Where Streaming Measurement Isn’t Measuring Up

The lack of consistent measurement tools, metrics, and standards across multiple platforms continues to limit the success of streaming ads and frustrate content publishers looking to deliver optimal experiences to advertisers and end users. TVREV's Alan Wolk, Vevo's Julie Triolo, Estrella MediaCo's Christina Chung, Advertiser Perceptions' Erin Firneno, and Mad Leo Consulting's C.J. Leonard discuss the current challenges facing OTT and CTV publishers and advertisers alike in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

Who’s Watching? How CTV Publishers Measure Viewership for Buyers

How do CTV publishers deliver credible and actionable performance metrics to the buy-side brands that support them? Estrella MediaCo's Christina Chung, Vevo's Julie Triolo, and TVREV's Alan Wolk discuss the current challenges publishers face in measuring and communicating CTV performance to buyers in a clear and common language and the growing role of metadata in delivering usable metrics in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2024.

Why CTV OEMs Like LG and Samsung Own Their OS

Building, owning, and operating a Connected TV operating system is a complicated strategic and business decision for TV manufacturers whose traditional role was to build and sell boxes. Some CTV OEMs haven't gone the OS route, while others like LG and Samsung have. LG's Matthew Durgin and Samsung Ads' Justin Fromm discuss why some CTVs OEMs run their own OSes and others don't in this candid discussion with TVREV's Alan Wolk from Streaming Media NYC.

How Bundling Streaming Services Can Challenge Churn in 2024

In 2024, consumer behavior arguably remains the most vexing impediment to succeeding with subscription media, and the prevalence of churn and the abundance of competition for subscription dollars have compelled many providers of subscription services to bolster their revenue with ad-supported tiers. However, creative bundling strategies provide another effective means of keeping subscription services afloat, to the degree that the industry might be developing "bundle-itis." Experts from Roku, Philo, Bango, Hub Entertainment Research, and Lightswitch discuss the mechanics and benefits of bundling in this clip from Streaming Media NYC.

Why Didn’t Mobile Displace TV as Apple and Others Predicted?

Not too many years ago, Apple and others predicted that TV's days were numbered and that we'd all be consuming content on mobile, solo, and on-the-go, and traditional TV viewing would fade. At best, these soothsayers got it half-right, and CTV continues to evolve and thrive. TVREV's Alan Wolk asks why in this clip from Streaming Media NYC. Samsung Ads' Justin Fromm, Streaming Made Easy's Marion Ranchet, and TVision's Yan Liu explain why media viewing behavior has evolved along different lines and what drives mobile and CTV consumption among different demographics in 2024.

The State of Ad-ID in CTV and Streaming

Launched by the IAB Tech Lab's Advanced Television Systems Committee and designed to "provide standardized identity management for ad creatives" through metadata, Ad-ID is designed to bring streaming ad insertion—particularly for live events—out of "the Wild West," according to Paramount's Jarred Wilichinsky, and to stop, among other things, the mindless repetition of ads that drags down so many streaming experiences. Wilichinsky, Roku's Charlie Goodman, JWP's David Palomento, Akamai's Peter Chave, and Infinitive's C.J. Leonard weigh in on Ad-ID's progress and its potential impact on the streaming ecosystem in this discussion with Reality Software's Nadine Krefetz at Streaming Media NYC.

What Makes Streaming Bundles Work

When it comes to bundling streaming services, there are other factors to consider beyond the price point, product differentiation, and the content offering the bundle will deliver. According to Roku's Anastasia Pronin, Philo's Adam Salmons, and Bango's Giles Tongue, the key to an effective and profitable streaming bundle is identifying consumer needs and pain points and delivering a bundle that addresses those needs, and they explain how to do it in this clip from Streaming Media NYC.

FAST Company: How to Compete in a Crowded FAST Landscape

As more premium content studios start taking FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) seriously, and the number of channels continues to grow, how can independent streamers compete with their more limited budgets and content offerings? Is it more than finding and focusing on a niche? Independent Streaming Alliance co-founders Floris Bauer from Gunpowder & Sky and Tim Ware from Crackle Connex discuss both their individual and collective strategies for surviving, thriving, and monetizing with Streaming Made Easy's Marion Ranchet in this clip from Streaming Media NYC.

The Netflix Culture Memo and Diversity in the Digital Age

Praised at the time for focusing on "values and performance over rules and controls," Netflix's initial 2009 "Culture Memo" had a sizeable impact on the streaming behemoth's internal culture and across the industry as well, but it had some significant blind spots, virtually ignoring diversity and inclusion through multiple iterations over its first decade, as former Netflix Global Education Manager Lori Greene recounts in this clip from Streaming Media NYC. Weber Shandwick Chief DEI Officer Judith Harrison affirms that the Netflix Culture Memo's glaring omissions reflect a broader myopia across the media and entertainment industry, where notions of "cultural fit" that drive employment decisions rarely account for what a candidate might add to the culture of an organization. Greene, Harrison, and McCann DEI Chief Singleton Beato discuss these and other issues surrounding what the FCC defined in 2004 as "Diversity and Communications in the Digital Age" and our progress toward equity or lack thereof.

