AWS Marketplace
Media, Entertainment, Games, and Sports: Harness the cloud to accelerate innovation with AWS Marketplace
Content creation and technology convergence are reshaping how audiences engage with media through cloud solutions for media and entertainment. Organizations across broadcast, Over-the- Top (OTT) streaming platforms, media content management systems, gaming, and social media face increasing pressure to innovate rapidly while managing costs. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and solutions available in AWS Marketplace offer the agility needed to transform media processes, content delivery, and audience experiences in today’s competitive digital landscape.
At National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show 2025, I moderated a panel discussion where industry leaders shared their cloud transformation journeys. This expert panel revealed practical strategies that address today’s complex media challenges. Our conversation featured insights from:
- Adam Miller, Founder and Principal Architect, Nomad Media
- Eric Girard, Director of Engineering and TV Technology, FanDuel
- Nicole Cotham, Director of Content Operations, Content Metadata, Pluto TV
- Shandana Baca, Sr. Technical Product Manager, Pluto TV
- Thomas Porter, Principal Technical Business Development, IMDB
The media landscape
Media organizations face challenges due to streaming platform proliferation, increasing content demands, and rapidly evolving consumption patterns. These dynamics create intense pressure to innovate while maintaining quality and controlling costs.
Content produced by media companies typically remains trapped in disconnected systems, creating operational inefficiencies. Media assets require seamless integration for search, discoverability, and management to unlock their full potential.
Rising content delivery costs and elevated viewer expectations are driving media companies to adopt innovative technologies. These solutions enable greater workflow efficiency and more personalized audience engagement.
Case Study 1: Nomad Media and FanDuel
During the panel, Eric Girard described FanDuel’s critical challenges when rebranding from TVG to FanDuel and modernizing their OTT streaming platform.
“Our OTT application lacked a proper Content Management System, so everything was hard coded,” he explained. “If you wanted to change a tile on the app, you had to call a software developer, get ahold of them on Slack, then they had to republish the whole thing.”
Through cloud solutions from Nomad Media, FanDuel transformed their content operations with remarkable speed. “We were able to go to market with Nomad and meet the timeline in three months, which is pretty unheard of,” Girard stated about their accelerated deployment.
Adam Miller explained how Nomad’s platform removes deployment complexity, making powerful technology accessible to content teams. “We make it very simple,” Miller said. “So that’s how we could say, oh, this afternoon you want to have 10 live channels coming online, managed through your ops team, no problem.” This simplification allows media organizations to focus on content rather than infrastructure.
FanDuel achieved several specific capabilities that transformed their business:
- Syndication of content live using AWS infrastructure for multi-platform distribution
- Addition of Video-on-Demand capabilities for Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) integration
- Utilization of Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) to securely store large media files
- Creation of interactive experiences combining live sports with FanDuel Sportsbook to enhance fan engagement
Breaking down content silos
Media departments typically operate in isolation, creating serious distribution, delivery, and data storage challenges. Cloud solutions connect disparate systems securely through data and analytics integrations. This interoperability enables seamless metadata sharing across specialties, creating a comprehensive view of digital assets throughout the content lifecycle.
“We wanted to be able to broadcast thousands of ad hoc events,” explained Eric Girard. “With the abstraction of AWS, it created a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for our operators to be able to do this day over day in a standardized format.” This streamlined approach to content security and preservation ensures assets remain accessible and protected.
Adam Miller pointed out that “The key is helping media staff transition to more valuable roles that enhance creativity.” His company’s approach focuses on automating technical complexity in content operations while empowering creative teams to focus on content creation rather than infrastructure management.
Moving beyond traditional infrastructure
Media technology departments are increasingly shifting toward cloud solutions for sustainable content delivery. Eric Girard provided specific details about this transformation in FanDuel’s OTT streaming operations and virtual production capabilities.
“We have a petabyte on-prem in various locations,” he stated. “Now we’re 450 terabytes in AWS, and we’re going to probably put three or four petabytes in it in the next year.” This migration demonstrates a clear trend toward more scalable production practices through cloud adoption.
Traditional on-premises broadcast systems cannot keep pace with technological change. The traditional infrastructure cycle creates a technology burden that diverts resources from content creation and fan engagement initiatives.
Cloud solutions available in AWS Marketplace provide cost-effective alternatives with pay-as-you-go pricing for distribution, delivery, and data storage. This approach enables media organizations to remain current without massive capital investments in hardware and fosters more sustainable environmental practices.
Case Study 2: IMDB and Pluto TV
Nicole Cotham from Pluto TV, a leading Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) platform, described their innovation philosophy centered on “user obsession” and data and analytics. “Being able to take in that data about our content is extraordinarily valuable,” she stated, highlighting their specific approach to understanding user preferences for enhanced fan engagement.
Pluto TV implemented IMDB’s bulk import option to revolutionize their content discovery capabilities through:
- Refreshing metadata at their own cadence for improved streaming/OTT operations
- Powering their own Elasticsearch implementation for advanced data and analytics
- Sharing benefits across all Paramount Global properties through unified distribution, delivery, and data storage
“Instead of all teams individually refreshing this data, everybody benefits from this one source,” explained Shandana Baca, outlining how centralized metadata management creates measurable operational efficiencies in their content operations.
Thomas Porter described how IMDB’s extensive metadata helps fans rediscover content through virtual production technologies. “The opportunity for fans to rediscover content that maybe has been forgotten, and often the rediscovery is more successful than the original release,” he said. This comprehensive data powers personalized content discovery experiences across multiple streaming platforms including FAST, SVOD, and Advertising-based Video on Demand (AVOD).
Key steps for successful cloud adoption in media
The panel discussion revealed several critical steps for successful cloud adoption in media operations:
- Define the organization’s content strategy and digital transformation goals
- Assess current media assets and distribution, delivery, and data storage needs
- Focus on metadata quality, governance, and content security/preservation
- Include key stakeholders from creative and technical teams to understand project requirements
- Leverage purpose-built media solutions from AWS Marketplace for streaming/OTT platforms
When beginning a cloud journey, media companies should prioritize a content supply chain strategy that enables seamless ingest, processing, and distribution. They must also maintain content security and creative workflow performance throughout this process. The focus should be on modernizing high-cost areas, while ensuring the solution architecture accommodates future scaling, and emerging AI/ML use cases that can drive new monetization opportunities.
Conclusion
Cloud technology is transforming how media and entertainment organizations create, distribute, and monetize content. While traditional approaches limit innovation, modern cloud solutions enable data-driven decisions that enhance audience experiences across broadcast, streaming, gaming, and social platforms. By embracing cloud solutions, media organizations can reduce time to market while improving content quality and audience engagement.
About AWS Marketplace
AWS Marketplace is a digital catalog of third-party software, services, and data that makes it easy to find, buy, deploy, and manage software on AWS. AWS Marketplace enables media and entertainment organizations to innovate quicker with access to thousands of third-party software, professional services, and data listings that offer quick, easy, and secure deployment, flexible consumption, contract models, and streamlined procurement and billing operations.
Next steps
Explore Media & Entertainment solutions in AWS Marketplace to discover third-party solutions like Nomad Media and IMDb, discussed by our panelists.
Watch the Media, Entertainment, Games, and Sports: Harness the Cloud to Accelerate Innovation webinar to gain additional insights from our expert panel discussion.
Contact an AWS Representative to learn how we can help accelerate your media transformation.