Back by popular demand the next NYC Streaming Meetup will take place on Wednesday May 23rd, starting at 6pm at Lillie’s, located in Union Square at 13 East 17th Street (map). There is no RSVP list, just show up and walk to the back of the venue, bring a friend and spread the word! We’ll have free drinks thanks to sponsors LiveU, Comcast Technology Solutions, Digital Primates and LTN Global Communications.

[If your company would like to sponsor the meetup and cover some of the bar tab, please let me know]

These meetups are a great way to network with others tied to the online video ecosystem. We get a great mix of attendees from companies including AOL, NFL, Showtime, Omnicom, NBC, NBA, Time, HBO, Viacom, CBS, Twitter, WPP, Google, Nielsen, Facebook, FOX, R/GA, Twitch, Riot Games, American Express, Comcast, wall street money managers, government agencies, VR production companies and vendors from all facets of the video ecosystem.

I’ll keep organizing these every month so if you want to be notified via email when the next one is taking place, send me an email and I’ll add you to the list.

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On Tuesday May 15th, I’ll be hosting a dinner with Akamai in NYC in conjunction with JNK Securities, specifically for those on Wall Street. I will be leading a discussion with Rick McConnell, President and General Manager, Web Division from Akamai along with Josh Shaul, VP Product, Cloud Security and Michael Fay, VP Product and Operations, Media. We plan on discussing the catalysts driving innovation in the market specifically for Akamai’s performance and security solutions and will cover how Akamai’s solutions (WAF, DDoS etc.) work from a technical level. We will also cover the factors (i.e., scale, price, features, ease-of-deployment) that customers use to evaluate vendors and discuss the types of applications customers are deploying across Akamai’s platform.

If you are interested in attending the dinner, please reach out to me but note that this dinner is only for those on Wall Street and space is limited.

As many of us from the video industry prepare to attend the NAB Show this week in Vegas the biggest advice I can give is to focus your time on the floor and in meetings. No matter how organized you are, there is no way to see, talk to, or meet with many of the people and companies you may want to. I’ve already seen over 400 press releases live or preparing to hit the wire this week, more than 200 new product announcements, have invites to over 50 vendor events, and more than 100 meeting requests. The NAB Show is simply information overload and you have to be laser focused to get the most out of it.

Within the video workflow, there will be a lot of news and noise around codecs and compression. Video players are another topic I’m seeing a lot of news about as well as direct to consumer models, content packaging, glass-to-glass IP workflows, engagement analytics and lots of “world’s first” language. It can be hard to separate the hype from the real news at the show, so my advice is to figure out what problem you’re looking to solve in your video workflow and then narrow it down to a small list of vendors you can spend more than 10 minutes with.

The biggest piece of advice I can give is that walking away from the NAB Show and “doing nothing”, isn’t a strategy. There is too much change going on in the video world and many vendors offering real solutions, at a fair price, that can help you do more with less, no matter the application you are using video for. Look at what you want to implement and put a strategy in place after the show and execute on it. I’m going to try to visit as many vendors as possible, see as many products as I can, and Tweet out all day long things I think are interesting, in addition to chairing my own Streaming Summit show on Wednesday. I’ll be there all week and have a crew supporting me and all calls/texts will be answered in real-time. So if you need help, have a question or need advice, feel free to reach out to me at 917-523-4562. #streamingsummit #nabshow

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At the NAB Streaming Summit, taking place next week on April 11th in Vegas, we have a session entitled “Creating New Opportunities With Low Latency Live Streaming“. This session explores how low latency streaming creates new opportunities and business value by focusing on actual formats, apps and best practices. Topics include an analysis of the success of HQ Trivia, bringing traditional formats over to live streaming, the role of established live platforms like Facebook, Twitch and YouTube as well as discussing the tools used by interactive live stream front runners. Use discount code DAN18 and you can register at a special rate.