What DEI Means in the Streaming Industry

One essential step toward bringing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to a new level in streaming, when it comes not just to opportunity but to transforming workplace culture, hiring, promotion, conditions, and compensation, is defining terms. This, in turn, means reaching a better understanding of what DEI means and whose job it is to recognize disparities and work to remedy them. (Spoiler alert: It's everyone's.) In this candid and revealing clip from Streaming Media NYC, two Global Chief DEI Officers—McCann Worldgroup's Singleton Beato and Weber Shandwick's Judith Harrison—along with ThinqShift Talent Champion Jennifer Randolph and LPG edu CEO Lori Greene discuss what DEI means today and how a deeper understanding of it can provide a working blueprint for action.

Client-Side vs. Server-Side Ad Insertion: Which is Winning in 2024 and Why

Client-side or server-side? Ask 5 streaming adtech experts and you'll get 6 opinions. Streaming Media's Nadine Krefetz asks execs from Roku, Paramount, JWP, Akamai, and Infinitive which they prefer and why in this clip from Streaming Media NYC. Tune in and watch the feathers fly.

Are FAST Bets Paying Off for Independent Streamers?

Now that FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) has arguably moved past the "landgrab for distribution" phase and matured well beyond its initial preponderance of legacy content, are independent streamers' investments in FAST proving worthwhile? Execs from Crackle, Tastemade, and DangerTV—all members of the Independent Streaming Alliance (ISA)—discuss the challenges overcome and the challenges ahead in this discussion with Streaming Made Easy's Marion Ranchet at Streaming Media NYC.

FAST, Data, and Tracking Diverse Audiences

Given that traditional media measurement companies have always underrepresented diverse audiences, minority-owned content companies targeting multicultural audiences face unique challenges in tracking those audiences and leveraging the data to monetize their channels, as Publicis Media EVP Cultural Investment & Innovation Stephen Paez explains in this candid discussion with media universe cartographer Evan Shapiro at Streaming Media NYC.

How Streamers Can Help Advertisers Deliver the Right Creative

The USP of advertising on streaming platforms has always been the heightened opportunity to deliver the right ads to the right users with a specificity inaccessible to traditional TV advertising's monochromatic broad brush. But delivering on that promise remains a work in progress. PepsiCo Head of Media Strategy & Investment Katie Haniffy discusses specific ways streamers can work more effectively with advertisers to help them match the creative to consumer and ensure their ads convert in this interview with OMD U.S. Head of Video Investment & Activation Suzanne Irving at Streaming Media NYC.

How DAZN Leans Into the Curves of Consumer Engagement

Delivering premium content to broad audiences means acclimating to the viewing habits of different consumer demographics, which can make serving younger viewers with typically longform content like live sports challenging for sports streamers like DAZN. In this clip from Streaming Media NYC 2024, DAZN Global CRO and President USA Walker Jacobs discusses the engagement curves of social and CTV viewers and how DAZN has learned to lean into them.

Are CTV Platforms Like Google TV Creating a New Entertainment Sector?

CTV platforms like Google TV are filling the void as traditional cable systems recede from their former ubiquity, and arguably creating an entirely new category of content distributor, contends Google TV Product Manager UX Rob Caruso in this fireside chat with Media Universe Cartographer Evan Shapiro at Streaming Media NYC. Shapiro even coins a new term for this new entertainment sector: ‘Collabregator.'

Follow the Data or Stay on Brand? A DEI-Focused Digital Strategist’s Dilemma

Striking a balance between responding to what data tells you about your fan base's desires and staying true to your brand identity is a constant issue for digital strategists, in the FAST world as much as any other part of the media ecosystem. It can be especially difficult for a company like Fuse Media, with its stated mission of telling positive stories for diverse audiences, when the analytics say "more true crime" or "be more like TMZ." Fuse Media VP, Digital Strategy Rashaun Hall explains how he walks this tightrope in this discussion with Media Cartographer Evan Shapiro at Streaming Media NYC.

Securing Streams: What Are We Trying to Protect?

Few streaming stakeholders, from entertainment to enterprise, would deny that stream security and anti-piracy matter, but what are we really protecting when we apply DRM or other methods to curb the inappropriate appropriations of streaming content? Are we protecting user experiences? Profitability? Proprietary content? An international panel of industry experts from Synamedia, EZDRM, Vindral, United Cloud, and Help Me Stream weigh in on this critical question in this clip from Streaming Media NYC 2024.

How DAZN Monetizes Premium Live Sports Streams

Even as a leading global disruptor in premium sports rights acquisition and content delivery, DAZN must contend with the practical realities of serving customers in a broader sports streaming marketplace, and advertising and monetization strategy is inevitably more complicated than placing 15s and 30s and positioning branded integrations and the like, says DAZN Global CRO and President USA Walker Jacobs. Customization, fanbase-building, and more factor into the monetization equation, as Jacobs tells Reality Software's Nadine Krefetz in this candid fireside chat from Streaming Media NYC 2024.

Are Streaming Workflows Going 100% Cloud?

Cloud streaming workflows and infrastructure seemed like the wave of the future 5 years ago, due to the rapid growth of cloud technology, their evident advantages in scalability, and economies of scale, and accelerated adoption during the height of the pandemic. Today, streaming's cloudward progression seems like all but a foregone conclusion-though opinions vary on whether that hypothesis holds for certain live and VOD workflows, as well as productions with essential on-prem components-as this discussion involving key cloud practitioners from Endeavor Streaming, Grabyo, TMT Insights, and LiveX at Streaming Media NYC reveals.