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Sports/eSports > Blog

On the go or in the living room, sports and esports video viewers are some of the most demanding and passionate audiences out there, and streaming is enabling delivery of the biggest games and the smallest leagues alike.

Here you'll find Streaming Media's coverage of the technology and business behind the growing sports and esports streaming market.

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The Pivotal Role of Real-Time Stream Monitoring in Elevating Live Sports Streaming Quality

Anupama Anantharaman of Interra Systems explores the crucial role that media content QC and monitoring plays in delivering live sports content to viewers and the significance of media content QC and monitoring as the final step in assuring high-quality streaming for live sports events.

Instant Replay: Streaming Media Connect 2023

ICYMI--Streaming Media presented its 11th Connect virtual conference August 22-24, with Evan Shapiro as host and MC, a cracking keynote from NBCUniversal VP Quincy Olatunde, and 12 dynamic panel discussions featuring industry luminaries sharing their expertise on topics ranging from OTT to FAST to generative AI to emerging codecs to edge delivery to streaming at scale and more. The full archived conference is available right here!

Musk vs. Zuckerberg: The Future of Interactive Livestreaming Takes Center Stage

Vanessa Mullin of Agora discusses the much-anticipated - and undeniably bizarre - live-streamed fight match between tech titans Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, and the ways that both X and Meta can extract maximum value from streaming this event.

How ESPN Could Break the Cable TV Model

Ian Greenblatt of JD Power discusses the rise of ESPN, its entrenchment as a cable TV subscription must for any sports fan, and why it is now poised to unravel cable bundles with the launch of a possible full standalone streaming platform.

Netflix and the Challenges of Live Streaming

Brad Altfest of Agora discusses Netflix's move into live sports streaming and the challenges they and other established platforms face in managing large-scale live-streaming events.

Where Does Attention Lead? Why You Need to Link Attention Measurement to Outcomes

Chris Kelly of Upwave discusses why attention is one of the most discussed topics in marketing today, and he outlines what that attention is worth, where it leads, and why there is a need for standardization in the field.

What Massive Video Streaming Events Can Teach About Team and Infrastructure Resilience

Jodell Morency of NS1 discusses some critical steps for streaming platforms to better optimize and create resiliency to best facilitate the seamless delivery of massive streaming events such as the Super Bowl, the Grammys, and March Madness.

The Challenges of Testing Live Streaming Broadcasts

Adrian Garcia of Applause discusses the challenges of testing live-streaming broadcasts and the new testing approaches that should be taken to minimize disruptions.

Live from the Carrier Edge

As streaming increasingly becomes the preferred consumption model for some of the world's most-watched content, expectations for high-quality and a great user experience are intensifying.

Beer, Betting, and Streaming, Oh My! A Super Bowl Advertising Analysis

Super Bowl ads, while a relatively small sample, are a decent indicator of trends in overall advertising demand. John Link from AdImpact reviews the last three years, and the trends are clear: a few categories like Crypto and Covid-related PSAs are waning, largely being replaced by new categories like Sports Betting and Streaming, and there is more competition in established categories like QSR and Beer.

The Video Captioning Conundrum

James Broberg of StreamShark discusses why video captioning is essential for accessibility to video content and increasing viewer comprehension.

Breaking Down Video Streaming’s Acronyms: SVOD, AVOD, FAST, and TVOD

Delving into the video streaming space can feel like wading through acronym alphabet soup. Charles Mellilo of Endeavor Streaming provides a comprehensive breakdown of the various forms of streaming media, along with each one's specific benefits and challenges.

Securing the Streamers

Chris Harris, EMEA Technical Director of Thales, discusses the best approaches for enabling DRM to protect intellectual property, such as controlling playback, region locking, and paywall screening.

Live Sports Are Headed to Streaming Services, and Audiences Are Ready

As audiences continue to increase their streaming consumption, sports are ready to join the ranks of hit programs like Stranger Things, Only Murders in the Building, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. And with new streaming-exclusive deals involving the NFL and MLS in play, fans are ready, as more than one-third of U.S. homes now access TV programming strictly through an internet connection.

Your Guide to Collaborating With Streamers to Drive Positive ROI

It's essential to treat streamers as true collaborative partners by building reciprocal relationships that go beyond the merely transactional. The content you propose must be a natural fit and feel authentic to their audience so that you both profit.

You Can Win The Streaming Wars! The Answer Is Interactivity

Streaming services are in a fragile state with decreasing profitability and subscription numbers. Exclusive content and bundling with other services certainly help differentiate, but the key to winning the streaming wars is keeping viewers engaged through interactive features to avoid churn and to further maximize revenue. To do this properly, the technology employed must be in real-time and in sync so everyone can engage at the same time. 

Monetization in the Streaming Era: Creating a Win-Win Relationship

While the fight between advertising and subscription, and between server-side and client-side ad insertion rages on, streaming services can ramp up monetization with data-driven, direct-to-consumer (D2C) sports and esports offerings

Scale Up to the Future of Live Streaming at Streaming Media East 2022

To help you manage the current and emerging challenges of live streaming at scale, Streaming Media East 2022-May 24-25, live and in-person-features a jam-packed Live Streaming at Scale track, including how-to's and best practices to make sure your live events go off without a hitch, whether your audience is in the thousands or the millions.

What Does It Mean To Be 'Better Than Broadcast?'

"Better than broadcast" has been much discussed among those in the business of providing broadcast and streaming media technologies. It is a call to action that asks how we can improve over the traditional expectation of how broadcast looks, feels and operates. It is a redefinition of what—or who—even qualifies themselves as a broadcaster anymore. It is an effort to get creative, easy-to-use, "broadcast-quality" tools in the hands of more creators.

How 5G Will Impact the Media Supply Chain

After a case of too much hype too early, 5G is having real impact on consumer experiences and, more importantly for the streaming media industry, video acquisition and delivery.