Industry Insights: How infrastructure choices shape media economics

As media models converge, the pressure is no longer just on broadcasters and creators to adapt, but on vendors to absorb growing complexity and make change operable at scale.

In part two of this Industry Insights roundtable, industry leaders focus on where vendors are uniquely positioned to close capability gaps – from orchestration and reliability to monetization, standards, and infrastructure design.

The discussion explores how fragmentation and consolidation are reshaping solution design and where meaningful growth opportunities still exist, while also questioning long-held technical assumptions in an always-on, multi-platform environment. It examines how emerging formats and more distributed production models are changing the underlying economics, reshaping control rooms and influencing long-term investment decisions.

Together, these perspectives highlight how vendor strategy, architectural choices and operational clarity will shape who can move fastest – and who may struggle to keep up – in the next phase of the media economy.

Key takeaways from this Industry Insights roundtable

• Complexity is shifting: Vendors are increasingly responsible for absorbing operational complexity so broadcasters and creators can focus on content and monetization.
• Fragmentation drives cost: Platform sprawl and hybrid environments are inflating operational overhead, making orchestration and interoperability essential.
• Growth favors optimization: The strongest revenue gains come from better monetization workflows, experimentation, and extracting more value from existing assets.
• Flexibility beats scale: Modular, software-defined architectures outperform rigid, monolithic systems as formats, platforms, and economics continue to shift.
• Decisions have consequences: Short-term infrastructure and talent choices made today will define cost exposure, agility, and competitiveness years from now.

Where do you see the biggest capability gaps that vendors — not broadcasters or creators — are best positioned to solve?

Bo Kelleher, senior solutions engineer, Americas, Techex: The biggest gap is operating complex, hybrid media systems without being locked into a single platform or vendor. Organizations need a unifying operational layer that can integrate best-of-breed tools across transport, processing, and distribution. Vendors that focus on orchestration and integration — not ownership of every component — enable faster change, lower risk, and longer system life.

Michael Lantz, CEO, Accedo: As technical complexity increases and operational costs grow, maintaining uptime and quality across platforms and all devices is becoming increasingly challenging. Video services have to think about not just how to launch a fantastic video service, but also about how to operate, manage and improve that video service over time. This is bringing the age-old build versus buy debate back into the spotlight. While there may be some cases where it makes sense for broadcasters or media companies to build their own end-to-end video service, vendors are generally better placed to absorb the ongoing complexity that comes with device fragmentation, regional compliance, evolving UX expectations and the less visible work of keeping services stable at scale.

Yang Cai, CEO and president, VisualOn: One of the largest gaps is managing playback complexity across fragmented devices, formats, and monetization models at scale. Broadcasters and creators often lack the resources to continuously optimize performance, security, and ad delivery across rapidly evolving environments. Vendors are best positioned to absorb that complexity and provide stability underneath fast-changing workflows.

André Rosado, head of product, AgileTV: We have found that organizations understand the direction they want to take, but struggle to operate increasingly complex, multi-platform environments at scale. Vendors are often best placed to address challenges around orchestration, performance, security and reliability across distributed systems. These gaps become especially visible when services must scale rapidly or run continuously without performance issues. Managing such complexity requires specialized skills and tooling that are difficult to develop internally.

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Krish Kumar, CEO, Wowza: Organizations are trying to run video across environments that weren’t designed to work together — cloud, on-prem, edge, and regulated networks — while juggling different protocols, security requirements, cost models, and uptime expectations. That’s where vendors play a distinct role. Infrastructure providers are positioned to take on the complexity that individual teams can’t realistically manage themselves, designing systems that stay reliable under pressure and adapt as requirements evolve.

Kristan Bullett, CEO, Humans Not Robots: Creators should focus on what they do best: creating. Broadcasters should focus on what they do best: monetizing that content. Vendors should focus on closing the technology gap that helps broadcasters and operators understand, measure, and realize the true value of that content.

Derek Barrilleaux, CEO, Projective: Customers have been talking for years about vendors making their products more interoperable. I’ve seen real progress here over the last couple of years, and some of the automation we’ve built with upstream and downstream tools is really powerful.

Roberto Musso, technical director, NDI: As deployments scale, the biggest gaps are no longer about connectivity but about control, visibility, orchestration and reliability. At the enterprise level, vendors are well positioned to offer solutions for discovery, diagnostics, synchronization, security, and metadata standardization. Broadcasters and creators shouldn’t have to engineer these problems on their own.

