We are ecstatic to introduce our new VP of Sales for Live Video, Salvatore Romana based in our NYC office. Coming from our OVP partner Livestream, Sal has tons of accumulated experience in the live video business. He helped build the company’s sales force in the past 6 years and he will be a strong reinforcement for us, as an ambitious and high-potential vendor.
From on-site production to encoding to distribution, he has worked with hundreds of brands and Fortune 500 companies to stream their events.
We did a brief Q/A session with him and he threw some encouraging and bold statements.
D: We've known Salvatore as an industry leader and a great Cleeng partner. What made you join the Cleeng team?
S: I've been working closely with Cleeng for the past 5 years. Easy to work with and supportive in our efforts to delivering an end to end solutions to our customers. It's been great to see how the product has evolved from a simple PPV service to a platform that helps customers build and support both PPV and Subscription model businesses. As live video broadcasting has been growing in popularity over the past few years, I've seen how crucial Cleeng's services have become when thinking about monetizing live video. Any broadcaster who is putting content on the web is thinking about monetizing that content in one of two ways: Either, Traditional pre-roll and mid-roll ads, or for a paid, premium and non-disruptive viewer experience, than they're considering subscriptions, PPV or season passes on their live events.
There are a few platforms out there that can do what Cleeng offers. With its out of the box tools, ability to scale quickly and premier customer services to both producers and viewers - they've become the leader in live PPV services in the industry.
Being part of a team that can deliver a true return on investment, great service and make it fun - why wouldn't you want to join? :)
D: How big is live video in the US and how do you see the market in the next 5 years?
S: In 2016 the streaming and non-linear streaming market is around $18 Billion, by 2021 it should be well over $35 Billion. and everyone wants to get in on the action, from Netflix to Amazon, Disney, Nascar or Final Fantasy. There are many platforms that are making it easier for producers to broadcast content and viewers to easily consume the content across all devices.
It's much more valuable for brands, sports organizations and federations to go direct to consumers with their content: they learn faster about their audience interests, they better manage their marketing activities, and they build new revenue streams. This is fueling the growth of live video.
D: With sports currently dominating the viewers' screens, which vertical(s) do you think has the biggest potential in the live segment?
S: There is no doubt that sports broadcasters will continue to dominate the space, given the dedication of the fans and the urgency of watching in real-time. I found that Houses of Worship, Educational Institutions and Governments have been a fast growing verticals.
- Houses of Worship always have a dedicated members of the congregation for the elderly or those who can't attend the weekly service (international).
- Universities will connect families with their children through commencements and sports.
- Local cities, towns and governments are becoming more transparent with their community - broadcasting everything from local court cases to monthly town hall meetings.
D: According to you, what are the key strengths of Cleeng as a monetization specialist and how do you envision the company in future?
S: For me, I believe the key strengths of Cleeng is it's ability to deploy quickly, scalability, and its top tier support to both producers and viewers.
If we can continue to help our partners and their customers be successful with monetizing and protecting content, Cleeng will continue to be the market leader in Pay Per View and video subscription platform. The opportunity is massive.
D: At the end, can you share some words on who is Sal privately?
S: Sal lives in New Jersey, enjoys spending time with his family, loves eating pizza and burgers and has 3 lovely kids. I enjoy traveling and exploring new places. Although not as easy with 3 younger children :).
2017 started shiny for us!
