OTT Executive Podcast with Brian Mahony

1) Simon's background at KPMG; 2) Robosoft "engineering the digital experience" from design to development; 3) "Nervous excitement" about AI; 4) The importance of human expertise in the SDLC (software development lifecycle); 5) Being careful not to use AI to create "UX clutter"; 6) How do you manage teams in the age of AI? 7) The emergence of the "super app&...

 1) Bill's early days as an online video pioneer; 2) MegaChannels consortium serving up 800,000 videos a day to computers (in 1999); 3) Hugely successful launch of RabbitTV Plus dongle; 4) Understanding the infrastructure cost hurdle; 5) The role of metadata for content personalization; 6) The power of local content and DMA-based advertising; 7) Weaving together local content, OTA, and broadb...

 1) Scott growing up "a bit of a nerd"; 2) Working in Silicon Valley for a company acquired by Cisco; 3) Starting Plex as a hobby back in 2007; 4) Trying to build a personal media server; 5) Capitalizing on the early "app explosion"; 6) First investors; 7) "Metadata is the heart of what we do"; 8) Branching out from AVOD (2019) to FAST (2020) including globally; 9) Co...

 1) Allison's career background; 2) Learning business from her entrepreneur parents; 3) "In the age of AI, more people are going to become entrepreneurs"; 4) Defining the "creator economy"; 5) Is it still possible to create audience from scratch?; 6) How to build a sense of "belonging" with viewers; 7) Uscreen case study-- tips for growing the OTT Executive Commu...

 1) Career background including academia and political psychology; 2) Working for General Mills and then Microsoft; 3) Where does short-form video fit in? 4) The creator economy and how to decide whether to launch a show via short form or traditional channels; 5) Conservative vs. liberal viewing habits; 6) Role of AI for creation and reducing costs (e.g. simulating location); 7) What are the limit...

 1) Growing up the child of Hollywood parents; 2) Love for soccer; 3) Learning the business world at Enterprise Rent-A-Car; 4) Mometu is "more for me and you"; 5) Working with young creators; 6) Starting new film festival; 7) Subbing and dubbing strategy; 8) How is AI helping independent film makers? 9) Perspectives on WBD-Paramount deal; 10) Bryan's love for working out and golf. ...

1) Christy's career background; 2) Launching streaming for CBS News; 3) Starting Swerve TV; 4) Distribution strategy (Roku and Pluto initially); 5) Freestyle Trampoline Association example- why there should be a “cut” of women’s content for many sports; 6) Analyzing the data to understand viewer engagement; 7) Biggest industry challenge right now—content discovery; 8) Constantly changing KPI’...

 1) Johnny's career background; 2) Launching CLEO TV at TV One; 3) Content distribution strategy; 4) How to embrace the "creator economy"; 5) How is AI changing the media & entertainment industry; 6) How to overcome the content discovery challenge; 7) Importance of embracing YouTube and social video; 8) Shift towards unscripted content; 9) We've always had playlists, "...

 1) Cathy's beginning in the cable industry (starting at Warner Bros. Television, Cablevision Magazine, ESPN, TV Guide, Food Network); 2) Starting Rasenberger Media consultancy; 3) Launching 28 cable networks; 4) Moving to launching FAST channels; 5) Launching FreeLiveSports.tv and 120+ channels; 6) Role of complimentary content on FAST networks; 7) Importance of live sports; 8) Keeping fans...

1) Moving to Colorado; 2) Background in cable, insurance, and farm equipment; 3) Role of Fathom as distribution "window" option; 4) Theater "magic" is still alive; 5) Fathom's rebrand; 6) Growth in live events; 7) "The Chosen" phenomena-- episodic in theaters for the first time; 8) Faith-based genre strength; 9) International growth strategy; 10) Tangled up in Ra...

1) Greg's early childhood and entry into Olympic gymnastics trampoline; 2) Yearning for more freedom and self-expression; 3) Meeting Trish McGeer; 4) The first GTG Games- the sport "launched on Instagram"; 5) Creation of global brand and first World Championships; 6) Freestyle trampoline community and athlete "vibe"; 7) Growing ecosystem including live events, new Flippin&...

1) Ren's start from a "summer camp" kid to music/opera, to MTV, to content producer; 2) Literally started in the mailroom; 3) Origins of the "faith-fueled" PRAYZN story; 4) Building a faith-fueled pervasive community; 5) Phase 1: launching the faith-based MTV; 6) Phase 2: adding scripted and unscripted programming; 7) Phase 3: imbedding all other engagement touch-points (s...

