Industry Insights: Opportunities and challenges with cloud-based content distribution

In the final installment of the Industry Insights roundtable series, broadcast experts delve into the transformative role of cloud-based solutions in playout and content distribution.

This discussion explores how broadcasters are leveraging cloud infrastructure to scale operations, enhance flexibility, and meet the demands of increasingly diverse audiences. Participants highlight the benefits of cloud-based workflows, including cost-efficiency, real-time resource management, and the ability to adapt to emerging trends like OTT delivery and advanced content personalization.

The conversation also addresses challenges in distribution, such as cost management and maintaining scalability, while identifying key technologies shaping the future of broadcasting.

Industry Insights: Balancing real-time demands, cost in media orchestration

Industry Insights: The evolution and impact of advanced playout systems

Key takeaways from the Industry Insights roundtable

• Cloud solutions improve scalability: Broadcasters use cloud-based systems to dynamically scale operations, efficiently handle high-traffic events, and launch new channels with minimal upfront costs.
• Cost efficiency is critical: Cloud workflows reduce reliance on specialized hardware, offering a pay-as-you-go model that optimizes resource usage and minimizes capital expenses.
• Flexibility supports diverse platforms: Broadcasters can tailor content workflows and deliver to multiple platforms seamlessly, meeting the unique requirements of OTT and traditional channels.
• Automation enhances reliability: Integrated tools streamline content transformation, reducing errors and enabling faster distribution while maintaining high quality standards.
• AI-driven applications boost innovation: AI technologies, from real-time translation to advanced content tagging, improve workflows and prepare broadcasters for future challenges, such as accessibility requirements.

What is the role of cloud-based solutions in playout and content distribution?

Klaus Weber, director of product marketing, Grass Valley: The challenges of modern content creation, playout, and distribution — such as allowing multiple users in different locations to edit and finalize content simultaneously, and then delivering it across various formats and channels — are best addressed with cloud-based solutions. These solutions provide the flexibility to adapt to evolving needs, including the ability to activate or deactivate additional playout channels at any time, without requiring specialized hardware.

Sam Peterson, COO, Bitcentral: Unlike traditional, on-premise environments, cloud solutions allow broadcasters to scale their operations dynamically. This agility is particularly valuable during high-traffic events or when launching new channels, as it minimizes the need for large upfront capital investments. Additionally, cloud solutions offer flexibility in resource allocation, enabling operators to efficiently manage workloads and optimize costs in real-time, meaning broadcasters can scale infrastructure as needed and pay only for the resources they need.

Ian McPherson, global strategy leader for media and entertainment, games, and sports at Amazon Web Services: Cloud-based solutions reduce the costs and complexity associated with playout and content distribution, while enabling innovation for new experiences. Furthermore, cloud based solutions for indexing, managing, and searching for content are enabling content owners like the NFL to enhance the broadcast experience for audiences with new capabilities like Nex Gen Stats and semantic search of archives for rapid legacy highlight creation.

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Graham Sharp, CEO, BCNexxt: The cloud provides dynamically scalable resources based on the type of content being played out. By also time shifting the preparation of the content, processing requirements can be level loaded and ramped up and down for complex live events, increasing efficiency and reducing costs. In addition, the cloud, when correctly architected, is highly available, increasing reliability and hugely scalable, enabling new channels to be quickly provisioned and importantly turned off for ‘pop-up’ sports events.

Andy Warman, CTO for video, Imagine Communications: Cloud is playing a growing role in all aspects of playout and content distribution — in some cases replacing on-prem usage entirely in broadcast, as well as digital applications. Cloud is particularly effective for occasional-use workflows and for enabling disaster recovery plans and business continuity. It can also be used to augment existing solutions as part of a strategy to move to all-cloud solutions in the future or provide redundancy when needed rather than building out dedicated on-prem systems.

