Industry Insights: Adapting infrastructure, workflows and strategies for streaming’s future

As the media industry continues to evolve, the streaming ecosystem stands at the center of transformation.

In the first installment of our Industry Insights roundtable on streaming, vendors and technology leaders explore the current state of the streaming landscape – including how business models are shifting, where innovation is emerging and what technical and operational hurdles remain.

Panelists discuss the rise of hybrid monetization strategies, the growing role of cloud-based workflows and data-driven optimization and the balance between broadcast reliability and streaming flexibility.

Across a fragmented market, one theme is clear: success increasingly depends on quality, adaptability and efficient infrastructure.

Key takeaways from this Industry Insights roundtable

• Hybrid monetization surge: Streaming models are shifting to combine subscription (SVOD) and ad-supported (AVOD) strategies, aiming to balance revenue and user flexibility.
• Cloud and protocol innovation: Cloud-native workflows, AI personalization, and secure protocols like SRT are setting new technical standards for content delivery.
• Shift from acquisition to optimization: With streaming adoption widespread, providers are focusing on monetization strategies, viewer retention, and service quality.
• Broadcaster adaptation challenges: Traditional broadcasters face operational and cultural hurdles in evolving legacy models for dynamic, digital-first streaming environments.
• Infrastructure and quality imperative: Success in a fragmented market hinges on efficient, scalable infrastructure and the ability to deliver consistently high-quality experiences.

How do you define the current streaming landscape and its key components?

Roberto Musso, technical director, NDI: The current streaming landscape is continuously evolving with new technologies and innovations such as cloud-based workflows, 5G and AI, which are reshaping the way content is distributed and consumed. Models such as SVOD, AVOD and FAST, make up the streaming landscape ecosystem, each serving a different audience. These components are crucial to every streaming service’s business strategy including how content is created, distributed, experienced and monetized.

Paul Calleja, CEO, GlobalM: The current streaming landscape consists of a hybrid model where traditional linear broadcasting coexists with OTT and FAST platforms. Key components include content aggregation, content delivery networks, cloud based infrastructure, and increasingly sophisticated monetization models. The ecosystem is also being shaped by AI driven personalization, multi platform accessibility, and the growing importance of first party data in content recommendations.

Peter Mayhead, CEO, Pebble: FAST, essentially, is traditional, old-school television: programs interrupted by commercial breaks which pay for the channel. What streaming brings is the ability to be much more flexible with those commercials, adapting to more tightly defined geographies – or even delivering the same broad service to multiple geographies and cultures — and to target demographics much more closely. That makes it very demanding on the playout automation platform, which needs to be highly responsive.

Anupama Anantharaman, VP, product management, Interra Systems: The current streaming landscape is characterized by fast-paced expansion, considerable advancements in content is delivery and monetization methods, and continuous adaptations to cater to the diverse and intricate demands of viewers worldwide. There has also been an increased focus on delivering better quality viewing experiences across a multitude of platforms and devices. In addition, seamless interoperability between subscription and ad-supported tiers are becoming the key differentiators for companies looking to maintain a competitive edge — ensuring quality playback while meeting ad and traffic demands.

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Andrew Ward, business development manager, Cinegy: The streaming landscape is undergoing a significant transformation with the emergence of SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) protocol, which is becoming the industry standard for high-quality video transport. As a company that’s been with SRT from the beginning, we’re seeing a clear shift away from less reliable internet protocols toward this broadcast-grade solution that bridges traditional broadcasting and streaming platforms. The technical fundamentals are now solidifying, allowing the focus to shift toward content delivery optimization.

Michael Demb, VP, product strategy, TAG Video Systems: The streaming landscape is diverse, defined by a mix of xVOD, LIVE, and FAST elements. Each format addresses different audience expectations and monetization strategies, unified by the need for quality, latency, and data-driven delivery. The shift to IP and cloud infrastructure is a key enabler across the board.

