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This week we dissect the big news that Warner Bros. Discovery is going to split into two companies, one that will hold its global cable networks and the other that will hold the Warner Bros. and HBO/Max assets.
It has been a long, winding path for the Time Warner assets, starting with AT...
Colin attended the Connected TV World Summit in London this week and shares his observations about the CTV landscape in Europe and some of the challenges. First we discuss new research from Bango detailing strong adoption of Gen AI among younger users, and also new Gracenote research about the burgeoning market for FAST services.
Listen to the podcast to learn more (26 minutes, 55 seconds...
Starz will split off from Lionsgate in 2025 and on today’s podcast we discuss Starz’s streaming strategy, as outlined by CEO Jeffrey Hirsch in a presentation at the UBS Global Media...
Bloomberg’s Screentime 2024 conference in LA offered opportunities to hear directly from a variety of industry executives about their companies’ streaming initiatives and results (all video interviews here). Colin and I were especially interested in interviews with Comcast’s Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts and Amazon’s SVP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios Mike Hopkins.
As we discuss, the...
On this week’s Inside the Stream Colin and I dig into Netflix’s first engagement report, released earlier this week. The report details what subscribers watched during the January-June 2023 period. It includes viewership of over 18,000 titles, which comprises 99% of all viewing on the service. Colin has used the data to make several calculations about Netflix’s overall business. Hopefully other...
On this week’s Inside the Stream Colin and I first discuss the trend toward SVOD services being bundled with one another. We agree the approach makes sense to cut churn and increase the lifetime value of subscribers. Next, Peacock has hit 30 million paying subscribers, which we believe is a healthy milestone for the three year-old service, though its losses are in the billions of dollars....
Four topics for this week’s podcast:
Last week IAB released its new 2024 advertising outlook report based on a survey of media professionals. CTV advertising was at the top of expected gains, revised upward from a 14.5% lift vs. 2023 in IAB’s prior report to 18.4% now. It’s another positive sign for CTV ads and we discuss how big a role political ad spending is playing.
Next up, Comcast’s...
This week we interview Roku’s Head of Ad Marketing Jordan Rost and MAGNA’s EVP, Intelligence Solutions Kara Manatt, about their companies’ new research - "From Power On to Power Off" - about viewers’ content discovery journeys and the role of CTV Home Screen advertising. A key takeaway of the research is that almost half (44%) of streaming sessions begin with the viewer browsing, rather than...
Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison said this week that its streaming portfolio and Warner Bros. Discovery’s will be combined into one platform in the coming years. While details still need to be revealed, on this week’s episode Colin and I discuss the move’s opportunities and challenges. A critical decision will be the branding of the streaming services, and retaining the marquee...
This week on Inside the Stream, we start with MS NOW’s plan to evolve into a streaming and community hub for progressive activism. Given cord-cutting and the decline of linear TV news consumption by younger viewers, we see it as a positive move. Next, we discuss why data indicates engagement with Prime Video is far lower than other streaming services. Finally, microdramas continue their growth...