Rick Young, SVP and head of global products, LTN: Media companies are actively exploring cloud-enabled solutions as they provide greater business agility, and flexible location-agnostic workflows and drive ROI on high-value and high-volume content. Their role is increasing as they help content owners automatically spin up multiple versions of a core linear channel to reach cross-platform audiences while serving diverse audiences with tailored programming. Their agility and flexible approach are key to monetization and it has meant cloud-based solutions have become an integral part of a long-term business strategy.

Michael Demb, VP of product strategy, TAG Video Systems: Cloud-based solutions offer broadcasters the flexibility to scale quickly and manage resources efficiently without being tied to on-prem physical infrastructures. Cloud platforms can dynamically adjust resource allocation by integrating IP-native, all-software, real-time monitoring, and analytics to ensure quality of service (QoS) across multiple workflows. This reduces the need for on-premise hardware and allows for seamless content delivery, even during high-demand periods.

Nivedita Nouvel, VP of marketing at Broadpeak: Cloud-based solutions provide the flexibility, scalability and operability that is required to offer a reliable video service at the best cost. A mix of public cloud and private cloud is essential for streamlining operations and managing costs, as data plane operations in the public cloud remain highly expensive.

Mārtiņš Magone: Cloud based playout and content distribution solutions offer a wide range of unique benefits, including scalability, flexibility and remote monitoring, making it the perfect solution for on-prem, hybrid and fully remote broadcasters. Cloud based solutions are also incredibly cost-efficient, reducing the need for complex hardware and dedicated engineering staff.

Stefan Lederer, CEO and cofounder, Bitmovin: Cloud-based solutions give broadcasters and content providers the efficiency, flexibility and scalability needed to succeed in the current market. A lot of companies in the industry are already sold on the benefits of cloud-based solutions so we find there’s a lot less convincing needed to get people to move to the cloud than in the past. Instead, companies are more interested in talking about which cloud vendors will work best for their operation, with some also interested in leveraging different cloud providers for economic benefit and cost optimization.

Stephane Cloirec, VP for video appliances and software product management, Harmonic: Playout applications can take full advantage of the cloud for event-based applications or backup and disaster recovery use cases. Beyond these examples, the explosion of AI-based applications powered by cloud infrastructure can also benefit cloud playout workflows. Some of the innovations enabled by the cloud include interfacing cloud playout with automatic closed captioning or real-time translation services. In addition, content distribution is becoming more diverse. Broadcasters are opting for cloud-based delivery over traditional satellite content distribution for economic reasons and to expand the reach of their content globally.

What challenges arise in distributing content efficiently and effectively?

Sam Peterson: Many media companies have traditionally operated in a fixed-cost environment, which provided predictability in their budgeting. However, with the shift to more dynamic, variable-cost models — particularly in cloud-based and multi-platform distribution — this landscape has become more complex. This makes it crucial for media companies to have a clear cost structure and plan for scaling their distribution that balances efficiency and financial sustainability.

Craig Wilson, product evangelist for broadcast and media, Avid: Designing overly complex workflows risks delaying content delivery in the first place, even before the point of distribution. Many of these challenges can be addressed through effective change management and that must be factored in.

Stefan Lederer: Profitability remains front and centre as a result of the global economic climate and this is driving the need for more cost-efficient distribution. A lot of providers that have entered the streaming market over the last decade are now facing the reality that distribution over CDNs is not necessarily as cost efficient as other traditional methods. This is leading service providers to consider how they can lower the cost of distribution to make their services more profitable, such as through increasing efficiency by optimizing file sizes to reduce storage and bandwidth needs.

David Edwards, product manager, Net Insight: Content distribution classically relied on satellite delivery to achieve wide-scale coverage. The media competitive landscape has transformed in recent years. Geostationary satellite costs now seem like a big financial burden and inflexible. To overcome this, modern distribution systems are transitioning to IP delivery which provides the broadcaster with the ability to customize and flex their content provision.

