Live Content, Integrated Ads Keys to Future of TV Streaming, Says Report

Major media and entertainment companies have developed stable delivery models to support their streaming services but see challenges ahead, said a June Comcast Technology Solutions sponsored report released Wednesday. It is part of Comcast’s TV 2025 Initiative, an international research program looking at obstacles and opportunities for streaming. Hurdles include multi-platform native application development, maintaining quality of experience -- especially with premium live experiences such as sports -- and delivering complex streaming services like virtual MVPD offerings reliably at scale, said industry participants. International expansion can also be challenging, it said. By 2025, the streaming market will include light-touch services delivering content mostly via third-party streaming platforms and channel marketplaces in a self-service model on one end and fully featured, high-end streaming services on the other, it said. The best streaming TV services, it said, will benefit from an environment that supports delivery of streaming services -- live and on demand -- at scale to major markets around the world; an integrated approach to advertising that allows linear and nonlinear TV and streaming services to be seamlessly transacted at scale; an artificial intelligence-powered industry that uses machine learning and automation to improve workflows, customer experience, content curation and monetization; and more agile, cloud-based broadcasting operations that support a faster pace of innovation.