As expected, Spotify unveiled its first premium subscription rate hike in 12 years after mounting pressure from the music industry and musicians — and as competing services hiked their rates. A premium Spotify streaming subscription in the U.S. will now cost $10.99 per month, a $1 increase. Now the largest paid music service in the world, with about 210 million subscribers, Spotify is also raising rates in some 50 additional markets, including Canada, parts of Europe and Asia, South America and Australasia. Existing customers are getting one month’s notice before the new rates kick in. Continue reading Spotify Announces Anticipated Price Hikes for Subscriptions

Netflix is marshalling resources around its ad-supported Standard plan, pulling the plug on ad-free Basic in an effort to drive more eyeballs to the service’s sponsored tier. The $9.99 per month Basic plan is no longer available “for new or rejoining members” in the U.S. and UK and was dropped in Canada last month. Existing Basic subs can continue the plan until they decide to change tiers or cancel. Standard with Ads has since its November launch accrued more than 5 million subs, according to Netflix, which says 25 percent of new sign-ups have chosen that package. Continue reading Netflix Shutters Cheapest Streaming Plan Without Advertising

Comcast’s UK broadcaster Sky is upping the ante on its Sky Glass smart TVs with a new camera called Sky Live designed to make content more immersive. In addition to Kinect-style games and interactive workouts, Sky Live supports Zoom calls and watch parties. Sky Live runs on the company’s proprietary Entertainment OS and requires a television that is part of that ecosystem. The camera launch comes as Xumo, the U.S. joint venture between Comcast and Charter Communications prepares to launch a new family of 4K smart TVs in partnership with Element Electronics. Continue reading Sky Glass TVs Add Interactivity with Motion Tracking Camera

Amazon may be further leveraging its enviable position with Madison Avenue by launching an ad-supported Prime Video tier. The move makes sense given Amazon’s surging ad revenue from online sales. The company also owns the FAST service Freevee. Amazon’s ad savvy runs deep, and reports suggest the e-commerce giant is also in discussions with Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global to package the ad-supported versions of Max and Paramount+ under the Prime Video Channels banner. The news comes on the eve of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for the global marketing elite. Continue reading Amazon Explores Launching Ad-Supported Prime Video Tier

Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro headset will begin shipping in early 2024, CEO Tim Cook announced Monday at WWDC, calling it a device for “spatial computing.” The company’s new visionOS operating system is described as a mashup of iOS, macOS and tvOS, designed for “an entirely new universe of apps for Vision Pro,” according to Apple. Unity was revealed as the principal development engine for Vision Pro content. The upcoming headset, powered by Apple’s high-end M2 chip, supports 4K resolution and features embedded audio pods. The company emphasized gaming and streaming services, in addition to productivity and communication. Continue reading WWDC: Apple Unveils Its ‘Vision Pro’ Mixed Reality Headset

Netflix says it will preemptively purge its UK library of films and TV shows that run afoul of new streamer regulations being implemented by the British government. UK ministers are calling on media regulator Ofcom to police streaming content as it does traditional broadcasters, which means video-on-demand platforms including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video could face fines of up to $310,000 per instance for hosting “harmful material.” Draft legislation that seeks to codify “due impartiality” for streamers as part of the proposed Media Bill were rebuked by Netflix as “nebulous” and potentially “onerous.” Continue reading Netflix Threatens to Purge Content to Avoid UK Streamer Bill

Netflix introduced a password sharing option for non-household members in the United States this week. Netflix subscribers can “buy an extra member” for an additional $7.99 per month for streaming users who live outside the home. Simultaneous with the rollout, Netflix said it will start blocking unauthorized users of borrowed passwords. “Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with — your household,” Netflix emailed its U.S. customers, providing instructions on how to “check who is using your Netflix.” The company is also making paid sharing available in additional international territories. Continue reading Netflix Expands Crackdown on Password Sharing to the U.S.

