Streaming Media Connect 2024 this February 19-22 offers practical advice, inspiring thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate. You'll hear the innovative approaches that the world’s leading organizations and experts are deploying in live streaming, OTT, content delivery, content monetization, and much more. We are excited to offer this series of web events, and look forward to continuing to provide our industry with cutting edge information and education that you can't get anywhere else.
Monday, February 19: 1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. (ET) / 10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. (PT)
Major media and entertainment companies’ quarterly earnings calls ought to pull back the curtain on what’s really happening in the industry, but they routinely bury unflattering numbers in expert spin, and the press on hand rarely asks questions tough enough to draw out the real story. With 4Q earnings calls putting a bow on 2023, M&E industry cartographer Evan Shapiro pulls no punches in this real-time response, digging deep into the data to hold the spin doctors accountable, giving Streaming Media Connect attendees an unvarnished view of the industry that they won’t get anywhere else.
Evan Shapiro, Owner + Cartographer, ESHAP
Monday, February 19: 1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. (ET) / 10:45 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. (PT)
A panel of analysts responds to Shapiro’s take on the 4Q earnings calls, what the numbers tell us, and how we can expect premium streaming, OTT, and the M&E landscape to evolve in 2024.
Ophelie Boucaud, Senior Analyst, Dataxis
Alan Wolk, Co-Founder/Lead Analyst, TVREV
Jon Giegengack, Principal and Founder, Hub Entertainment Research
Paul Erickson, Principal, Erickson Strategy & Insights
Tuesday, February 20: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (ET) / 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. (PT)
The battle for supremacy among streaming codecs is as old as streaming itself, and even as the acronyms change, the benefits different codecs promise to deliver—from minimal bit usage to maximum playback compatibility—remain as critical as ever. The latest projections show old warhorse AVC entering deep decline, with AV1 and HEVC on the rise. Choosing transcoding options isn’t so much about the latest codec flavor of the month as it is about conserving bits, keeping costs down, striking a practical cloud/on-prem balance, improving sustainability and energy efficiency, and maintaining high-performance and playability on the broadest range of platforms. Which codecs are moving to the forefront in the early months of 2024, and what do content providers need to know to make sound encoding decisions that will still look good in 2025?
Sean Gardner, Head, Video Strategy & Market Development, AECG, AMD
Andrey Norkin, Senior Research Scientist - Video Algorithms, Netflix
Hassene Tmar, Technical Program Manager, Video Infrastructure, Meta and Software Coordinator, AOM
Boban Kasalovic, Senior Product Manager, Streaming, United Cloud
Tuesday, February 20: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (ET) / 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. (PT)
The ability to identify and reach the right audiences has always been essential for advertisers, and it’s one of the key benefits for brands in streaming and CTV. Disney Advertising’s access to first-party data from across its media portfolio puts it in an enviable position for audience targeting, but it's the company's innovative use of data modeling to arrive at a deeper understanding of its audience that may well take addressable advertising to a new level in the streaming world. In this fireside chat with Streaming Media's Nadine Krefetz, Dana McGraw, Disney SVP, audience modeling & data science, discusses Disney Advertising’s data modeling strategy and how it is transforming the way brands reach and engage viewers on Disney platforms. Whether you’re a publisher, distributor, or advertiser, this engaging keynote will help you understand how Disney has discovered advertising magic at the intersection of premium content, its proprietary Audience Graph, and a scaled Addressable footprint.
Dana McGraw, SVP, Audience Modeling & Data Science, Disney
Tuesday, February 20: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. (ET) / 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (PT)
For a great deal of media consumed online, latency is irrelevant, as most media is archived and served by request, with virtually every viewer’s start time occurring asynchronously with another’s. And with much live content, however, perception of immediacy often matters more than immediacy itself. But as soon as rapid-fire interactions, along with transactions like bidding and betting and sales, come into play—increasingly the case with today’s high-stakes, large-scale live streams—time is of the essence, and ultra-low latency approaching real time becomes paramount. What does it take to deliver real-time (or ultra-near real-time) streams at scale in 2024, what are the persistent challenges, when is prioritizing ultra-low latency a must, and what are the trade-offs of doing so?
Chris Packard, Manager, Live Programming & Streaming, LinkedIn
Darcy Lorincz, CEO & Founder, Motoworlds
Oliver Lietz, CEO, nanocosmos
Tuesday, February 20: 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. (ET) / 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (PT)
In terms of overall ad spend, connected TV (CTV) advertising is projected as the fastest-growing segment of the media landscape over the next year (even if CTV advertising isn’t growing as fast as CTV viewing as a percentage of overall viewing time). As CTV and FAST ad inventory grow, how is the CTV ad opportunity evolving and maturing for brands to leverage it effectively in terms of cost-effectiveness, measurement, targeting, brand safety, and more? Is co-viewing proving as advantageous for CTV advertisers as traditional linear TV? Are there specific types of advertising that are proving particularly effective with CTV? Are there specific types of programming, such as major sports events and elections, where CTV is likely to grab more attention and ad spend in 2024? How do those factors contribute to the overall landscape?
