Reports indicate that Meta Platforms is preparing to introduce advertising to Threads, perhaps as soon as January. Threads is the year-old social platform it launched to compete with Twitter in July 2023, the same month Elon Musk was rebranding that platform as X. Meta is looking to begin Threads’ transition to ad support by initially allowing only a small group of advertisers to create and publish ads before opening the platform to the ad industry at large later in the year. Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, who also runs Threads, has said Meta is “definitely” planning to open ad inventory on Threads. Continue reading Meta Readies Year-Old Threads for Advertising in Early 2025

Netflix reported that its popular streaming service has added 8.05 million subscribers during Q2, a healthy gain from 5.89 million newcomers during the same period a year earlier. The streamer’s total of more than 277 million worldwide customers makes it by far the largest subscription service of its kind. Revenue climbed to $9.56 billion, a nearly 17 percent second quarter gain that outperformed its own projections. Subscriptions on the ad-supported tier grew 34 percent compared to Q1. Amidst upheaval in more traditional media environs, Netflix seems to be gliding along, closing Thursday with a market valuation of $277 billion. Continue reading Netflix Reports Q2 Subscriber Growth as Revenue Tops $9.5B

Fox Corporation’s ad-supported video-on-demand streaming service Tubi is launching in the United Kingdom with a content library of 20,000 movies and TV shows. With almost 80 million monthly active users, Tubi has grown quickly in the U.S. since its debut on the Nielsen Gauge just over a year ago and it is exporting the formula overseas. The new UK service will rely primarily on content from companies including Disney, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal and Sony Pictures Entertainment, as well Tubi Originals, arthouse fare and films from Bollywood and Nigeria, known as “Nollywood.” Continue reading Fox Streamer Tubi Seeks to Replicate its U.S. Success in UK

Netflix is launching its own ad server, bringing control of the advertising experience of its 270 million subscribers in-house. The company will use its new ad tech to create personalized ads that can be highly targetable, Netflix President of Advertising Amy Reinhard said onstage at the upfronts, providing brands with new ways to buy and to slice and dice consumer data. The deployment puts Netflix in the mix with other industry heavyweights like Google, Amazon and Comcast, which also operate their own ad servers. The move comes 18 months after Netflix entered the advertising business in partnership with Microsoft. Continue reading Netflix Takes Advertising In-House with Launch of Ad Server

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that a new triple-play streaming bundle that includes popular services Disney+, Hulu and Max will launch this summer in the U.S. with both ad-supported and ad-free plans. “On the heels of the very successful launch of Hulu on Disney+, this new bundle with Max will offer subscribers even more choice and value,” said Joe Earley, president of direct to consumer for Disney Entertainment. While no specific pricing has been revealed, the release promises that “additional details regarding the bundle offer will be shared in the coming months.” Continue reading Disney+, Hulu, Max: Streaming Bundle Coming This Summer

Roku grew streaming households to 81.6 million globally in Q1, a 14 percent gain year-over-year, according to the company. Revenue was up 19 percent to $881.5 million. Streaming hours were up 23 percent to 30.8 billion, but guidance that rival ad-supported streaming platforms could hinder further growth this year dinged the strong quarterly results, sending shares down 3 percent in after hour trading last week. Claiming a position as “the No. 1 selling TV OS in the U.S. and Mexico,” Roku said the Roku Channel was No. 3 on the platform “by both reach and engagement.” Continue reading Roku Earnings Outperform Street Estimates Despite Headwinds

Netflix has added 9.33 million paid subscribers in Q1, a 16 percent year-over-year increase to 269.6 million worldwide. The growth, attributed largely to a password-sharing crackdown, has delivered the company’s strongest first-quarter customer expansion since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The dominant global streamer boosted Q1 revenue by nearly 15 percent year-over-year, to $9.37 billion, and drove profits to more than $2.3 billion for the quarter, a 78.7 percent gain over the same period last year (and a 148 percent leap from Q4’s $938 million). A surprise to many, Netflix announced it will cease reporting quarterly subscriber gains in Q1 2025. Continue reading Netflix Adds 9.3 Million Subscribers, $2.3 Billion in Profit in Q1

