John Moulding
Verified
Freelance Editor & Writer covering TV distribution and advertising sectors. Former Editor-in-Chief at Videonet and Head of Content, TV & Advertising, Adwanted.
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Articles by John Moulding
Roku study shows bright future for home screen and interactive ads
Connected TV home screens are creating additional premium advertising inventory and opening the door for brands that previously couldn’t afford to advertise on TV. That was one of the conclusions when Roku, Dentsu and WPP Media joined The Media Leader to discuss findings from Roku’s debut VOD Evolution 2027 UK Study, published last week. The study highlights the important role home screens now play in helping people find something to watch.
Ateme puts the spotlight on European tech sovereignty at IBC
The big message at the Ateme stand during IBC2026 (starting Friday) is the need for practical, integrated solutions rather than standalone products. Visitors can expect a focus on how cloud, SaaS, AI, low-latency streaming, immersive video and ad insertion (server-side and server-guided) combine to grow revenues. An important sub-theme is European tech sovereignty, with the company flagging its contribution towards streaming workflows that can run entirely on European technology.
Streamers promised simplified pipelines for interactive experiences like Multiview
Streamers can replace separate production, graphics, and transcoding processes with one integrated media pipeline that weaves raw video feeds, video ads, graphics, and data into fully produced, ready-to-consume live streams. This makes advanced user experiences, including Multiview and data-driven overlays, faster, cheaper, and less error-prone, according to the company behind it – Tiledmedia.
MediaKind and Accedo offer joint white-label platform solution for operators
Accedo and MediaKind have launched a joint white-label solution that supports fully branded pay-TV streaming services with less complexity, lower engineering costs, and faster time to market than traditional approaches. The cloud-based solution already powers the EPICO streaming service at Canadian operator Cogeco, demonstrating its ability to support large-scale commercial deployments. A second operator has committed to deploy within months.
SaaS-enablement could help more channel owners offer MultiView
More channel owners and streaming services can offer viewer-curated Multiview experiences for live events – and introduce them faster, according to claims by Broadpeak. This is thanks to ‘Multiview as a Service’, the latest addition to the company’s SaaS (Software as a Service) platform, broadpeak.io. Customers can introduce Multiview across a broad range of devices through a flexible, usage-based SaaS model. This eliminates upfront CapEx and aligns costs with service usage.
Server-guided ad insertion helps Belgian pubcaster RTBF monetise live rewind
Belgian public broadcaster RTBF has migrated all its streaming channels from client-side ad insertion (CSAI) and server-side ad insertion (SSAI) to a standards-based server-guided ad insertion (SGAI) solution built on HLS Interstitials. One of the big wins from the new ad monetisation workflow is the way RTBF can better monetise ad breaks when in-app viewers (within its Auvio service) rewind during live events.
Yospace helps broadcasters use overlay, squeezeback and L-banner ads at scale
The dynamic ad insertion (DAI) specialist Yospace has released Ad Presentation, its solution to enable broadcasters to implement non-linear ad formats within existing streaming workflows, and therefore at scale. Ad Presentation supports ad formats being standardised by the IAB Tech Lab’s Ad Format Hero initiative, including pause ads, overlays, squeezebacks, and L-banners.
Broadcasters and device makers invited to witness production-ready DVB-I client demos
As DVB-I moves from industry trials into commercial deployment, visitors to IBC2026 (Amsterdam, September 11-14) can see how the open standard for streaming TV service discovery and programme information can be implemented quickly, with minimal development effort, across multiple device types. Widely supported by European broadcasters, DVB-I enables linear TV channels to be streamed to devices without the need for a dedicated app. Instead, services are integrated into the native device interface.
IBC showcases AI-enabled localisation and how it can grow TV audiences
Content localisation, including subtitling and dubbing, or even multi-language commentary for live sport, is increasingly valuable in a global content economy, and AI is making this process more economical. The result could be greater consumption of premium TV and streaming content across more markets. The opportunity this creates for content producers and broadcasters – and the benefits of improved accessibility, like audio description and sign language – are being showcased at IBC 2026.