Hear how low latency streaming allows for a truly ‘live’ experience on the internet and how you can scale to millions of users without adding complexity and significantly increasing your cost. Speakers include:

• Moderator: Geert Faber, VP, Americas, Ex Machina
• Panelist: Benjamin Vallat, VP, Business Development, Twitch
• Panelist: Erik Schwartz, Head of Platform, The Alliance of American Football
• Panelist: Sumit Gupta, Founder, CEO, Boom.tv
• Panelist: Marjolein Duermeijer, Group Director Brand Operations, Endemol Shine Group

For a complete list of all the sessions taking place at the #streamingsummit, check out this page on the NAB website. #NABShow

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Today, several video codecs are competing to be the next-generation standard in the OTT environment, with HEVC and AV1 being the front-runners. The debate on which video standard is best suited to our industry is in full swing especially as the Alliance for Open Media is all set to release AV1 at the NAB Show and Apple is supporting HEVC in its products and has decided to join the Alliance for Open Media as a founding member. At the NAB Streaming Summit, taking place next week on April 11th in Vegas, we have a session entitled “HEVC vs. AV1 and The Future Of The Codec Battle“. Use discount code DAN18 and you can register at a special rate.

This panel will discuss the pros and cons of HEVC and AV1, and also put in perspective content-aware encoding techniques with AVC that might be a strong challenger in the short term for OTT distribution. Speakers include:

• Moderator: Jan Ozer, Principal, Doceo Publishing
• Panelist: Mike Coward, Director of Engineering, Facebook
• Panelist: Matt Frost, Head of Strategy and Partnerships, Google
• Panelist: Christopher Mueller, CTO, Bitmovin
• Panelist: Thierry Fautier, VP, Video Strategy, Harmonic

For a complete list of all the sessions taking place at the #streamingsummit, check out this page on the NAB website. #NABShow

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It’s estimated that up to 5% of TV time is now over OTT streaming platforms. How will networks scale when this volume becomes 25-50%?  At the NAB Streaming Summit, taking place next week on April 11th in Vegas, we have a session entitled “Overcoming Challenges In Delivering Video Inside the Last Mile“. Use discount code DAN18 and you can register at a special rate.

Come listen to our expert panel as they discuss what they’ve learned on scaling OTT, pitfalls along the way and what the blockers of adoption will be as traffic crosses over from wall garden networks to the internet. Speakers include:

• Moderator: Yves Boudreau, VP, Partnerships and Ecosystem Strategy, UDN, Ericsson
• Panelist: Michael Altland, Director, Network Infrastructure Planning, Verizon
• Panelist: Jan van Doorn, Fellow, Comcast
• Panelist: Brent Yates, CTO, Hellastorm

For a complete list of all the sessions taking place at the #streamingsummit, check out this page on the NAB website. #NABShow

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The technology to deliver high quality, reliable, broadcast feeds over IP has reached a point where it is a viable alternative to satellite distribution, however IP broadcast still presents some challenges. At the NAB Streaming Summit, taking place next week on April 11th in Vegas, we have a session entitled “How Broadcasters Are Migrating To IP Based Delivery Workflows“. Use discount code DAN18 and you can register at a special rate.

Replacing satellite infrastructure can be difficult for both the broadcaster, who needs to solve for the distribution of the broadcast feed, and the distribution partner, who must reinvent operations and content management to manage a new solution. This panel will explore how both are coming together to solve for this shift in video delivery, the opportunities it presents, and the challenges they are facing. Speakers include:

• Moderator: Bart Spriester, VP, GM, Video Platform, Comcast Technology Solutions
• Panelist: Corey Smith, Director, Live Operations, Blizzard Entertainment
• Panelist: Steve Riedl, Senior Director, Digital TV, Turner Broadcasting
• Panelist: Stuart Baillie, SVP Media Engineering & Global Distribution, Viacom
• Panelist: Kelly Miller, VP, Affiliate Support, Fox

For a complete list of all the sessions taking place at the #streamingsummit, check out this page on the NAB website. #NABShow