Paul Davies, head of marketing, Yospace: The streaming landscape is shifting from the land-grab phase, where media companies were focused on building large audiences, to a business realization phase. With streaming set to become the primary revenue stream for broadcasters, the focus has moved to monetization. Advertising has become a central pillar of nearly every major streaming service’s business. The real opportunity now is to maximize the ad revenue potential.

Narayanan Rajan, CEO, Media Excel: The streaming landscape today is a mix of live, on-demand, and 24/7 content — think shows, sports, news, and even ambient or niche streams — all delivered across a wide range of platforms and devices. Most streaming workflows now blend on-premise infrastructure with cloud services, so teams can scale up or down depending on the event or demand. There’s also a big emphasis on data — tracking what people watch, how long they stay, and how to improve or monetize that experience.

Tobias Fröhlich, managing director of product, Qvest: The global TV and OTT market is shifting fast. You see new direct-to-consumer (D2C) streaming services challenging traditional players. They offer on-demand access that puts viewers in charge of what they watch and when. Meanwhile, some media companies are moving from BVOD (broadcaster video on demand) in the direction of super-apps that bundle multiple features under one roof.

Mark Donnigan, strategic marketing head, Netint: The streaming landscape is fiercely competitive and fragmented, with viewers seeking value amidst rising costs and diverse platform choices. Success hinges on efficient, scalable infrastructure. Leveraging solutions like Akamai’s Connected Cloud brings power-efficient Netint VPUs and AV1 for bandwidth savings without fear of escalating public cloud costs.

Is streaming now a mature technology? Where is the innovation today?

Paul Calleja: While streaming technology has matured in terms of stability and scalability, innovation continues in areas such as ultra low latency delivery, AI driven content curation, and hybrid monetization models. The shift towards edge computing and decentralized content distribution networks is addressing bottlenecks in high traffic streaming events. Furthermore, improvements in codec efficiency and bandwidth optimization continue to drive progress in both cost reduction and user experience.

Chris Clarke, CRO and co-founder, Cerberus Tech: Streaming has matured in terms of audience expectations, but the technology powering it continues to evolve. Innovation today is happening behind the scenes — in the orchestration of live workflows, the dynamic scaling of infrastructure, and the unification of edge and cloud systems in a single control plane. The shift toward modular, API-driven workflows is enabling organizations to deliver content efficiently, securely, and at scale. Automation, observability, and infrastructure independence are where the real transformation is taking place.

Cees van Versendaal, COO, MwareTV: Innovation continues in areas like improving video quality and enhanced accessibility; new business models and concepts. For instance, shopping is being integrated into the TV experience, leading to more interactions for viewers. Additionally, SmartTV manufacturers are also diversifying their business models by evolving into content providers and generating additional revenue through platform-wide advertising.

Costa Nikols, strategy advisor, M&E, Telos Alliance: Streaming TV has been around for some time, although its maturity depends on your definition. Streaming enables rapid implementation of new technologies and provides content owners and distributors with improved viewership data; these things could be considered “mature.” It also offers viewers an increasingly personalized experience, and I think that’s where we can anticipate ongoing innovation: in the areas of quality, personalization, and interaction.

Hadar Tel Mizrahi, senior product manager, targeted ads and recommendations, Viaccess-Orca: Yes, with demonstrated stability, established standards, and market saturation, streaming is indeed a mature technology. However, the advent of AI is driving innovation across industries, including significant technological advancements yet to fully emerge within the streaming industry.

Anupama Anantharaman: Streaming is now a mature technology, both in terms of both adoption and reliability. However, sustaining growth in the face of rising competition and economic pressures remains challenging. The industry is now focused on balancing profitability with audience demands through cost optimization, AI-driven personalization, dynamic monetization, and cloud-native efficiencies.

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Fabio Murra, SVP, product and marketing, V-Nova: Streaming is technologically mature in basic delivery, yet substantial innovation remains in optimizing viewer experience, monetization, and efficiency. SBTVD Forum’s TV 3.0 launch in Brazil centers on merging broadcast standards with streaming tech to address scaling, cost, and quality challenges. Advanced codecs like VVC and MPEG-5 LCEVC deliver up to 50% bandwidth savings and enhanced quality, which is critical for profitable 4K and 8K streaming. These combined innovations — blending broadcast reliability with streaming agility — represent the forefront of industry growth.

