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Disney has officially begun buying out Comcast’s 33% ownership in Hulu, for at least $8.6 billion. Hulu will become a centerpiece of Disney’s strategy to appeal to a broad range of audiences. Coincidentally former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar recently shared his recommendations for how media companies can succeed in streaming. Can Disney’s big Hulu bet deliver on Kilar’s vision?
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Netflix reported a strong 2025 though Colin calculates engagement per viewer seems to have lightened up. The jockeying for WBD continues with Paramount. Meanwhile BBC is going to start making shows specifically for YouTube. This comes in the wake of last week’s report that by certain metrics YouTube viewership is eclipsing BBC’s in the UK.
Then we discuss the demise of Sony’s TV business,...
Netflix reported Q3 ’25 results this week and said it expects advertising revenue to more than double in 2025 vs. 2024. As Colin and I discuss, it wasn’t that long ago that Netflix rejected the idea of offering an ad-supported tier at all; now that tier is driving significant growth for the company.
Meanwhile, with the NBA season underway, games on NBC and Peacock are being broadcast and...
Ten years after Amazon launched Prime Video Channels, giving Prime users the ability to easily discover and sign up for subscription streaming services, Comcast has belatedly launched StreamStore, its own streaming app store.
As we discuss, unfortunately for Comcast, Amazon dominates this space with 58% share, according to recent Antenna data. Even Roku, with its 90+ million users, only has...
We’re pleased to interview Vevo’s EVP, Global Sales Rob Christensen this week on Inside the Stream. Rob dives into the details of Vevo Evolve, the company’s new data-driven ad platform. Rob describes its advanced targeting, optimization and measurement capabilities. He also shares how Vevo’s music videos are succeeding across mobile, desktop and connected TV platforms. Looking ahead, Rob also...
Netflix reported strong Q4 results, adding 19 million subscribers globally to end 2024 at nearly 302 million. We discuss what was behind the growth, which was up across all regions except EMEA where it was flat. Netflix’s huge scale gives it the ability to invest heavily in content, while others are pulling back.
Netflix’s ad-supported tier accounted for 55% of sign-ups where it’s available...
Comcast reported Q2 ’24 results this week, including an update on Peacock, which cut its loss to $348 million in the quarter from $639 million a year ago. Peacock’s subscriber count increased from 24 million in Q2 ’23 to 33 million at the end of Q2 ’24, but that was actually down a million from the end of Q1 ’24.
In this week’s podcast we discuss whether and when Peacock will turn the...
This week we’re delighted to interview Wurl’s CEO Ron Gutman who discusses the company’s new AI-powered BrandDiscovery product that allows ads to be aligned with content in real time.
Ron explains the eight key emotional reactions to specific scenes in entertainment programming, and how ads that are consistent with these emotions deliver far higher conversion. He also details the critical...
The YouTube colossus rumbles on as new data shows YouTube with 51 million viewers in the UK in Q4 ’25, just edging out the BBC with 50.8 million viewers. The caveat is that this is for three minutes only, with an expanded 15 minute definition still showing the BBC ahead.
Meanwhile ad-tier usage among paid streaming services continue to increase across the board. Netflix has 40% of its...
Netflix added 13.1 million global subscribers in Q4 ’23, its best fourth quarter ever. As we discuss, the company is capitalizing on the introduction of paid sharing and a lower priced ad-supported tier. Paid sharing, which requires those who were using someone else’s login credentials to start their own subscription, has been especially effective. Netflix designed a smart strategy to eliminate...