Blog

With 2025 well underway, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how the media and entertainment industry measured up to our predictions from last year. The verdict? Many of our experts’ forecasts were right on the mark, while others unfolded in unexpected...

For streaming, broadcasting, or advertising, live sports represent some of the most exciting and most complex events to manage — and some of the most lucrative, particularly when it comes to breaking into new markets.  

But when you’re only live once...

With a subscription video on demand (SVOD) services market expected to surpass $1.2 billion by the end of this year, it’s no wonder that entertainment and media companies are looking at the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with increased focus. While the...

Linear television isn’t dead, but it certainly isn’t the same as it was even five years ago. As content delivery and consumption shift toward digital platforms, content owners and distributors find themselves navigating a rapidly evolving landscape. The rise of streaming services has...

As we approach the halfway point of the decade, events of the past year underscore just how appropriate the name the “Roaring 20s” really is for the current era of media and entertainment. From dramatic advances in AI and ML technology and crumbling...

Allison Olien, Vice President and General Manager for Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS), is witnessing firsthand how the changes, challenges, and new opportunities for MVPDs and content providers are evolving the industry faster than ever. She took some time to reflect on how...

It takes more than just a killer catalog or cutting-edge creative to stand out in today’s media markets. The winners are harnessing the power of emerging technologies to simplify operations, drive more value from data, and bring analytics to the forefront of decision-making...

There is no denying that Operators — MVPDs and virtual MVPDs (vMVPDs) — are in a complex place in the video value chain. The requirement to manage rights across all content providers can be overwhelming, time consuming, and expensive. The need to streamline...

Content providers and programmers are always on the lookout for new ways to monetize their content. Non-linear, on-demand streaming experiences may seem to dominate the conversation, but it would be completely wrong to interpret the rise of on-demand as a consumer rejection of...

How you deliver content to the user can have big implications on quality of experience. How fast, and reliably, content is delivered is often a major factor in signal interruptions, latency issues, and buffering.

In episode 5 of our series, Peter Gibson, Executive...

New features and greater interactivity add up to a richer experience for viewers – and stronger returns from your investments in content and technology. To maintain an operation that evolves with audiences, it’s important to stay centered on what experiences you want to...

2019 is proving to be another huge year for the industry, as some of the biggest entertainment brands are poised to launch new streaming and on-demand destinations of their own. Where business models used to be split up more clearly between subscriber-based approaches...

SCTE 224 – known affectionately as “Scuddy 224” – refers to an expanded Event Scheduling and Notification Interface (ESNI) standard that was launched in 2015 by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE). Simply put, SCTE 224 was borne from the increased need...

A consistently fresh blend of live and on-demand content puts businesses on a strong path to attract viewers and keep them engaged. We’re seeing a shift in the industry where more content is being served via terrestrial delivery, while still working to preserve...

Channel origination has come a LONG way in just the last two decades. Allison Olien, Executive Director at Comcast Technology Solutions, provides a peek behind the curtains to see what video delivery used to be like, how it looks today, and where it's headed.

Media and entertainment companies around the world deliver content to all screens that spans multiple time zones and regions. To create a more compelling viewing experience and keep viewers watching for longer, they may deliver time-delayed content across time zones and allow for...

“When consumers are paying for something or receiving video from a big-brand media company, they expect a premium high-quality experience. It has to be as good as TV, on every platform and device – and that’s our main priority in the years...

It’s been a long quarter this week.

At least around our virtual office, that’s been a general consensus pretty much all year long. It’s a feeling that gets stronger as we look a back to the beginning of the year. Remember, way back...

Make “me-time” more accessible to your audience, regardless of the situation.

No matter how your business sees the future, keeping pace with evolving viewing habits is critical to growing your audience. Consumers now expect the ability to curate their own viewing experiences, including...

A strong relationship between content creator and consumer is built on reliable, consistent, playback experiences. Don’t leave your customers stranded without the connection they need to the content they love. A global world demands consumers have universal access where, and when, they want...

What’s old could be new again.

From music and fashion to television and movies, culture and content have a way of coming back around and finding new audiences — especially in an age where your new favorite (and long ago canceled) show is...

Developers spend years crafting the newest games. When the next big release date comes, the last thing creators and consumers want are slow speeds and long download times.

Worldwide online gaming traffic reached 915 petabytes per month in 2016 and is expected to increase by...

We’re well into the new year. The months ahead will be filled with messages of innovation, disruption, and . . . . well, monetization. It was actually the word “monetization” here in our office that sparked talk about some of the most overused...

In 2017, we started off the year talking about the convergence of digital and broadcast workflows. It was inevitable: by bringing the consistent quality and process maturity of broadcast with the agility, reach, and monetization capabilities of digital, companies are creating, as...

From the research that comprises our recent paper Survive and Thrive: The Changing Environment for Content Services and Video Services, one of  the surprising takeaways was that “being discovered” surpassed operational costs as the number one business challenge facing survey respondents. Along...

Video standards and customer expectations are constantly evolving and new technology solutions are required to stay competitive.  There are more than a dozen platforms on which consumers watch video, each with support for varying video streaming, caption, and digital rights management (DRM) formats...

