2023 Streaming Summit Videos – Las Vegas (April 17/18)

Welcome and Overview of Show, Latest Streaming Business Metrics

Conference Chairman, Dan Rayburn, welcomes attendees to the Streaming Summit and details what will be covered over the two-days of the show. His presentation will cover some of the latest details around company financials, churn and retention of OTT services and where he sees opportunity for growth and consolidation in the industry. He will also highlight some relevant industry trends and things the industry should look out for over the next 12-months.

Speaker:

Dan Rayburn – Conference Chairman, Streaming Summit

Xumo’s Evolution from FAST to Streaming Platform, and Its Industry Impact

Last year, Comcast and Charter established Xumo, a joint venture driven to bring consumers nationwide a new way to enjoy streaming entertainment in the home. As Xumo prepares to launch its first streaming devices later this year, hear from Xumo’s Chief Revenue and Platform Officer, on how the new company is uniquely positioned to deliver innovative viewing experiences that benefit the entire industry, including consumers, content partners, advertisers, and operators.

Speaker:

Dan Rayburn – Conference Chairman, Streaming Summit

Colin Petrie-Norris – Chief Revenue and Platform Officer, Xumo

The Business of FAST: The Challenges in Monetization, Market Saturation and Viewer Engagement

FAST channels have been a boon to traditional media companies looking to expand the monetization of their content libraries. It’s a lifeline to mid-tier SVOD players searching for new distribution platforms and revenue streams and an opportunity to engage audiences on alternative platforms with different viewership behaviors. FAST channels and the CTV/AVOD platforms they reside on have rapidly emerged as a favorite alternative source of ad inventory, replacing eyeballs lost on traditional linear TV. This session will discuss how with such rapid growth and saturation, and the promise (or hope) of new revenue sources, what players in the ecosystem have to reassess on what it’s going to take to make FAST successful in the years to come.

Speaker:

(Moderator) David Beck – Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer, Brightcove

Aileen Del Cid – Head of Marketing, Samsung TV Plus

Bethany Atchison – Senior Director, Distribution Partner Management, Vevo

Scott Olechowski – Co-Founder, Chief Product Officer, Plex

Liz Riemersma – VP, Strategy, Business Development & International, Sling TV

Chris Knight – President and CEO, Gusto TV

Case Study: How FOX Sports is Rethinking Video Delivery to Reach Millions of Viewers With the Best User Experience

The live stream of the Super Bowl remains one of the most prestigious sports events in the streaming media industry, with broadcasters using it to show off new improvements each year. However, anything but perfection in video delivery will come at a great cost, while success can often be measured in silence. This discussion will detail some of the planning and preparation that went into this year’s online broadcast including choices made around capture, delivery, security and where low latency and content resolution are heading.

Speaker:

Mayur Srinivasan – VP, Video and Player Engineering, FOX Sports, News, & Entertainment

Mark Richards – Senior Principal Sales Engineer, Fastly

Case Study: How the NBA Rebuilt Their Streaming Architecture in the Cloud

The NBA League Pass was recently rebuilt to include functionality not typically found in OTT sports streaming apps such as multiple feeds synchronized to the game clock and wall clock, high scale targeted ad insertion, lower latency than cable, and support for a wide array of complex and dynamic entitlements to facilitate monetization and enforcement of linear rights globally. This moderated discussion with the NBA, Microsoft and MediaKind will cover how the NBA utilized a new architecture in the cloud to scale up and down according to production requirements and achieve greater control of feature roll out velocity while delivering improved video quality. The speakers will discuss how these new features and capabilities resulted in an increase of new subscribers, a record high number of simultaneous games with more viewers, and greater advertising monetization.

Speaker:

Steve Hellmuth – EVP, Media Operations & Technology, NBA

Simon Crownshaw – Worldwide Lead for Media and Entertainment, Microsoft

Erik Ramberg – VP, Business Development and Strategic Partners, MediaKind

Packaging and Distribution Strategies for Subscriber Engagement 

From SVOD and AVOD through tiering product features, streaming services have a lot of options in the market when it comes to packaging and distribution strategies. This session will discuss factors including catalog choice, windowing, revenue models (e.g., free trials, hybrid paid/ad-supported, annual pricing plans) and product features (e.g., number of simultaneous streams, HD vs. 4K resolution). Hear what consumers want from OTT services, the pros and cons of going direct-to-consumer vs. distributing through partners, international distribution approaches, and how video services are working to grow and engage subscribers.