UX modes mean Allente can serve linear-first and VOD-first viewers without compromises
Nordic Pay TV provider Allente (part of Viaplay Group) has found a way to super-serve ‘traditional’ viewers who love linear channels and live programming while also satisfying streaming-first VOD fans, without compromising the user experience. The solution is ‘Experience Modes’, which adapt the user interface to the desired need-state. In the Live TV Mode, the service opens directly on the last watched channel, making channel surfing easy.
Roku brings its Video-on-Demand Evolution Study to the UK
Roku, the popular streaming TV platform, is bringing its Video-on-Demand Evolution Study to the UK for the first time – and the results will be revealed exclusively during a live webcast hosted by The Media Leader on 6 October. Mike Shaw, director of EMEA ad sales at Roku, will present the data and will be joined by senior media buyers who assess what it means for them, as agencies and brands plan for 2027.
Cricket Australia launches D2C streaming service using Eluvio
Cricket Australia, the national governing body for the men’s and women’s teams, has launched a direct-to-consumer streaming service. The aim is to make Australian cricket more accessible to fans worldwide, especially beyond existing broadcast markets. Cricket TV gives fans live and on-demand match coverage, match highlights, original documentaries, and archival content.
Europe’s programmatic TV market needs plumbing, not slogans
Opinion The challenge for programmatic TV advertising is not lack of demand. It is lack of alignment. That is the challenge that Stage Two of the European Programmatic TV Initiative has set out to address. Programmatic TV in Europe is no longer a future-facing experiment. It is becoming part of the operating system of premium video advertising. Broadcasters, streamers, agencies, platforms and advertisers all recognise the opportunity.
How ZDF Studios is building reach and fandom, from FAST to YouTube
ZDF Studios is expanding reach, increasing fandom and adding revenues for ZDF content by distributing new releases and library content across TVOD, SVOD, AVOD, FAST and YouTube. Linette Zaulich, head of B2C at ZDF Studios, explains the windowing strategy and the different tactics per platform. FAST requires standout brand recognition, with consumers knowing what to expect when they click on a ZDF channel. With YouTube, the emphasis is on ensuring the algorithm can find ZDF assets.
User data convinces 3SS that in-car TV screens can displace phones for streaming
There are more use cases for in-car television systems than first thought, with early adopters watching content while waiting to pick up their kids from football – not only while passing time at an electric vehicle (EV) charging point. That is the good news for car manufacturers looking to differentiate their connected car operating systems, helped by 3SS, a leading provider of multiscreen UX and backoffice solutions for broadcasters and platform operators, and now car makers.
Minimising the costs of AI-powered content discovery
FinOps could play a key role in shaping how the television industry harnesses AI – and it is already helping Liberty Global decide whether and when to use large language models (LLMs) to improve content search and recommendations. Chris van der Linden, director of entertainment platforms at the pan-European Pay TV operator, recently highlighted the importance of a strong FinOps function during The Media Leader’s ‘Achieving leadership in AI-driven content discovery’ webcast.
European Media Marketplace aims to grow budget share for trusted media
The European Media Marketplace, which launched earlier this week, promises a single point of entry to European ‘open web’ audiences using vast swathes of first-party data from companies like Experian, lastminute.com and Vinted. The aim is to make it as easy to buy on the ‘open web’ as it is to spend on social media and video-sharing platforms like YouTube. The marketplace wants to compete with global tech on reach and scale – including the data it makes available, easily, for targeting.
When it comes to the TV user interface, less could be more
In a world where attention is increasingly fragmented, Pay TV operators can differentiate their user experience by making content discovery faster, more personalised and more likely to serve up something they love. Success could even depend on how far operators can reduce the importance of the user interface (UI) itself.
Almost 5% of inventory sold as CTV is not on a television set, study claims
Nearly 5% of inventory sold as CTV is incorrectly labelled, according to a study by 51 Degrees, which analysed 11m OpenRTB ad impressions with a relevant device-type ad signal over one week in May. The company concludes that if one-in-20 of the impressions sold as CTV are in fact lower-value non-CTV inventory, advertisers are overpaying, whether through accident or fraud.
