NEWSCASTSTUDIO.COM
Free ad-supported streaming televi-
sion (FAST) and AVOD continue to grow,
offering viewers content in exchange for
watching advertisements. These models
has gained traction as media companies
seek to exploit existing content libraries
while reaching new audiences.
“Monetization will remain central to
the NAB conversation, particularly with
the accelerated adoption of free ad-sup-
ported streaming television,” said An-
upama Anantharaman, vice president of
product management at Interra Systems.
“Broadcasters are prioritizing solutions
that balance ad relevance with seamless
viewer retention, moving beyond basic
insertion tactics to contextual alignment.”
Adtech, such as dynamic ad insertion
technology, has become crucial in this en-
vironment, enabling personalized adver-
tising across platforms while maintaining
viewer engagement.
“Dynamic ad insertion is a hot topic this
year. According to Bitmovin’s latest Vid-
eo Developer Report, ad insertion is the
number one biggest challenge faced by
video developers today,” said Paul Davies,
head of marketing at Yospace. “With an in-
crease in streaming viewership alongside
this increase in advertising deployments,
the need to maximize revenues using DAI
has never been greater.”
Industry leaders also noted a signifi-
cant shift in how advertising inventory is
valued, with renewed emphasis on con-
text and content quality.
“We’ve seen the pendulum swing to-
ward an impression-based model, where
every ad placement was treated as inter-
changeable, leading to a race to the low-
est price,” Reynolds explained. “But now,
the industry is shifting back, recognizing
the importance of advertising in context
and the value of premium programming.
Advertisers and content owners are re-
discovering that where an ad appears
matters — not just who sees it.”
The migration of premier live events
from traditional linear broadcasting to
streaming platforms is accelerating this
conversation around content distribution
and monetization.
“Once the crown jewel of linear
broadcast networks, sports and other
big events are quickly moving into the
streaming realm,” said Dave Dembows-
ki, senior vice president of global sales
at Operative. “Just because streaming is
digital doesn’t mean media companies
are going to automate ad sales on their
top content – they’re adopting tried and
true up-front fixed ad sales models, but
they still want the benefits of dynamic ad
delivery and reporting.”
Remote production technologies con-
tinue to reshape content creation, en-
abling more efficient resource allocation
and expanded coverage capabilities.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated an
emerging shift, and what began as a ne-
cessity has evolved into a strategic ad-
vantage for many organizations.
“Remote and cloud-based produc-
tion and distribution are redefining live
event coverage,” said Rob Szabó-Rowe,
global head of engineering and product
management at Tata Communications.
“Traditional on-site production models
are giving way to off-site centralized and
distributed workflows, allowing content
owners and rightsholders to boost effi-
ciency, cutting down on travel for talent
and crews and the shipping of equipment.
These approaches not only cut costs but
also enable production teams to cover
multiple events in the same day without
increasing resources.”
The industry is largely embracing a
hybrid approach that strategically lever-
ages both cloud and on-premises infra-
structure to optimize performance and
cost-effectiveness.
“For 24/7/365 operations, maintaining
an on-prem infrastructure is often more
cost-effective than running continuous
cloud-based workflows,” Reynolds noted.
“The industry’s focus has now shifted to
a hybrid approach, leveraging the cloud
where it makes sense — live events and
geographically distributed redundancy to
name a few — while maintaining on-prem
infrastructure for cost efficiency.”
These remote workflows create new
challenges around security and asset
management. As broadcasters shift to-
ward cloud-based workflows, cybersecu-
rity is more important than ever, continu-
ing to move engineering into the realm of
IT.
“Cybersecurity will be a major talking
point, especially as broadcasters contin-
ue shifting and experimenting with soft-
ware-based and cloud-driven production
workflows,” said Simon Hawkings, direc-
tor of sales strategy and business accel-
eration at Ross Video. “Security vulnera-
bilities in media systems have already led
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