Backblaze, Inc., a leading cloud storage provider, has expanded its partnership with CHESA, a recognized expert in media workflow design, to enhance creative processes for media and entertainment (M&E) professionals. This joint go-to-market collaboration pairs Backblaze’s scalable, cost-effective cloud storage with CHESA’s expertise in optimizing media workflows, delivering an end-to-end solution for creative teams.

“This partnership with CHESA underscores our shared commitment to delivering transformative solutions for the media and entertainment industry,” said Graeme Steakley, Director of Channel Sales at Backblaze. “By combining CHESA’s unparalleled expertise in workflow design with Backblaze’s scalable and cost-effective cloud storage, we’re equipping creative professionals with the tools they need to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.”

Benefits of the Collaboration

Through this alliance, M&E professionals can:

• Collaborate Globally – Break down geographical barriers and connect creative teams worldwide using Backblaze’s cloud storage and CHESA’s workflow expertise.
• Streamline Workflows – Integrate industry-leading tools to eliminate inefficiencies and enhance productivity.
• Ensure Secure, Scalable Storage – Protect valuable content with high-durability, reliable, and scalable cloud solutions.

Integrating Best-in-Class Media Technologies

Backblaze and CHESA work closely with industry leaders like LucidLink and iconik to build a seamless creative ecosystem.

• LucidLink enables real-time cloud file access, revolutionizing remote collaboration.
• iconik provides cloud-native media asset management, optimizing content organization and accessibility.
• CHESA delivers customized workflow solutions, while Backblaze supplies affordable, scalable cloud storage to power every stage of the creative process.

A Future-Ready Media Workflow Ecosystem

“Our partnership with Backblaze is about more than just technology—it’s about rethinking what’s possible in media workflows,” said Lance Hukill, Chief Commercial Officer at CHESA. “Together, we’re providing a future-ready ecosystem that enables creative teams to focus on what they do best: telling stories and creating incredible content.”

M&E professionals can experience these innovative media workflows firsthand at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, where Backblaze and CHESA will showcase cutting-edge tools and industry insights.

Wurl, a leader in streaming TV innovation, has released its latest CTV Trends Report, offering data-driven insights into the evolving connected TV (CTV) industry. The report examines Session Lengths, Hours of Viewing, Ad Load, and Ad Fill Rates, revealing opportunities for content owners and advertisers to maximize engagement and revenue.

With CTV now accounting for 41% of total TV time, streamers and publishers face new challenges in sustaining engagement and driving growth. Simultaneously, as ad-supported streaming gains traction, advertisers are optimizing strategies to enhance effectiveness without disrupting the viewer experience.

Findings from the CTV Trends Report

• Session Lengths remain flat – While Average Session Length grew in Q4 2024, it has yet to fully recover from a 16% drop in mid-2023. Streamers must enhance engagement strategies to keep audiences watching longer.
• Hours of Viewing (HOV) show slight growth – Q1 2025 is projected to see a modest 3% increase in HOV, but overall momentum is slowing despite a surge in streaming content.
• Ad Load stabilizes – CTV maintains an Ad Load of ~9 minutes per hour, significantly lower than linear TV’s 15 minutes per hour, leaving room for higher ad revenue in FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV).
• Ad Fill Rates remain challenged – As CTV ad inventory expands, advertiser demand lags, leading to lower Ad Fill Rates. Better data-driven advertising and targeting strategies will be critical for monetization growth.

A Year of Change for CTV

“The CTV market is maturing and how viewers consume content is changing,” said Dave Bernath, General Manager, Americas at Wurl. “While streaming TV has established itself as a primary viewing destination, it hasn’t reached its full potential – with overall growth leveling off in terms of both time spent and monetization. 2025 will be a year of reckoning for many – publishers and streamers must find new ways to engage audiences and drive revenue, while advertisers need to refine data strategies to improve targeting and outcomes.”

With CTV evolving rapidly, content owners, streamers, and advertisers must adapt to new engagement models, ad strategies, and monetization approaches. Wurl’s insights serve as a critical resource for industry leaders navigating this transformation.

The Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) has released its latest report, Bigger, Bolder & More Ad-Supported: 25 Streaming Trends That Are Impacting Marketing Plans in 2025. This follows previous industry reports-2023’s Advertising Accelerated and 2024’s Setting the Stage—offering new insights into streaming behavior, ad-supported growth, and platform usage.

