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.

New Altman Solon Report: Gen Z Sports Viewership on the Rise in the Middle East

According to recent research by Altman Solon's Global Sports Survey, sports in the Middle East are experiencing previously unheard-of growth due to strong engagement from younger followers and creative, new investment vehicles. In this Q&A, Altman Solon Partner Andreas Tiefengraber details some of the unique regional elements that have spurned this increase and how broadcasters in other markets can use similar tactics to increase sports viewership amongst younger demographics

NAB 2025: 3Play Chief Growth Officer Lily Bond Talks Accessibility, Localization, and Service Expansion

In this NAB 2025 interview with Streaming Media contributing editor Jan Ozer, Lily Bond, Chief Growth Officer at 3Play Media, discusses how the company has evolved from one of the earliest captioning providers into a full-service accessibility and localization partner. With 15 years in the business, 3Play now offers captioning, subtitling, audio description, and hybrid AI/human dubbing services for customers looking to comply with accessibility laws and expand into global markets.

NAB 2025: Narayanan Rajan Talks Reintroducing Media Excel, Hero Platform Differentiation, and AI-Powered Encoding

In this interview with Streaming Media contributing editor Jan Ozer, Narayanan "Raj" Rajan, CEO of Media Excel, reflects on his first year at the helm of one of the most established names in the encoding industry. Rajan discusses how Media Excel is reasserting its relevance with the Hero platform—an encoder/transcoder/packager suite—and why live streaming, low latency, and AI-optimized encoding remain at the heart of the company's strategy.

NAB 2025: The AI Imperative

At NAB 2025, the term AI reigned supreme over other still-popular tech buzzwords like SaaS, cloud, and end-to-end that dominated previous' years shows. But before jumping or falling into the AI world, perhaps learning from the past is a good idea. As with SaaS and cloud, buying or launching a family of products with AI does not make a strategy.

Sneak Preview: Streaming Media 2025 with Conference Chair Andy Beach

Streaming Media returns to the west coast October 6-8 for Streaming Media 2025 in Santa Monica. In this interview Conference Chair Andy Beach, former CTO of Microsoft, offers an advance look at the conference's mix of tech, monetization, and content strategy, and explains why this is the show the streaming industry needs now.

NAB 2025: AI and the Three Bears

It's surely no surprise that a lot of companies at NAB are talking about including AI or Gen AI in the latest product releases. The challenge is to find companies whose AI implementations are driving the product vs. those that are just window dressing. Invariably, with some the proportion of AI hype to substance is too much, too little, or just right.

NAB 2025: Performance Storytelling in the CTV Era

On April 7 at NAB 2025's Streaming Summit, conference chair Dan Rayburn and LG Ad Solutions CMO Tony Marlow squared off in a fireside chat on "Performance Storytelling in the CTV Era." From the outset, Marlow declared, the challenge and the goal LG Ad Solutions sets for itself is to "monetize CTV premium ads from the moment you turn on your TV."

New YouGov data: How Often Do Americans Really Watch Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and Disney+?

A new YouGov Profiles analysis examines the viewing frequency of Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and Prime Video subscribers and reveals striking differences by platform and age group.

Wowza CEO Krish Kumar Talks Product Strategy, Enhanced Analytics, and AI for Encoding and Metadata

In November 2024, Wowza appointed Krish Kumar CEO. Understanding where Kumar plans to take Wowza is critical to all those whose businesses touch streaming video. To learn more about Krish and Wowza's future direction, contributing editor Jan Ozer interviewed him about ten days before NAB 2025.

Via LA HEVC Patent Pool Licensors Sue Microsoft Over HEVC Use in Germany

Three licensors of the Via LA HEVC Patent Pool (M&K Holdings, Gensquare, and Tagivan II) have filed a patent infringement suit against Microsoft in the Landgericht Duesseldorf court in Germany, alleging unlicensed use of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) technology in several Microsoft products.

Patent Attorney Gottfried Schüll Talks Via LA HEVC Patent Pool vs. Microsoft Infringement Suit

Three licensors of the Via LA HEVC Patent Pool (M&K Holdings, Gensquare, and Tagivan II) have filed a patent infringement suit against Microsoft in the Landgericht Duesseldorf court in Germany, alleging unlicensed use of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) technology in several Microsoft products. In this interview with Streaming Learning Center's Jan Ozer, patent attorney Gottfried Schull, who is representing Via LA HEVC, discusses what's at issue in the lawsuit.

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.

Relo Metrics Gets up to Speed with F1 Sponsorship

F1 is experiencing explosive commercial growth and attracting 100+ million weekly viewers. Sponsorship spend across F1 and its teams for the 2025 season is projected to reach more than $2.9 billion. Debuting at the Australian Grand Prix, Relo's Census platform enables brands, teams, and agencies to track sponsorship performance instantly and optimize investments mid-season.

Maximizing Content Value with Subtitles and Dubbing

AI-driven dubbing has recently gained attention as major platforms like Amazon Prime Video and YouTube roll out new tools designed to expand their content's global reach. Amazon is testing AI-assisted dubbing on licensed content, while YouTube has introduced auto-dubbing for thousands of channels. Both efforts reflect a growing belief that dubbing can help platforms engage new audiences—but the results so far have been mixed.

Number of Sports Channels Grows by 105% Since Middle of Last Year Per New Gracenote FAST Report

A new report on the state of FAST by Gracenote has found that the number of sports channels has grown by more than 105% since the middle of last year. Sports programming and the broad distribution strategies in FAST mean that audiences don't have far to look to find the content they want. Viewers can watch the NFL Channel, MLB Channel, and PGA Tour Channel on Pluto TV, Tubi, and The Roku Channel. These channels primarily showcase recaps, highlights, and sports-related programming.

Streaming Viewers Are Willing to Accept Ads, But Not If They're Paying for it, Tubi Finds

As more and more streamers pile into advertising led subscription services there are signs of a potential backlash among consumers with nearly 80% agreeing that if they're paying for a streaming service, they expect no ads at all. That's according to a new survey by Tubi, which also found that nearly half of Gen Z viewers found ads that seem misaligned with their own preferences to "significantly disrupt" their enjoyment of the streaming experience.

Finding the Elusive Viewer: A Q&A with Samsung Ads Head of Insights Justin Fromm

I spoke with Justin Fromm, Head of Insights, Samsung Ads recently about how Samsung as an OEM works with consumer data.

How to Move FAST Forward: Six Action Items for Free Streaming's Future

At Streaming Media Connect 2025 I moderated a session called "FAST Forward" with panelists from A+E, Fremantle, Plex, and Revry. We looked at how FAST platforms and providers can better serve their channel customers. Drawing on insights from the panel, here are six key action items to move our industry forward.

Outage at the Oscars: Producing Live Streams Is Harder Than it Looks

The Oscars were broadcast March 2nd on Disney-owned ABC and streamed on Hulu. However, the livestream was reportedly beset with problems.