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!

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.

Q&A With Aarki CEO Aman Sareen: Programmatic’s iGaming Problem - App Hopping, ROAS, and Retention

Programmatic advertising is one of the most powerful tools in iGaming—but also one of the most challenging. Rising acquisition costs, limited tracking post-IDFA, and intense creative fatigue are just the start. In a space where traditional user acquisition is getting more expensive and less effective, iGaming marketers face a clear programmatic crossroads. Aarki CEO Aman Sareen discusses the ways that Aarki's latest report highlights how the most successful apps are adapting.

The Future of Media and Entertainment Unveiled at NAB Show

AI, Sports, Streaming, Cloud Virtualization and the Creator Economy Take Center Stage

Meta's David Ronca Talks Benchmarking and Deploying AV1 in the Android Ecosystem

The arc of AV1 codec adoption at large-scale content owners has been long and complex, as Meta Senior Media Software Engineer David Ronca (who also spent 12 years developing encoding solutions at Netflix) knows as well as anyone. In this interview with Jan Ozer of Streaming Media and Streaming Learning Center, Ronca discusses the integration of AV1 into the Android ecosystem, focusing on the challenges and solutions for mobile devices. 

How Brands are Transforming TV Content in 2025 - A Q&A With Joe Perello of Props

With a potential TikTok ban still looming and platforms competing for relevance, one big question looms for brands: where should their content go next? Joe Perello, founder and CEO of Props, believes brand content will break free from mobile and desktop confines to take over connected TV as the next big stage. In this Q&A, Joe discusses how brands can redefine success by creating engaging, trust-driven content that works in the living room.

Best of CES 2025

CES can be incredibly overwhelming. There are thousands of products on display, which makes finding the good stuff especially hard, so we went with the opinion of a jury of experts for the CES Innovation Awards where they have vetted products. Here I'll summarize the ones that are closest related to streaming.

Altman Solon Global Sports Survey - A Q&A With David Dellea

Altman Solon's David Dellea discusses the findings from their 2024 Global Sports Survey, with topics including the impact of younger generations' changing consumption habits on live sports, the role of AI in enhancing viewing experiences, the challenges of content fragmentation, and more.

Why the DAZN and NFL Game Pass Partnership is Thriving - a Q&A With Zander Berlinski

The NFL has shared its pleasure with the existing ten-year DAZN Partnership for NFL Game Pass. DAZN's global footprint gives the NFL a much wider reach, which is hugely important as it continues to expand worldwide. In this Q&A with Zander Berlinski, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development at DAZN, he highlights the factors that make this partnership a success, such as improved live streaming quality, expanding device distribution, investing in proprietary tech stacks, enhancing user experience with features like the "Home of NFL" section, and much more.

Ultra-Low Latency Interactive Live Streaming Survey Report Launches

This report expands on live presentations from a recent Streaming Connect keynote.

Roku's 2025 Predictions - A Q&A With Tedd Cittadine

Roku has released its 2025 predictions report. Tedd Cittadine, SVP of Streaming Services Partnerships at Roku, discusses the key findings, including the impact of price increases on audience retention, the effectiveness of advertising-supported tiers, the importance of bundling strategies to meet consumer demand for flexibility, and the growing significance of sports programming in driving subscriptions.

Chick-fil-A’s Play App: A Family-Focused Strategy with a Strategic Edge

Why the heck would Chick-fil-A start a streaming channel? Is this a completely new strategy or a copycat move? I endeavored to find out, and this is what I learned.

ICYMI: Streaming Media Connect November 2024

Streaming Media presented its 15th Connect virtual conference November 12-14, 2024, with Media Industry Cartographer & CEO ESHAP Evan Shapiro and Streaming Media Editor-in-Chief Steve Nathans-Kelly as hosts and MCs, and featuring speakers from Microsoft, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, Vevo, Philo, and more, and session topics ranging from streaming monetization to FAST strategy to OTT bundling to cloud streaming OpEx and live streaming at scale.

Making Your Streaming Gear Purchases Before Higher Tariffs Kick In

Do you have a plan to purchase electronics and other gear in 2025? You may want to accelerate those purchases to the end of 2024 because President-Elect Trump demonstrated in his first term that he had no issue with dramatically increasing the cost of appliances for Americans with previous tariffs, so there's no reason to expect him not to do it again.

Rebundling Fatigue, Ad Tolerance on the Rise, Says TiVo Video Trends Research Report

We're here to parse a new market report from TiVo called "Q2 2024 TiVo Video Trends Report: North America Consumers Getting Smarter as Fatigue Sets In Amidst the Re-bundling Marathon." The title is a mouthful, and the research doesn't deliver on everything it promises.

NAB New York: Advanced Streaming and FAST Revenue Strategies for Local TV

How can broadcasters go beyond antiquated methods to provide fresh chances for profit on their FAST and AVOD channels? Beyond programmatic, where are the income opportunities and how can they be realized? Which vendors are interacting with marketers on streaming the most successfully, and why are they doing so? Leading industry professionals from NBCUniversal Local, CBS News, Scripps, and The Weather Company debated these topics on a panel at NAB New York.

Fandom Study Finds 80% of Consumers Rank TV, Movies & Video Games Higher Than Music & Sports as Leisure Time Activities

In an increasingly busy world, consumers flock to entertainment and gaming over other interests including music, food and cooking, sports, and travel. A new study from Fandom, The Power of Me Time, explores the reasons behind this trend through three key factors - Dominant Passion Points, Emotional Impact, and Engagement - while also highlighting what these insights mean for brands and marketers.

IBC 2024 Streaming Media Digest – AI, 5G, Live Sports, Monetization, Content Curation, and More

ICYMI: here is a complete collection of Streaming Media's IBC 2024 coverage. With exhibitors, speakers, and visitors from more than 170 nations, this year's event was an in-depth cornucopia of all the latest streaming, broadcasting, media, and entertainment hot topics, including AI, 5G, live sports, content creation, and much more.

Olympics CTV Ad Performance Data From Keynes Digital Shows Lift in Streaming Sports Viewership

New Olympics and live streaming sports CTV ad performance data from Keynes Digital has revealed notable lifts in viewership metrics that are particularly relevant as Netflix moves into live sports, such as the Christmas NFL games and WWE Raw. Keynes CEO Dan Larkman details the key findings and insights from this data with Streaming Media's Tyler Nesler.

IBC 2024: The Future of Content Viewing

Women in Streaming Media presented a fascinating panel on "The Future of Content Viewing" at IBC 2024 that kicked off with some striking data, courtesy of Omdia Senior Research Director Maria Rua Aguete. With the M & E market poised to top $1 trillion in overall revenue in 2024 and 61% of that coming from advertising, "everyone knows you can't make money just from subs anymore."