, Consultant, Reality Software, will moderate the Streaming Media Connect panel "Forging FAST's Middle Mile: Building Live Linear Streaming Infrastructure." Live linear FAST lives or dies in the middle mile, where ingest, encoding, packaging, and routing determine whether channels can contend with increased traffic as audiences scale. This session explores how to forge resilient, flexible infrastructure that keeps FAST channels humming, costs controlled, and viewers engaged.

Sneak Preview: Leveraging AI for Contextual CTV Advertising at Streaming Media Connect

On Thursday, February 26, join content monetisation pros from Roku, Philo, DAZN, Tavant, Intersection, and the SVTA for the Streaming Media Connect panel "All About Context: Leveraging AI for Contextual CTV Advertising." Learn how AI-powered audience data, metrics analysis, and real-time decisioning propel tailored, targeted CTV ad experiences that boost relevance, heighten engagement, and grow revenue.

Sneak Preview: Peak Performance: Handling Traffic Spikes for Global Live Sport Streams

On Wednesday, February 25, MTech Sport's Matt Stagg will moderate the Streaming Media Connect panel "Peak Performance: Handling Traffic Spikes for Global Live Sport Streams" with panelists from DAZN, BT Group, and TATA. When the biggest moments in live sport hit, traffic surges coming from unexpected directions can stymie even the most mature streaming stacks. This panel of live streaming and content delivery pros breaks down how top platforms prepare to manage peak demand—using smart load-balancing, real-time monitoring, and advanced failover strategies to maximise uptimes when streams scale globally.

Avanci Video Signs First Licensee and Publishes Rates

The patent pool offers three billing options and aggressive discounts for platforms signing by July 5, with rates ranging from 1.6-2.0% of revenue or $0.12-$0.15 per user per month.

Cracking Cloud Gaming With the CTV Model: A Q&A With GAMELOOP CEO Kimmy Li

With the immediacy of TV Guide + Twitch, GAMELOOP's "watch and play" model lets players unlock hosted games on their TV using their mobile device or remote. The platform recently launched on Samsung Gaming Hub as the first ad-supported alternative to subscription-based cloud gaming. In this interview, Gameloop CEO Kimmy Li dives into the details of GAMELOOP's offerings, her years of professional experience in the gaming industry, and how that experience has positioned her to scale freemium models.

What Live Sport Still Does Better Than Anything Else

The future of sport will undoubtedly be smarter. It will be more connected, more flexible, and more personalised. But its value will still rest on the same foundations it always has: emotion, uncertainty, and shared experience.

Sneak Preview: Match & Measure: Evaluating CTV Ad Effectiveness at Streaming Media Connect 2026

On Tuesday, February 24, Erin Firneno, EVP of business intelligence at Advertiser Perceptions, will moderate the Streaming Media Connect panel "Match & Measure: Evaluating CTV Ad Effectiveness." As more advertising budget trends toward CTV, proving performance across fragmented platforms is critical to the success of the brands that invest in it. This panel of measurement and metrics experts from the ad-supported streaming ecosystem breaks down how marketers and publishers are reaching responsive audiences, moving from exposure to engagement to measurable outcomes, and identifying what truly moves the needle in CTV advertising.

Performance TV Becomes Advertising’s #1 Investment Channel as Marketers Navigate AI Disruption, Rising Costs, and the Fight for Attention

tvScientific's 2026 State of Performance TV Report finds the category now leads media investment, ties social as the most effective channel, and drives both revenue and brand growth

Q&A: TransUnion SVP Julie Clark Talks Netflix-WarnerBros. Acquisition 'Data Dividends'

In the immediate aftermath of Netflix's shift to an all-cash offer, Julie Clark, TransUnion SVP of Media & Entertainment discusses implications of a potential Netflix-WarnerBros. acquisition for audience data growth, the impact on content creation and curation strategy, ad yields, applied ad tech, and more.

Q&A: Bango's Giles Tongue Talks Netflix-Warner Bros. and the Future of SVOD Bundling

The increasing likelihood of a Netflix-Warner Bros. alliance inevitably leads one to speculation of how the resulting juggernaut might impact global and regional SVOD markets where superbundles already abound in various forms. In the interest of exploring the possibilities, I spoke with Giles Tongue, VP Marketing at superbundling technology solutions provider Bango about how things might shake out (depending not just on who acquires WarnerBros but what they decided to do with the acquired IP) and how the SVOD scene might tilt on its axis should this merger come to pass.