Olivier Karra, cloud solutions marketing director, Broadpeak: Innovation today is driven by finding solutions to scale and monetize streaming more effectively while overcoming challenges around content personalization. Although standard streaming workflows and video delivery to non-demanding audiences are becoming simpler to achieve, issues around ecosystem and device fragmentation have been harder to solve. For more advanced use cases, we see significant room for improvement and innovation around video QoE, security, cost reduction, hybrid on-prem/SaaS deployments, and new types of inventories for monetization.

Narayanan Rajan: Yes, streaming is absolutely a mature technology in terms of scale, reach, and user behavior. Over 1.8 billion people globally now subscribe to at least one streaming service, and the industry is generating well over $500 billion in annual revenue across video, music, and gaming platforms. Streaming is no longer a “next big thing;” it’s the default way people consume content.

Aaron Kroger, product marketing lead, Dalet: Streaming has reached a level of maturity where it is a critical distribution method for broadcasters and digital creators alike, yet innovation remains robust. AI-driven personalization is reshaping viewer engagement with hyper-relevant content recommendations, while cloud-native workflows enable scalable, modular approaches to content delivery across platforms. These advancements, paired with enhanced analytics and automation, continue to push the boundaries of what streaming can offer in terms of efficiency and audience experience.

Christopher J Bell, global strategy leader, media and entertainment, games, and sports, AWS: Streaming is mature in terms of the basics of delivering video, offering viewers a variety of access and service options, and scaling to mass audiences. But innovation is still early in terms of the richness of experience, the optimization of the subscription versus advertising choices for consumers, and the ways programming options are presented to users.

Eric Gallier, VP, video solutions, Harmonic: Streaming has reached a level of maturity in terms of widespread adoption, but innovation in the space is far from over. A growing trend for sports is the shift from 24/7 linear channel streaming to live event-based streaming, which allows service providers to tailor the quality, security and scalability for each event — a model that aligns perfectly with the flexibility of the cloud. The next wave of innovation is all about making streaming more efficient and more adaptable to the growing demands of global audiences.

James Gilbert, VP, sales and marketing, Pixel Power: Yes, it feels like streaming is now a well-established and trusted technology. Larger “traditional” broadcast brands have been able to use streaming as way of creating supplementary/complementary content to maintain core audience share, and smaller emerging brands have been able to use streaming as a way to reach new audiences with more niche and special interest content. Innovation is likely to come in the form of micro-contracts and “disposable” apps/channels that are specific to events (e.g. sports matches or concerts) and offer highly personalized content on the basis of expressed preferences.

Mark Donnigan: While core delivery is mature, market innovation focuses on enhancing user engagement and optimizing delivery economics. Providers must differentiate through personalization, interactivity, and superior quality of experience (QoE) to retain subscribers. Technologies enabling this include AI-driven features accelerated by VPUs, improved compression via AV1, and enhanced QoE using LCEVC.

Matt Smith, chief evangelist, Akta: Clearly streaming technology has evolved to meet the needs of the market, but it is far from being fully matured. Innovation today is happening through the application of artificial intelligence (AI). One key differentiator though is in using AI foundationally and building up as opposed to sprinkling AI into existing components.

How are AVOD and SVOD merging?

Cees van Versendaal: They target different markets: SVOD subscribers value an ad-free service; AVOD users choose the lower cost or “free” services. In a hybrid business model AVoD can be used to upsell to SVOD, but the fundamentally different users means that a full merge is unlikely to be successful.

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Hadar Tel Mizrahi: AVOD and SVOD are merging perfectly, based on user preferences. Consumers now have choices ranging from freemium to premium subscriptions, creating a win-win situation for both consumer experiences and further monetization opportunities for broadcasters and service providers.

