Fandom Study Finds 80% of Consumers Rank TV, Movies & Video Games Higher Than Music & Sports as Leisure Time Activities

In an increasingly busy world, consumers flock to entertainment and gaming over other interests including music, food and cooking, sports, and travel. A new study from Fandom, The Power of Me Time, explores the reasons behind this trend through three key factors - Dominant Passion Points, Emotional Impact, and Engagement - while also highlighting what these insights mean for brands and marketers.

The Economics of Music: Streaming vs. CD Sales—A Deeper Look

In recent years, a narrative has emerged pitting streaming services against traditional music sales, particularly CDs and vinyl. Social media posts often circulate claiming that a single CD sale is worth hundreds of hours of streaming for an artist. While these comparisons can be eye-catching, they often oversimplify a complex ecosystem and misdirect artists' frustrations. This article aims to unpack the intricacies of music royalties, challenging common misconceptions and highlighting the real issues at play.

ICYMI: Streaming Media Connect August 2024

Streaming Media presented its 14th Connect virtual conference August 20-22, 2024, with Media Industry Cartographer & CEO ESHAP Evan Shapiro and Streaming Media Editor-in-Chief Steve Nathans-Kelly as hosts and MCs, and featuring speakers from Google, Amazon, Roku, Bloomberg, DAZN, Fubo, IMAX, and more, and session topics ranging from streaming monetization to FAST strategy to OTT bundling to cloud streaming OpEx and live streaming at scale.

SMNYC Debates: TO AI, OR NOT TO AI?

On Monday, May 20, at Streaming Media NYC, two lively debates on the topic of AI in Media and Entertainment showcased leading industry figures. The first, "AI: Boon Or Bubble?" examined the ways that AI has entered every sector of the media, business, and technology worlds, and it explored how much of AI's insurgency is a fad, and how much of it is the actual future of streaming. The second, "The Real Value Of Artificial Intelligence," explored the fearmongering around the idea that "AI is coming for our jobs," and focused on how AI/ML might make workflows more efficient and effective, grow or refine reach, and help to boost bottom lines.

Vevo at the IAB NewFronts: Short-Form Optimization for FAST, CTV, OTT, and Programmatic

On Thursday, May 2, Vevo, the world's leading music video network, presented "Watch More Music" at the 2024 IAB NewFronts. Topics covered included the challenges of achieving reach, recency, relevancy, and measurement in the current streaming ecosystem, the importance of brand safety and transparency in FAST, Vevo's continued expansion into the CTV space, and its ambition to become the world's largest programmatically traded TV network.

NAB 2024: Top New Tech for a Disruption-Ready Streaming Industry

Exciting new and (mostly) AI-driven tools and services from NAB 2024 that very specific problems, from shooting great iPhone footage to automatically creating short clips to providing live low-latency translation and captioning to creating customized radio programming to building purpose-driven social communities.

Streaming Media Sneak Preview: Computing While Cooling With Netflix, Adeia, the Greening of Streaming, and Help Me Stream Research Foundation

On Wednesday, May 22 at Streaming Media NYC, Dom Robinson, Founder, Greening of Streaming and Director id3as/Norsk, will moderate an all-star panel of leading streaming technology providers and innovators to discuss how to make media's tech stack more cost and energy efficient and implement sound and sustainable best practices throughout the media supply chain, with insights from Sujana Sooreddy, Senior Lead Software Engineer at Netflix, Serhad Doken, CTO of Adeia, and Tim Fore-Siglin, founding executive director of Help Me Stream Research Foundation.

Instant Replay: Streaming Media Connect 2024

Streaming Media presented its 13th Connect virtual conference February 19 - 22, 2024, with media industry cartographer Evan Shapiro as host and MC. Shapiro kicked off the event with a dynamic keynote, digging deep into the Q4 earnings call data to hold the spin doctors accountable and giving an unvarnished view of the industry. Other highlights included a keynote by Dana McGraw of Disney, titled Disney Advertising, Understanding Audiences: How Disney Advertising Leverages Data Science and Insights to Empower Advertisers, plus several panels covering topics such as app streaming UX design, scaling CTV advertising, measuring FAST success, and AI.

Fubo Launches Fubo Radio, a FAST Channel Radio Experience Powered by Super Hi-Fi

Fubo has partnered with Super Hi-fi to launch Fubo Radio, a suite of 10 custom audio FAST channels. Launched as part of Fubo's base channel plan, Fubo Pro, Fubo Radio is the first radio experience created from the ground up for an OTT service, with a TV-first interface and music programming specifically created for Fubo's U.S. audience. But will this new service stand out from other streaming radio platforms and build its own unique audience? FAST industry experts Chris Pfaff and Jonathon Barbato provide some insights.

Spotify Remains Number 1 Music Streamer

Launches CTV ad business with Roku, expands audiobook inventory and doubles down on AI with huge room for growth identified by researchers Kantar

Consumers Spending Less Time Watching Traditional TV and Movies, says Interpret

Interpret study reveals that entertainment is becoming more diverse, with gaming, OTT streaming, music, and podcasts accounting for more consumers' time

Sony Is All Ears at Virtual CES

Sony showcased its 360 virtual mixing environment and 360 Reality Audio Services at its CES 2021 showcase

With Content Fabric, Eluvio Might Transform Online Video Delivery

Startup Eluvio has announced its first product, and it aims at nothing less than transforming how video and other large files are distributed online.

iHeartMedia Acquiring Stuff Media and Creating a Podcast Empire

Two powerhouses of podcasting are joining together, with iHeartMedia snapping up one of the top audio download producers.

Musical.ly App Folds Into TikTok, Users Urged to Switch Over

Chinese technology company Bytedance is once again getting out of its own way and reducing competition in the video app market.

Roku Turns Up the Volume with Roku TV Wireless Speakers

Arriving in late October, Roku's speakers offer simple setup and two remotes. But what about the whole home licensing program the company recently announced?

YouTube Debuts Music and Ad-Free Video Subs, Folds YouTube Red

One service becomes two, as subscribers have the choice of a $9.99 per month music plan, or paying $2 more to add ad-free video playback and YouTube originals.

Hulu and Spotify Team Up to Offer Combined Subscription

Following a successful pairing aimed at college students, Hulu and Spotify create a music and TV subscription for $12.99 per month.

YouTube Introduces SDK for Spatial Audio on Mobile and Desktop

With its latest software development kit, Resonance Audio, YouTube makes immersive video environments even more convincing.

Apple Plans Original Video Expansion, Courts Veteran Producers

The company will use original series and movies to attract more subscribers to Apple Music, not to launch a streaming video service.