Speaker:

(Moderator) Jonathan Hurd – Partner, Altman Solon

Sean Gupta – SVP, Streaming Strategy, Paramount Streaming

Robert Schildhouse – EVP, North America & GM of Group Marketing Services, BritBox International

Travis Huch – VP, Alliances, North America, Zuora

John Zelenka – CRO, SSIMWAVE, an IMAX company

Fireside Chat: The Current State and Future of The Sports Streaming Market

Dan Rayburn will conduct a fireside chat with Eric Black who for more than 20 years, was a leader for NBC Universal’s media technology strategy across a host of digital properties during pivotal moments in the evolution of live streaming. Eric managed the first-ever live stream of a Super Bowl in 2010, delivered six Olympic Games, the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and Presidential debates. He also guided the team that launched NBC Universal’s Peacock in 2020. The discussion will revolve around the latest developments in the sports streaming market including content licensing costs, bundling and RSNs, user personalization, the impact of low/ultra-low latency streaming, 4K versus 1080p HDR and what the user experience will look like in the future.

Speaker:

Dan Rayburn – Conference Chairman, Streaming Summit

Eric Black – CTO/GM of Media, Edgio

Fire TV and Freevee Share the Latest Trends in Content, Monetization and Viewer Engagement

Streaming has seen waves of consolidation and fragmentation. From decision fatigue to crowded marketplaces, content providers face the challenge of constant reinvention to create opportunities for better discovery and stronger user engagement. In this conversation between global streaming entertainment leader Fire TV and premium, free streaming service Amazon Freevee, we will discuss streaming content including trends, best practices and monetization.

Speaker:

(Moderator) Dan Rayburn – Conference Chairman, Streaming Summit

Matt Hill – Head of Fire TV Device Monetization, Amazon

Ryan Pirozzi – Head of Amazon Freevee, Amazon

Defining the Live Sports Streaming Experience: Today’s Trends and Tomorrow’s Opportunities

When it comes to live sports streaming, viewers expect a high-quality experience that mimics or beats broadcast TV. From the front-end app and UI to the backend video quality being delivered, users expect a flawless experience from start to finish. This session will discuss what viewers expectations are today when they stream live sporting events and what the industry needs to prepare for in the future. Speakers will discuss some of the challenges in delivering high-quality video at scale, how to improve upon user personalization, the impact of low/ultra-low latency streaming, 4K versus 1080p HDR and what content owners and broadcasters are doing to improve engagement in the live sports streaming market.

Speaker:

(Moderator) Mark Donnigan – Principal, d-launch

David Gonzalez – Media Platform Lead, LaLiga Tech

Jean Macher, – Senior SaaS Solutions Director, Harmonic

Steven “Claw” Jalicy – Director, Streaming & Broadcast Distribution, ESL FACEIT GROUP

Jon Alexander – VP, Product Management, Akamai

Serhad Doken – CTO, Adeia

How Can Traditional Broadcast Networks Like NBCUniversal Become Major Players With FAST Services

This conversation will explore the potential for large traditional broadcast networks to become major players in the world of FAST, discussing the importance of the right content strategy and how to put original content into action. It will also highlight the business motivations for launching FAST channels and the potential for news and sports genres to take center stage in the ongoing shift of advertising from cable to CTV. Speakers will also provide insights on the mindset change required for broadcast networks to adapt to the FAST world, the necessary team and skill sets, and the levers at play to achieve success.

Speaker:

Srini KA – Co-founder, CRO, Amagi

Meredith McGinn – EVP, Diginets & Original Production, NBCUniversal Local

AI for Media: The Future of Content Creation and Distribution

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the media landscape, from the way content is created and distributed to the way it is consumed. In this presentation, Google Cloud Media Leader Anil Jain will discuss the latest advances in AI for media and how they are being used to improve the production, distribution, and monetization of content. He will be joined in a chat with other media leaders to discuss how they are using AI to power their businesses.

