Welcome to FAST Times

2023 got everyone on the same page: FAST should be part of the me­dia mix whether you are a content provider, a broadcaster, or a distribution platform.

Monetizing FAST and OTT with Metadata and User Data

Nothing makes recommendation engines—and every other means of profit-making leverage—go, go, go like data in its many varieties. Metadata in particular is the key to personalizing viewer experiences and optimizing content portfolios. AI plays an ever-greater role in enhancing the metadata quality and improving recommendations. As analysts focused on the M&E industry and insiders at major media companies playing critical strategic roles agree, data is also essential to understanding customer journeys and making informed decisions on how to reach and retain subscribers and, on the ad-supported side, deliver the right ads to audiences and the right audiences to brands.

Michael Cerda, CPO for Streaming at TelevisaUnivision, Talks Building and Growing the World’s Largest Spanish-Language Streaming Service

Nadine Krefetz interviews Michael Cerda, CPO for streaming at TelevisaUnivision. He discusses the from-the-ground-up rebuild he implemented when he arrived at the company. He describes how—in just 9 months—his team assembled and scaled the tech stack dri­ving ViX, the world's largest Spanish-language streaming service, which haslive-streaming, AVOD, SVOD, and FAST offerings.

State of Streaming Snapshot: Pinpointing Streaming’s Pricing Pain Points

Rising fundamental costs morph into rising platform costs for content owners and consumers

The 2023 Streaming Media Readers' Choice Awards

The readers have spoken! Here we present North America's top tech solutions of 2023, as chosen by the readers of Streaming Media.

Leading Independent Channels Join Forces to Form the Independent Streaming Alliance (ISA)

Ten of the leading independent streaming platforms, including Revry, Vevo, Tastemade, and Trusted Media Brands, recently joined forces to create the Independent Streaming Alliance (ISA) to promote the value of independent streaming channels, provide in-depth research of their audiences for the advertising industry, develop best practices for independent streaming promotion and development, and find ways to partner with key members of the CTV landscape.

Revry CPO LaShawn McGhee Talks Global AVOD, Analytics, Content Curation, and Inclusivity

What's it like being CPO at a streaming network that's carving out a unique position in the global media and entertainment universe and managing an expanding array of ad-supported channels and a high-visibility roster of brand partners? To find out what that role entails, what drives the tech stack that keeps such a network humming, and how Revry develops, sources, licenses, and curates its diverse content offerings, I spoke with LaShawn McGhee, Revry's CPO and one of the company's four co-founders.

NubianTV Founder & CEO Darrin Leverett Talks Diversity in Black Programming & the Channel's Ambitious Expansion

Darrin D. Leverett, Founder and CEO of Nubian Television, discusses the importance of Black programming diversity and the ambitious expansion plans of the channel.

Scripps Networks’ Senior Director of Product Yazmin Wickham Talks Viewer-Centered OTT UX Design

Recently I caught up with Scripps Networks Senior Director of Product Yazmin Wickham to get a better sense of the role a Director of Product plays in developing and managing UX at a diversified media company in the OTT and CTV universe. I learned how Scripps approaches the viewer experience, both in AVOD and SVOD models, and attempts to deliver as consistent an experience as possible across a wide array of platform, and the challenges and advantages of maintaining a unified (or nearly unified) text stack across the board.

Server-Side vs. Client-Side Ad Insertion: Which Side Are You On?

There are two broad categories of CTV ad insertion: Server-side (SSAI) and Content-side. We've had the SSAI vs. CSAI debate many times before, with SSAI often coming out on top in recent years, but the uptick in FAST viewing is changing the conversation for many stakeholders in the current media landscape. Effective ad delivery is far from a one-side-fits-all proposition these days.

OTT, the Rising Star for Cable Television Companies and Local Sports Leagues

Alexey Zaberezhniy, Video Solutions System Analyst at Oxagile, discusses why OTT is the future for cable TV providers and local sports communities.

How to Launch a FAST Channel

Free ad-supported television (FAST) has been a rapidly rising element of the streaming industry since the beginning of the pandemic. This article covers the best practices for launching a FAST channel and how to handle the challenges faced, including insights from key industry leaders such as Jonathon Barbato of Best Ever Channels, DeShuna Spencer of kweliTV, and Paul Kontonis of Revry.

Warner Bros. Discovery SVP Renard T. Jenkins Talks About Managing WBD's Massive Production Pipeline

Figuring out how Warner Bros. Discovery can pick the best technology to manage its massive production pipeline is what Renard T. Jenkins and his team do. Jenkins and I spoke on Zoom in late March about how those choices have changed in the past few years, his thoughts on machine learning (ML)/artificial intelligence (AI), and the unique demands of leading technology teams.

Streaming Media’s Trendsetting Products and Services of 2023

A detailed guide to Streaming Media's Trendsetting Products and Services of 2023.

Streamticker: The Biggest Streaming Media Mergers & Acquisitions of 2022

A look at the streaming industry's most notable mergers and acquisitions of 2022, from WarnerBros-Discovery to Microsoft/Activision to Limelight/Edgecast to Dolby/Millicast to Telestream/Encoding.com and more

The State of OTT 2023

Netflix may have pioneered online pay TV on-demand with a model that every other SVOD chased. From April 2022, a pivot was required of every player, Netflix included.

The State of Media Technology Financing 2023

The formula for business funding and investment typically looks something like this: Identify a problem, and address it with a profitable solution, a great team, and the potential for huge growth. But in media technology, there's something else most companies are fighting against: moving customers to a SaaS model and winning over media companies that want to build everything in-house. Given these inherent challenges, what are the areas where investment looks like a good idea for companies in this industry?

The State of Streaming Monetization 2023

Streaming media business and monetization models expanded and diversified in 2022 and sent a clear message: Paid subscription models were a necessary gateway to widespread streaming adoption, but now ad-supported viewing has a chance to flourish.

'Performance Everywhere' Optimization of Your Streaming Solution for Ultimate QoE

Alexander Skamarokha, Head of Performance Optimization Team at Oxagile, discusses ways to optimize your streaming solutions and get an ultimate QoE for your users.

Advertising, Bundling, and the Future of Premium Streaming

With the arrival of lower-priced ad tiers for premium streaming services, increasing aggregation and shape-shifting bundling options, ongoing changes to the streaming landscape are transforming consumer behaviour and adoption of pay TV and streaming services. But what do the numbers say about emerging market trends? How are platform providers interpreting evident shifts, and does that translate into user experience innovation? And is there really a "Great Rebundling" afoot, as so many pundits have claimed over the last 6 months?