Lelde Ardava, COO, Veset: As the economic situation continues to bite, broadcasters today are looking for ways to improve operational efficiency, such as greater automation and through scaling channels in the most cost-efficient way possible, all without compromising on reliability. Cloud-native vendors are perfectly positioned to support broadcasters with these gaps because cloud solutions by their very nature offer reliability, efficiency and scalability.

How is platform consolidation (or fragmentation) influencing the way you design or deliver solutions?

Krish Kumar, CEO, Wowza: As platforms consolidate and broaden their scope, customer environments have become more complex rather than simpler, with video needing to coexist alongside legacy systems, modern cloud services, edge hardware, and region-specific regulatory requirements. We see this complexity showing up consistently in customers operating across multiple clouds or hybrid environments, growing sensitivity to vendor lock-in and switching costs, and a greater need to integrate video into existing data, security, and analytics systems. Longer infrastructure lifecycles, especially in regulated or public-sector environments, only amplify these dynamics. In response, solution design has shifted toward modular architectures that integrate cleanly, evolve over time, and adapt as technical or economic conditions change.

Kristan Bullett, CEO, Humans Not Robots: Fragmented platforms drive high technology costs through operational overhead, resource drain, and growing technical debt. While these costs are visible, they are often misunderstood and consistently underestimated. The result is slow, delayed platforms and stalled innovation — clear warning signs for organizations already carrying unnecessary weight.

Derek Barrilleaux, CEO, Projective: Customers are understandably focused on point solutions to point problems. I mean, why undertake more change than necessary? But this leads to massive fragmentation, and a core part of what we try to get our customers to see is that if they just zoom out a little bit, they can greatly simplify the complexity they have in post-production and establish a foundation to help them scale.

Lelde Ardava, COO, Veset: Viewers today consume content across multiple platforms, and so broadcasters and content owners need agnostic, software-only infrastructure that can serve all platforms, whether terrestrial digital, cable or satellite traditional linear TV, as well as OTT outputs from the same operational core. Our cloud playout solution, Veset Nimbus has been designed with this in mind so that no matter how the audience wants to watch content, our customers can reach them on their chosen platform.

Where do you see the strongest growth potential for broadcast and media companies?

Bleuenn LeGoffic, VP, business transformation, Accedo: The strongest growth potential for broadcast and media companies lies in areas where the industry is still comparatively immature: systematic monetization of the user journey. While digital-native industries have spent years optimizing acquisition, conversion, retention and re-engagement, many media players still rely on relatively static funnels and broad segmentation. Treating acquisition and conversion as products in their own right — supported by experimentation, behavioral insight and dynamic monetization logic — represents a major, largely untapped opportunity for growth.

David Mauer, VP, channels and alliances, LucidLink: The strongest growth potential lies in radical cooperation (“frenemies”) and outcome-first monetization. With the frenemy pivot, we are seeing a massive shift toward mid-tier platforms consolidating or forming deep distribution alliances to challenge the “Top 5” dominance. Meanwhile, growth isn’t in passive views; it’s in integrating real-time betting, gaming, and social commerce directly into the stream

Which revenue lines will actually grow over the next three years — and which ones will quietly stall despite industry hype?

Rhian Morgan, product marketing manager, Pixitmedia: The strongest growth will come from extracting more value from what companies already own. Better versioning and smarter archive repurposing will outperform generic, undifferentiated ad-supported models. Single-platform strategies and cloud-only delivery approaches may lose momentum as their cost structures come under pressure.

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Which monetization challenges across streaming, FAST or creator ecosystems create the clearest opportunities for vendors?

Yang Cai, CEO and president, VisualOn: Inconsistent ad delivery, measurement fragmentation, and playback instability continue to undermine revenue performance, particularly in FAST and hybrid models. Vendors can add value by ensuring reliable SSAI, consistent playback behavior, and accurate analytics across platforms. Solving these foundational issues enables monetization strategies to scale more predictably.

Bleuenn LeGoffic, VP, business transformation, Accedo: Across streaming, FAST and creator ecosystems, the biggest monetization challenge — and therefore the clearest opportunity for vendors — comes from the combination of technology fragmentation and under-optimized monetization workflows. Ultimately, the next phase of monetization is not about adding more tools, but about enabling self-optimizing systems: closed loops where audience signals, monetization performance and experimentation continuously inform each other. Vendors that can provide this layer of orchestration, measurement and automation — while respecting the reality of bespoke ecosystems — will become essential partners as media companies move from static monetization models to dynamic, outcome-driven ones.