Netflix, which turns 26 years old this year, is looking to advertising, live events and password sharing crackdowns to power its next growth phase. The company’s 232.5 million global subscriber base makes it the world’s No. 1 paid streaming platform, a position it wants to hold, and expand, as it shifts into an era of new management under co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. At a virtual presentation at Netflix’s first Upfront Wednesday, Sarandos admitted that “we have a long way to go to build scale in advertising,” but said the company intends to focus on improving that share. Continue reading Netflix Plans for Future Growth Include a Focus on Advertising

Streamers will have a major presence at the TV Upfront presentations to advertisers in New York this week. Research firm Antenna says nearly 25 percent of domestic customers of Disney+, Netflix and Max opted for reduced-price, ad-supported subscriptions in February, while more than half the customers for Hulu+ and Peacock opted for the same. Antenna CEO Jonathan Carson said that “given the choice, Americans are choosing ads,” which is good news for marketers, who were initially concerned that the shift from cable to a la carte subscription streaming would edge out advertising. Continue reading Ad-Supported Streaming Tiers Vie for Piece of the Upfront Pie

Google appears to be in control of a major television network. According to internal data obtained by The Information, nearly half the time spent viewing the Alphabet company’s YouTube platform — 45 percent — now takes place on TV screens. That’s a significant increase from the 30 percent viewership the company reportedly logged for 2020. Coming on the heels of the IAB NewFronts, where digital platforms including Meta, TikTok and Snap were among those vying for advertiser attention, the story is well timed to help YouTube distinguish itself from competitors that seem focused largely on reaching mobile viewers. Continue reading Almost Half of YouTube Viewers Watch Video on TV Screens

Roku introduced new ad products this week at the IAB NewFronts, touting opportunities to advertise on Roku’s home screen and within original content. That also includes its screensaver — dubbed Roku City — which McDonald’s is taking over for a summer promo. Roku also said it will be using contextual AI to automatically insert ads at appropriate moments in Roku Channel programming. In a twist on programmatic, Roku will train artificial intelligence on its advertisers’ marketing campaigns and messaging goals then have it scour the library for “iconic plot moments” that offer a good fit, inserting ads in real time. Continue reading Roku Rolls Out New Ad Products and Contextual AI Insertions

Measurement is emerging as a major issue to be addressed at this year’s advertising sales presentations known as the TV Upfronts, taking place this month in New York City. Companies slated to present range from established players like NBCUniversal, hosting May 15 at Radio City Music Hall, to Netflix, which joins the heavyweights with a May 17 event at the Paris Theater. An increased emphasis on streaming platforms, which allow specific measurements rather than the panel extrapolations that have been the norm in the broadcast era, has shifted the focus to the analytics firms that quantify consumer viewing and identify patterns. Continue reading TV Upfronts to Contend with Analytics Upended by Streaming

As inflation drives consumers to economize, free ad-supported streaming television is booming even as premium streaming services are growing subscribers in increments. A Q4 survey by Deloitte found that 44 percent of those surveyed had canceled at least one paid subscription service in the preceding six months. The Deloitte study also found that 59 percent of viewers were willing to watch some ads each hour in exchange for a free or discounted television service. Research firm Omdia says global FAST channel ad revenue topped $4 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $12 billion by 2027. Continue reading Popularity of FAST TV Surges as Viewers Look to Economize

Tubi founder and CEO Farhad Massoudi is exiting the free AVOD platform in a restructuring by parent Fox Corporation. Paul Cheesbrough, Fox Corp. CTO and president of digital, will take the reins as CEO of the Tubi Media Group, which will house Fox’s standalone digital businesses — including Tubi, Credible and Blockchain Creative Labs — as well as the digital platforms and teams that underpin Fox’s wider digital business in news, sports and entertainment. TMG will be comprised of three divisions: Tubi Streaming, Fox Digital Platforms Group and the AdRise Video Network. Continue reading Fox Creates Tubi Media Group to Manage Digital Businesses

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos met with South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol during the Asian dignitary’s U.S. visit this week, prompting the company to commit a cool $2.5 billion toward the creation of Korean series, films and unscripted shows over the next four years. The amount is twice what Netflix has invested in the Korean market since it began streaming there in 2016. Netflix’s Korean partnership has produced global hits including “Squid Game,” “The Glory” and “Physical: 100.” “We have great confidence that the Korean creative industry will continue to tell great stories,” Sarandos said after meeting with Yoon in Washington, D.C. Continue reading Netflix Planning to Invest $2.5 Billion in South Korean Content