How FAST Elevates Lower-Profile Live Sports

Even as more big league sports events become tentpole streaming events like Christmas Day NFL games on Netflix, NBA playoffs on Prime, or the Olympics on Peacock, these big-ticket matches are happening on premium platforms paying ultra-premium prices to license them. But can streaming also provide a launching pad for niche events and middle- and lower-tier leagues with passionate pockets of fans clustered by location or affinity? FAST is proving the perfect platform for heightening access, awareness, and profitability for lower-tier leagues like college athletics and grassroots motor sports. Niche doesn't always mean small, attests FloSports' VP of business development Dave Stelnik to Chris Pfaff Tech Media's Chris Pfaff at Streaming Media Connect 2026.

How to Build a Niche Sports League and Streaming Fan Base

Driving viewership and attention for new and niche sports streaming requires deploying alternative strategies for building buzz, visibility, and must-see excitement. Bulldog DM founder & CEO John Petrocelli explains how the recently launched Beach Football League achieved liftoff for the sport and its live-streamed experiences, leveraging social and celebrity involvement and choosing the right platforms for delivery and distribution, as he describes in conversation with Chris Pfaff of Chris Pfaff Tech Media in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2026.

How to Maximize Observability in Remote Streaming Pipelines

Cloud and remote production workflows have changed the game for live streaming, enabling significant CapEx and OpEx reductions, making it possible to achieve the same results with smaller and more efficiently deployed and largely off-site crews and reducing hardware footprints. But do all of the gains in operational efficiency that remote and distributed production provide come at the expense of real-time observability? It definitely brought new challenges on that end, according to Telestream director of product management Ken Haren, who explores these challenges and changes in best practices for software-defined observability and live-stream diagnostics that have come with the shift to remote production in this discussion with Zixi SVP of business development Emeka Okoli and Eyevinn Technology media solution specialist and VP of sales and business development Magnus Svensson at Streaming Media Connect 2026.

Current Uses of AI in CTV and Streaming Ad Ops

How are publishers and advertisers leveraging AI in CTV ad ops in 2026? According to IAB Tech Lab COO and EVP of product Shailley Singh, managing creative and data coming out of campaigns are two key areas; others include prevalidating creative and generating contextual data, says Sargeway, LLC owner Sarge Sargent. Both explain how these processes work and the value AI adds in this discussion with Streaming Media contributing editor Nadine Krefetz from Streaming Media Connect 2026.

How to Leverage AI in Ad Insertion Workflows for Live Sports Streams at Scale

The extraordinarily high concurrence of viewership with tentpole live streams complicates every aspect of content production and delivery, and ad insertion is especially hard to scale, according to FreeWheel VP of product architecture Jeff Ellin and IAB Tech Lab EVP of product and COO Shailley Singh in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2026, in large measure because of the pressure it puts on system responses not to add latency to the stream. Ellin, Singh, and Streaming Media contributing editor Nadine Krefetz discuss both the complexities involved and how AI can improve response times, ensure better decisioning, and prevent systems from getting overwhelmed everywhere in the supply chain when ad requests come in, particularly with programmatic ads.

Globo’s Best Practices for World Cup 2026 Live Streaming Ad Insertion

Globo director of adtech Ana Beaklini says latency has traditionally been the biggest problem the Brazil-based Globo has faced in its efforts to provide seamless ad insertion for high-stakes, high-concurrency, ultra-low-latency live events like the World Cup. In this conversation with Streaming Media contributing editor Nadine Krefetz at Streaming Media Connect 2026, Beaklini explains how Globo has addressed this issue and the best practices the company will implement at massive scale for upcoming World Cup live streams and OTA broadcasts and AI's role in hyper-personalizing Globo's live ad decisioning.

Streaming Cloud Migration is More About Ops and Orchestration than Tech

While cloud migration in streaming is often characterized as a primary technological, hardware-to-software shift, SVT (Swedish Television) Group Manager, Production Development Madelen Ottoson argues in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2026 that the biggest transformation occurs on the operations end. What's more, she tells Eyevinn Technology Media Solution Specialist Magnus Svensson, some aspects of the workflow will always remain on-prem even as operations shift, and Live Sports LLC Executive Director Jef Kethley chimes in that the biggest challenges in transitioning to cloud stem from the orchestrational demands of building out new infrastructure regardless of the hardware/software, cloud/on-prem mix.

