Platform strategy now spans four business models at once: OTT, SVOD, AVOD, and FAST. This category covers recommendation engines, content discovery, CTV app experience, player SDKs, and the subscriber engagement data that tells you whether a feature actually worked.
AMC Global Media is launching a free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel for its 'The Walking Dead' franchise in the United Kingdom, marking its sixth FAST channel in the region. This expansion reflects AMC's shift towards being a streaming-first company, with streaming products driving revenue growth. The article also mentions the company's Q1 2026 earnings, detailing revenue from streaming products and subscription services.
Bell Media has discontinued its CTV streaming app, migrating all its content, including 'Love Island USA', to its subscription service Crave in Canada. This move eliminates free streaming options for viewers, pushing them towards a paid subscription model. The shift reflects a broader industry trend among broadcasters to transition content from free-to-access platforms to subscription-based services.
Recent reports from TiVo, Bango, and Parks Associates highlight a paradox in streaming: despite record engagement and revenue, user frustration with content discovery due to fragmentation is increasing. This growing 'fragmentation fatigue' signifies that effective content curation and aggregation are now critical for subscriber retention in the streaming industry. The industry is shifting towards aggregation strategies, with bundles and ad-supported tiers gaining traction as solutions to viewer choice overload.
Bell Media's TSN and RDS will exclusively broadcast all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches in Canada, including HDR content across various platforms like CTV, Noovo, and Crave. The coverage will feature multi-language feeds powered by Spalk and extensive digital and radio programming. This represents Bell Media's largest World Cup coverage to date.
Ateme has partnered with Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) and cloud provider Scaleway to launch a sovereign European cloud-based media supply chain. This platform leverages Ateme's video processing, delivery, and monetization tools, creating a cloud-native solution operated entirely within Europe.
NRJ Group is migrating its mobile and web streaming services to Akamai Adaptive Media Player 2 (AMP2), marking them as the first net-new customer to deploy the solution. AMP2 is powered by Bitmovin’s Player, Observability, and Stream Lab technologies, combining playback, analytics, testing, and CDN infrastructure into a managed end-to-end solution. This collaboration aims to provide optimized high-quality streaming delivery at scale, with enhanced visibility into playback performance for NRJ Group.
Samsung, LG, and major Korean broadcasters convened a meeting led by the Broadcasting, Media and Communications Commission to strategize global expansion of Korean-style FAST services, specifically targeting the North American market. The initiative aims to enhance content competitiveness and leverage smart TV distribution for growth in the projected $47 trillion FAST market by 2030. Discussions included leveraging AI for content localization and the need for investment in K-FAST exclusive content.
Sky CEO Dana Strong highlighted the company's shift from satellite to IP products and its expansion in sports content, emphasizing a digital revamp to enhance customer value through "symphonic engagement." She cited "Saturday Night Live U.K." as a key example of integrating digital and social media with traditional video to reach audiences through various platforms. The discussion also touched upon the benefits of being part of Comcast and potential acquisition talks with ITV.
Lenovo, as FIFA's Official Technology Partner, is deploying an AI-powered infrastructure platform for the FIFA World Cup 2026, featuring ultra-low-latency IPTV video distribution and intelligent content delivery. This extensive deployment includes servers at the International Broadcast Center and over 17,000 devices across venues, enhancing operational control and fan experiences.
IPL founder Lalit Modi predicts the cricket league will double in size within three years, driven by a significant shift of viewers from traditional television to OTT platforms. He specifically highlights the critical need for improved audience measurement systems for streaming services to accurately track viewer behavior and engagement, contrasting it with traditional TV metrics.
Samsung Ads' annual 'Behind the Screens' report indicates that fragmented Connected TV (CTV) viewing is now the norm, with households using an average of five apps in 2025 and total app launches increasing 8% year-over-year. The report, based on data from over 70 million Samsung smart TVs in Europe, highlights the CTV home screen as a critical discovery point for content amidst fluid viewing habits. It also notes that gamers represent a receptive yet underserved audience for advertising, being more likely to follow home screen recommendations and product lookups from TV ads.
24i will exhibit its Video Cloud platform at StreamTV Europe 2026, showcasing features for ad monetization, personalization, and streamlined operations. The company's CEO, Sebastian Braun, will also moderate a panel on broadcasters' transformation to digital platforms during the event. This serves as a promotion for their presence at the industry conference.