Chris Pfaff, CEO, Chris Pfaff Tech Media and Producers Guild of America (PGA), VR AR Association (VRARA)
Aneessa Steilen, VP, Media & Distribution Marketing, Vevo
Jack Mollins, SVP, Advertising Sales, Atmosphere.TV
Jennifer Monson, VP, Ad Sales, Fubo
Tim Ware, VP, Future Today Marketplace
Mark Loughney, Senior Consultant, Hub Entertainment Research
Tuesday, February 20: 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (ET) / 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. (PT)
Content is king, but in a crowded and competitive media ecosystem when churn is always a few easy clicks away, delivering a smooth, reliable, and appealing user experience (UX) across a range of devices in the world of OTT and FAST is just as critical, both in terms of customer retention and product differentiation. What defines a cutting-edge streaming app in 2024, one that is functional, easy to use, and contemporary in look and feel, but still distinctive enough to stand out from the crowd? And what are the challenges of troubleshooting, updating, and maintaining the functionality of a top-notch app in today’s premium, niche, and long-tail content climates?
Tom Hurlbutt, Senior Director of Product Management, Crunchyroll
James Lauzun, Chief Product Officer, MagellanTV
Esther Ahn, Head of User Experience, YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels
Eileen Jackson, Director, Product, Vevo
Brandon Yap, Product Designer, Philo
Wednesday, February 21: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (ET) / 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. (PT)
Competition for licensing high-profile sports events is hotter than ever these days, with the world’s largest media companies vying for sports rights and adding sports streaming tiers. While not every prime-time plunge into sports streaming has gone swimmingly, scale and spending continue to grow. It seems like more and more streamers have some skin in the sports game today, and the demands of scale and rising expectations for individualized experiences increase the pressure on sports streamers large and small to deliver a flawless experience. This panel of sports streaming experts and sports (and esports) stakeholders takes stock of the current sports and streaming scene and looks at what to expect as the stakes climb higher.
Julie Neenan Souza, Head of Sports, Global Professional Services, AWS
Chance Mason, VP Global GTM Strategy, ViewLift
Wednesday, February 21: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (ET) / 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. (PT)
FAST has been the Next Big Thing in streaming for a couple of years now, and reports of the FAST market’s ongoing growth and maturation from a vehicle for mostly legacy and long-tail content to a viable platform for a broad array of niche and premium content continue to roll in. But how measurable is its success, and who is making it big in FAST these days? This session takes a no-nonsense look at FAST’s purported runaway success and may tap the brakes on some of the wilder claims.
Michael Nagle, Founder & CEO, Ashling Digital
Laura Florence, SVP Global FAST Channels, Fremantle
Patrick Courtney, Chief Business Officer, Fuse Media
Sam Harowitz, Head of Content Acquisitions & Partnerships, Tubi
Wednesday, February 21: 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. (ET) / 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (PT)
Industry leaders discuss and present the latest cutting-edge solutions and strategies to help you maximize efficiencies and minimize costs in your streaming video workflow. ATTEND FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A $50 AMAZON GIFT CARD!
OBSBOT develops AI-enhanced cameras that help AV and streaming professionals efficiently create stunning live streams. The flagship Tail Air 4K PTZ streaming camera combines exceptional visual quality, outstanding low-light performance, NDI HX3 support, and flexible connectivity in a compact form factor, while the Tiny 2 4K camera has ushered in a new era of webcams. This session includes demos of Tail Air and Tiny 2 and explores how they fit into the streaming ecosystem.
Attend this presentation for your chance to win an OBSBOT Tail Air AI-powered 4K PTZ streaming camera. Must be present to win.
Ryan Brenneman, CTO, MVD (OBSBOT Distributor)
Norsk empowers users to easily build even the most complex live media workflows in days or weeks, rather than months or years. Going beyond simple “source in, ABR ladder out” scenarios, Norsk enables dynamic source switching, picture-in-picture, data overlays, multi-language audio, DRM, and more. With the new no-code Norsk Studio, even non-programmers can build complex, dynamic live streaming workflows. Join us for this demo of Norsk Studio to find out just how easy live can be.
Adrian Roe, Ph.D, CEO, Norsk
Check back soon for more details.
Wednesday, February 21: 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (ET) / 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. (PT)
While AI seemed to explode onto the scene in 2022 and 2023 with the rise of ChatGPT, LLMs, and Open AI, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) have been making inroads in streaming for several years now. And contrary to what you may have heard, neither is coming for your job. But AI and ML do play an ever-larger role in the recommendation engines in premium OTT platforms like Netflix. AI also powers efficient encoding solutions that lower costs and improve viewer experiences by minimizing buffering and enhancing image quality and enables workflow optimization at multiple stages. This panel explores how AI is currently impacting streaming production, delivery, and playback experiences; how we can expect its role to continue to evolve over time; and how you can leverage AI’s benefits in your streaming efforts, whether your offerings are live or on-demand, and whether you’re creating content, distributing it, or both.
