’Round the Horn at NAB 2024: Video, Telestream, Phenix, Ateme, V-Nova, Twelve Labs, Norsk, and Dolby

Any NAB report is like the story of the blind man and the elephant: what you experience is what you touch, representing a fraction of the whole and perhaps not even a good sample. That being said, here's what I touched during the show. Many of these experiences are accompanied by video that I shot of the interviews.

Netflix, Max, Disney+ Password Policing Is Latest Bid for Streaming Viability

Following in the footsteps of Netflix and Max, Disney+ is the latest streamer to crackdown on account sharing to boost subscriber growth and keep the business viable.

Eyevinn Launches Open Source Cloud - World-First Managed Media Services Based on Open Source

Eyevinn Technology, leading video streaming technology consultants, launches Open Source Cloud. A software as a service based on open source with a unique transparent model where revenue is shared with the open source authors. Open Source Cloud offers media industry companies a quick way to incorporate open source in their solutions and the option to run the same software in-house as the source code is publicly available.

MWC24: While 5G Lags, 6G and Quantum Wait in the Wings

Even while telco operators are scarred by their experience rolling out and paying for 5G, attention is turning to its successor 6G, which will begin to be adopted from 2030.

MWC24: Consumer XR Faces Reality Check

XR technology is forecast to rocket from a market value of $55 billion in 2023 to $490 billion by 2030, which holds both a promise and a puzzle. While business to business use of XR has taken hold, consumer applications have failed to move beyond the hype.

MWC24: Operators Struggle to Make 5G Pay Off

While AI was the future buzz at Mobile World Congress, operators debated how to recoup money from the millions of dollars poured into 5G networks, with repeated better regulation, wider cooperation, and promises not to repeat the mistakes of 5G.

MWC24: AI Has Telcos Thinking About the Future of Networks

AI is set to turbocharge the mobile phone industry making sweeping changes to internal processes and customer applications from telemedicine to personalised live sports broadcasts, according to executives at the Mobile World Congress, Barcelona.

Ad Tiering Pays Off as 36% of Subscribers Level Up to Avoid Ads

Landmark study of 5,000 American subscribers shows the impact of ads, bundling, and password-sharing crackdowns on the US subscription economy.

UK Broadcasters Put Free TV at the Centre of the Streaming Age

Britain's major free to air public broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 have given more details of their collaborative new free TV service that will deliver live TV over broadband.

EBU's New Global Sports Platform Includes America's Cup Coverage

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), owned by a consortia of public free-to-air broadcasters, has launched a new global sports DTC streaming platform that will include coverage of the America's Cup from Spain later this year.

Best of CES 2024

Streaming Media's Nadine Krefetz recounts media tech highlights from CES 2024

Entertainment Industry Enters Age of Austerity

More than 260,000 global technology-sector employees were laid off in 2023 from 1186 companies, some 100,000 more than in 2022. The most recent is Amazon, which has announced job cuts in Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions together with 500 staff, a third of the total, from gaming platform Twitch. 

New Hub Research Findings: Old Shows Are New Again as Consumers Navigate Streamers and Strikes

This year's edition of Hub Research's annual "Conquering Content" report confirms that audiences remain happy with their wealth of viewing choices, despite the delays in new production due to the recent major Hollywood strikes. Almost two-thirds of viewers say their current favorite show is older and has existed for several seasons, a finding that is up from 54% in 2021. Some critical moves that should be made now include improving programming discoverability and focusing on licensing and syndication.

State of Streaming Autumn 2023 Survey Report Launches

Newest version of twice-annual report expands on "pain points" and growth patterns, available for download now.

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

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

Robert J.L. Moore Talks Avanci Video Codec Patent Pool Launch

What is the new Avanci Video codec patent pool, who is involved with it, what codecs does it cover, and what does it mean for OTTs and other streaming content companies in terms of paying for codec usage going forward? Should the streaming industry be bracing for a sea change when it comes to codec royalties? In this interview with Streaming Learning Center's Jan Ozer, Volpe Koenig IP attorney discusses these implications and more based on what we know so far.

Spotify Remains Number 1 Music Streamer

Launches CTV ad business with Roku, expands audiobook inventory and doubles down on AI with huge room for growth identified by researchers Kantar

YouTube Tests Its Advertising Sway--Side-Stepping Standards, Winning Budgets

YouTube may be too big to ignore. The question for advertisers might be - is it so big that it doesn't have to play by the rules? Hunter Terry of Lotame discusses many of the unusual and unexpected advertising advantages that YouTube currently possesses and what that means for the overall CTV advertising industry.

AI at IBC 2023: The GenAI Is Out of the Bottle

AI dominates IBC discussion but application remains thin on the ground

Update from IBC 2023 – Warner Bros. Discovery Eyes “Massive Opportunity” for Ad-Lite VOD

Adrian Pennington reports from IBC about Warner Bros. Discovery's new "ad-lite" VOD approach, with its launch of an ad-lite version of Discovery+ in Germany and its new TNT Sports venture. He also reports on the recent YouTube Primetime European launch.