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Roundup: Streaming Industry Predictions for 2026

The predictions game is a fascinating one, and one that's hard not to play at year's end, whether we're talking about what's to come in the next year or three, or what's just as likely to be gone. In the last few weeks, my own editorial inbox has filled to bursting with unsolicited but much-welcomed season's greetings from a disparate array of industry experts and thought leaders ringing in "End-of-Year Prediction Season" with all manner of educated guesses and promising bets about what's going to happen in 2026.

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How Streamers Can Increase Watch Times and Maximize Value for Brands

Delivering great experiences that keep audiences engaged is the name of the game in live streaming, but for sponsored streams it's also a means to an end. What can streamers do beyond maximizing watch times to keep their brand sponsors happy and ensure a stream succeeds on both critical fronts? John Petrocelli, founder and CEO of Bulldog DM, and Chris Pfaff, founder and CEO of Chris Pfaff Tech Media, discuss in this clip from Streaming Media 2025.

How to Leverage AI in Streaming Ad Tech in 2026

Whether it's traditional machine learning (ML) or its trendier generative cousin, artificial intelligence (AI) is appearing in a range of streaming ad tech use cases for increasing under-the-hood efficiency in streaming monetization applications. Sargeway's Sarge Sargent, Fox's Amit Shetty, Google's Inderpreet Sandhu, IAB Tech Lab's Shailley Singh, and Reality Software's Nadine Krefetz discuss AI's fast-changing role in this clip from Streaming Media 2025.

Brand Safety and High School Sports Streaming Monetization

For ubiquitous high school sports streamer Hudl—which, according to VP of media Adam Gouttierre, broadcasts 5,000 football games every Friday night of the season and hosts high school highlights on almost every active NFL player—monetizing content means embedding brands in their streams that align closely with the content. They are primarily "locker room brands" such as Gatorade and Nike that are not only relevant to sports, but also aspirational for the athletes in that they're also associated with established stars at higher levels. In this clip from Streaming Media 2025, Gouttierre and Chris Pfaff of Chris Pfaff Tech Media discuss the importance of matching brands with content when your audience is predominantly "communities of passion."

Is Streaming Delivering the Audience Data Publishers Demand?

Vevo's Natasha Potashnik, TVIQ's Sara Sinclair, NPAW's Bruno Giner, and Reality Software's Nadine Krefetz discuss the key data points publishers demand to understand their audiences better and where and why what streaming delivers continues to fall short for some publishers in this clip from Streaming Media 2025.

Streaming Media Columns

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.

Farm to Table

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?

AI Meets Adtech

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.

Streaming and the Success of Our Hopeless Cause

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.

Streaming Media Industry Whitepapers

Winning Attention Through Your Digital Experience

Turning insight into action across the entire lifecycle of your video platform

Gravity shift

Subscribers, bundles, and the acquisition black hole

Streaming Media Research

Revenue Opportunities for Weather-Related Streaming

Sponsored by: The Weather Company

Media and Broadcast File-Transfer Workflow Challenges

Sponsored By: Signiant

Encoding & Transcoding Trends 2021

Sponsored By: Bitmovin

The State of Streaming Autumn 2020

Sponsored By: Zixi