Kev McCormick, product experience lead, Accedo: A recent survey by Forbes (2024) concluded that 90% of Americans with subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services plan to cancel due to rising costs. This is similar to a 2024 study by Statista, which showed that 40% of global respondents had already cancelled their video-on-demand services for the same reason. It’s no surprise really that many streaming platforms have begun to branch away from the age-old subscription model, adding ad-supported tiers to keep viewers entertained without topping up on their monthly bills.

Christopher J Bell: On demand video is no longer an either AVOD or SVOD proposition. Consumers have diverse preferences and appetites for a selectable mix of service types from fully ad-supported to exclusively subscription-based ad free experiences. The most successful providers allow consumers to find their own place on that continuum.

Mark Donnigan: AVOD and SVOD are converging into hybrid models, offering consumers flexibility and providers diverse revenue streams. Platforms that can blend subscription management with targeted, high-quality ad insertion and efficiently manage these complex streams, using new hardware architectures like VPUs for dense transcoding and DAI, are crucial for profitability and QoE.

What challenges do traditional broadcasters face when adapting to streaming platforms?

Roberto Musso: One of the main challenges traditional broadcasters face is transitioning from legacy infrastructure to more flexible, IP-based workflows, which is both costly and complex. They must rethink their business models, audience engagement strategies, and content distribution methods to compete with on-demand streaming platforms while ensuring they maintain high quality, low latency delivery.

Chris Clarke: The biggest challenges broadcasters face in adapting to streaming are more operational than technical. Traditional broadcasters built their operations around fixed infrastructure and long-established processes. To adapt to streaming, they’ve needed to become more agile, provisioning infrastructure on demand, implementing software-defined workflows, and building teams that are comfortable working in dynamic, cloud-based environments.

Cees van Versendaal: They have to learn the characteristics of a completely different service. Traditionally broadcasters generate revenue directly with other businesses, however streaming platforms rely on interaction with the consumers, so they need to decide to continue to work B2B or start a B2C service. They have access to good content and a desire to reach audiences any way possible, they have to find business and operational models which deliver real revenues.

Costa Nikols: Traditional revenue models based on national and local ad sales have been completely disrupted. Broadcasters now face the challenge of delivering content to multiple streaming platforms, catering to both live and on-demand consumption. To remain relevant and profitable, traditional broadcasters must adapt by monetizing their content effectively and providing targeted, high-quality viewing experiences.

Hadar Tel Mizrahi: Traditional broadcasters face several challenges when adapting to streaming platforms. These include shifting viewer behavior from linear TV to on-demand consumption, transitioning from legacy systems to advanced digital infrastructures, and developing compelling user experiences competitive with digital-native streaming giants.

Fabio Murra: When I talk to broadcasters, they’re wrestling with balancing legacy infrastructure costs against the agility OTT demands. I see them consistently challenged by delivering broadcast-grade quality across inconsistent bandwidths, dealing with codec fragmentation on connected TV platforms, and transitioning from linear monetization to FAST or subscription models. They’re also up against digital-native competitors moving faster, CDN costs rising exponentially at scale, and fragmented viewer analytics complicating targeted advertising.

Michael Demb: Traditional broadcasters face the dual challenge of integrating modern technologies with legacy infrastructure while reshaping their business models to support digital-first consumption. The technical transition, such as the use of cloud and hybrid technologies, the need for more dynamically orchestrated infrastructure, and event-based streaming requires investment, training, and agility. However, the bigger hurdle is cultural: adapting to fragmented audiences, non-linear consumption, and data-driven monetization demands a mindset shift that not all broadcasters, and to be honest, not all vendors, are prepared for.

Paul Davies: Effective monetization is fundamental to most broadcasters today. They must be able to apply one-to-one addressability at scale, within an excellent, feature-rich viewer experience, and across as many platforms as possible in order to monetize their full audience. They must also provide robust measurement tools to encourage advertisers to spend more.

Narayanan Rajan: One of the biggest challenges broadcasters face is managing two parallel and often competing business models. Traditional broadcast relies on fixed schedules and linear ad revenue, while streaming requires on-demand access, personalization, and platform agility. Balancing both without cannibalizing either is a persistent tension.

