While advertising has long been a unidirectional experience, there have been forays into making it bidirectional for a long time. The value proposition is pretty clear. If people are watching a show and an advertisement comes on showcasing a product that interests them, wouldn't it be great if they could grab the remote, push a couple of buttons, and have it delivered to their doorstep?
26 Feb 2026
During an "AI Meets Adtech" panel at Streaming Media 2025 in Santa Monica in October, I did my best to stir things up with a group of industry thought leaders that included Google's Inderpreet Sandhu, Tavant's Filiz Bahmanpour, FOX's Amit Shetty, IAB Tech Lab's Shailley Singh, and former Disney tech ops expert Sarge Sargent.
31 Oct 2025
One of the overarching themes of Streaming Media 2025, which took place October 6-8 in Santa Monica, Calif., was the rise of the creator economy. Discussions centered around the changing economics of content creation, delivery, distribution, and curation (with AI playing an ever-larger role in leveling the playing field to varying degrees at all stages); evolving business models for creators looking to leverage and grow their brands and survive and thrive; and the ongoing, unignorable convergence of creator channels and "traditional" streaming platforms. The last topic seems like a particularly noteworthy sign of the times—how many conversations carried on just down the 405 in Huntington Beach in the heyday of Streaming Media West concerned the convergence (or divergence) of streaming upstarts and traditional linear broadcast?
15 Dec 2025
Rely on streaming platforms as free-speech safe spaces while you can, but keep your typewriter and onion-skin paper handy. You may need them sooner than you think.
14 Oct 2025