Speaker:

(Moderator) Anil Jain – Media Leader, Google Cloud

Dustin Myers – SVP, Production Operations, FOX Sports

Mauricio Feli – Director of Technology and Infrastructure, Grupo Globo

Kishore AK – CTO, Zee Entertainment

AOM Members Detail the Latest on AV1 Commercial Readiness

Using AV1, media producers and distributors are delivering higher quality video at the lowest bitrates, enabling consumers to expect the best from live and on-demand streaming media experiences. This session will discuss how AV1 offers a generational improvement in coding efficiency over alternatives across the entire media ecosystem of hardware, software, devices, browsers and services. Hear directly from the internet, tech, and media companies that make up AOMedia’s member base on their adoption of AV1 in real-world implementations, the benefits of AV1, and the future of where the codec is heading.

Speaker:

(Moderator) Anne Aaron – Director, Encoding Technologies, Netflix

Alex Liu – Co-Founder and COO, NETINT Technologies

David Ronca – Director, Video Processing, Meta

Iole Moccagatta – Principal Engineer, Intel

Case Study: Building a Broadcast Grade Streaming Service for SKY Italia

In Italy, SKY has the biggest pay TV platform and is now expanding its footprint by bundling broadband access to its customers. As a broadcaster and as an ISP, the company is facing a twofold challenge in addressing the streaming market with the same quality delivered by satellite. This fireside chat will discuss how SKY implemented high quality streaming at scale, making it technically and economically viable while also considering the need for sustainability.

Speaker:

Massimo Bertolotti – Senior Director of Communication and Infrastructure, SKY Italia

Marco Inzaghi – VP, Head of Business Development, MainStreaming

AI and the Expansion of the Media and Entertainment Frontier

With the rapid advancement of AI technologies, media and entertainment companies are increasingly leveraging AI-driven solutions to optimize their operations, improve audience engagement, and streamline content creation and distribution workflows. This discussion will highlight the latest AI applications accelerating the content pipeline in broadcast, film, television and game development. Hear how AI-driven analytics are being used to make sense of the vast volume of data generated across the M&E value chain and what the future of this technology holds for the industry.

Speaker:

(Moderator) Sepi Motamedi – Global Broadcast Industry Marketing and Strategy Lead, NVIDIA

Rick Champagne – Industry Strategy and Marketing, Media & Entertainment, NVIDIA

Ian Andes – Senior Business Development Manager, Media & Entertainment, NVIDIA

Alesandra Madurowicz – VP, Media & Entertainment Streaming, Oracle

Using the Cloud to Overcome Challenges in Scaling Video Workflows

Whether for FAST channels, live events or SVOD services, cloud based-platforms are the workhorse of the streaming video stack. From content ingestion to delivery, broadcasters, OTT providers and sports leagues now rely on cloud services to scale their offerings to the masses. This session will discuss what is needed for a video platform to scale, how to approach expanding an existing video pipeline in the cloud, and tips and trips that have been learned from being in the trenches. The conversation will be balanced between conceptual and practical, ensuring that all who attend will take something that can be actioned back to their company.

Speaker:

(Moderator) Mark Donnigan – Principal, d-launch

Zoe Liu – Co-Founder, President, Visionular

Rob Wilmoth – Senior Industry Principal, Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment, Red Hat

Suresh Somasundaram – SVP, Engineering, Sling TV

How Netflix Leverages Open-Source Technology to Deliver Better, More Flexible and Faster Packaging at Scale

This presentation details how Motion Spell worked with Netflix for the integration of GPAC Open Source Software into Netflix’s worldwide content operations enabling more flexible, robust and scalable video packaging tools. Gain insights into the integration process and hear about the flexibility it gives Netflix in being able to adopt new technologies, especially with them having recently started publishing AOM’s AV1 packages. This session is a must-attend for anyone interested in the future of video packaging and the role of open-source technology in driving innovation at scale.