Kev McCormick: Content is still king, something traditional broadcasters have no shortage of. But packaging it up in a way that’s easy to find, easy to stream, and backed by smart data, that’s the hard bit. As can leveraging the data to ensure you are serving the right content to viewers based on likely preferences. If you’re sitting on a big catalogue without an OTT play, you’re already behind.

Aaron Kroger: Traditional broadcasters often grapple with integrating legacy systems, managing fragmented workflows, and adapting to the pace of digital distribution across diverse platforms. Operational complexities are compounded by the need for real-time updates, scalable cloud infrastructure, and data-driven monetization strategies to remain competitive. Overcoming these challenges requires embracing centralized, cloud-native solutions that unify the content lifecycle while meeting market demands for agility and scalability.

Tobias Fröhlich: Television is trailing behind the major usage trends of social media platforms. OTT products like TV apps and media libraries on all devices are a step in the right direction, but the transformation is not yet complete. TV providers should see themselves as streamers and build communities.

Eric Gallier: One of the biggest challenges traditional broadcasters face when moving to streaming is rethinking how they originate and deliver channels. Unlike broadcast, which delivers to many viewers simultaneously, streaming requires a one-to-one connection with each viewer — necessitating new approaches to scalability, cost efficiency and infrastructure. Broadcasters must also re-engineer workflows to support dynamic, personalized experiences from day one.

Dee McVicker, marketing director, Wheatstone: Many broadcasters started out processing audio streams like they processed their regular broadcast signals. That is, with AGC, limiting and clipping techniques that worked for on-air but, as we quickly learned, didn’t do so well once a streaming codec got a hold of it. We’ve since learned to process audio according to the laws of codecs, and that’s why our streaming appliances use processing techniques that are markedly different than our on-air audio processors.

Graham Sharp, VP, global sales and marketing, BCNexxt: I think the main issue is cost. Most broadcasters have approached streaming in the same way they build and engineer linear channels, even though the return has been a fraction of the return from Linear TV. Adding distribution channels has increased supply chain complexity, requiring multiple endpoints with different versions and formats, and the management of rights across them. In short, technical complexity and cost have outpaced growth in revenue, leaving most broadcasters cost overhung.

Mark Donnigan: As more and more consumers watch television on connected devices without a digital tuner, traditional broadcasters must overcome legacy infrastructure limitations and adopt digital-first workflows to compete effectively. This requires significant investment in agile technology for content preparation, delivery, and personalization, often involving complex codec migrations. Utilizing efficient hardware like Netint VPUs for high-density transcoding and including advanced codecs like AV1, can ease this transition and cut operational costs.

Matt Smith: Simply adding streaming to a broadcast workflow, simulcasting a newscast or show and looping the last program or newscast is no longer a feasible method to engage audience. Further, making monetization a key component of a streaming strategy is paramount. This means replacing broadcast ads with digital units, but also measuring the efficacy of ad insertion and understanding performance of the ad network partners, fill rates, etc.

Where are the current growth opportunities in streaming and OTT distribution?

Francesco Scartozzi, VP, sales and business development, Matrox Video: One major growth opportunity in streaming and OTT distribution is expanding into local markets. Broadcasters can rethink how they scale content by adapting it for different regions, whether through language localization or tailored programming. Broadcasters are testing AI-driven localization, allowing content originally produced in one language to be adapted for international markets.

Michael Demb: Significant growth lies in targeted regionalized or personalized content delivery, ad-hoc event-based content, such as sporting events, and scalable, ad-supported OTT models. As the industry shifts, opportunities are emerging in personalized user experiences, real time analytics, and advanced advertising formats. Broadcasters who embrace open, software-based ecosystems can unlock new revenue streams and reach broader audiences with greater operational efficiency.

Roger Franklin, chief strategy officer, LTN: Major streaming platforms are investing heavily in global sports rights, presenting new revenue opportunities for sports organizations. To engage these new rights buyers and expand audience reach, leagues and federations are increasingly adopting more scalable, IP-first video distribution workflows. Innovation in real-time customization with tailored audio, graphics, ads and language feeds is helping leagues and federations power new multi-partner rights revenue across digital platforms.

