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expanding FAST ecosystem.
“From a wider perspective, questions
around platform saturation and consoli-
dation continue to rumble on. The biggest
FAST platforms want to know that new
channels will deliver engagement, ad rev-
enues, and returning audiences — it’s on
the channel creators to make sure they’re
proven, compelling, and increasingly in-
corporate a mix of higher value live pro-
gramming,” said Rick Young, senior vice
president of global products at LTN.
Technical innovation enables
expansion of streaming and live
programming
“Content owners are also looking for
ways to more efciently create, manage
and monetize FAST channels while ele-
vating viewer engagement with more live
programming. Live sports and news are
increasingly finding their way to FAST ser-
vices as content owners and platform op-
erators push for increased viewing time,”
said Young.
Underlying these streaming trends are
significant technological advancements
enabling higher quality, more reliable de-
livery at scale.
“For
years,
low-latency
streaming
has been a challenge, but recent break-
throughs
are
making
real-time,
ul-
tra-low-latency video delivery achievable
at scale. This is particularly transformative
for live sports, betting, and interactive ex-
periences, where even milliseconds mat-
ter,” said Mathieu Planche, CEO of Witbe.
“In streaming, we will see the emphasis
shift from expansion to sustainability. As
FAST channels and other streaming ser-
vices proliferate globally, infrastructure
must accommodate diverse formats — live
sports, episodic content, and user-gener-
ated content — within a single ecosystem,”
said Anupama Anantharaman, vice pres-
ident of product management at Interra
Systems.
IP-based delivery technologies contin-
ue to advance, particularly for live produc-
tion environments.
“IP-based delivery is shifting to the next
level for many content owners and media
companies with growing adoption of JPEG
XS for high-quality, low-latency transmis-
sion – perfect for remote production of live
sports,” said Rob Szabó-Rowe, global head
of engineering and product management
at Tata Communications.
“Content that is designed to be watched
anywhere, on-demand and on any device
naturally requires high-quality, low-laten-
cy content workflows. This is an ongoing
challenge that the industry has been bat-
tling for some years now, and one that has
recently been jumpstarted by the adoption
of JPEG XS in many live streaming work-
flows,” said Ben Shirley, product manager
at MainConcept, on codec developments.
“We’ll be keeping an eye on develop-
ments in low-latency streaming and pro-
tocol interoperability — two key factors in
ensuring that content owners can reach
audiences across a fragmented distribu-
tion landscape,” said Chris Clarke, chief
revenue ofcer and co-founder of Cerbe-
rus Tech, on the importance of protocol
interoperability.
Monetization strategies for
streaming continue to evolve
As streaming platforms mature, the fo-
cus is shifting toward sustainable business
models and efcient monetization.
“Part of that conversation hinges on
driving monetization in traditional broad-
cast environments as well as on new dig-
ital, OTT and FAST ecosystems. We see
huge demand for simplified ad signaling
technologies, embedded at the network
level, that enable content owners to re-
place, customize, and target localized ads
for greater ad value across multiple ver-
sions of core content,” Young explained.
The industry is working to unify “dispa-
rate linear and digital ad worlds while driv-
ing maximum value from costly content
investments,” according to Young.
Vendors are developing solutions to
ensure accurate ad delivery and perfor-
mance measurement with ad-supported
models gaining momentum.
“As advertising becomes more person-
alized and dynamically inserted, the ability
to track real-world ad performance and
verify delivery with measurable data is be-
coming essential,” Planche noted.
Fragmentation challenges
Despite progress, the industry faces
growing fragmentation across viewing
platforms.
“Smart TVs have further solidified their
role as the primary content hub for view-
ers worldwide. However, rather than a uni-
fied ecosystem, the industry faces an in-
creasingly fragmented landscape of Smart
TV operating systems, each with its own
specific requirements,” said Planche.
For streaming providers, this creates
operational challenges that require robust
solutions.
“Streaming is a high-stakes game now
and providers need flexible, cost-efective
and rock-solid solutions to stay ahead,”
said Chris Wilson, head of marketing at
MediaKind. “In live sports production
and event streaming, audiences expect
real-time engagement, multiple camera
angles, and seamless personalization -
placing even greater emphasis on low-la-
tency, scalable, and robust delivery mech-
anisms.”
Continued from previous page
Underlying these
streaming trends
are significant
technological
advancements enabling
higher quality, more
reliable delivery at scale.
Cloud production is taking center
stage as broadcasters increasingly shift
computing resources from traditional
on-premises hardware to virtualized en-
vironments.
This infrastructure change modifies
how content is processed, managed and
delivered throughout the media supply
chain.
At the 2025 NAB Show, a variety of
cloud solutions will be showcased as the
cloud enables new levels of efciency and
automation for broadcasters.
The maturing cloud landscape
The conversation around cloud tech-
nology in broadcasting has evolved dra-
matically over the past decade. Specula-
tive discussions about future possibilities
have transformed into debates about im-
plementation strategies and optimization.
“These conversations are shifting from
‘what’s possible?’ to ‘how can we imple-
ment this efectively?’” said Greg Mac-
chia, product marketing manager for live
production at Riedel Communications.
“Meanwhile, we are seeing more of our
solutions being actively used in real live
productions in the public cloud.”
According to NewscastStudio’s 2025
sentiment survey, 60% of respondents
are implementing cloud production tools,
though implementation challenges re-
main. This adoption reflects both the
technology’s maturation and the market-
place’s changing demands.
“The M&E space has transformed over
the past 10 years or so, with cloud-based
workflows being the norm in most areas
of the industry,” said Martins Magone,
CTO of Veset. “Not only is this change hap-
pening fast, but hardware is also quickly
becoming the oddity.”
Magone cites industry statistics sup-
porting this shift: “76% of enterprises us-
ing at least two cloud providers in 2025
and many professionals suggesting that
companies will need to adopt cloud-based
solutions in 2025 for better flexibility and
scalability without compromising on ef-
ciency.”
Balancing cloud
and on-premises resources
Despite early predictions that all broad-
cast operations would eventually migrate
fully to the cloud, a more nuanced ap-
proach is now the path forward.
The industry has largely embraced a hy-
brid cloud model that strategically lever-
ages cloud and on-premises infrastructure
to optimize performance and cost-efec-
tiveness.
“For 24/7/365 operations, maintaining
an on-prem infrastructure is often more
cost-efective than running continuous
cloud-based workflows,” said Steve Reyn-
olds, chief executive ofcer of Imagine
Communications. “The industry’s focus
has now shifted to a hybrid approach, le-
veraging the cloud where it makes sense —
live events and geographically distributed
redundancy to name a few — while main-
taining on-prem infrastructure for cost ef-
ficiency.”
This hybrid approach represents a prac-
tical evolution from the all-or-nothing
cloud strategies that characterized early
discussions. Companies have realized that
diferent types of productions and opera-
tional models require diferent infrastruc-
tural approaches.
“The next step is moving toward a
model where production and playout can
transition seamlessly between cloud and
on-prem infrastructure, and that’s a real
game-changer,” Reynolds added.
“Service providers and broadcasters to-
day are looking for more efcient ways to
deliver video, reduce infrastructure costs
and maximize monetization opportuni-
ties. The industry is moving fast, and em-
bracing new technologies is key to staying
ahead. At Harmonic, we welcome this shift
to hybrid workflows,” sad Eric Gallier, vice
president of video solutions at Harmonic.
Cloud production continues to mature,
ofering new efciencies in workflows
Continued on next page
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