Program
Download the Advance Program PDF.
To view the program in Grid View visit the Agenda page.
The rate of change in Media is now constant – disruption is now the operating system of our ecosystem. If you are waiting around for the next era of Media to arrive, you already missed it. Change is not coming, it’s here. Next is not around the corner, it’s now.
We are now in the User Centric Era of Media, one in which consumers have all the power and use big tech to wield it. Audiences no longer see the silos between various Media platforms, they re-bundle their entertainment, daily, in their system settings, with swipes of their thumbs. While content is still king of the Media Universe, technology is now the throne on which it sits.
Hence the theme for Streaming Media NYC: Next is Now.
This conference is entirely about disruption and how to harness it. If you are a startup Media enterprise looking to go from good to great, Streaming Media NYC is where you’ll meet influential leaders and thinkers who can help make it happen. If you are part of a traditional Media company looking for ways to transform your models from the business you have into the business you need, you’ll hear from the smartest people in the room about how that kind transformation happens, now. If you are looking for a path to the future of your career in today’s Media environment, you need to be here, where the opportunity is.
Come to NYC this May 20-22, 2024, and join us for honest, meaningful conversations about the things in Media that matter most. If you miss out, you risk getting left behind.
Monday, May 20
Debate & Discuss
Each session in this track combines two live debates on hot-button issues in streaming featuring expert players in the media and technology universe. A lively discussion follows, bringing the full audience into the debate. Come to listen, learn, and join the conversation!
Debate #1: TO AI, OR NOT TO AI?
Monday, May 20: 1:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
The AI buzz reached deafening levels in 2023 across every sector of the media, business, and technology worlds, and the question of AI’s enduring impact on streaming remains an open one, from both a live operations angle with the delegation and automation of various tasks to increasing personalization of the OTT experience (Joan Is Awful, anyone?). But how much of AI’s insurgency is fad, and how much is the actual future of streaming?
Reza Hashimi, CEO, Binj
Jackie Hernandez, CEO, New Majority Ready
Steven Ship, CEO, Creative Intel
Too much of the AI debate throughout our industry and others focuses on “It’s coming for our jobs” fearmongering. But there are more important questions for streaming and M&E stakeholders from content and channel creators to live producers to tech vendors to brands: How will AI/ML make my workflows more efficient and effective? How will it grow or refine my reach? And how will it boost my bottom line?
Debate #2: PREMIUM VS. SOCIAL
Monday, May 20: 3:30 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Today, we see streaming and media entertainment split into two distinct platforms—mobile and CTV. This means technology developers and media stakeholders must approach them in different ways, recognizing generational and cultural differences in who, how, and where viewers consume their content and in how user experiences and monetization strategies are crafted for each platform. What is the value proposition for each in the current landscape, and where do the key content categories of premium, niche, and social factor into the equation?
Bethany Atchison, VP, Distribution Partnerships, Vevo
Much of the media conversation centers around the creation, licensing, distribution, and monetization of premium content—as well as the ROI of investing in it through one means or another. But in a world where the lines between niche and mainstream media companies are increasingly blurred, and YouTube, a platform associated with UGC and influencers, is emerging as the largest media channel on the planet, what really constitutes premium content? What makes the distinction meaningful for those with a stake in streaming?
Monday, May 20
Career Development
Conferences like Streaming Media NYC provide indispensable opportunities for media industry and technology professionals to re-evaluate their own careers and seek expert advice on how to position themselves to level up or move in new directions. If you’re looking to take stock of where you are or make that next leap forward, join the best in the business for these two essential career development workshops.
CEO of Your Own Sh*t: The Fractional Executive
Monday, May 20: 1:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
This interactive seminar on building, sustaining, and growing your business is designed for anyone looking to refocus their entrepreneurial efforts with new growth strategies and ideas—even if your time is divided between multiple enterprises like so many in leadership roles today.
Branding Yourself & Landing Your Next Gig
Monday, May 20: 3:30 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
This interactive seminar on personal branding provides practical branding insights for executives at all levels in all disciplines as well as for streaming industry veterans moving between companies, looking for their next opportunity in the streaming industry, and struggling to make themselves more marketable.
Dayo Harewood, SVP Creative & Brand Marketing, Paramount Brand Studio
Monday, May 20
Streaming Media Iconoclasts
This track features four fireside chats with iconic firebrands from the top echelons of the streaming, content, and media technology worlds.
FIREBRAND LIVE
Monday, May 20: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Check back soon for more details.
