Roundup: Streaming Industry Predictions for 2025
As 2024 draws to a close, ’tis the season for many things—not least among them, in the streaming industry as in most other places, year-end recaps, and even better, predictions for the coming year. In just the last week we’ve published a survey—Current Trends in Ultra-Low Latency Interactive Live Streaming—that provides a fascinating snapshot of where the burgeoning live side of streaming stands and more importantly where it’s going (since interactive live streaming is no more a stand-still proposition than a lean-back one). We’ve also published some one-off glimpses at what’s just around the bend for the streaming world from the likes of Roku SVP of Streaming Services Partnerships Tedd Cittadine and a long-range forecast from Ampere Analysis on global streaming growth over the next 5 years.
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 prognostications about what’s to come in 2025.
Here’s a quick roundup of the most intriguing, thoughtful, and surprising ones, organized into some rough categories. There’s much food for thought here, but no prediction’s inclusion should be read as an endorsement. We can reasonably expect some to come partly or mostly or entirely true, while others might leave us scratching our heads in December 2025 when we realize how far they missed the mark. And if some of these predictions haven’t come true a year from now, maybe they were just a little too far-seeing, and these forecasts will look better in 2026.
Thanks to one and all for their insight, and for sticking their necks out with these predictions—especially the boldest and bravest of the bunch. And without further ado, let the professional prognosticating begin.
AI Here, There, and Everywhere
From AI-After to AI-First: “In 2025, I predict media and entertainment companies will shift to an ‘AI-first’ approach rather than “AI-after.” This will enable companies to fully harness AI’s potential and drive innovation, efficiency, and growth across their businesses. One area where I see this strategy shift making the biggest impact is with multimodal AI models. Harnessing the power of multimodal AI will enable content creators to optimize production workflows and even edit videos by leveraging their own voice in a conversational interface! It will also break down accessibility barriers by giving businesses the opportunity to seamlessly caption, translate, and dub content to create audio descriptions. We will have the power to make content universally available and globally monetizable. With this and more, 2025 looks to be a year of true transformation for the industry.”—Albert Lai, Global Director, Media & Entertainment, Google Cloud
Context Is Everything: “The topic of AI was everywhere in 2024 and that will continue in 2025. The impact of AI will be felt first in content production and there will be a lot of conversation about how it will improve advertising, from contextual targeting based on better mapping of content genres, moods, and so on, to generative AI creating more personalised ad creatives. It will also create efficiencies on the adtech side as it has the potential to help process huge amounts of data, especially in programmatic, and make better decisions.”—Tim Sewell, CEO, https://www.yospace.com/
Collision Course: 2025 will be the year when privacy, contextual targeting, and AI intersect. With heightened regulatory pressures and consumer awareness around privacy, the traditional models of building audiences based on persistent identifiers will have to be re-engineered. The good news is that advances in AI and technology can now leverage first-party data and PII-agnostic non-deterministic algorithms for effective audience building and targeting, aligning with the evolving privacy standards and consumer expectations yet delivering on the promise of superior outcomes for brands. We predict that this next wave of contextual targeting—Contextual 2.0—powered by advanced, privacy-friendly technologies, will gain broader adoption in the coming year.—Vikrant Mathur, Co-Founder, Future Today
Deep Fakes Depth Chart: “2025 will see increasing demand for tools and techniques that help detect AI-amended and enhanced content, such as deep fakes. We expect this to result in demands for legislation to regulate the use of AI in content manipulation, and we are optimistic that we will quickly see developments to complement human efforts. In the meantime, content owners will start figuring out their level of tolerance for any manipulation before taking action. While they might turn a blind eye to memes, their red line could be a change to key scenes or even more serious content manipulation.”—Chris White, Chief Architect, Friend MTS
AI and Existing Adtech: “A word of caution on AI, though. The quickest way to better monetization for media owners is to improve the performance of their current adtech setups, ensuring they’re getting maximum value from their inventory. They need to maximize fill-rates and do so at scale if they are to thrive in the streaming age.”—Tim Sewell, CEO, https://www.yospace.com/