How Regional Sports Networks Engage Gen Z Fans

With the highlights-first orientation of Gen Z sports fans, serving up a slate of live game broadcasts isn't enough for regional sports networks (RSNs) to reach younger cord-cutters and cord-nevers, sign them up, and keep them engaged. This means thinking outside the broadcast box and deploying alternate strategies via clips, social, and other types of programming, as Space City Home Network GM Jim Colasanto and NESN CMO and CDO Ahmed Darwish explain in this discussion with ViewLift VP Global GTM Strategy Chance Mason in this clip from Streaming Media 2026.

How Regional Sports Networks Optimize Distribution to Serve Local Fans Better

Like all sports broadcasters, regional sports networks (RSNs) serve a mix of casual and die-hard fans and of necessity employ a number of distribution and monetization strategies to meet those fans where they are, ranging from vMPVDs to OTA, cable, and DTC. But RSNs also face unique challenges in their efforts to serve their affiliated teams' best interests and ensure that their game coverage and other programming reflects and reinforces the dedication of their teams' fan bases and also matches the consumption preferences and needs of viewers throughout the region, as Space City Home Network GM Jim Colasanto and NESN CMO and CDO Ahmed Darwish explain in this discussion with ViewLift VP Global GTM Strategy Chance Mason in this clip from Streaming Media 2026.

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.

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.

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.

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.

How to Monitor Live Streams for Optimal Ad Server Performance

From an observability standpoint and eyes on glass, what are the key metrics to watch to determine if ad insertion is going smoothly during a live stream? Altitude TV's Dave Zur, Sargeway LLC's Sarge Sargent, Qualabs' David Hassoun, and FanServ's C.J. Leonard discuss challenges and best practices for monitoring live streaming ad performance in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2026.

Leveraging SGAI for Longtail Live Sports

With sports that aren't orchestrated for built-in TV ad breaks and a traditional broadcast run of show, SGAI provides critical advantages for monetizing sports content without pulling fans out of the action and causing them to miss key moments in the game. FloSports Product Manager, Ad Tech Adair Lyden explains these and other reasons why FloSports is embracing server-guided ad insertion (SGAI) as a good fit for their content and programming model and provides an early look at how it's working for them in this conversation with RingDigital's Brian Ring at Streaming Media Connect 2026.

AI-Enriched Metadata Drives Better CTV Content Discovery

Why are streaming services, channels, and platforms across the CTV and OTT ecosystems turning to AI/ML-enhanced metadata to remove the friction from CTV content discovery and improve user experiences? Cineverse's Tony Huidor and SUMM8's Jamie Mackinlay discuss how AI-enriched metadata and natural language interfaces are enhancing and transforming discovery and bringing users closer to the content they want to watch in this discussion with Integration Therapy's Rebecca Avery at Streaming Media Connect 2026.

Why to Invest in Lowering Sports Streaming Latency in 2026

The knock against streaming for live sports has always been higher latency than broadcast, and the agony of hearing your cable-watching neighbor cheer a goal before it happens on your screen. One could argue that live-streamed sports aren't really live in this scenario. But given the costs and challenges of lowering latency, is it really worth the investment, or should sports streamers be prioritizing other engineering challenges or elements of the fan experience? MTech Sport's Matt Stagg, DAZN's James Pearce, BT Group's Ian Parr, and TATA Communications' Corey Smith discuss the current business case for lowering sports streaming latency at Streaming Media Connect 2026.

How to Monetize Vertical Microdrama in the US

Even as the buzz builds around vertical microdrama and more and more content, innovation, and creativity flow into this new storytelling mode, how to make it profitable remains an open question. Celestine Pictures founder and executive producer Grace Gao discusses its origins in China, its transition to America, persisting quality/quantity disparities, the emergence of a few successful brands, the monetization and distribution models that will sustain and grow the industry as a whole, and how the interest of major platforms like Netflix will impact vertical content creators in discussion with Chris Pfaff in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2026.

LG Shop Time and the Creator Economy

Integrated purchasing opportunities and creator content are becoming increasingly prominent elements of the CTV experience. How are they converging on major CTV platforms like LG and webOS? Chester Goodson, LG Electronics' senior manager of business development, discusses the rise of creator programming and monetization opportunities available through LG's Shop Time ecommerce app and where the two intersect in this conversation with moderator Chris Pfaff at Streaming Media Connect 2026.

How to Achieve Seamless Shoppable CTV

What strategic and technological innovations are in the pipeline to facilitate more seamless shoppable CTV experiences? Fuse Media's Karl Meyer, Disney's Lexi Swift, Spaceback's Joe Hall, and LG's Chester Goodson address future prospects for enhanced shoppability in this discussion with moderator Chris Pfaff from Streaming Media Connect 2026.