As streaming evolves, ad-supported models have become a dominant force, creating new marketing opportunities across live sports, retail media, and interactive formats. According to Jason Wiese, EVP, Strategic Insights & Measurement at VAB, cross-platform strategies are now more critical than ever as streaming takes a larger share of total TV time.

Trends Shaping Video Advertising in 2025

• Ad-supported streaming dominates – 90% of streaming adults now engage with ad-supported platforms, fueled by organic growth and new ad-tier launches.
• Cost-conscious audiences embrace ads – Two-thirds of viewers prefer ad-supported services due to their cost benefits and value exchange.
• Streaming is essential for reach – Nearly 60% of adults no longer have traditional pay TV, making streaming a must-have for marketers in multiscreen campaigns.
• Diverse content fuels engagement – Viewers consume a mix of network-produced shows, blockbuster movies, and streaming originals, reinforcing content variety as a retention driver.
• Streaming surpasses 40% of total TV time – As audience habits shift, streaming continues to claim a larger share of total viewership year-over-year.
• FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) gains traction – FAST services are scaling as viewership habits solidify, creating new ad inventory and monetization opportunities.

Implications for Marketers

The mainstreaming of ad-supported streaming presents a major opportunity for brands looking to engage audiences effectively. As viewers increasingly opt for cost-effective, ad-supported options, advertisers must leverage cross-platform strategies to maximize reach and impact.

With ad-supported streaming at an all-time high, multiscreen campaigns, premium content, and data-driven targeting will be essential for brands looking to succeed in 2025. VAB’s insights provide a roadmap for marketers to navigate the evolving streaming landscape.

Spectrum Reach, the advertising sales division of Charter Communications, has launched its latest planning tool, Audience Reach Optimizer (ARO), designed to improve TV ad effectiveness through data-driven audience targeting. After successful pilot programs in 2024, ARO is now available across all markets, helping advertisers maximize their reach across both traditional TV and streaming platforms.

How ARO Enhances Ad Targeting

ARO leverages Spectrum Reach’s proprietary data to help advertisers:

• Refine audience targeting by analyzing viewing habits at the household level.
• Optimize ad spending by reallocating budget to channels that yield better engagement.
• Measure campaign impact with insights on reach, frequency, and performance across multiple screens.

According to Jason Brown, SVP & Chief Revenue Officer of Spectrum Reach, ARO delivers unparalleled insights to improve ad targeting, optimize media spend, and enhance audience engagement.

Real-World Success: Matter Brothers Furniture

ARO has already proven its impact. Matter Brothers, a high-end furniture retailer in Tampa, Florida, discovered that:

• Over 70% of their target audience watched cable networks, not local broadcast channels where they had invested heavily.
• 60% of their local broadcast budget reached only 8% of their actual customers.
• By shifting ad spend from local broadcast to cable, sales exceeded industry benchmarks by over 10%.

What Makes ARO Unique?

Unlike traditional ad planning tools, ARO offers:

• Exclusive, transparent data from both TV and the Spectrum TV App, the most-watched streaming service in the U.S.
• Cross-platform audience insights, integrating broadcast, cable, and streaming ad logs.
• Data-backed optimization strategies, ensuring advertisers reach the right audience, on the right platform, at the right time.

With the full-market rollout of ARO, Spectrum Reach is redefining TV advertising by offering advertisers the tools to maximize engagement, optimize spend, and drive measurable business outcomes.

RainFocus™, a leader in next-generation event marketing platforms, has been awarded Adobe’s 2025 Digital Experience B2B Technology Partner of the Year. This prestigious recognition highlights RainFocus’ seamless integrations with Adobe Experience Platform, empowering businesses with unified customer insights and personalized attendee experiences.

Why RainFocus Won the Award

The Adobe Digital Experience Partner Awards celebrate companies that have significantly contributed to Adobe’s business growth and customer success. RainFocus stood out due to its innovative data integration solutions, including:

• Source Connector: Maps RainFocus behavioral data into Adobe Experience Platform, enabling a holistic view of customers and attendees for informed marketing and sales decisions.
• Destination Connector: Activates customer profiles in Adobe Real-Time CDP, fueling personalized attendee journeys and streamlining event-driven acquisition strategies.