Laura Florence, SVP Global FAST Channels, Fremantle
Tuesday, May 21
Keynotes
Keynote: Streaming Media Debate: Brand vs. Retail
Tuesday, May 21: 10:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Programmatic and addressable campaigns combined with the power of big tech have upset the balance between brand and performance marketing, between awareness and shopability. Trade Desk says nearly $6 billion in retail media will come to CTV by 2028. In a world of increasingly commoditized impressions and audiences, where is a marketer’s money best spent—premium TV environments for brand awareness, but less attribution, or performance marketing? Can TV publishers compete with social video on performance-based advertising? Should they, or are they risking brand damage?
Tuesday, May 21
Track A: Let’s Play: Gaming & Sports
The stakes are higher than ever in sports streaming today, from licensing to monetization to delivering premium sports events at all stages of the streaming supply chain. Meanwhile, the lines between “major” and “niche” sports and traditional and esports are increasingly blurred as the targeted CTV landscape makes it possible to reach all audiences and deliver innovative and personalized experiences, with a premium on resilient and seamless delivery. And the rise of esports and iGaming means everyone’s playing, and everyone’s a stakeholder these days.
A101. Fandom 101
Tuesday, May 21: 1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Learn best practices for building, engaging, serving, and sustaining sports franchise and esports fanbases, curbing churn and developing stable and inviting apps and UIs. We also take a closer look at how sports streamers can leverage innovative content strategies and what they can learn from the gaming world’s success, particularly with Millennials.
James Lauzun, Chief Product Officer, MagellanTV
A102. Sports Streaming—Bubble or Boon?
Tuesday, May 21: 2:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
Sports streaming experts discuss the state of sports streaming and offer actionable insights on how to build a robust sports streaming operation and invest in the business wisely.
A103. How to Succeed With Large-Scale Live Sports Streams
Tuesday, May 21: 3:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Key practitioners and providers discuss the demands, costs, challenges, and upsides of live sports streaming at scale on all platforms, and how to deliver experiences that make fans and brands take notice.
Nishant Sirohi, Senior Manager, Paramount and Live Video
A104. Reality Check: Real-Time Live Sports Streaming
Tuesday, May 21: 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
How critical is ultra-low-latency “real-time” sports streaming delivery in 2024? Who is demanding it, when does it matter, and how can you deliver it reliably and cost-effectively?
Eric Bolten, VP, Business Development, Zixi
Tuesday, May 21
Track B: The Home Screen: The Business of CTV
The fast-evolving CTV landscape and its major OEMs are exerting a massive impact on streaming delivery, content strategy, monetization, and user experience today, with ripple effects on all the technology vendors who play in that space. This track looks from several angles at the CTV-centric state of streaming in 2024.
B101. OS, OEM, Oh My!
Tuesday, May 21: 1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
From live linear to FAST to SVOD/AVOD/SVAD, how will the OEM and OS wars change the way TV is distributed and monetized?
Mr Ajey Anand, CEO, Norigin Media
B102. The FAST Track
Tuesday, May 21: 2:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
FAST experts offer best practices and lessons from running FAST channels in a crowded field of 2,000 competitors.
B103. The Subscription Prescription
Tuesday, May 21: 3:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Here, we explore how market shifts and strategic innovations are changing the mechanics of subscription to increase value and create a better experience.
Adam Salmons, Head of Business Development and Partnerships, Philo
B104. Strategic Trends in CTV Advertising and Monetization
Tuesday, May 21: 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Key developments in ad and monetization strategy coming to CTV in 2024 and beyond with insight from key platform players.
Julie Triolo, SVP of Research & Marketing, Vevo
Dan Callahan, GVP National Sales, Spectrum Reach
Tuesday, May 21
Track C: Build vs. Buy: Choosing Streaming Infrastructure
All of the market acumen and content strategy in the world won’t help you succeed in streaming without assembling a solid tech stack to ensure smooth and reliable delivery and a satisfying user experience. But when it comes to building out your infrastructure and developing streaming apps, it’s rarely an obvious or clear-cut choice between going off-the-shelf or rolling your own. In this track, we look at the various components of streaming infrastructure and workflow and the key technologies and strategic choices involved in these build-vs.-buy decisions.
C101. Lining the Cloud for Live & VOD
Tuesday, May 21: 1:00 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Cloud streaming workflows offer flexibility and economies of scale (not to mention straight-up scalability) that are increasingly hard to match with on-prem infrastructure. But cloud migration rarely happens all at once. What are today’s most practical and forward-looking strategies for effective streaming workflows and infrastructure?