André Rosado, head of product, AgileTV: The main challenge is not enabling monetization, but making it operationally viable over time. FAST and ad-supported models only work when they can scale without driving up costs or degrading viewer experience. Vendors need to address this by simplifying workflows, increasing automation and reducing operational overhead. There is also a growing need for monetization strategies that can adapt across regions and platforms.

Lelde Ardava, COO, Veset: Broadcasters need to reduce channel operating costs and at the same time find ways to more easily launch additional or temporary channels without the levels of risk traditionally associated with these kinds of ventures. The rigidity of traditional infrastructure makes this kind of experimentation unfeasible. Playout solutions that prioritize speed to launch and operational efficiency give broadcasters the means to experiment and try new channels and formats without increasing overhead, complexity or risk.

How do emerging formats — vertical video, interactive live streams, short-form storytelling, immersive or AI-assisted content — change production economics?

Rhian Morgan, product marketing manager, Pixitmedia: New formats are shifting the focus towards rapid ingest, automated transformation and scalable storage that can support multiple format output without friction. Teams need systems that can enrich and move assets instantly across platforms – production costs will depend on how content moves, not just how its captured.

What technical assumptions are now being challenged by new distribution environments and audience behaviors?

Bo Kelleher, senior solutions engineer, Americas, Techex: One major assumption being challenged is that efficiency comes from standardizing everything onto a single stack. FinOps shows that cost control increasingly depends on choosing the right tool for the right job at the right time. Open, composable architectures allow organizations to optimize spend without being trapped by platform constraints.

G. Morgan, EVP, sales, Globecast Americas: One long-standing assumption being challenged is that reliability and quality require dedicated, purpose-built broadcast infrastructure. IP networks, cloud platforms, and edge delivery are now capable of meeting those expectations when designed correctly. This shift forces a rethink of how redundancy, security, and service assurance are achieved.

What infrastructure investments best prepare organizations to support rapid-turn, multi-platform, multi-format distribution?

Bo Kelleher, senior solutions engineer, Americas, Techex: The strongest investments are in infrastructure that acts as connective tissue rather than a closed system. Media fabrics, workflow orchestration, and open APIs allow organizations to evolve individual components without reworking the entire stack. This approach shortens deployment cycles and protects long-term flexibility.

Rhian Morgan, product marketing manager, Pixitmedia: The strongest foundations combine high-performance local environments with scalable cloud tiers, all coordinated through a unified content management layer. Organizations should prioritize metadata enrichment, intelligent movement, and interoperability with legacy and cloud systems. Those that treat storage as an active orchestration engine rather than a static repository will adapt fastest to new media demands.

Jared Timmins, SVP, innovation, Diversified: Composable, software-defined production and distribution layers with strong data foundations. Hybrid and decentralized architectures matter because latency, policy, and cost vary by use case. Secure-by-design isn’t optional anymore.

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Yang Cai, CEO and president, VisualOn: Investments that prioritize modular, standards-based playback and delivery architectures provide the most long-term flexibility. Supporting multiple codecs, DRM systems, and monetization paths from a single infrastructure reduces operational friction as formats evolve. This approach allows organizations to adapt without rebuilding their stack every time distribution shifts.

André Rosado, head of product, AgileTV: Cloud-native and software-defined approaches allow organizations to scale services quickly and respond to new distribution requirements. Automation across delivery and operations is a key investment area. Systems designed for continuous deployment and adaptation are better suited to multi-platform environments. Rigid infrastructure makes it harder to compete in a fast-moving market.

David Mauer, VP, channels and alliances, LucidLink: To support rapid-turn, multi-format distribution, the only investment that matters eliminates workflow friction. This means a stack anchored by high-performance cloud storage (e.g., LucidLink), scalable compute, and cloud infrastructure. 

G. Morgan, EVP, sales, Globecast Americas: The most effective investments are those that move organizations decisively into IP-first, cloud-native architectures with enough network capacity to absorb future growth. Flexibility matters more than scale alone, especially when supporting very different workloads such as 24/7 services versus event-driven production. Infrastructure should be designed to evolve continuously rather than be treated as a fixed, long-term build.

