Have a question? Send us a text! James Smith, who leads monetization at Frequency, joins Tim Rowe to unpack why the ad pod is broken — and why the fix isn't more ads, it's smarter ones. They dive into in-scene advertising, the industry's slow embrace of "fewer ads, better ROAS," and why personalization has to fix the programming guide before it can fix the ad break. Too Many Channels Chasing Too Little Attention FAST channels went from a novelty seven years ago to hundreds per platform today ...

Have a question? Send us a text! Emily Williams, Consumer Expert at MRI-Simmons, joins Tim Rowe to unpack why the streaming industry's measurement habits are failing the consumers they're supposed to serve — and why fragmentation isn't a technology problem. It's a consumer experience problem. The Average American Uses 11 Streaming Services a Year MRI-Simmons' Cord Evolution Study reveals that 75% of Americans with traditional cable also stream — meaning the incremental reach marketers assume ...

Have a question? Send us a text! Justin Ruiss, SVP of Media at BWG Global, joins Tim Rowe to break down three of the biggest deals in streaming right now — Walmart's acquisition of Vibe.co, the Comcast spinout of NBCU and Peacock, and Fox's $22 billion move on Roku. Justin hosts 30 primary research forums a month with senior industry executives, and brings a synthesized, cross-vertical read that goes well beyond the headlines. Why Walmart Acquired Vibe and How They Declared War on Amazon The ...

Have a question? Send us a text! The conversation is a companion to Nathaniel's recent piece on microdramas. Nathaniel Danziger, Founding Voice at State of Streaming, joins Tim Rowe to unpack what makes a microdrama possible, the operational realities driving this mobile-first shift, and what the partnership between Peacock and ReelShort means for the broader media landscape. On the Microdrama Boom Microdramas have rapidly grown into a $30 billion global phenomenon, defined by short, hyper-me...

Have a question? Send us a text! Tim sits down with Josh Matthews, Founder of StreamScoop, a Substack publication that aggregates open-source viewership data across streaming, broadcast, and cable into weekly data dumps, monthly deep dives, and the best streaming TV guide being published right now — which SOS syndicates weekly. 📺 Get This week's StreamScoop Streaming TV Guide Here Nobody was aggregating open-source streaming viewership data in one place. So Josh built it. StreamScoop starte...

Have a question? Send us a text! Wim Sweldens, co-founder of Kiswe, built a direct-to-consumer (D2C) streaming company because he unplugged his cable box — and never plugged it back in. Twelve years later, the technology he knew was coming has arrived, and the sports organizations smart enough to own the relationship with their fans are the ones pulling ahead. The RSN Collapse Created a Blueprint Problem, Not Just a Revenue Problem When regional sports networks (RSNs) fell apart, teams didn...

Have a question? Send us a text! Tim sits down with Russell Fink, a two-decade veteran of regional sports networks, to dig into the measurement crisis hiding in plain sight inside sports streaming. The conversation pairs directly with Russell's piece published in State of Streaming this week — Too Much of a Good Thing: Sports' Measurement Problem — and uses Jurassic Park to explain why having the data isn't the same as using it. The RSN Era Was the Last Time Everyone Won at Once Russel...

Have a question? Send us a text! Tim sits down with Lucas Bertrand, CEO of Looper Insights, to break down what Looper's Q1 Media Placement Value ($MPV) data reveals about how connected TV home screens are being used — and misused — heading into the biggest sports quarter in recent memory. Recorded the day the FIFA World Cup kicked off, the conversation pairs directly with the Preston Smalley/Roku episode released earlier that week. The CTV Home Screen The Arbitrage of Streaming Looper's...

Have a question? Send us a text! Tim sits down with Preston Smalley, VP of Viewer Product at Roku, unpacking the first new Roku home screen in a decade — how it was designed for 100 million+ households, what the hub methodology means for sports fragmentation, and why "delight" isn't just a brand word at Roku. It's a measured KPI. 82% of streaming viewers want you to read their mind Roku built a home screen with a billion possible configurations to get closer to doing exactly that — and ...

Have a question? Send us a text! The conversation is a companion to Hemant's recent piece on AI personalization at scale. Hemant Soni, AI Architect and SOS. contributor, joins Tim Rowe to unpack what streaming platforms can learn from the infrastructure telecom companies built under survival pressure — and how to start applying it now. On Combatting Churn Streaming platforms collect mountains of behavioral data — what you watch, what you skip, when you disengage — and respond days or we...