As 2025 draws to a close, the streaming industry faces a content discovery crisis. Competition for attention is fierce, content libraries run deep, and price-sensitive viewers jump between services faster than ever. At the center of this dynamic lies an enduring challenge: how to help people find something to watch quickly, intuitively, and enjoyably. In this article, I’ll discuss what’s causing these challenges, how video previews can help viewers discover content more quickly, and how they are used across the industry.
CaptionHub – The shift from hardware to cloud native audience growth
Live captioning has long been a core component of any broadcast workflow.
In recent years, many control rooms have virtualized and some remain hardware based for a myriad reasons from legacy contracts, change management delays or production necessity such as outside broadcast trucks. Remote production is however fast becoming the standard. IP and cloud are everywhere. Yet captioning has often remained stuck with hardware encoders, SDI patching, on-prem boxes, and on-site specialists. We all know the cloud argument – it’s not new – you can genuinely do things faster, at lower cost and better scale. More with less, and today, not tomorrow.
For a long time, that was just accepted as the cost of doing things properly. But audience behavior and business models have moved on. Captioning hasn’t kept up, until now.
XroadMedia – Cutting Through The Noise: How Media Services Can Personalize Smarter, Not Harder
As new members of IABM, we wanted to share our thoughts on some of the big challenges affecting the industry and why personalization is no longer seen as a bonus feature but a necessity. As technology becomes more accessible, as well as the opportunities it brings, it can also raise questions about privacy, sustainability and scalability.
DOTSCREEN – Fragmentation to Flexibility: Rethinking the TV OS Ecosystem
In today’s media and entertainment landscape, efficiency is not just about speed—it’s about smart resource allocation, scalability, and future-proofing. Nowhere is this more evident than in the OTT and connected TV (CTV) space, where the proliferation of TV operating systems—Samsung Tizen, LG webOS, Vidaa, Titan OS, Whale TV, and more—poses a critical challenge for content owners, broadcasters, and telcos.
ContentWise – What operators will one day expect: Agent Engine for real-time personalization
New series drop daily, live events ignite online buzz, and cultural moments flare up without warning. Editorial and marketing teams in media are under constant pressure.
To seize those opportunities, they need to respond immediately. The challenge is that current workflows aren’t built for this pace.
Campaign launches often require coding knowledge, hours of manual setup, and a deep familiarity with multiple disconnected tools.
It’s time-consuming, stressful, and inefficient.
What’s missing is a way to shorten the distance between a team’s intent and the execution of that intent.
IABM Technology and Trends Roadmap – 2025
The IABM Technology and Trends Roadmap isn’t just for industry technologists to use as a reference. IABM has discovered industry execs using it as a starting point for their keynote speeches: product line managers are using it to plot their own products; and corporate board members get a better understanding of where the company’s products sit on the adoption curve, hence a better grasp or risks vs gross margins. This also assists marketing activities by giving an indication of how best to promote products within M&E and adjacent/vertical market areas.
Quickplay – Streaming TV’s new power couple: Generative AI and CMS
The longtime challenge of content discoverability in streaming is impacting revenue generation and viewer retention more than ever as new services and/or new bundles entice users to stray. One way to discourage them from shopping for a new platform is by ensuring you’re serving up what they want to watch, most importantly when they themselves may not know.
Oxagile – Samsung Tizen TV Apps for All: Tips for Low-End TVs
The TV market is facing a challenge as consumers hold onto their devices longer, averaging 6.6 years before upgrading. Many older Smart TVs are no longer supported, leading viewers to rely on set-top boxes for better experiences. This trend is especially strong in North America, where demand for new TVs remains low.
For content distributors, supporting streaming apps on older devices could be a smart move, as a significant portion of viewers still use them. Adapting Smart TV apps for legacy systems can expand reach and improve accessibility for those with outdated tech.
Actus Digital – Accelerating digital content publishing with automated workflows from compliance logging systems
In the fast-paced world of digital media, publishing content swiftly across social media, VOD and over-the-top (OTT) platforms is paramount. The dynamic nature of online audiences—who crave fresh, timely content—demands tools that streamline content creation and distribution.
Norigin Media – Sourcing: In or Out?
Sourcing – In or Out? It is a long cyclic debate within any business – whether it’s better to build or buy. Such discussions revolve around business investments, where any spending must be weighted alongside the value of IPR ownership.