What has a stronger impact on an audience’s perception – a great experience or a singularly awful one? In a world where every viewer is also a social media publisher in their own right, we could certainly point out the consequences of poor...

We recently partnered with Broadcasting & Cable and TV Technology to sponsor a new research paper called “Survive and Thrive: The Changing Environment for Content and Video Providers.” For this paper, the survey targeted technology managers who are responsible for the implementation of...

Did you “like” or “dislike” a video this week?

Watching video is an emotional experience. Sure, most programming is supposed to be – your favorite program, a riveting news piece, or even a lousy movie will all elicit a specific feeling, but even...

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is, at its core, a way to protect the long-term value of intellectual property in a content-driven economy (for those interested in the history of DRM, Vice.com’s Motherboard published a fantastic article last year on the subject). Content access...

The attraction of a subscription VOD business model is a reliable revenue stream, powered by a personalized experience that evolves to remain relevant and valuable to viewers. Monetization choices are a big part of that, and have an indelible impact on the way subscribers...

Last year we kicked off 2017 by referring to it as “The Year of Converged Workflows.” And in many ways, it certainly was, with both broadcast and over-the-top (OTT) video companies learning from – and working more closely with – each...

The excitement of any major live event, like this year’s college basketball playoffs, aside from being responsible for countless hours of distracted coworkers, is a great time for our industry to witness the improvements to live streaming in action on a massive scale...

One way a CDN competes for your video delivery business is by showing you data that proves that it is faster than other CDNs.  Every CDN has a handful of industry reports, third-party tests, and/or head-to-head customer bake-offs that prove that at least...

The relationship between time-shifted viewing and advertising is shaped by the increasing power of consumer choice, and the need for processes that allow advertisers to meet customers on the customers’ timetable and device preference. For advertisers who want to reach their intended customers...

If you’re in the business of keeping eyes glued to screens, you are responsible for delivering to a lot more devices than just the living room television. That said, not every piece of content, live or otherwise, can be delivered everywhere. The rights...

Binge-watching, as an audience behavior, speaks volumes about the value of content amidst unprecedented depth of viewer choice. What does this mean for multi platform content distribution? We can choose from a huge variety of devices capable of displaying video of phenomenal quality and select...

Content delivery networks (CDNs) are well-established as a necessary component of today’s digital video delivery strategy. Closing the physical distance between the server and the end-user is a great way to protect the quality of end-user playback and security of the video files...

“Consumer mobility” isn’t just about smartphones.

One of the best things about being a consumer in today’s video market is that there’s such an abundance of great stuff to watch. As companies get smarter about improving experiences and content discovery, it’s easy to...

Anyone who invests in the stock market knows that the term “diversified portfolio” is the foundation that all of our investment strategies are built upon. By spreading risk around to multiple investments, the chance of failure is massively reduced, and success can be...

A quick search for “OTT adoption” brings up thousands of news articles in 2017 alone. But while the news might seem to skew OTT, how are audiences really watching? Below, we take a look at the broadcast and digital video trends from the...

Back in March, I wrote a blog with some advice for video brands looking to shore up their technology relationships in preparation for the road ahead. Along those lines, we introduced a holistic framework called Media Technology Lifecycle Management (“MTLM”) and presented it...

I recently presented a paper introducing Media Technology Lifecycle Management (MTLM), but what does it really mean? Theoretically speaking, MTLM is a simple and effective approach for organizations to help keep operations on a path of continuous improvement and growth. It’s our...

The competitive landscape of the video industry is barely recognizable from what was ten years ago; but the partnership landscape has undergone its own radical transformation. “Partner” implies a deeper B2B connection than a mere “vendor,” which now feels more like a purely...

Business Model Innovation In A Multi-Platform World

It’s been ten years since Google acquired YouTube, Netflix launched a new streaming video service, and Apple launched its first iPhone. Fueled by the proliferation of high-quality connected devices and constant improvements to video delivery, the...

It’s challenging to see the forest through the trees when new trees pop up to disrupt the view. New media technologies, delivery mechanisms, and business models emerge at such a frequent pace that organizations can find themselves taking focus away from their core...

It almost goes without saying that staying ahead of the current trends in media technology is imperative to success. As a 25+ year media and entertainment veteran, I’ve seen a lot of industry megatrends shape our business, but at nowhere near the speed...

Media technology is evolving so quickly that it’s increasingly difficult to take a clear picture of your content’s performance. To complicate things further, advances that bring content to market faster often lead to innovations that change the demands of the end user. Between...

Online advertising in all its forms, from banners to pop-ups to videos, generates a significant amount of revenue for both advertising agencies and media companies. Thanks to innovative technologies that are able to overcome anti-advertising tactics and better target consumers, advertising revenue continues...

There has to be some sort of mathematical correlation between the speed of innovation within an industry, and the speed in which buzzwords lose their relevance, become distorted, or die altogether. We love buzzwords – especially with regard to complex ideas, because they...

The entertainment and media industry has been aflutter about Nielsen’s plans to launch “Live-plus-35” this fall. This would entail extending the ratings window to 35 days beyond the initial live broadcasting of a TV program. Considering that today’s TV experience involves multiple devices...