Universal Ads goes live in UK, providing TV with ‘easy button’
From today, SME advertisers in the UK can buy streaming TV audiences from ITV, Sky and Channel 4 through the same self-service advertising platform, allowing these broadcasters to compete harder for budget that has historically gone to global tech platforms like Meta and Google. The Universal Ads platform – harnessing Comcast Advertising technology with some customisation for the UK – is designed to make TV as easy to buy as social. The platform is also used to create and measure the TV campaigns.
Next steps in addressable: Unifying audiences, demand sources, AI and ops teams
Partner content – Cannes Lions preview The TV industry can generate incremental advertising revenues from local advertisers and small-medium advertisers thanks to addressable TV. It can try to take a greater share of digital-first brand budgets, while helping to maintain cost-effective audience reach for existing advertisers.
How All3Media International is creating incremental revenues in streaming
Gary Woolf, EVP strategic development at All3Media International, explains how the content distributor is building content brands on FAST and using single-IP or genre-based streaming channels to cross-promote programming found in SVOD. You can also hear why All3Media International decided against running owned-and-operated SVOD apps and instead works with digital distribution partners, preferring to be a “concession in a department store rather than a boutique on a backstreet”.
World’s first national free-to-air platform using DVB-I launches this year
The world’s first nationwide free-to-air TV platform built on DVB-I is set to launch in New Zealand in Q3 this year. Freeview NextGen, from Freeview New Zealand (the joint venture backed by leading NZ broadcasters TVNZ, Sky Free, Whakaata Māori and RNZ), will be available on TCL and Hisense televisions at launch. DVB-I is the open standard for internet-based TV service discovery and programme information.
How Israel’s broadcasters made a shared buying platform work
Analysis – The Future of TV: Global Series The adtech vendor IDX has hailed the impact of its self-serve ad sales platform in Israel, where leading broadcasters are using the tech stack to provide a single point of entry to their streaming inventory. The platform gives agencies and advertisers a unified view of cross-broadcaster inventory, with de-duplicated reach and frequency. It enables cross-broadcaster guaranteed buys with consistent audience targeting.
Is Beatgrid’s single-source measurement the answer to audience fragmentation?
Measurement systems have struggled to keep pace with audience fragmentation, but one company that believes it has the solution for single-source, cross-media exposure and outcomes measurement is Beatgrid. The adtech vendor claims its consented, mobile app-based panel avoids data fusions and provides independent verification of incremental channel reach and also incremental effectiveness.
The implications of TV OS market fragmentation on TV and advertising
Analysis – The Future of TV: Global Series Omdia’s Maria Rua Aguete and David Tett note that TV brands are increasingly prioritising advertising revenue over hardware sales. As emerging TV OS platforms gain traction, the implications for advertisers are significant. The television industry is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by the fragmentation of TV operating systems (TV OS).
Q&A with FreeWheel: Getting the best from linear and streaming
Opinion – The Future of TV: Global Series FreeWheel’s Laurence d’Août discusses the threats to broadcast TV revenues, how to demonstrate the value of linear TV to buyers, the implications of siloed broadcast/streaming planning, and the impact of AI on measuring TV and allocating budget. Is it fair to say that broadcasters and channel owners increasingly rely on live sport and tentpole cultural events to maintain the relevance of linear TV?
Agentic era will stress test TV and streaming identity infrastructure
Analysis – The Future of TV: Global Series The ‘agentic era’ will stress-test identity infrastructure across the TV and streaming industry, as the arrival of AI-driven, automated media systems increases the importance of this function. That is according to a white paper from The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM). It says: “In converged TV, identity is no longer merely a matching function.
Real-time outcomes measurement could win budget back for Australian broadcasters
Analysis – The Future of TV: Global Series Seven, Nine, and Foxtel Media are collaborating with Adgile to build a shared TV analytics platform that links TV exposure to business outcomes in real time. One buyer reckons it could be the most important shift in TV during the next three years. Broadcasters in Australia can have an equal seat at the performance table alongside global tech platforms by developing their own systems to demonstrate how TV exposure directly drives business outcomes.