Olivier Karra: Personalization is one of the biggest growth drivers. Tailored streaming experiences keep viewers engaged and drive higher ad value for content providers. The ongoing move from traditional linear broadcast to addressable streaming TV will deliver major revenue benefits and cost savings for businesses that embrace better ad targeting and interactivity-based inventory.

Paul Davies: Growth opportunities lie in delivering premium viewer experiences and ensuring that dynamic ad insertion (DAI) is seamless and doesn’t disrupt the viewer’s experience. The key here is building viewer loyalty and engagement through consistent content experiences like live streaming, sports, AVOD, FAST, and even live rewind modes. Broadcasters must maximize the revenue potential of their content while ensuring a positive experience for viewers.

Narayanan Rajan: Tier 2 sports and direct fan relationships are gaining traction. Smaller leagues and teams can now reach fans directly, with easier control over content, data, and monetization. In addition, providing fans and viewers with the ability to customize their own event/match experiences will provide an opportunity to charge for premium services.

Lelde Ardava, COO, Veset: Streaming is a growing pool of opportunities for content providers, particularly in the areas of AI, monetization and live distribution. AI-powered personalization is a relatively new endeavor for the M&E industry, allowing for AI to enhance user experience and recommend more accurately and precisely personalized content for better viewer engagement and retention. Content monetization is another example of how companies are experimenting with hybrid models, combining subscription and ad-supported models to keep up with consumer demand.

Kev McCormick: We will see growth with OTT and streaming providers securing rights to, or creating, high value content. Sports is already out front, with Paramount, Apple, and Netflix all playing ball. Netflix is also the first provider to introduce gaming into its video service, working towards a one-stop shop for all entertainment. If OTT providers can create more of a hub where consumers can access everything, they will quickly become indispensable, it’s another way for them to diversify their offerings to be different from other platforms trying to keep up or match them.

Lucas Bertrand, founder and CEO, Looper Insights: Bundles and licensing are two options. Bundles with other streamers as part of Telco offers. By licensing early seasons of popular shows to third-party platforms, such as SVOD streamers or YouTube, distributors can tap into new viewer bases and funnel them back to owned channels or services for later episodes. 

Tobias Fröhlich: Liking, following, commenting, sharing with friends — the viral elements of a platform give users the opportunity to actively influence personalization and make their Activity Feed more relevant. Community effects create trends that viewers follow. Program providers, in turn, can present their content in a way that gets clicked. We use corresponding engines in content delivery.

Christopher J Bell: We are moving from the era of just getting video to the consumer reliably into a more creative and innovative phase of growth for streaming. Adding data, selectable views, alternative broadcasts or commentators, and other experience enhancements are all improving the streaming experience for live events. Greater personalization and unique packaging of single IP, genre-based, and time-limited packages all work to find new engaged audiences for produced content.

Eric Gallier: One of the most significant growth opportunities in streaming and OTT distribution is the ability to expand beyond traditional geographic limitations. Broadcasters can now reach a global audience without the constraints of satellite footprints. In addition, personalization is opening new revenue streams that go far beyond targeted advertising, including interactive features like e-commerce and e-betting, creating richer and more engaging viewer experiences.

James Gilbert: Sports continues to be a major growth area, with content creators now being able to create channels and streams dedicated to individual events much more easily and cheaply than before. In terms of OTT, monetization seems to be a key theme as broadcasters take advantage of regionalization/localization tools to better exploit existing libraries of content and make these available to wider international audiences. More generally, AI is opening up greater personalization and recommendation possibilities that can help create brand “stickiness,” improve audience share and encourage retention.

Mark Donnigan: Growth lies in FAST channels, international expansion, live sports, and innovative bundling or interactive features. Due to the wide variety of network capabilities and device profiles, capitalizing on these requires infrastructure that scales efficiently and supports diverse formats and low latency. Advanced compression standards like AV1 enhanced by LCEVC and operated by VPU-accelerated processing, are some of the key enablers to keep an eye out for.