AI, Piracy, and the Human Factor: “AI is no silver bullet for fighting piracy today. Instead, we need a holistic approach to combat the use of AI by pirates while emphasizing the importance of human oversight in AI decision-making. Over the next few years, we will see AI being used increasingly to automate many of the anti-piracy processes to bolster efficiency and effectiveness. While it will become better at detecting stolen content, it will continue to need to involve and hand over to human investigators to pursue further. Those humans will also continue to use their judgement and interpretation of in-depth data, assisted by AI, before taking further action.”—Chris White, Chief Architect, Friend MTS
Adtech, Ad Talk, Ad Takes
OTT Monetization Maturing: “With ad-based streaming an increasingly important element of many media owners’ businesses, we’ll see a real desire to eke out the maximum value of ad inventory. That means a closer focus on dynamic ad insertion and how it engages with the adtech ecosystem to maximise ad revenues.”—Tim Sewell, CEO, https://www.yospace.com/
Get With the Programmatic: “By 2025, programmatic advertising is set to become the dominant method for buying ads on Connected TV (CTV), revolutionizing how advertisers reach and engage audiences. Programmatic’s ability to deliver real-time, data-driven targeting and continuous campaign optimization is transforming the TV ad landscape, offering unprecedented precision and efficiency. As the adoption of programmatic grows, more integrated solutions are expected to streamline the ad buying process, enhancing both the speed and effectiveness of campaigns. This shift is empowering advertisers to better align their media spend with performance, driving better results in an increasingly competitive space. However, there will be more pressure on CTV to improve attribution capabilities, particularly if more DTC and SMBs are to come on board.”—Mike Seiman, CEO & Founder at Digital Remedy
SGAI Arising: “2025 will see the industry scale new heights in viewer experience. We will also hear more industry conversation about server-guided ad insertion (SGAI), which is part of an industry-wide effort to standardise the ad insertion process and will create added efficiencies for monetising features such as longer DVR windows. As broader player support comes online, I expect SGAI to drive AVOD deployments as media owners take advantage of the faster loading times that SGAI offers, alongside other benefits of server-side ad stitching technology compared to client-side based deployments.”—Tim Sewell, CEO, https://www.yospace.com/
The Elephant in the Room: “A second Trump administration could significantly reshape the digital advertising landscape, with relaxed regulations benefiting big tech and digital ad platforms. Key changes could include a rollback of privacy laws and revocation of Section 230 restrictions, reducing compliance costs and expanding targeting capabilities. Corporate tax cuts would also free up more capital for businesses, boosting ad budgets in sectors such as e-commerce, tech, and retail, fueling growth in digital advertising. Tariffs could also raise prices on cars and other imports, throwing off consumer spending habits. Additionally, fewer regulatory hurdles might spur further investment in AI and automation, driving innovation in programmatic advertising and improving campaign efficiency. However, the backtracking on privacy protections could create a more fragmented regulatory environment (numerous state laws remain in effect), eroding consumer trust in digital platforms and ultimately forcing advertisers to reconsider their strategies and shift budgets away from certain digital channels.”—Mike Seiman, CEO & Founder at Digital Remedy
Tracking Shots: “Tracking of ad views, as opposed to ads stitched, is important for brands looking to invest in OTT. As is transparency and the ability to provide real-time metrics that can help media owners improve campaign performance while they’re happening, rather than just showing results 24-hours after the fact.”—Tim Sewell, CEO, https://www.yospace.com/
In Search of a Single Source of Truth: “The ad tech industry still faces fragmentation across devices, ad formats, methodologies, KPIs, metrics and workflows. One aspiration is to streamline and standardize processes and interactions among advertisers, ad tech platforms, CTV publishers and viewers as well. As technology evolves rapidly, addressing fragmentation remains essential for delivering a seamless user experience and effectively optimizing brand messaging. Establishing a common currency could be a game-changer, simplifying workflows and unlocking new budgets as audiences increasingly transition from traditional TV to streaming platforms.—Vikrant Mathur, Co-Founder, Future Today
Monetizing Sports Streaming at Scale: “2025 may not feature the same level of global sporting events and high-profile elections as 2024 did, but nevertheless OTT audiences as a whole will continue to surge. Broadcasters are also entering a phase of preparation for the football World Cup and other major events in 2026. Ensuring the best possible viewer experience while maximizing monetization will remain priorities as the tech that underpins them is tested at new levels. Regardless of the stream stitching method (SSAI or SGAI), add-ons such as prefetch will be critical to monetizing OTT at scale.”—Tim Sewell, CEO, https://www.yospace.com/
Subscription Prescriptions