Amazon, Netflix and Google will control half of CTV advertising market by 2030, says Omdia
News – The Future of TV: Global Series Amazon, Netflix and Google will control half of the $81bn global connected TV advertising market by 2030, according to research from analyst firm Omdia. The analyst firm includes anything on YouTube that is played on a television set within its definition of CTV, which gives Google a 26% share of the market by 2030. Amazon will account for 13% and Netflix for 9%, according to the forecast.
SMB advertising and investor interest in content libraries could boost broadcasters
Analysis – The Future of TV: Global Series Small medium business advertising represents the biggest growth opportunity for broadcasters, if they can grab it.” That’s the view of Ian Whittaker, former equities analyst and MD at the advisory firm Liberty Sky Advisors. He also predicts that the vast libraries of old content owned by media owners will prompt a favourable rethink among investors about the value of some broadcasters and studios.
Lost marketer influence could skew media decisions, including TV buying
News – The Future of TV: Global Series Marketers are struggling. That was the blunt assessment from Simon Michaelides, director general at ISBA, when speaking to a broadcaster-centric audience at DTG Summit earlier this month. He was about to tell them what advertisers need from the TV industry, but first wanted them to understand what is influencing their investment decisions.
Nielsen co-viewing methodology upgrade lifts live US sports viewing figures 4.2%
Nielsen is using a methodology enhancement for co-viewing that it wants to incorporate into US currency measurement in time for the 2026/2027 TV season. The audience measurement company piloted the updated methodology in February across a range of top television sports events, resulting in an average 4.2% lift in total viewers recorded. The methodology covers ‘inside the home viewing’ and incorporates panellists using wearable devices.
Fifty5Blue to provide TAM Ireland’s cross-platform TV measurement
Fifty5Blue – formerly Kantar Media – has been selected by TAM Ireland as its next provider of audience measurement services for the Irish television and video market. The service is scheduled to launch in January 2028. The current TAM Ireland audience measurement contract is held by Nielsen.
Rakuten TV looking for FAST boost now it is measured by Barb
Rakuten TV’s streaming audiences are now being independently measured by Barb, the UK’s joint industry measurement system for TV. “Standardised measurement is key to unlocking the full value of FAST for advertisers,” declared Stuart Keith, VP global ad strategy & partnerships at Rakuten TV Enterprise, the B2B arm of Rakuten TV, which has signed up with Barb. Rakuten TV is a pan-European streamer reaching 150m households. It is largely ad-supported and focuses heavily on FAST.
Linear-like transparency will give buyers confidence to scale CTV investments, says IAS
Connected TV buyers are being promised linear-like transparency of where their ads are placed – reversing the signal loss that often accompanies migration from broadcast linear TV to streaming. Integral Ad Science, the media measurement and optimisation platform provider, has launched IAS Total TV to provide real-time publisher-enabled content-level transparency measurement. This product indicates genre, age rating, language, channel classification, title and programme-level data.
ITVX to ditch password as part of efforts to maximise World Cup engagement
Commercial broadcaster ITV is removing the password login from its streaming service ITVX. Instead, viewers will be able to log in via Google, Apple and other ‘magic link’ sign-ins. The change will happen in time for this summer’s FIFA World Cup, when the broadcaster wants to remove app friction for households that have not used ITVX for a long time. Jane Stiller, chief viewing officer at ITV (above, right), told the DTG Summit earlier this month: “This is a first for the UK.
Stagwell aims to increase working media with FreeWheel-powered marketplace
Marketing agency Stagwell is looking to increase working media for clients and improve their programmatic auction win rates when buying streaming TV. The company’s media acquisition layer will be integrated with FreeWheel’s Curation Hub and Buyer Cloud to give advertisers a more direct and efficient path to this inventory.
3Play Media tries to raise the bar for YouTube dubbing quality
Traditional content owners could face more competition from YouTube creators who dub their videos into more languages. 3Play Media already serves the broadcast and premium streaming market with accessibility and localisation services. Now it has a purpose-built solution for the creator economy.