Darcy Lorincz, CEO & Founder, Motoworlds
Rob Collins, Executive Director of Software Development, Starz
Georgina Tryfou, Machine Learning Engineer, Gcore
Andy Beach, CTO, Media & Entertainment, Worldwide, Microsoft
Thursday, February 22: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (ET) / 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. (PT)
The most effective streaming workflows are flexible enough to scalable both upward and downward to adapt to variable viewing demands and deliver the high QoE viewers expect and the brands which underwrite premium streams demand. Migrating some or all elements of your streaming workflow to the cloud is increasingly regarded as the most effective way to maximize scalability and agility while also managing costs. What types of innovations are today’s most successful cloud streaming practitioners implementing in their workflows to optimize their streams? Tune in to this session for practical and actionable insights on cloud streaming workflows that deliver and scale.
Corey Smith, Media Technology Director
Jonas Ribeiro, Digital Products, Platform and Adtech Manager, Globo
Martin Bergstrom, Head of Broadcast Tech Sweden, ESL FACEIT Group
Eric Bolten, VP, Strategic Account Development, Zixi
John Porterfield, Webcast Producer, Social180Group
Thursday, February 22: 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (ET) / 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. (PT)
Optimizing streaming’s last mile is critical to maximizing streaming QoE, and the challenges only multiply when viewership scales and scatters around the globe. Leveraging traditional CDNs—and even a multi-CDN strategy—only takes you so far in addressing these challenges; moving the distribution point as close as possible to the end user is essential. But the edge point is still a moving target, bridging the last mile to the end user. What are the latest strategies content providers, CDNs, and ISPs are deploying to achieve and ensure last-mile optimization, and how do these complement each other to achieve the best performance possible?
Subhrendu Sarkar, Senior Engineering Manager, Video Platform, Warner Bros Discovery
Thursday, February 22: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. (ET) / 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (PT)
News of “5G Broadcast” trials brightened the future prospects of traditional OTA TV in 2023 with the promise of viable UHF spectrum delivery to mobile devices. Meanwhile, ATSC 3.0-based NextGen TV carried mixed signals amid patent licensing challenges that drove LG out of the NextGen game as local stations pushed forward with ATSC 3.0 plans and the opportunities for user targeting, customizable interactive options, and immersive audio that earned the format its “NextGen” rep. At the same time, the ongoing, massive growth of linear streaming services presents a formidable challenge. What will define the next generation of broadcast TV, particularly when it comes to OTA’s traditional areas of strength like news, weather, and sports?
Scott Ehrlich, Vice President, Emerging Platform Content, Sinclair Broadcast Group
Madeleine Noland, President, Advanced Television Systems Committee Inc.
Kerry Oslund, VP, Strategy & Business Development, E.W. Scripps
Thursday, February 22: 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. (ET) / 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (PT)
In the streaming industry just as elsewhere, nothing succeeds like success! Learn about real-world problem-solving with cutting-edge streaming solutions as key industry vendors and their users share in-depth stories of successful implementations and applications. ATTEND FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A $50 AMAZON GIFT CARD!
Check back soon for more details.
Tyler Riddle, Product Manager, Teradek Live
Derek Nickell, Product Manager, Teradek Live
Dan Houze, VP, Encoding & Digital Strategy, BC Live Productions
Join us for an insightful session as we delve into the remarkable transformation journey of A+E Networks, where the company reclaimed control of its media supply chain by bringing content management workflows in-house. Learn how A+E Networks collaborated with TMT Insights and leveraged the Polaris operational management platform to revolutionize broadcast and VOD edit workflows, streamlining processes, and automating manual tasks. Discover the benefits achieved, and gain valuable insights into the strategies employed, challenges overcome, and lessons learned in accelerating the optimization of a cloud-based remote edit implementation.
Dave Klee, Vice President, Strategic Media Solutions, A+E Networks and SMPTE, DPP
Andy Shenkler, CEO & Co-Founder, TMT Insights
Thursday, February 22: 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (ET) / 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. (PT)
What's the best way to draw subscribers and viewers to your streaming service and maintain the audience numbers that keep subscription services profitable and satisfy brands? What’s the secret sauce for content selection and monetization that sets successful services apart from the crowd? Tune in to this panel of OTT innovators to learn about strategies that have helped them succeed across numerous platforms, from connected TVs to handheld devices.
Chris Pfaff, CEO, Chris Pfaff Tech Media and Producers Guild of America (PGA), VR AR Association (VRARA)
Rene Santaella, Chief Digital & Streaming Officer, Estrella Media
Matt Farina, Senior Vice President, Content Distribution, NBCUniversal
Eric Sorensen, Director, Streaming Video Research, Parks Associates
Smriti Sharma, Senior Vice President, Panel Strategy, Comscore
Julia Moonves, SVP, Advertising Sales & Brand Partnerships, pocket.watch