These integrations enhance marketing and sales enablement, allowing businesses to leverage event engagement data for pipeline growth and improved win rates.

RainFocus’ Role in Adobe Summit 2025

RainFocus is not only an Adobe Technology Partner but also Adobe Summit’s event marketing platform provider for in-person and virtual attendees across 200+ sessions.

According to JR Sherman, CEO of RainFocus, this partnership showcases the evolution of event marketing from isolated campaigns to seamless customer journeys, where real-time event engagement data drives sales acceleration.

Rishabh Dayal, Head of Solutions Consulting at Adobe, emphasized the importance of first-party data and praised RainFocus for providing valuable insights through event marketing to fuel personalization, increase pipeline contribution, and accelerate deal cycles.

Exclusive Adobe Summit Events Featuring RainFocus

RainFocus invites attendees to join:

• March 18, 4:00 p.m. – Exclusive networking event at Yardbird in Venetian Restaurant Row, co-hosted with Adobe.
• March 20, 2025: Session "Revolutionizing B2B Buying Journeys With Meeting and Event Data" with industry experts from RainFocus and Red Hat.
• Behind-the-Scenes Tech Tours: Get a first-hand look at how RainFocus powers Adobe Summit—invite-only access.

By integrating event engagement data with Adobe Experience Platform, RainFocus transforms event marketing into a strategic sales enabler. This award reinforces its impact on customer journeys, revenue growth, and sales enablement.

Daisy, a next-generation creator-powered engagement platform, has officially launched with $3.9M in seed funding led by CMT Digital, Volt Capital, and EV3 Ventures. The platform is designed to help brands extend content reach, longevity, and performance by activating a verified network of top creators to strategically boost engagement.

According to Co-Founder Ian Ettinger, Daisy operates like a "daisy chain", where small but meaningful social interactions compound into massive brand impact on both organic and paid content.

How Daisy Works: A Programmatic Approach to Engagement

Daisy offers a syndicated creator network that leverages strategic engagement to fuel platform algorithms across TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and X. Unlike traditional influencer marketing, Daisy enables brands to tap into verified creators’ audiences with the speed and scalability of paid media.

Features include:

• Amplifying Organic Reach – Curated creator networks engage with content (likes, comments, shares, reposts) to increase visibility in social feeds.
• Driving Strategic Conversations – Pre-approved comments from creators help brands foster meaningful, product-focused interactions.
• Enhancing Paid Performance – Brands can convert high-performing organic posts into paid ads, leveraging social proof to boost click-through rates (CTR) and return on ad spend (ROAS).

Proven Results: Higher Engagement, Stronger ROI

Early adopters of Daisy’s creator-driven engagement model are seeing measurable performance improvements, including:

• +42% increase in click-through rates (CTR)
• +31% boost in return on ad spend (ROAS)
• +91% longer ad lifespan when leveraging Daisy-boosted organic posts in paid campaigns

According to Josh Snow, CEO of SNOW Cosmetics, “Performance marketing is the backbone of everything we do. Daisy is the ultimate weapon for brands serious about scaling, lowering CPAs, and driving real results.”

A New Revenue Model for Creators

Daisy is not just a brand growth tool—it’s also a revenue accelerator for creators. The platform monetizes existing engagement behaviors, allowing influencers to earn instantly by interacting with content, rather than relying solely on brand deals that require content creation.

Benefits for creators include:

• Instant Earnings – Creators are paid the same day, eliminating long payout delays common in traditional influencer marketing.
• Passive Monetization – Instead of creating content, creators earn from authentic engagement, making it one of the easiest revenue streams in the creator economy.

According to Co-Founder Dylan Huey, “Daisy is a game-changer. It turns everyday engagement into income, and we’re seeing massive adoption from top creators.”

Daisy is reshaping brand marketing and creator monetization by transforming social engagement into a scalable growth engine. With proven performance gains for brands and a new revenue stream for influencers, Daisy is setting a new standard for the creator economy.

Cineverse, a next-generation entertainment studio, has announced a strategic partnership with The Trade Desk, a global leader in advertising technology, to integrate OpenPath with its proprietary C360 ad tech platform. This integration aims to streamline the advertising supply chain, providing advertisers with a faster, more transparent, and cost-effective path to premium ad inventory.