Rob Dillon, Principal Strategist, Dillon Media Ventures
C102. Back End Is the New Front
Tuesday, May 21: 2:00 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
Backend streaming technology that can scale on demand is the not-so-secret ingredient of live streams that reach the last mile of streaming delivery robustly and reliably. How do you assemble an airtight and affordable streaming back end that withstands bursts and spikes and makes it all look easy?
Rob Dillon, Principal Strategist, Dillon Media Ventures
C103. Securing Your Streams
Tuesday, May 21: 3:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
In an era of new and ever-more-clever piracy schemes and CDN leeching, streaming security is always a moving target. Which security solutions will scale and preserve ownership rights for low-latency live streams as well as for VOD? And what are the next-generation strategies and technologies that will keep high-stakes streams safe?
Robin Oakley, Senior Director, Edge CDN Solutions, Synamedia
C104. Pain in the Apps
Tuesday, May 21: 4:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
What are the major pain points in streaming app design and user experience in streaming today across its multiple platforms, and where are content providers likely to find the best remedies?
Shannon McKenzie, Director, Creative Products, Content Distribution, NBCUniversal
Wednesday, May 22
Keynotes
Keynote: Streaming Media Debate: Data vs. Content
Wednesday, May 22: 9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
The era of Peak TV is over. Viewer fragmentation is the new normal. In this context, should marketers, agencies, and brands be focused first on buying advanced audiences or programming events? Is content still king? Or, in streaming, is content commoditized? Has data taken the throne?
Wednesday, May 22
Track A: Modern Measurement: Who Counts Now?
Explore the evolving role of data and increasing sophistication of data measurement in streaming monetization, adtech, performance, and the CTV landscape.
A201. Currency & Measurement in Streaming
Wednesday, May 22: 11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
What are the new metrics in streaming and who chooses them? How does increasingly sophisticated data modeling factor into streaming monetization strategy?
A202. Data, Identity, & the Privacy Economy
Wednesday, May 22: 1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
How can content stakeholders and streaming services and channels use data safely to improve user experiences across media? Media thought leaders also explore permission marketing and the cost and value of personal data.
A203. Mastering the Mechanics of Ad Insertion
Wednesday, May 22: 2:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Engaging viewers with streaming ads isn’t just about content and delivering the right ads to the right viewers. It’s also about timing, inventory frequency, achieving seamless ad insertion performance that never distracts the viewer, and gathering the right metrics to assess your ads’ success and maximize value for brands. What technology solutions—AI-enabled or otherwise—can you use to automatically serve up ad experiences that satisfy viewers and profit stakeholders?
Nadine Krefetz, Consultant, Reality Software and Contributing Editor, Streaming Media
Wednesday, May 22
Track B: Media Moderation: Sustainability in Media
This track explores strategies for green and sustainable technology infrastructure and practices to curb energy usage throughout the streaming supply chain. It also examines the progression toward greater sustainability with ongoing technology disruption at every stage of streaming delivery.
B201. Computing While Cooling
Wednesday, May 22: 11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Leading streaming technology providers and innovators 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.
Serhad Doken, CTO, Adeia
Sujana Sooreddy, Senior Software Engineer, Netflix
Tim Siglin, Founding Executive Director, Help Me Stream Research Foundation
B202. The Future & Streaming Codecs
Wednesday, May 22: 1:30 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
How critical are codec choices and encoding strategies to streaming sustainability, and how do you strike a balance between affordability, efficiency, quality, and future-proofing your content when it comes to encoding and building your encoding ladder?
Jan Ozer, Founder, Streaming Learning Center
B203. The Future of Content Delivery
Wednesday, May 22: 2:30 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
As the walls between cloud compute and content delivery continue to fall, CDN infrastructure becomes increasingly commoditized, more legacy CDNs fall by the wayside, and the ongoing adoption of sustainable practices mandate infrastructure changes, is there a future for traditional CDNs? And if not, what’s next?
Abhishek Neralla, Director, Senior Director, Media and Content Services, A+E Networks
Wednesday, May 22
Track C: No Company for Old-Fashioned
A crash course in what’s next in the media world and the media workplace and how to adapt and embrace it.
C201. Leadership Now
Wednesday, May 22: 11:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Pick up 21st-century leadership strategies for the media industry from the business’s best and brightest.
Wednesday, May 22
Closing Keynote
Closing Keynote: Next Is Now: The State of the Streaming Media Industry
Wednesday, May 22: 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
This is the fourth-wall-breaking, gloves-off, must-attend closing keynote with Streaming Media NYC conference chair and official/unofficial media industry cartographer Evan Shapiro. Speakers, vendors, and attendees re-convene for hot takes, key takeaways, forward looks, what we learned, and where we’re going.
Evan Shapiro, CEO, ESHAP