Two events happened in Amsterdam last week and the two were more closely related than many people realize. The two events were: The first event was attended by publishers representing some of the most valuable media content in the world, and secondly the people who are building the next generation of protocols enabling AI assistants…
TL;DR For much of FAST’s early growth, channel expansion was a major measure of progress. Channel counts are still climbing and existing libraries keep turning into new lineups, but launching a channel is no longer the differentiator it once was. The harder question is what happens once that channel is live and running 24/7. Reliability,…
TL;DR A passenger watching video while the vehicle is moving, a driver watching during a fifteen-minute charging stop, and two kids watching two different rear-seat streams are four completely different viewing contexts happening in the same trip. Treating that as one device with a single viewer experience misses what is actually changing. Each of those…
SCTE-35 is the backbone of ad insertion and program control in modern video streaming, but few people outside of broadcast engineering truly understand how it works. This essential guide covers everything: what SCTE-35 is, where it came from, the key marker types, how cues are carried in MPEG-TS, HLS, and MPEG-DASH streams, and how platforms use it to trigger dynamic ad insertion, program boundaries, and regional blackouts. It also walks through Bitmovin’s own SCTE-35 support for both live and VOD encoding workflows.
A goal in a World Cup knockout match is a near-instantaneous traffic event across tens of millions of concurrent sessions. In 2026, that happens across 104 matches, streamed across 212 territories, for a projected 6 billion total engagements; the largest live streaming test the industry has ever faced. Qatar 2022 proved streaming could handle global simultaneous demand. 2026 is the test of whether it can do it reliably, on every device, in every market, across 39 consecutive days without degradation. This post covers what that actually requires.
What is Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) Streaming? Adaptive Bitrate Streaming (ABR) is a technology used in modern video streaming applications that can dynamically adapt in real-time, in order to provide the best quality for each individual viewer. ABR streams take into account network conditions, screen size and device capabilities and can adjust on the fly…
Cloud encoder provisioning is live streaming’s most quietly worked-around problem. When a broadcast triggers, the cloud allocates a machine, deploys software, and only then is the encoder ready, an unpredictable delay that breaks news teams, sports platforms, and UGC services have long patched with lead-time buffers and over-provisioning. This post explains why that structural problem exists and how Bitmovin’s Live Encoder Standby Pools solve it with pre-configured, instantly available encoders held in a ready state before they are ever needed.
Apple made waves across the video encoding and streaming communities when they announced the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max would have a dedicated AV1 hardware decoder, making them the first Apple devices with official AV1 codec support. We’ve compiled all the details from their announcement, the HLS interest group, and product release notes to bring you everything you need to know about Apple AV1 codec support.
For many streaming teams, where live encoding runs is no longer just a deployment choice, it is a constraint driven by data residency, compliance, and infrastructure control. Hyperscaler environments do not always meet these requirements, particularly for broadcasters and OTT platforms operating across regions with strict data governance policies. As a result, teams are…
Building video observability in-house sounds like the ultimate control play, until you factor in the real cost. This post breaks down the true TCO of building vs. buying a video analytics and observability solution, with tailored scenarios for OEMs, OVPs, broadcasters, SVOD, and AVOD platforms. From engineering overhead to scalability risks and revenue blind spots, discover which approach actually makes sense for your streaming operation.
The Bitmovin Blog. Keeping you informed.