By leveraging OpenPath, brands gain direct access to Cineverse’s extensive digital library, allowing them to engage niche audiences more effectively while optimizing campaign performance through real-time insights.

Benefits of the OpenPath & C360 Integration

The integration of The Trade Desk’s OpenPath with Cineverse’s C360 offers advertisers a more efficient way to connect with audiences, eliminating unnecessary intermediaries and improving campaign transparency and effectiveness.

For Advertisers, the Partnership Delivers:

• Direct Access to Premium Inventory – OpenPath ensures a more efficient connection to Cineverse’s expansive digital content ecosystem.
• Enhanced Transparency & Efficiency – The integration reduces supply chain complexity, allowing advertisers to optimize spending and reach.
• Real-Time Campaign Optimization – Brands can leverage data-driven insights to identify top-performing content and adjust targeting strategies accordingly.
• Greater Reach & Engagement – Advertisers can now engage with Cineverse’s dedicated fandoms, ensuring higher ad relevancy and audience impact.

A Major Leap in Programmatic Advertising

The C360 platform, already a trusted solution for premium ad placements, will now offer greater speed and flexibility through OpenPath, creating an on-ramp for brands looking to scale their programmatic campaigns.

According to Terry City, SVP of Advertising Sales at Cineverse,

"Brands that work with us and the C360 platform already understand its power. Integrating OpenPath into C360 accelerates results, allowing advertisers to move faster and connect with their target audience more effectively."

The Future of Digital Advertising with Cineverse & The Trade Desk

As the digital advertising landscape continues to evolve, this partnership solidifies Cineverse’s position as a leader in programmatic advertising, offering brands innovative, cost-effective, and scalable solutions to reach audiences at scale.

By eliminating inefficiencies in ad delivery and leveraging premium content, Cineverse and The Trade Desk are redefining how brands engage with digital audiences in a transparent and performance-driven environment.

With the integration of OpenPath into C360, advertisers now have an unparalleled opportunity to maximize ad efficiency, transparency, and performance across Cineverse’s premium inventory. This partnership sets a new standard for programmatic advertising, ensuring brands can connect with their ideal audiences faster and more effectively.

Juice Media, a leading omnichannel advertising and media platform, has announced a strategic partnership with Underdog, one of the fastest-growing sports gaming and media companies in the U.S.. This collaboration aims to accelerate Underdog’s brand growth and customer acquisition through data-driven, high-performance media campaigns.

With Underdog’s rapid expansion in sports gaming, this partnership will optimize audience targeting, enhance engagement, and maximize return on investment (ROI) in media strategy.

Underdog’s Rising Influence in Sports Gaming

Underdog has quickly become a category leader, boasting:

• The fourth most downloaded app among sports betting and fantasy sports platforms.
• A diverse offering that includes fantasy sports, licensed sports betting, and a growing sports media network.
• A strong focus on engagement-driven experiences, with insights from top analysts and former athletes.

How Juice Media Will Accelerate Underdog’s Growth

By leveraging Juice Media’s expertise in data-driven audience targeting and performance optimization, the partnership aims to:

• Expand Underdog’s Reach – Identify and engage new audiences through precision-targeted campaigns.
• Enhance Media Strategy – Utilize real-time data analytics to optimize advertising spend and maximize customer acquisition.
• Boost Engagement & Conversion Rates – Improve brand visibility and increase conversion rates through hyper-targeted marketing.

Leaders on the Strategic Partnership

According to Mark Zamuner, President of Juice Media,

"Reaching the right audience at the right time is what turns strong brands into category leaders. Underdog has built an incredible brand, and this partnership will fuel their momentum with high-performance media investments that drive measurable growth."

Similarly, Liz Marro, Chief Marketing Officer at Underdog, emphasized,

"Expanding our reach and engaging new audiences is critical to our success. Juice Media’s strategic approach will help us amplify our brand and introduce more sports fans to Underdog."

With this partnership, Underdog is poised for accelerated growth, leveraging Juice Media’s advanced data capabilities to enhance brand engagement, optimize media performance, and solidify its position as a top player in sports gaming.