Speaker:

Romain Bouqueau – CEO, Motion Spell

Cyril Concolato – Principal Software Engineer, Netflix

My Streaming Car: Automotive as a New Device

This presentation by Volkswagen Group company CARIAD, will share a perspective on the recent and future developments in automotive with in vehicle app stores emerging and ecosystems enabling a whole array of services and use cases for media and entertainment in cars. Streaming video and entertainment content to cars isn’t the future, it’s happening today. Come learn what streaming in vehicles looks like and what to expect in 2023.

Speaker:

Sabrina Yuan – VP, Strategy and Business Development at CARIAD – a Volkswagen Group Company

Best Practices for Building Out a Cross-Screen TV Targeting and Measurement Platform

This session will focus on the technical challenges of cross-screen audience data activation and measurement in a converged TV ecosystem. The session will discuss the technology needed, the obstacles encountered when connecting disparate systems, and how the right integrations can facilitate a seamless workflow – across screens and devices.

Speaker:

(Moderator) Eoin Townsend – Chief Product Officer, Cadent

Larry Allen – VP & GM Addressable Enablement, Comcast

Rob Klippel – SVP, Advanced Advertising Products & Strategy, Spectrum Reach

Aleck Schleider – CRO, Blockgraph

Live Events Best Practices: Maximizing Reach and Engagement with Streaming Audiences

This session will help you tap into best practices to maximize audience reach and the commercial value of live events. Attendees will learn about new tactics and technologies that broadcasters are using to cover major sports events on digital – including on social media, OTT platforms and apps. See examples and gain insights from this past winter’s streaming global soccer championship tied to speed and reach, experience, engagement and monetization.

Speaker:

Ed Laczynski – Co-CEO, Backlight Streaming, Backlight

Matt Loreille – CMO, Backlight Streaming, Backlight

Jose Ortega – VP, Digital Media, Fox Deportes

How to Produce x264 and x265 Video at Maximum Quality and Maximum Efficiency

This research-based session explores configuration options like presets, threads, color depth, and others that impact output quality and encoding efficiency. Balancing encoding cost and streaming bandwidth, you’ll learn how to choose the optimal preset based upon expected viewer count and the optimal core count for cloud instances to encode your video.

Speaker:

Jan Ozer – Senior Director, Video Technology Marketing, NETINT

The Business of Sports Streaming: Challenges and Opportunities

A fraying pay TV bundle and consumer adoption of over-the-top streaming opens opportunities for sports brands to build direct-to-consumer models. But with the wholesale broadcast and pay TV model still generating much bigger and better economics than streaming, challenges remain for monetizing video online. This session will discuss the rising cost of content, how rights holders are analyzing streaming media services, and where additional revenue can be generated online, be it subscription and/or advertising. Hear top sports content and distribution executives debate and discuss what the future of the business market will look like for sports streaming online.

Speaker:

(Moderator) Rick Allen – CEO, ViewLift

Brian Brinkmann – Principal Product Manager, Adobe Pass

Meghan Chayka – Co-Founder, Stathletes

Steve Byrd – Principal, Sports Media Executive

Charlie Myers – CTO, Monumental Sports & Entertainment

FAST, AVOD and SVOD, Defining the New Pay TV Bundle

New OTT entrants are tiering their offerings, with multiple tiers and differing price points, combining advertising with subscriptions, and developing innovative new packages and bundles. As business models get more complex, and the cost of content licensing on the rise, what will the next generation of OTT services looks like? Can subscription and advertising business models support and enhance one another? Will new tiering models delight or confuse audiences? A diverse panel of business leaders will explore the latest developments and discuss the challenges and success OTT services are having with free, ad supported and subscription OTT business models.

Speaker:

(Moderator) Barry Tishgart – Entrepreneur in Residence, Progress Partners, and former SVP and GM at Disney Streaming

Brian Rifkin – Co-founder, SVP, Partnerships, JW Player

Gio Punzo – CEO, Co-Founder, Streann Media

Archana Anand – Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 Global

The Current State of the CDN Industry: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities in Delivering Video at Scale

Speaker:

(Moderator) Alex Tirabasso

Bob Lyons – CEO, Edgio

Brad Altfest – Managing Director, Media & Entertainment, Agora

Gautier Demond – VP, Content Provider Sales for the Americas, Qwilt