When viewers hold the power, brands must rethink their streaming strategies

The modern viewer is out of patience. In the era of NFL RedZone, where even die-hard fans expect only the action, the slow burn of traditional media is fading fast. Now, the paradox: "quick, snackable" content born on solitary, vertical screens is migrating to the premium, lean-back space of the living room TV. As these two worlds collide, brands and streamers are scrambling to write a new playbook before they lose the audience entirely.

We spoke with Jean Carucci, Principal Owner of the streaming consultancy Carucci Consultants and a former executive at Warner Bros. Discovery, where she played a key role in launching 18 TVE and OTT apps, including discovery+ and MAX. She shared what brands and platforms need to get right as short-form content makes its way to the biggest screen in the house.

• Social, meet streaming: "The lines are very blurred between social and streaming on a device," Carucci says. The mistake many brands and streamers make is treating this shift as a simple technical upgrade. But as Carucci puts it, it’s a "one-two punch," and strategy matters far more than tech.

For streaming platforms, that means curating content with intent. "Where does it make sense? Where is it relevant? How does it dovetail what the user is coming to that platform to watch anyway?" she asks. A quick recipe video might belong beside Food Network programming, for instance, but only if it aligns with what the viewer came to see. And while platforms control the gateway, brands need to start the conversation. "If you are a brand that is creating social videos, you should absolutely be talking to your publishing partners and seeing if you can get those videos on that large screen."

Once on the platform, the content must adhere to a single golden rule: it has to add value. The cardinal sin is creating a video that is little more than a "hard overt sell," which risks turning a beloved streaming service into a generic shopping network.

• Make it a highlight: "Storytelling is what we're shooting for here," Carucci says. "Storytelling, entertainment, a lean-in moment." She warns that if a brand's content is "nothing but a three minute video singing the praises of your product that's wrong." The future, she believes, lies in creating content that is genuinely valuable and welcome, like an AI-powered highlight reel of a fan's favorite team, sponsored by a relevant brand.
• CTA for CTV: This new format also demands a new approach to calls-to-action. An interaction designed for a solitary "scroll mode" on a phone will fail in a communal "lean-back" living room setting. The solution, Carucci explains, is to create interactions that enhance, rather than disrupt, the group experience. This can be achieved by making the ad a shared activity, like an interactive quiz. "Is there a quiz you can all take together? Can you make it sort of a competitive sport?"

For shoppable content, the principle is the same: it must be contextually seamless, like the ability to order a team jersey during a game. For interactions that require more focus, Carucci proposes an elegant solution that bridges the two screens. "With a click of a remote, you can get an offer sent to your phone," she explains. "It's not disruptive at all."

The single biggest obstacle to scaling this new format is the industry’s measurement problem. Today’s metrics are a jumble of mismatched signals, from worthless three-second social media "views" to what Carucci calls the "flawed system" of legacy TV ratings. While a unified standard has yet to emerge, she notes that practical monetization tactics are already taking shape, where value is determined by premium placement on the screen, such as being "above the fold." Ultimately, the path forward requires a new standard that allows clients to measure true return on investment based on their specific goals—whether that’s brand impressions, app downloads, or direct purchases.

To succeed, brands must start connecting the dots on their traditionally siloed media approaches. The urgency, Carucci says, comes from one undeniable shift: viewers hold all the power.

• Gone with a click: "Younger generations don't have cable subscriptions," she says. "It's just not how it's done anymore." When a single click can end a subscription, there’s no room for clunky content or disjointed ad experiences. The bar is high, and the stakes are higher. As Carucci puts it, "It's about understanding consumer and viewer behavior—and how can we make sure it's a good user experience."