1) Beth's start as a theatre director; 2) The art of storytelling and creative collaboration; 3) Comparing FAST channels to old-school curated "mix tapes"; 4) FAST strategy started with single-series such as "Antiques Road Show"; 5) What is the balance between creative/intuitive curation and science/data analytics in programming FAST channels?; 6) What role should AI play?...

1) Srini's career background; 2) Amagi's roots as an advertising marketplace in India; 3) Facing down a major company crisis; 4) Pivoting to become a global FAST tech vendor; 5) Managing lightning-fast growth; 6) How to maintain your company culture at scale; 7) How to segment your customer base; 8) Managing core vs. custom product development; 9) Fixing the inefficiencies of the DTC (di...

1) Esther's career background; 2) Design lessons from a can opener; 3) Why UX design should get C-suite attention; 4) Design differences between music and video; 5) How to integrate UX for all content forms-- short clips, long-form, live events, etc.; 6) Using user feedback and directed input vs. passive inferential design; 7) Should consumers be able to toggle between different UX experience...

1) Interning for "Late Night with David Letterman" -- can people still start their M&E careers that way? 2) CNN Digital role; 3) Launching first live news streaming service; 4) The "Great Big Story" story; 5) CNBC and NBC News OTT products; 6) Partnership with Pluto; 7) What was the inflection point where streaming became "real"? 8) Current Allen Media Group role...

1) Paul's career background-- Technicolor, Disney, Discovery, Struum; 2) Paul's mentor and move into strategy; 3) Getting the call from Disney; 4) The  "moment when my career trajectory changed"; 5) How to use viewer data to be cool at cocktail parties ; 6) QuickPlay's focus on Tier 1 customers; 7) QuickPlay's USP: architecture and culture; 8) QuickPlay's new AI...

1) Kevin's background at Lucasfilm, Electronic Arts, Walt Disney Pictures, and Zynga; 2) Learning about merchandising, gaming, and communities when launching the Pokémon franchise to the USA; 3) Why EA (Sims franchise) and Zynga (Words with Friends) highlighted the powerful combination of content, gaming, and communities; 4) Genesis of Bold Baking Network; 5) How "baking" is differe...

1) Scott's career background starting with device drivers at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC); 2) Current role leading SeaChange's advertising team; 3) SeaChange's end-to-end streaming platform; 4) Advertising solutions including pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll and creating custom FAST channels on the fly; 5) Innovations such as side-by-side advertising, clickable events, and QR co...

1) Steve's career background- "Silicon Valley meets Hollywood"; 2) The problem to solve-- universal search within the OTT operating system; 3) How is it possible your title doesn't show up in search even if it's in your library? 4) Why/how the search algorithm optimizes the platform's monetization-- not the apps; 5) Search vs. CTV/platform marketing- what has better R...

1) Evan's 2023 wrap up; 2) The media universe "death stars" getting bigger; 3) Consolidation of advertising market under Google, Meta, and Amazon (60%); 4) Why are the media giants getting into sports in a huge way? 5) "We left the last era of media four years ago when Disney went to DTC.... chasing Netflix towards a business model that doesn't work."; 6) Good churn v...

1) Keith's background in theater and film; 2) Moving into digital media and then streaming media; 3) Space Mob's focus on creating FAST channels and creating series; 4) FAST market under pressure as platforms are cutting back channels; 5) Focus on entertainment sports streaming such as pickle ball; 6) Minimum viable FAST channel needs 150 hours to start; 7) Revenue share model with conte...

1) Katherine's pre-Vizio career background; 2) First job at Vizio 11 years ago; 3) Current role; 4) Vizio as full-service media company including hardware, content, data, advertising, distribution, mobile; 5) Vizio content vetting process; 6) Higher bar for content partnerships, but still lots of new "white space"; 7) Elements of a good content deal; 8) Vizio's key UX metrics;...

1) Rachel's career background; 2) Rachel and husband met in kindergarten? I forgot the follow up question about this! 3) Recognizing the wedding video opportunity; 4) Getting started building a large social community; 5) Anatomy of a content licensing deal; 6) Advertising strategy and lack of data visibility; 7) Partnering/competing with CTV and distribution platforms; 8) Why Rachel doesn&apo...

1) Natalie's current role; 2) Career background from JP Morgan to ESPN; 3) Vevo's global operations-- streaming across 34 distribution platforms including YouTubeTV, Samsung TV+, Pluto, Roku, and Amazon FireTV-- over 800,000 pieces of content; 4) Launching FAST channels; 5) Embracing a data-driven environment; 6) The promise vs. the reality of addressable advertising; 7) The process of d...