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ICYMI: Streaming Media Connect May 2026

Streaming Media Connect May 2026 was all about delivering and monetizing sports streaming featured exclusive keynote fireside chats with Matt Graham of the Tennis Channel and Maria Malinowitsch of Verimatrix and a slate of expert panels packed with speakers from DAZN, Globo, Fubo, OneFootball, FloSports, NESN, IAB Tech Lab, Telestream, Zixi, BuyDRM, ViewLift, CacheFly, Servers.com, Tiledmedia, Norsk, 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.

15 May 2026
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AI and the Vertical Drama Industry

Hudson Vertical's Thom Woodley affirms that AI does indeed have a role to play in the evolution and expansion of the vertical drama industry, given the data-driven nature of the business and its roots in gaming and interactive fiction, along with its inherent "what you want to watch when you're drunk at 2 a.m." nature that makes the prominence and potential future predominance of AI on the creative side and how long vertical drama producers will still be telling human-centric stories an open question. Woodley ponders these issues and more in this lively exchange with Chris Pfaff Tech Media's Chris Pfaff at Streaming Media Connect 2026.

27 Apr 2026

Best Practices for Seamless Live Streaming Failover

When a CDN fails during high-stakes, large-scale live streams, is seamless failover to an alternate CDN the standard expectation in 2026? Are there no excuses left for anything but blip-free CDN switches in the current streaming climate? BT Group's Ian Parr, TATA's Corey Smith, DAZN's James Pearce, and MTech Sport's Matt Stagg weigh in on the current state of play for live CDN switching and how to ensure failover success in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2026.

17 Apr 2026

Server-Guided Ad Insertion (SGAI) and the Future of Streaming

What is server-guided ad insertion (SGAI) from a technology standpoint; how does it differ from client-side ad insertion (CSAI) and server-side ad insertion (SSAI); how does it impact or change existing streaming workflows, infrastructure, and delivery; and what benefits does it provide to streaming publishers, advertisers, and viewers? Bitmovin's James Varndell and Ring Digital's Brian Ring break down SGAI, its advantages, and a key emerging use case in this discussion from Streaming Media Connect 2026.

16 Apr 2026

Overlay Ads and the Streaming Ad Tech State of Play

IAB Tech Lab's Jill Wittkopp reviews the state of streaming ad tech innovation and emerging ad formats and discusses evolving definitions and standards for squeezebacks, side-by-sides, double boxes, and other types of overlay ads in this discussion with Ring Digital, LLC's Brian Ring at Streaming Media Connect 2026.

13 Apr 2026
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The Fine Print

Opening our blog to a never-ending stream of guest contributors yields some of the coolest stuff we publish, with topics that would never occur to me. Though I rarely know when these pieces will arrive or where they'll come from, it is often heady, provocative stuff that I'm proud to publish.

16 Mar 2026

CTV Is Defining the Future of Streaming Ads

While advertising has long been a unidirectional experience, there have been forays into making it bidirectional for a long time. The value proposition is pretty clear. If people are watching a show and an advertisement comes on showcasing a product that interests them, wouldn't it be great if they could grab the remote, push a couple of buttons, and have it delivered to their doorstep?

26 Feb 2026

Content Creation Consolidation: Bending Spoons Strikes Again

There are a few tools that many streaming pros have used through the years, from WeTransfer to Brightcove to Vimeo. Some are essential to content creation, OTT delivery, and live streaming. All of these tools have one important thing in common now: their recent acquisition by the Italian company Bending Spoons.

15 Dec 2025

Farm to Table

One of the overarching themes of Streaming Media 2025, which took place October 6-8 in Santa Monica, Calif., was the rise of the creator economy. Discussions centered around the changing economics of content creation, delivery, distribution, and curation (with AI playing an ever-larger role in leveling the playing field to varying degrees at all stages); evolving business models for creators looking to leverage and grow their brands and survive and thrive; and the ongoing, unignorable convergence of creator channels and "traditional" streaming platforms. The last topic seems like a particularly noteworthy sign of the times—how many conversations carried on just down the 405 in Huntington Beach in the heyday of Streaming Media West concerned the convergence (or divergence) of streaming upstarts and traditional linear broadcast?

15 Dec 2025
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Online Video Industry Announcements
Streaming Media Industry Whitepapers

Checklist Report: Ultimate Guide to Maximizing the Value of your Content Library

CacheFly

28 Mar 2026
Streaming Media Research

Media and Broadcast File-Transfer Workflow Challenges

Sponsored By: Signiant

09 Jun 2022

Encoding & Transcoding Trends 2021

Sponsored By: Bitmovin

24 Aug 2021

The State of Streaming Autumn 2020

Sponsored By: Zixi

24 Nov 2020

The 2020 Streaming Monetization Report

Sponsored By: Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company

18 May 2020
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