Merzigo Shows Localization as a Fundamental Content Growth Strategy

Originating from Turkey, with bases in London and L.A., Merzigo has become a global business by helping content owners like Warner Bros. Discovery and Walt Disney maximize revenue from program distribution on YouTube and Facebook. It just inked a new deal with Fremantle which extends its reach further across North America, Europe and Asia.

Ad supply is outstripping demand, say JWP Connatix

As streaming ad inventory continues to exceed demand, JWP Connatix see an emerging buyer's market, with biddable CTV and context-driven monetisation for live and VOD expected to define the next phase of programmatic advertising.

The Pros and Cons of Software Decoding for Publishers and Viewers

This article examines recent data on efficiency and power usage for hardware and software decoding and explores how this data shapes the value proposition for publishers opting for software decoding and viewers that wittingly, or unwittingly, watch services that deploy it. It concludes with two short surveys for publishers and consumers that ask for your perspective on and experience with software decoding. Be sure to take the surveys!

Last chance to nominate for the 2025 Streaming Media Innovation Awards

Nominations close Saturday 31 May for Streaming Media's 2025 European Innovation Awards.

ICYMI: Streaming Media Connect May 2025

Streaming Media presented its 17th Connect virtual conference May 20-22, featuring speakers from Paramount, Meta, Google, NBA, Roku, Warner Bros. Discovery, AWS, Akamai, Fubo, DAZN, Fremantle, IAB, Philo, Estrella, Eluvio, nanocosmos, Cerberus, and more, and session topics ranging from and sports on FAST to biddable advertising to SGAI to AI in live streaming to Media Over QUIC (MoQ) and more.

Addressing AI-Associated Authenticity Issues at Streaming Media Connect

On Thursday, May 22, at Streaming Media Connect, Nadine Krefetz, Consultant, Reality Software, moderated the panel "In AI We Trust? AI and Content Authenticity," which looked at how being assured of content validity is more important now than ever before in a world of AI-created synthetic content and deepfakes. The panelists were Andy Beach, Media & AI Strategist, Alchemy Creations, and Conference Chair, Streaming Media 2025; Renard Jenkins, President and CEO, I2A2 Technologies, Studios & Labs; Lindsay Stewart, CEO and Founder, Stringr; and Manny Ahmed, Founder and CEO, OpenOrigins. 

Innovation vs. optimisation in streaming delivery

While innovation is good at the outset of a transformation (such as analog to digital video), it can become counterproductive to building sustainable businesses. Continuous innovation means taking away resources from making existing technologies more scalable, resilient, and reliable—three traits that are critical to the success of something like a streaming platform.

Movies on FAST channels: spotlight or sideshow?

In the fast-evolving world of free ad-supported streaming television, movie channels have quietly carved out a meaningful niche, yet they still struggle to command the visibility they deserve. To gauge their true footprint, I examined Samsung TV Plus, one of the fastest-growing FAST platforms across the US and Europe's five largest markets (EU5) to answer the question: Movies on FAST channels: spotlight or sideshow?

BBC making AI deals with Silicon Valley and plotting streaming device for PSBs

Moves to transition the UK's free-to-air broadcasters to an all-streaming future have gathered pace with 2035 a likely tipping point with the BBC leading the charge.

Sneak Preview: origin to edge: video caching and content delivery

On Tuesday, May 20, Mark de Jong, Chairman, CDN Alliance, will moderate the Streaming Media Connect May panel "Origin to Edge: Video Caching and Content Delivery," with an all-star lineup including Warner Bros. Discovery, Sky, and BuyDRM discussing the benefits of edge caching and distributed architecture for live sports, personalisation, security, anti-piracy, and more.

Fubo Brings Live European League of Football to Fubo Sports Fast Network With Multi-Year Agreement

FuboTV Inc., the leading sports-first live TV streaming platform, and European League of Football (ELF) announced today a multi-year agreement for distribution on Fubo Sports, Fubo's FAST channel, available on streaming and over-the-air (OTA).

Sport and short-form keys to accelerating Europe’s FAST growth, say Wurl

Sports are an "accelerator" for ad-supported streaming in Europe with short-form sports content emerging as a key driver of engagement, says Keith Bedford, GM EMEA at CTV data company Wurl. "As studios and sports broadcasters struggle to tie in major upfront deals and connect with younger audiences, new models for revenue and content discovery will be required," he says. "Short-form video could be one way we start to see sports content companies garner interest and boost engagement for their long-form and TVOD (transactional video on demand) businesses."

YouTube appeals to UK broadcasters and TV producers to reach audiences of all kinds

With YouTube dominating media consumption and conversation it was perhaps only natural that the UK and Ireland's chief gave the keynote to Creative Cities Convention (CCC), a conference for the UK TV industry. It may have come as a surprise to some in the audience that YouTube is not for kids but is intergenerational, said Alison Lomax, claiming the platform reached over 90 per cent of all age groups each month.

Canela Media CMO Oswald Méndez Discusses Club Canela, a Breakthrough In-App Rewards Program

Club Canela, the first fully integrated in-app streaming rewards program of its kind, has been launched by Canela Media, a leading technology and innovation-driven multicultural media company. Its goal is to strengthen its relationship with Canela.TV users and to provide brands with fresh, creative ways to interact with these audiences. In this Q&A, Oswald Méndez, CMO of Canela Media, outlines Club Canela's unique details and benefits. 

Sneak Preview: In AI We Trust? AI and Content Authenticity

On Thursday, May 22, Nadine Krefetz will moderate the Streaming Media Connect May panel "In AI We Trust? AI and Content Authenticity," featuring Think Alchemy's Andy Beach, I2A's Renard Jenkins, and Stringr's Lindsay Stewart. As generative AI is finding its way into streaming in many ways, this panel looks at two popular use cases: deep fakes and captioning. We'll discuss initiatives like C2PA to address emerging content authenticity issues and evaluate the current state of the art and tech.

Sneak Preview: Highlights First: Gen AI, GenZ, and Next-Gen Sports Streaming

On Thursday, May 22, the NBA's Michelle Auguste, DAZN's Joe Caporoso, MTech's Matt Stagg, and WTFast's Darcy Lorincz will join Hub's Jon Giegengack for the Streaming Media Connect May panel "Highlights First: Gen AI, Gen Z, and Next-Generation Sports Streaming." As a new generation of highlights-first fans moves into the sports fandom mainstream, sports broadcasters need the agility and tech-savviness to produce and monetize personalized, short-form sports content at scale that meets the experiential demands of Millennial and Gen Z fans. If you're a sports rightsholder and you're not gaming out how to bring a personalized SportsCenter to every viewer, you're looking at where the puck was and not where it's going.

Nominate Now for the 2025 Innovation Awards

Nominations are now open for Streaming Media's 2025 European Innovation Awards.

SoFast and Deepdub announce partnership to enable FAST channels in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, and More

Powered by Deepdub's proprietary eTTS™ technology, SoFast customers will be able to take full advantage of expressive voice localisation and expand into new markets

New Q1 survey data: interest in multi-view; what value privacy; the grocery retail promise

While multi-view isn't new, the way YouTube TV has executed it is. And it's cool! It's a great way to watch sport and I've used it for news and weather too, at least during periods of intense activity.

TNT Sports losses reflect broader challenges for sports subscriptions

Losses at TNT Sports, the UK pay TV broadcasting joint-venture between Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and telco BT, increased to £187 million ($250m) during its first year (to July 2024) after a rebrand from BT Sport.