Integrating AI Into CTV Search and Discovery

What Industrialized Illegal Streaming Is Costing the Industry in 2026

In this clip from her keynote fireside chat at Streaming Media Connect 2026, Verimatrix's Maria Malinkowitsch offers a snapshot of live-streaming piracy in 2026, what it's costing major sports rightsholders, why the fragmentation of sports rights and the cost burden on fans is making the industry susceptible to pirates, and how the industrialization of illegal streaming and the rise of "piracy as a service" are adding fuel to the fire and making antipiracy efforts more challenging than ever.

Why Streaming Antipiracy Needs to Move From Reactive to Preventive

Given the vast array of hacks available to stream-stealers and pirates in 2026, reactive antipiracy measures only go so far, identifying or even pinpointing the problem after the fact without preventing it, and often providing little legal recourse against pirates operating outside the regional regulatory environment where a rightsholder can pursue them. In this clip from her keynote fireside chat with Streaming Media's Steve Nathans-Kelly from Streaming Media Connect 2026, Verimatrix' Maria Malinkowitsch explains the difference between reactive and proactive antipiracy measures, and how rightsholders and publishers can pursue more effective approaches to take down illegal streams while they're happening—or at least reduce the number of pirates to "a chasable amount."

5 Preventive Steps to Fight Sports Streaming Piracy

In this cogent clip from Streaming Media Connect 2026, Verimatrix Director of Product Management Maria Malinkowitsch offers five concrete preventive steps content publishers and rightsholders can take to curb illegal streaming.

Major Sports Rightsholders Should Be Following Sports on FAST

As FAST makes inroads into the world of premium sports rights and broadcasting, will it eat away at the market share of larger broadcasters and networks? Sports Studio Co-President Cathy Rasenberger contends that with the enormous expense of sports rights and the fragmentation of audiences and fans across multiple platforms, rightsholders who don't spread those rights around those platforms—including FAST and social—will have increasing difficulty finding their audience and maximizing reach and ROI. Head of Fubo Studios Pamela Duckworth chimes in with examples of how those rights are actually divided among platforms (top-dog and underdog) in creative strategies for reaching niche audiences in this candid discussion with Chris Pfaff Tech Media CEO Chris Pfaff at Streaming Media Connect 2026.

The Agent's Station

One way agentic AI is making inroads into streaming monetization, as I learned at Streaming Media Connect, offers the potential to complement and free up time for human creativity rather than replace it.

The Fine Print

Opening our blog to a never-ending stream of guest contributors yields some of the coolest stuff we publish, with topics that would never occur to me. Though I rarely know when these pieces will arrive or where they'll come from, it is often heady, provocative stuff that I'm proud to publish.

CTV Is Defining the Future of Streaming Ads

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?

Content Creation Consolidation: Bending Spoons Strikes Again

There are a few tools that many streaming pros have used through the years, from WeTransfer to Brightcove to Vimeo. Some are essential to content creation, OTT delivery, and live streaming. All of these tools have one important thing in common now: their recent acquisition by the Italian company Bending Spoons.

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