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The Streaming Wars Are Over — So What Happens Next?

The streaming wars as we know it are over. Once fierce competitors are now collaborating on turf that's increasingly not even owned by them. The industry is moving away from a Subscription Economy and towards a more complex, and more lucrative, Bundle Economy — but what does this mean for subscription providers? Anil Malhotra, co-founder and CMO at subscription platform, Bango, discusses how this shift will affect the future of streaming, and how subscription-based businesses of all sizes can succeed in this new landscape.

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Choosing Streaming Codecs for QoE and Perceptual Quality

The cynics in the streaming pundit class often liked to say that transcoding video for streaming delivery is about taking good video and making it worse. The challenge, of course, is to make whatever quality degradation results from compression as imperceptible as possible. Choosing the right codecs for live or on-demand streaming requires balancing multiple considerations, from player and playback compatibility to conserving bit and preserving quality, and in this clip from Streaming Media Connect, perceptual quality expert and IMAX CPO Abdul Rehman discusses the key decisions that go into choosing a streaming codec when trying to deliver the best QoE to end viewers.

How Sports Broadcast Rights Impact At-Home and In-Arena Streaming Experiences

Many innovative sports streamers are looking to expand opportunities for interactive sports experiences, including those that connect viewers in the venue with those watching at home. Often the creativity is there and so is the tech, but in leagues like the NHL, NBA, NASCAR, broadcast rights are the roadblock, as Next League SVP Strategic Solutions Tim Brady explains in this discussion with VideoRx's Robert Reinhardt at Streaming Media Connect.

Key Live Sports Streaming Ad Tech Trends for 2025

How will ad tech and ad experiences evolve for large-scale live sports streams in 2025? Is current architecture up to the challenge? Expert opinions vary dramatically, as we learn in this heated debate Streaming Media Connect featuring Paramount's Jarred Wilichinsky, Victory+'s Narendra Nag, Index Exchange's Rob Hazan, and FanServ's C.J. Leonard.

How YouTube and Paramount Maximize QoS and QoE in Live Streaming Workflows

Although quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) are critical to successful VOD and live streaming delivery, the metrics used and the workflow challenges are different for live. YouTube's Sean McCarthy and Paramount's Nishant Sirohi enumerate the differences and the key strategies for succeeding with live when the stakes are high in this conversation with PADEM Media Group's Allan McLennan at Streaming Media Connect.

Streaming Media Columns

In Defense of (Click to) Cancel Culture

For all its promise, and despite officially going into effect in mid-January, the Fededral Trade Commission's Click to Cancel rule for streamlining streaming and other cancellations remains largely in limbo, due in part to its all-deliberate-speed effective compliance date of May 14 and also because of legal and political challenges from the Chamber of Commerce and others.

The Blurring of Shared Experiences Via Streaming

The shared experience of enjoying a program that's happening at (or very near) the same time as reality is gone. YouTube, Facebook, et al. are typically 20 or more seconds behind when the event happened. Streaming services and apps can have their own pathways and delays. Add more viewers or more processing, and it can get longer.

Designing Streaming Experiences for Seniors

As I celebrate my one-year anniversary of relocating to my hometown of St. Louis to care for my 84-year-old mother, I'm looking at 2025 as a year of improved UI and UX for seniors, particularly those with memory issues.

Why Ads Are Good for Streaming

The streaming business model must change. Services that rely solely on subscriptions are going to plateau. They will have to continually return to their subscriber base and "milk" them for additional revenue via fee hikes. But by taking the plunge and embracing advertising as the primary part of creating and supporting quality television, streaming services will meet the ultimate need of their viewers: getting to see the content they want.

Streaming Media Research

Revenue Opportunities for Weather-Related Streaming

Sponsored by: The Weather Company

Current Trends in Ultra-Low Latency Interactive Live Streaming

Sponsored by: AMD

Live-Streaming Technology Trends 2024

Sponsored by: Softvelum

Media and Broadcast File-Transfer Workflow Challenges

Sponsored By: Signiant