Adobe details various opt-out mechanisms for its streaming media SDKs, including Web SDK, mobile SDKs for iOS, Android, and Roku, and its Media Edge API. The documentation provides implementation guidance for respecting user consent regarding data collection across different Adobe platforms and APIs. It also covers legacy implementation types for Analytics-only use cases.
Mux has rolled out per-environment rate limits and token priority controls for its API requests. This enhancement allows for better isolation of development, staging, and production environments, and enables users to prioritize API calls to prevent background jobs from affecting user-facing operations. Standard X-RateLimit headers have also been added for monitoring.
Vantiva VP Giovanni Tumino discusses the challenges of market fragmentation in Europe's telecom sector, advocating for both tailored solutions and standardized platforms to navigate varying regulations and technological landscapes. The company emphasizes flexibility, long-term partnerships, and compliance with evolving EU standards like the Digital Networks Act, CSRD, and increased focus on digital sovereignty and ESG. Vantiva supports industry initiatives like RDK, prpl, OpenWrt, and Android to aid operators in cross-country standardization and innovation.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has introduced three new execution blocks within its Application Recovery Controller (ARC) Region switch for Amazon Aurora and Amazon Neptune databases. These new capabilities automate database scaling and failover for multi-Region workloads, significantly reducing recovery times for platform operators. Specifically, they automate right-sizing secondary clusters for Aurora and streamline failover decisions for Neptune.
Snowflake announced the general availability of Adaptive Compute, featuring Adaptive Warehouses that dynamically adjust resources for data analytics and engineering workloads. This aims to enhance throughput by up to 2.2x and accelerate time to insight, freeing engineers from manual compute management. The system is workload-aware and offers significant performance gains for various data operations, including mixed analytics, data loading, and AI experimentation.
AWS Compute Optimizer now supports a 32-day lookback period for Amazon EBS volume and Amazon ECS rightsizing recommendations, extending this period from 14 days at no additional cost. This enhancement helps account for monthly utilization patterns, enabling more accurate cost and performance optimization for workloads. The feature is available in most AWS Regions, allowing organizations to set lookback periods at various levels.
Dolby Laboratories' Cloud Solutions group is seeking a Staff Technical Account Manager in Sydney, Australia, to manage technical relationships for strategic video accounts. The role focuses on video streaming and ad-tech implementation, ensuring optimal integration and long-term technical support for customers. Responsibilities include strategic technical implementation, joint success planning with Customer Success Managers, proactive technical health monitoring, and advocating for customer engineering needs.
Google has expanded YouTube Shorts to the living room by introducing a dedicated user interface for smart TVs and gaming consoles. This move aims to integrate vertical short-form content into the connected TV viewing experience, indicating a strategic shift in content consumption patterns on larger screens.
Walmart has launched new Onn 4K streaming devices for 2026, including a streaming stick and a Pro model, both featuring Google TV, AV1 decoding, and Wi-Fi 6. These budget-friendly devices also offer Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and in the Pro model, an Ethernet port and USB port. The article compares these new offerings to other streaming devices like the Xiaomi TV Box S third generation and the Google TV Streamer 4K, highlighting features and target users for each.
Synamedia is restructuring its portfolio following the agreement for Lumine Group to acquire its Video Network business, shifting focus to engagement and monetization tools. The company is prioritizing its Go, Senza, and Iris products to help pay-TV and OTT operators enhance viewing experiences, grow audiences, and accelerate monetization, particularly through cloud-rendered interfaces and addressable advertising. This strategic pivot aims to redefine how operators compete for audience attention in the evolving video industry.
Jobgether is recruiting a Staff Engineer, Digital Audio Specialist in India to design and maintain scalable digital audio platforms across mobile and OTT ecosystems. The role focuses on end-to-end media workflows, including audio processing, encoding, metadata management, and API integration, to optimize global-scale audio streaming. This position indicates a demand for specialized engineering talent in the streaming media technology sector.
