Survey Says: Adtaxi and IAB Assess Media Viewership Shifts, Ad Spend Trends, and Sports Media Momentum

The last two weeks of April saw the release of two data-rich research reports from Adtaxi and IAB, which revealed some encouraging, if not especially surprising trends about the ongoing shift from linear to CTV and streaming, and also the impact of sports on recent breaks in the game. Adtaxi's report focuses on audience migration while IAB's naturally zeroes in on trends in ad spend.

Digital Video is Set to Capture Nearly 60% of All TV/Video Ad Spend in 2025, CTV Rebounds to Double-Digit Growth in 2024, According to IAB

Sports, Live Streaming Events, and Programmatic Ad Tools Fuel CTV Growth

Future Today Launches CTV Marketplace: Addressable, Privacy-Safe, and Fully Transparent

Future Today Marketplace Supports Next Generation Audience Buying and Utilizes Privacy Compliant Solutions for Targeting and Measurement

The End of the Beginning? Ready to call the bottom on pay TV

Q1 headlines: Interest in Multi-view; What Value Privacy; and the Grocery Retail promise

SoFast and Deepdub Announce First-of-Its-Kind 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 localization and expand into new markets

NPAW’s Gary Hunsberger on Streaming Analytics, AI-Driven Insights, and Expansion Plans in the U.S.

In this interview with Streaming Media contributing editor Jan Ozer, Gary Hunsberger, general manager of U.S. operations at NPAW (Nice People At Work), outlines the company's approach to end-to-end quality monitoring, actionable data, and monetization support. Hunsberger, who joined NPAW seven weeks before NAB 2025, shares how the company differentiates itself in a crowded analytics market, discusses future AI integration plans, and previews growth initiatives in the U.S. and Canada.

Doubling Down on Live Linear Programmatic Advertising

The problem of adjusting a live ad buy in linear has jumped over one more hurdle. Earlier this year, DirectTV Advertising announced that their satellite TV content can now be bought programmatically in real time. This means an advertiser can see when viewing is surging and double down to serve ads during key moments. This feature will be available for programming on ESPN, MLB Network, FS1, and the Tennis Channel.

Deepdub’s Oz Krakowski Talks Expressive AI Dubbing, Global Monetization, and Live Translation at Scale

In this interview with Streaming Media contributing editor Jan Ozer, Oz Krakowski, Chief Business Development Officer at Deepdub, discusses how the company delivers emotionally rich AI dubbing for media and entertainment clients. From crime documentaries to sports and theatrical releases, Deepdub's hybrid approach blends machine learning with creative talent to localize content at scale while maintaining quality and nuance.

Live Streaming Gear at NAB 2025: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

While trade tariff wars loomed outside the halls for NAB 2025, inside on the show floors, and in various locations around the Las Vegas Convention Center, and in the cloud—because some companies feel the need to pre-announce their new gear so you go to the show knowing what you want to check out—the message was all about doing more, faster, better.

New Altman Solon Report: Gen Z Sports Viewership on the Rise in the Middle East

According to recent research by Altman Solon's Global Sports Survey, sports in the Middle East are experiencing previously unheard-of growth due to strong engagement from younger followers and creative, new investment vehicles. In this Q&A, Altman Solon Partner Andreas Tiefengraber details some of the unique regional elements that have spurned this increase and how broadcasters in other markets can use similar tactics to increase sports viewership amongst younger demographics

NAB 2025: Live Sports Streaming, TVXRAY, and the Qvest for Personalization

At NAB 2025 I set out in search of one irrefutable, real-world example of true sports streaming personalization, an innovative and unique experience that might present a mass-media live sporting event on my screen as it appears on no one else's. I found a contender at the Qvest Engage booth.

NAB 2025: 3Play Chief Growth Officer Lily Bond Talks Accessibility, Localization, and Service Expansion

In this NAB 2025 interview with Streaming Media contributing editor Jan Ozer, Lily Bond, Chief Growth Officer at 3Play Media, discusses how the company has evolved from one of the earliest captioning providers into a full-service accessibility and localization partner. With 15 years in the business, 3Play now offers captioning, subtitling, audio description, and hybrid AI/human dubbing services for customers looking to comply with accessibility laws and expand into global markets.

NAB 2025: Narayanan Rajan Talks Reintroducing Media Excel, Hero Platform Differentiation, and AI-Powered Encoding

In this interview with Streaming Media contributing editor Jan Ozer, Narayanan "Raj" Rajan, CEO of Media Excel, reflects on his first year at the helm of one of the most established names in the encoding industry. Rajan discusses how Media Excel is reasserting its relevance with the Hero platform—an encoder/transcoder/packager suite—and why live streaming, low latency, and AI-optimized encoding remain at the heart of the company's strategy.

NAB 2025: The AI Imperative

At NAB 2025, the term AI reigned supreme over other still-popular tech buzzwords like SaaS, cloud, and end-to-end that dominated previous' years shows. But before jumping or falling into the AI world, perhaps learning from the past is a good idea. As with SaaS and cloud, buying or launching a family of products with AI does not make a strategy.

Sneak Preview: Streaming Media 2025 with Conference Chair Andy Beach

Streaming Media returns to the west coast October 6-8 for Streaming Media 2025 in Santa Monica. In this interview Conference Chair Andy Beach, former CTO of Microsoft, offers an advance look at the conference's mix of tech, monetization, and content strategy, and explains why this is the show the streaming industry needs now.

NAB 2025: AI and the Three Bears

It's surely no surprise that a lot of companies at NAB are talking about including AI or Gen AI in the latest product releases. The challenge is to find companies whose AI implementations are driving the product vs. those that are just window dressing. Invariably, with some the proportion of AI hype to substance is too much, too little, or just right.

NAB 2025: Performance Storytelling in the CTV Era

On April 7 at NAB 2025's Streaming Summit, conference chair Dan Rayburn and LG Ad Solutions CMO Tony Marlow squared off in a fireside chat on "Performance Storytelling in the CTV Era." From the outset, Marlow declared, the challenge and the goal LG Ad Solutions sets for itself is to "monetize CTV premium ads from the moment you turn on your TV."

New YouGov data: How Often Do Americans Really Watch Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and Disney+?

A new YouGov Profiles analysis examines the viewing frequency of Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Prime Video subscribers and reveals striking differences by platform and age group.

Wowza CEO Krish Kumar Talks Product Strategy, Enhanced Analytics, and AI for Encoding and Metadata

In November 2024, Wowza appointed Krish Kumar CEO. Understanding where Kumar plans to take Wowza is critical to all those whose businesses touch streaming video. To learn more about Krish and Wowza's future direction, contributing editor Jan Ozer interviewed him about ten days before NAB 2025.

Via LA HEVC Patent Pool Licensors Sue Microsoft Over HEVC Use in Germany

Three licensors of the Via LA HEVC Patent Pool (M&K Holdings, Gensquare, and Tagivan II) have filed a patent infringement suit against Microsoft in the Landgericht Duesseldorf court in Germany, alleging unlicensed use of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) technology in several Microsoft products.