AMC Networks revealed it plans to offer ad-supported versions of all of its streaming services for the 2024-2025 upfront market, as it makes a broader play to provide brands a pathway into each of the company’s video platforms. Concurrent to opening the networks to ads, the company will be offering consumers cost effective bundling options around those niche services in lieu of an umbrella AMC+ plan. AMC is rolling out the changes this week at the 2024-25 Upfronts in New York, where it is also emphasizing an increased horror content quotient. Continue reading AMC Plans to Feature New Ad-Supported Streaming Services

Amazon this week began serving advertising to Prime Video customers who did not elect to pay an additional $2.99 per month in addition to the basic annual Prime membership of $139 per year or $14.99 per month. Adding commercials is estimated to potentially bring in more than $3 billion a year for Amazon, which is expected to have 2023 revenue of around $567 billion. The surplus will come in handy to pay out $1 billion a year over 11 years for the rights to NFL’s “Thursday Night Football.” The ad-supported Prime Video service launches in the U.S., Canada, UK and Germany, with Mexico, France, Italy, Spain and Australia following later in the year. Continue reading Amazon Stands to Gain $3 Billion a Year from Prime Video Ads

Netflix added 13.1 million subscribers in Q4 2023, its biggest gain in a year-end quarter, and the streamer continues to try to broaden its demographic reach by investing in new content, including a new deal for live WWE wrestling matches. The expansion into live-streaming provides an opportunity to draw regular, appointment viewers, something advertisers like. “No entertainment company has ever tried to program at this scale, and for so many tastes and cultures,” Netflix wrote in a shareholder letter that says it plans to spend up to $17 billion on content in 2024. Continue reading Netflix Adds WWE, Touts 12.5 Percent Revenue Growth in Q4

After announcing in 2020 plans to launch a movie and TV show rental marketplace, media streaming platform Plex is finally taking the plunge. Following what has been described as “false starts,” including delays due to COVID-19, news broke at CES 2024 that the company will go public with its rental offering in February. The streaming media software maker has confirmed it will enter the TVOD (transactional video on demand) market to augment the ad-supported streaming that is its primary revenue source. Plex reportedly has “most studios” onboard, though it has yet to specify which ones. Continue reading FAST Platform Plex to Roll Out Movie, TV Rentals Next Month

Paramount Global’s Pluto TV free streaming television service is adding a pop-up channel for NFL fans for the weeks leading up to Super Bowl LVIII on CBS. The new programming joins an NFL channel that Pluto TV launched in 2019 to showcase game coverage with news, replays and original shows. Airing 24/7 through February 21, the “NFL Super Bowl Classics” channel will feature past Super Bowl games and specials. Viewers can find the channel on the Pluto TV app or connected TV devices in the Sports category. Game replays will stream sequentially with specials and docuseries interspersed. Continue reading Pluto Intros Limited-Time ‘NFL Super Bowl Classics’ Channel

Netflix is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its ad-supported tier by giving binge viewers every fourth consecutive episode ad-free. It is also making downloads available on its ad-supported plan, claiming to be the first streamer to do so in an advertising environment. While the binge perk won’t be available until 2024, downloads for both TV series and films are said to start immediately. Netflix said that in year one its bargain-priced tier with ad support has hit 15 million global monthly active users, touting its partnership with Microsoft as helping “to shape the future of advertising.” Continue reading Netflix Boosts Features After Year One of Ad-Supported Tier

AMC Networks has begun rolling out an ad-supported version of its flagship AMC+ streaming service. Initial availability will be on AMC’s own direct-to-consumer platform and apps, with third-party platforms and channel providers added in the coming weeks. Priced at $4.99 per month, the ad-supported tier includes less than five-minutes per hour of sponsored messages and the same content that comes with the $8.99 per month ad-free plan (or $83.88 annually). Chief Commercial Officer Kim Kelleher says the new product offering is “bringing ads to the only piece of our distribution ecosystem that wasn’t already ad-supported.” Continue reading AMC Offers a New Commercial Tier for Its Streaming Service

Recorded music revenues in the United States reached $8.4 billion for the first half of 2023, an all-time high for the period that translates to a 9.3 percent increase, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Streaming continued to thrive, accounting for a whopping 84 percent of the six-month revenue total, or $7 billion. Total revenue from paid subscription services grew 11 percent to $5.5 billion, nearly double the growth in the number of individual paid accounts, which rose by just over 6 percent year-over-year, to an average of 95.8 million accounts. Continue reading Streaming Drives Music Revenue in the U.S. to a New Record