Aaron Kroger, product marketing lead, Dalet: One of the challenges faced today with distributing content is scalability. While we have automation, AI, and the elasticity of the cloud which bring the ability to scale, there is still a human element within most distribution workflows. To effectively scale does not mean to remove the human element such as review and approval but to ensure that it is as efficient as possible and that the people can receive notifications and connect to the systems from anywhere to make sure there are as few bottlenecks as possible.

How does technology improve the speed and reliability of content distribution?

Klaus Weber: When content creation and distribution operate on the same software-based platform, it offers significant advantages in both speed and, more importantly, reliability. Once the material is uploaded to the processing platform, it remains accessible to all users for every processing step, eliminating time delays or potential data loss that could occur when transferring material between different platforms.

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Ian McPherson: Moving broadcast workflows to the cloud improves the speed and reliability of content distribution by eliminating the need to move content between applications and workstations as it moves through the supply chain. The cloud lets professionals use AI to empower human operators to more quickly to complete complex and repetitive tasks, like content tagging or moderation. Finally, it also helps ensure package accuracy and completeness s based on each network or platform’s unique requirements.

Nivedita Nouvel: Technologies such as multicast ABR for live content and dynamic congestion control mechanisms greatly help to improve content distribution efficiency. Multicast ABR, in particular, allows operators and content providers to reduce the size of the player buffer, which is responsible for 80% of the latency.

James Cranfield, global VP of sales and partnerships, Cinedeck: While media orchestration systems are key for streamlining the broadcast workflow, they can often present challenges. These challenges include integrating with legacy systems, managing costs, training teams on new technology, ensuring data security and maintaining compatibility across various platforms.

Stefan Lederer: Technology is advancing all the time to enhance the efficiency and reliability of content distribution. By using analytics tools that monitor user session data, streaming service providers can now track and analyze their video streams’ reliability in real-time. This makes it possible to identify and fix playback issues before they impact viewers so that viewers have the best possible viewing experience — a critical requirement for viewer engagement and retention.

Andy Rayner, CTO, Appear: There are continual increases in all elements of content distribution technology — especially networking and computing. These performance increases will inherently benefit the content distribution solutions. One remaining challenge is the scalable architectures for live linear distribution when most consumers have migrated to OTT delivery.

How are broadcasters adapting content distribution methods to meet changing viewer demands?

Sam Peterson: To stay competitive, broadcasters must be willing to rethink and innovate their distribution strategies, moving beyond outdated, one-size-fits-all approaches. This requires embracing new technologies and workflows that allow for faster, more responsive content delivery. Whether it’s leveraging cloud-based technologies or optimizing for multi-platform delivery, success now depends on staying agile and responsive to the ever-changing needs of the audience.

Ian McPherson: Broadcasters must meet changing viewer expectations for watching content where they want, when they want, and how they want. It’s a demand that has driven many content owners to develop their own OTT direct to consumer offerings, expand their content monetization strategies through launching offerings like FAST, and diversify their distribution channels. For example, when Warner Brothers Discovery wanted to increase reach of their Max platform and content, they chose to work with Amazon to make that catalog available on Amazon Prime.

Craig Wilson: The rise of FAST channels in recent years shows how broadcasters are finding different ways of distributing content, and monetizing existing content in new ways. This is a good example of finding most cost effective routes to market than existed previously.

Nivedita Nouvel: While global live video content consumption is decreasing, popular events are driving higher audience peaks. Live events need to be delivered with the best quality possible on infrastructure initially built for data; this is where technologies like multicast ABR can help. Personal cloud DVR applications are also being replaced by start-over and catch-up TV services that are more flexible and cost-effective to implement.

Mārtiņš Magone, CTO, Veset: More and more broadcasters are shifting to cloud based playout infrastructure with the vision of introducing a scalable, flexible and monitorable foundation to work from. Viewer demands are changing at an unprecedented rate, which calls for high quality, immediately accessible and personalised content experiences.