Half of US chatbot users aged 13-14 view them as best source of TV recommendations
More than half of Gen Alpha AI chatbot users in the US say they use the applications daily, and 49% say these web or app-based services are the best source for TV and movie recommendations. These are two of the findings in the TV Search and Discovery in the AI Era report, published by Gracenote, the entertainment metadata specialist. The data come from an online survey of 4,003 US AI chatbot users aged 13-79 conducted in January and February.
Cleeng AI agents help design and automate anti-churn measures for streaming services
Rising customer acquisition costs for streaming services, combined with increased competition, mean subscriber retention is an imperative for survival, according to Gilles Domartini, Founder and CEO at Cleeng (pictured). His company specialises in subscriber experience and retention management and emphasises the need for real-time, holistic intelligence to enable fast anti-churn actions.
Icelandic broadcaster RÚV deploys streaming service using Leyra
Iceland’s national broadcasting service, Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV), is the first public broadcaster to deploy on Leyra, the streaming platform made available through a joint venture between Accedo and Magine Pro. The Leyra-enabled streaming service will launch initially on Samsung and LG platforms, covering live and on-demand television. Leyra is designed for broadcasters and native streamers and supports customer acquisition, engagement and retention, underpinned by an open architecture.
Frequency brings AI to the heart of channel creation and output
Frequency, which provides cloud-based channel-creation and distribution workflows, is helping an unnamed “leading global media company” fully schedule linear streaming channels using AI. The AI-scheduled channels will be live on major distribution platforms starting this quarter, the vendor reports. AI scheduling enables the creation of entire channel outputs from content libraries – a task humans used to perform.
Media Distillery says its sports content discovery suite can boost viewing time
Media Distillery believes its recently launched Sports Engagement Suite will help broadcasters and streamers increase engagement with sports content. Sports Engagement Suite is an AI-powered platform that makes it easier to find sports content, even in long-form broadcasts. Crucially, this does not require additional manual effort from media companies. The suite comprises four core features, the first of which is ‘Match Highlights’.
How scalable test automation tackles device fragmentation
The proliferation of different TV platforms and devices has created a significant challenge for media companies who need to ensure a great quality of experience on applications everywhere. Here, Martin Tyler, head of quality engineering at FX Digital, explains a new approach to testing that removes the pain associated with device fragmentation. He says bugs can be caught earlier, customers get to market faster and application quality is elevated. This interview explores some of the details.
Synamedia helps legacy TV create an owned-and-operated short-form experience
Synamedia is providing TV companies with a way to replicate the YouTube and TikTok experience within an owned-and-operated environment, enabling them to monetise short-form content themselves. The video solutions vendor launched Synamedia Go Shorts on the eve of NAB Show 2026 to update the TV user experience for younger viewers, and especially Gen Z.
How the BBC’s digital distribution strategy is evolving
Kerensa Samanidis, general manager for BBC iPlayer at the BBC, explains how the broadcaster’s digital distribution strategy is evolving. BBC iPlayer remains the primary destination for long-form content, but she outlines a willingness to meet audiences where they are, including off BBC services (as with YouTube) if the partner destinations are additive and complementary. This interview looks at how the BBC differentiates itself from global streaming services, too.
AI agents will transform subscription businesses, Evergent claims
Evergent says its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform will transform how subscription businesses – including pay-TV and streaming services – manage the subscriber lifecycle. The company has released three AI agents, the first of which is focused on subscriber retention. This agent identifies churn risk across subscriber segments, categorising users into high, medium and low-risk groups based on behavioural signals.
Outcomes measurement vital to averting an Australian TV disaster, says Foxtel Media CEO
The last four years have been a calamity for the Australian TV industry, according to Mark Frain, CEO of Foxtel Media, who observes that marketing budgets have migrated to digital tech platforms. However, the next two years can be different, he argues, if the television industry focuses on measuring business outcomes and making TV easier to buy, with both priorities backed by industry-wide collaboration.
Samsung Ads offers streaming ad exposure insights in Europe
Samsung Ads has introduced a notable planning capability to Europe with TotalView, which provides insights on which Samsung smart TV homes have been exposed to advertising within streaming services. TotalView launched in Germany and the UK in beta last week. The product will launch in other European markets in the coming months. The TotalView data set is already available in the US, albeit with slight differences.
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