Apple has listed numerous job openings for its Services and Software divisions, particularly within Media Partner Tools and Services Engineering. These roles are focused on developing infrastructure and design deliverables that support internal Apple platforms like Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple TV, and the App Store. The job descriptions indicate a focus on empowering content partners and developers to manage content and payments across Apple's ecosystem.
Paramount is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to modernize its video pipeline using AI-powered tools and microservices on Google Cloud Platform and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. The role focuses on optimizing VOD and Live encoding, packaging, and delivery for Paramount+ and other Paramount brands.
Fora Soft has released four browser-based demos showcasing real-time video capabilities, including 1:1 chat, multi-party conferencing, virtual classrooms, and AI video surveillance. These demos utilize LiveKit and YOLOv8 to illustrate low-latency streaming and AI integration. The company also offers architectural blueprints, production checklists, and PRDs for engineers developing similar infrastructure.
Sky, a UK telco and media company, published guidance detailing recommended broadband speeds for various online activities, specifically highlighting requirements for streaming services such as Sky Stream, Netflix, and Disney+. It advises a minimum of 25-30 Mbps for Ultra HD streaming and emphasizes the importance of download and upload speeds, latency, and Wi-Fi optimization for a seamless streaming and gaming experience.
This article describes the features of the Amazon Prime Video Android app, highlighting its unified interface for SVOD content, live TV, and TVOD rentals. It details functionalities such as user profiles, the X-Ray technology, offline downloads, and casting capabilities, along with noting the extra fee for ad-free viewing.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of YouTube's platform, detailing its features, user experience, and competitive position within the video streaming market. It highlights YouTube's reliance on user-generated content, its recommendation algorithm, Shorts, and Premium services, while also comparing it to competitors like TikTok, Netflix, and Bilibili.
Fubo's connection portal provides a centralized interface for subscriber account authentication and new user registration. This portal serves as the primary entry point for activating connected TV devices and managing virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD) subscriptions.
OneFootball is hiring an OTT Business Manager in Berlin to manage content acquisition and commercial partnerships for its OneFootball TV platform. The role will focus on scaling the direct-to-consumer reach through distribution deals with broadcasters, leagues, and connected TV platforms. The manager will also oversee market strategy, optimize partnerships, and lead new OTT initiatives.
Hearst Media Production Group is hiring a Director of YouTube Strategy to lead audience growth, engagement, and revenue optimization across its digital video portfolio. This role will define the company's YouTube strategy, oversee analytics, and integrate platform-specific initiatives into broader content and business objectives.
The Roku Channel Store lists Amazon Prime Video as an available application, detailing its offerings of live sports, linear broadcasts, and original content from Amazon MGM Studios. The listing highlights Prime Video as a consolidated service for SVOD and live-to-OTT content delivery on Roku devices.
This empirical study, based on a survey of 212 Gen Z and Millennial viewers and interviews with industry experts, analyzes consumer behavior in streaming TV to understand factors driving and undermining subscriber loyalty. It identifies a high demand for young adult content despite a supply growth lag and proposes six recommendations for platforms like Roku, focusing on content, interfaces, community building, and data sharing to manage subscriber "cycling." Key findings include that specific content drives subscriptions, brand loyalty is low, and while consumers show less price sensitivity for individual services, they are highly sensitive to their aggregate streaming budgets.
Royals.tv has reduced its seasonal streaming subscription price from $89.99 to $74.99 amidst concerns over the team's performance. Concurrently, ESPN platforms reported a 49% increase in college baseball viewership and their Women's College World Series opening day averaged 1.2 million viewers, marking a 63% year-over-year increase.
Major streaming services including Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV have announced their content schedules for summer, highlighting new scripted dramas, reality series, and sports content. This content includes new seasons and premieres featuring high-profile talent, as platforms aim to engage viewers throughout the summer months.
Dispatcharr is a new self-hosted stream proxy designed to manage IPTV connection limits and multi-provider failover for media servers such as Jellyfin, Emby, and Plex. It offers features like connection pooling, real-time bitrate monitoring, and unified EPG mapping to prevent buffering and stream rejections. This tool helps users with limited IPTV connections or multiple providers optimize their live TV experience by intelligently routing streams and reusing connections.
Channel 4 has premiered Russell T. Davies' drama "Tip Toe" and Prime Video launched the fifth series of "Clarkson's Farm". These releases highlight major content investments in the UK market, showcasing both linear-broadcast drama and global SVOD unscripted franchises.