Stefan Lederer: To remain relevant and reach a wider audience, broadcasters must distribute their content in a way that meets the diverse needs of viewers today. When distributing over OTT, content providers need to be able to distribute to an extensive range of devices and platforms, while at the same time providing the highest quality experience. Needless to say, without the right tools, ensuring playback quality and delivering a seamless viewing experience across any device, even when the user’s internet connection speed is variable and bandwidth is low, is extremely challenging.

David Edwards: Distributing content requires wide-scale geographical coverage to the edge. For years that meant almost exclusively satellite delivery. Now with near ubiquitous, high-quality global internet availability broadcasters can revolutionize their distribution solutions to leverage greater flexibility and a radically lower OPEX cost base. By utilizing internet-distributed services, broadcasters can offer a more tailored, regional and unique service — one that can be customized to individual takers, enabling more immersive and competitive programming.

Andy Rayner: There is an inevitable transition in broadcasting from traditional linear delivery to OTT-based consumption. Even the most conservative public service broadcasters have a plan of being almost totally OTT-based in delivery within the next 10 years. Eventually, even what is considered ‘linear’ channels will be realized at the consumer end by the playout of a broadcaster-curated asset playback combined with occasional OTT-delivered live streams.

How do media orchestration solutions handle content distribution to multiple platforms?

Geoff Stedman, chief marketing officer, SDVI: Each distribution platform has their own specifications for content packages, including media formats, audio placement, and metadata. Starting from a single content master, orchestration solutions can create the derivative packages that are needed to meet the distribution specifications. When combined with resource management, the technical infrastructure needed to support the content transformation can be spun up and down as needed to meet demand, resulting in efficient resource utilization.

Aaron Kroger: A good orchestration platform easily manages one-to-many distribution using automation to convert and configure to the specific needs of each end point. Beyond delivering to multiple platforms, keeping track of that and providing views into these multiple platforms is important. This is where story-centric workflows bring a lot of value by allowing you to view a story and easily see all of the various versions and platforms in a single view.

What other trends are shaping the discussion around playout and distribution?

Sam Peterson: Partner-based content distribution has become a critical trend, as media companies increasingly rely on third-party platforms to expand their reach and audience. Consolidation creates new opportunities but also requires broadcasters to be constantly on the lookout for emerging trends and innovations. Staying ahead means having the flexibility to pivot quickly, adapt to new distribution models, and proactively prepare for “what’s next” in the industry.

Benjamin Shirley, product manager for broadcast, MainConcept: As broadcasters move to IP-based solutions, protocols such as ST2110 and NDI with codecs such as JPEG-XS will shape the future of content playout and distribution. Advances in technology will see faster integrations and the deployment of cloud and micro-service based solutions. The ability to deploy a live workflow from encoding camera feeds to streaming to end-customer devices will become a job that takes minutes for an operator rather than hours or days for a senior engineering team, allowing broadcasters and content providers to use their talent in more effective areas.

Stefan Lederer: With a mass of solutions and services leveraging AI hitting the market right now, there’s a lot of interest in how AI can reduce costs and increase profit. Broadcasters and content distributors in Europe are looking to AI to help minimize the financial impact of the European Accessibility Act 2025, which brings in the need for closed captions and audio descriptions. This requirement creates a problem for many because they don’t necessarily have the staff to do real time caption editing and audio descriptions, so there is a hope that AI-powered tools will enable them to do it at a fraction of the cost.

Stephane Cloirec: With ad-supported tiers going mainstream for streaming platforms and ad revenues remaining a primary revenue source for broadcasters and content owners, deploying innovative ad insertion solutions is essential to stay competitive in this market. Broadcasters and content owners need to create new high-value inventory opportunities to boost revenues and deliver ads non-intrusively to reduce ad fatigue for viewers. Adopting cloud-native ad insertion solutions featuring in-stream advertising utilizing new split-screen ad formats and server-guided ad insertion is key to gaining a competitive advantage.

Industry Insights: Balancing real-time demands, cost in media orchestration

Industry Insights: The evolution and impact of advanced playout systems