SVG Digital Engagement Forum Draws 150 Attendees For Intimate Look at the State of Streaming and Digital Video

SVG Digital Engagement Forum Draws 150 Attendees For Intimate Look at the State of Streaming and Digital Video Interactivity, monetization, and live streaming strategies were broken down by industry leaders By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital

Friday, March 21, 2025 - 12:58 pm

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Leaders in the development of live sports streaming experiences came together in New York City this week for the 2025 SVG Digital Engagement Forum. More than 150 attendees took in a full day's worth of conversations and presentations on interactivity, gamification, personalization, and social engagement in live sports video.

The 2025 SVG Digital Engagement Forum took place in New York City on Wednesday.

All sessions from the SVG Digital Engagement Forum will be available to watch on demand at SVG PLAY in the coming weeks.

The event opened with a state of the industry conversation with streaming industry analyst and the chair of NAB Show's Streaming Summit Dan Rayburn. In a cenversation with SVG's Director of Digital Brandon Costa, Rayburn offered an independent perspective on the current state of live streaming in sports, the volatile business and its impact of viewers, where the industry is headed, and what trends and technologies are worth watching.

A panel discussion entitled Engagement in the Live Stream featured (from left): SVG's Jason Dachman, DAZN's Zander Berlinski, YES Network's Matt Duarte, Eluvio's Michelle Munson, and Monumental Sports & Entertainment's Chris Thorman.

From there, sports industry leaders dove into best practices in driving user engagement in a live streaming experience. Zander Berlinski, SVP, Strategy and Business Development at DAZN; Matt Duarte, VP, Strategy & Business Development at YES Network; Michelle Munson, CEO and Co-Founder of Eluvio; and Chris Thorman, SVP, Direct-to-Consumer & Digital Media at Monumental Sports & Entertainment discussed gamification, interactivity, alternate broadcast feeds, direct-to-consumer strategies, and the innovative technologies transforming sports broadcasting.

Rounding out the morning, Tim Stott, Executive Producer, Digital of Host Broadcast Services (HBS) offered an inside look of the role of the international host broadcaster in serving rightsholders across the globe. These days, those enitites are expected to provide far more than baseline coverage of the live game.

The afternoon kicked off with a panel discussion on the topic of driving monetization within the live streaming experience. Ahmed Darwish, Chief Marketing Officer of NESN; G. Morgan, Head of Sales for Uplynk; Wade Nielsen, VP, Digital Revenue and Operations at Fan Duel Sports Network; and Gavin Parker, Head of Growth, Americas for WSC Sports dissected how modern sports properties leverage technology either client-side or server-side to bolster sponsor inventory and better target audiences. The talk was moderated by Chris Wagner, Founder and Managing Partner of OTT Advisors.

A panel discussion on live streaming technology featured (left left) IMAX's Vikram Arumilli, Comcast Technology Solution's Mitch Askenas, Phenix's Jed Corenthal, Harmonic's Jean Macher, and Bitmovin's Igor Oreper.

The show rolled up its sleeves and dug deep into the tech behind live sports streaming. A panel discussion featuring Vikram Arumilli, SVP & GM, Streaming and Consumer Technology at IMAX; Mitch Askenas, Executive Director, Sales Strategy at Comcast Technology Solutions; Jed Corenthal, Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer at Phenix; Jean Macher, Senior Director, Global SaaS Solutions at Harmonic; and Igor Oreper, Chief Architect and Chief Strategy Officer at Bitmovin provided an update on the latest advancements in playback, distribution, monitoring, and more. The panel was moderated by Brian Ring, Principal Analyst at Ring Digital.

FAST (free ad-supported streaming television), a booming segment of digital media, was placed under the microscope, as well. Brian Gilmore, VP, Sports Programming at NBC Sports; Dan Marshall, EVP, Sales (Global SaaS) at Amagi; and Felipe Salz, AVP, Media Distribution & Partnerships for the NBA examined the challenges and opportunities of FAST channels, with lessons from early adopters.

A discussion on FAST channels featured (from left) SVG's Kristian Hernandez, NBC Sports' Brian Gilmore, Amagi's Dan Marshall, and the NBA's Felipe Salz.

The day came to exciting close with a breakdown of the strategy and the technology behind the successful live stream on Super Bowl LIX on Tubi. Mike Bidgoli, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Tubi presented live virtually from the company's San Francisco offices to answer the questions: What went into the strategy of delivering the biggest event in the industry on a platform like Tubi? What technology adjustments needed to be made to accommodate an upscaled 4K feed? What was learned?

The SVG Digital Engagement Forum was made possible by title sponsor Eluvio and event sponsors AI Media, Amagi, Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Signiant.

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/03/21/svg-digital-engagement-forum-dr...
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