Derek Barrilleaux, CEO, Projective: Invest in tools that assist with creative projects, and your post-production will thank you. The atomic unit of post-production is the project, so it’s long overdue that organizations start to think in those terms, rather than exclusively about assets, data, or storage.

Roberto Musso, technical director, NDI: Software-defined, IP-native infrastructure is the most important investment for long-term flexibility. Organizations also need built-in visibility, diagnostics, and metadata support to manage complexity as scale increases. Cloud readiness and security are now foundational requirements, not optional enhancements.

How do you see standards evolving (or failing to evolve) to support a world in which linear, OTT, FAST, and creator-native outputs share the same infrastructure?

Bo Kelleher, senior solutions engineer, Americas, Techex: No single standard or vendor will cover every workflow. Core standards will coexist with software-defined layers that bridge formats, platforms, and environments. The most successful organizations will treat standards as building blocks within a flexible framework, not as rigid end-to-end solutions.

G. Morgan, EVP, sales, Globecast Americas: Standards are moving in the right direction, but not always at the pace the market demands. Interoperability increasingly depends on practical implementation choices rather than waiting for perfect alignment across ecosystems. Organizations that succeed are designing workflows that can adapt to imperfect standards while still maintaining consistency and scale.

Roberto Musso, technical director, NDI: The industry is moving toward fewer, more flexible standards that are software-native and metadata-driven. The challenge comes when standards evolve too slowly, and fragmentation takes hold. Progress happens when ecosystems collaborate early to define common paths that work across formats, platforms, and delivery models.

Lelde Ardava, COO, Veset: It’s not unusual for operational standards to struggle to keep up with the pace of change when an industry evolves significantly in a short space of time, and I think we are seeing that to a certain degree with broadcasting. Broadcasters need infrastructure that is not designed around a single output type but rather is able to easily distribute content to viewers via traditional distribution channels and/or OTT. And while standards are still catching up with this convergence of formats, cloud-based systems undoubtedly provide the flexibility that broadcasters need without multiplying operational complexity.

How do you expect the role of the control room, newsroom, or production hub to change as more work becomes distributed, virtualized or automated?

G. Morgan, EVP, sales, Globecast Americas: The control room is becoming less about physical proximity and more about orchestration, observability, and decision-making. As production resources spread across cloud, edge, and partner facilities, centralized visibility becomes more critical than centralized hardware. Physical hubs still matter, but their role is shifting toward collaboration and oversight rather than execution.

What are the biggest technology decisions organizations will regret five years from now — and why?

Rhian Morgan, product marketing manager, Pixitmedia: Many will regret locking themselves into closed or single-vendor ecosystems that limit interoperability as content volumes and distribution surfaces expand. Others will realize too late that cloud-only strategies create unpredictable cost exposure and insufficient performance for high-throughput media workflows. The biggest mistake will be underestimating the need for intelligent, vendor-neutral storage orchestration that can adapt as formats, workflows, and audience expectations evolve.

André Rosado, head of product, AgileTV: We are already beginning to see that the biggest regrets come from inflexible design choices made for short-term convenience. Off-the-shelf or rigid architectures can appear easy to deploy, but often fail to align with real operational workflows, making them difficult to implement and adapt over time. At the other extreme, heavily over-customized platforms may initially seem fit for purpose, but quickly become complex to maintain and evolve, slowing innovation rather than enabling it. Organizations may also regret treating delivery, security and operations as separate concerns.

David Mauer, VP, channels and alliances, LucidLink: Organizations will deeply regret short-sighted talent layoffs in favor of “AI efficiency.” Replacing human creative “anchors” with raw automation creates a culture of fear that kills innovation. Five years from now, the companies that thrive will be those that used AI to augment their best storytellers, not those that traded their human capital for unproven algorithmic shortcuts.

G. Morgan, EVP, sales, Globecast Americas: The biggest regrets will come from attempting to force a single, monolithic solution across very different workflows. Treating all services the same ignores the operational realities of live events, full-time channels, and on-demand production. Organizations that fail to take a modular, adaptable approach will struggle to scale efficiently as demands continue to diversify.

Kristan Bullett, CEO, Humans Not Robots: Most organizations still do not truly understand their own costs. Cost should extend beyond the balance sheet to include environmental impact, social impact, and long-term value, particularly for the costs that will matter most in the future. With this broader understanding, organizations can better shape their message and more clearly understand the needs of their viewers.