A Downturn in Churn? “When Disney+ launched in 2019, D23 members who signed up for a 3-year plan received a 33% discount. This strategy—bolstered by the pandemic—enabled Disney+ to exceed its initial subscriber goals years ahead of schedule. It also gave the service a runway to focus on building rather than combating churn. Today, churn is the bane of every streaming platform. In 2025, I predict we’ll see more services combat churn through long-term subscription discounts or by offering easy “click-to-freeze” options instead of outright cancellations.” –Jon Giegengack, Principal and Founder, Hub Entertainment Research
Rebundling Redux: “New streamer bundles from major Internet providers—such as Charter with Disney+ and MAX or Comcast with Netflix and Apple TV+—will gain traction in 2025. These bundles, offering better pricing and content aggregation, will prompt consumers to reconsider the value of subscribing to individual services.” –Jason Platt Zolov, Senior Consultant, Hub Entertainment Research
Prime Time for Disney: “Disney and Netflix remain notable holdouts from selling their services through Amazon Prime Channels. In 2025, I predict Disney will test the waters by offering select services—potentially Hulu content—on Amazon Channels to broaden their reach and increase engagement.” –Jason Platt Zolov, Senior Consultant, Hub Entertainment Research
Tier 2 Team-Ups: “In 2025, I predict at least one second-tier streaming service—Max, Paramount+, or Peacock—will cease to exist as a standalone platform. Instead, it may merge with another streamer to form a new service or be acquired by a deep-pocketed suitor and combined with other video offerings.” –Mark Loughney, Senior Consultant, Hub Entertainment Research
Best of the Rest
CDN Evolution: “The public CDN market has contracted after years of consolidation, reducing available capacity even as demand grows. Netflix’s record-breaking 60M+ concurrent stream for Tyson vs. Paul on a private CDN underscores the trend toward hybrid architectures. The future belongs to hybrid environments that combine global reach, QoE-based automated infrastructure switching, reserved capacity, improved security, and a seamless user interface.”—Marc Baillavoine, CTO, Video Network, Synamedia
Compression Renaissance: “In 2024, many rediscovered the value of compression, realizing ‘good enough’ quality wasn’t good enough—neither for audiences nor CDN bills. With ML/AI driving leaps in coding efficiency, 2025 could mark the decisive chapter in the AV1 vs. VVC showdown.”—Marc Baillavoine, CTO, Video Network, Synamedia
Social Media’s Gap: “We expect 2025 will bring the first serious attempts to align with social media and establish standards. Because each social media platform has its own technology stack, collaboration is currently challenging. Establishing standards for the delivery of short-form videos and fast-growing live streams on social platforms is a priority as existing CDNs reach their limits. Initiatives such as Media Over Quic are a step in the right direction while SVTA working groups also hold potential.”—Marc Baillavoine, CTO, Video Network, Synamedia
Open-Source Ascendancy: “Open source is reshaping the industry. Projects like SVT-AV1 and dav1d have been pivotal for AV1’s momentum over VVC. We expect more vendors to embrace open source, recognizing it as the fastest path to global tech adoption.”—Marc Baillavoine, CTO, Video Network, Synamedia
Pirates and the High C (Suites): “Unless everyone in your organization pulls together as a team, you will not be able to take on your biggest competitor in 2025: pirates. The challenge most content owners and video service providers face is that different parts of their businesses often have opposing priorities. While the security or legal teams might demand monitoring, watermarking or blocking services to tackle piracy, others in the finance, product or IT departments may disagree about the priority, cost or implementation. The way to overcome this is with a piracy strategy driven by the C-suite. An important part of this process is changing mindsets from thinking about tackling piracy as a cost center to instead recognizing how it can protect existing revenues, in addition to generating new revenues. One of the first steps in this process is to consider investing in a security audit or content monitoring engagement to have the data and insights to hand to understand the piracy landscape for your content and any specific vulnerabilities you may need to address, and to then devise the most effective strategies to maximize your ROI.”—Chris White, Chief Architect, Friend MTS
News goes extremely online: “Young people are abandoning TV news in favor of social media sources, as evidenced by an election night where most TV networks saw their audience plummet while YouTube thrived. In 2025, I predict news organizations will double down on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, emphasizing short-form news content and shifting away from expensive TV personalities who fail to deliver ratings in line with their paychecks.” –Jon Giegengack, Principal and Founder, Hub Entertainment Research
Women’s Sports on the FAST Track: “A major FAST channel will acquire streaming rights to packages of several major women’s sports including the WNBA.” –Mark Loughney, Senior Consultant, Hub Entertainment Research
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