Swarmify promotes its SmartVideo platform for hosting long-form video podcasts directly on creators' websites, offering a branded, ad-free player with features like adaptive bitrate streaming and unlimited bandwidth. The platform aims to provide creators with distribution control, contrasting its offering against platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and SproutVideo.
YouTube is actively promoting a "Sport-as-Utility" strategy in India, focusing on creator-led content that transforms cricket fandom into an interactive and commercial digital ecosystem. The platform reports that 96% of Indian cricket viewers use YouTube for analysis, community, skill-building, and e-commerce, shifting conversation and commerce away from traditional broadcasters. This strategy highlights YouTube's role as an infrastructure layer for fandom, enabling new advertising environments and direct monetization for creators.
Hop-on's Digitalage launched its Genesis Creator Pilot Program, offering creators $500 cash, an 85% revenue split on subscriptions, and 50% on ad revenue. The platform introduces patent-backed content provenance using SHA-256 hashing to provide auditable custody for content from creation, aiming to address issues for advertisers and regulators in the creator economy. It plans to roll out Android and iOS apps, activate consumer purchasing, and integrate AI news pipeline registration of AI-generated content within a 60-day window.
X, Meta, and YouTube are investing heavily in tools and platforms to bolster the creator economy, with YouTube's 2025 revenue surpassing Disney’s, highlighting a shift to creator-driven distribution. X launched Creator Connect, an AI-powered matchmaking tool for brands and creators, while Meta expanded its AI-assisted production tools and Edits app to streamline content creation. These initiatives reflect the platforms' race to become indispensable to creators by providing foundational infrastructure for the creator economy.
Major League Baseball (MLB) announced the 2026 exclusive game schedule for Padres.TV. The schedule reveals that games will be broadcast across various platforms including ESPN, Apple TV, FOX, Peacock, and NBC/Peacock, showcasing a diversified distribution strategy.
An article analyzes eight private video hosting platforms for businesses in 2026, evaluating them on security, branding, pricing, and analytics. Spotlightr is identified as the best balance for marketers, offering AES-encrypted HLS, token-based fencing, and ad-free players. Other platforms like Wistia, Vidyard, Vimeo, SproutVideo, Brightcove, Panopto, and Bunny Stream are also reviewed for their specific features and target markets.
France's NRJ Group has become the first client to adopt Akamai's AMP2 (Adaptive Media Player 2) for its mobile and web streaming operations, extending its existing CDN partnership with Akamai. AMP2 was introduced in Q4 2025 as an evolution of the original AMP, powered by Bitmovin technology for player functionality.
YouTube has surpassed Netflix in average global daily viewing time, with users now averaging 99.1 minutes per day on YouTube, up from 87.2 minutes in 2024. This shift is largely attributed to increased connected TV consumption of YouTube content, which grew from 28% to 35% of total viewing time between 2024 and 2025. The data, reported by Digital i, highlights YouTube's evolution from a social video service to a primary entertainment destination, impacting how media and streaming companies operate.
YouTube Shorts is allowing all creators to monetize their short-form vertical video content through advertising. This move positions YouTube as a direct competitor to TikTok in the short-form video market.
Roku has added four new live sports channels, including FIFA Plus Women, to The Roku Channel, expanding its free offerings to over 500 options for US users. This expansion follows a 28% increase in platform revenue during Q1, largely driven by advertising and streaming subscriptions. The company's stock also saw a rebound.
According to an Omdia report, global online video subscriptions reached 2.24 billion and generated $176 billion in revenue by the end of 2025, surpassing pay-TV for the first time. The surge was primarily driven by the uptake of lower-cost, ad-supported streaming plans, though Omdia expects growth to slow from 2026 as markets mature and platforms shift toward revenue optimization over subscriber acquisition.
Databricks has introduced Apache Spark Real-Time Mode, enabling sub-second latency for use cases like gaming sessionization, utilizing existing Spark APIs. This allows streaming professionals to unify architectures and achieve millisecond performance for complex stateful processing. The new feature, incorporating the transformWithState operator, delivers significantly faster processing than micro-batch mode, with 432ms p99 latency for session tracking.
