Sports streamer FuboTV has launched new premium options from services including Paramount+, Showtime, FanDuel and NBA without the need for a basic Fubo subscription. FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports Network) will be available in Fubo’s Pro base plan while Paramount+ With Showtime and NBA League Pass will be offered as add-on channel packages. In addition, the Fubo Free collection of nearly 200 FAST channels will be available to subscribers of the new standalone packages. Fubo “aggregates more than 400 live sports, news and entertainment networks and is the only live TV streaming platform with every Nielsen-rated sports channel.” Continue reading Fubo Now Offers Standalone Premium Subscription Services

Dish Network’s Sling TV subscription streaming platform has added a feature called Sling Arcade that lets users play games while Sling plays television content in an optional adjacent window. Available only to Sling customers who have Amazon Fire TV or Android TV, it has 10 games at launch that the company describes as “both classics and contemporary favorites,” including “Tetris,” “Wheel of Fortune,” “Poker Online” and “Solitaire Clash.” Sling is offering Arcade free to those with the Sling Freestream FAST service as well as those with paid subscriptions to Sling TV. Continue reading Sling TV Offers Free Games to Subscribers via Arcade Feature

As the number of free ad-supported streaming TV channels continues to grow, FAST services are outperforming more traditional linear television and CTV when it comes to capturing and keeping consumer attention, according to two separate studies — one from Samsung, the other from Vizio. Samsung Ads’ report, “Decoding FAST: A Comprehensive Guide to the Free Ad-Supported Streaming Landscape,” reveals that the number of FAST services — among them Fox’s Tubi, The Roku Channel, Paramount’s Pluto TV, Vizio’s WatchFree+ and Samsung TV Plus — has tripled in the past four years, as consumption has grown. Continue reading Consumers More Attentive to FAST Channels Than Linear TV

In 2023, U.S. audiences streamed the equivalent of 21 million years of video, according to Nielsen, which says that’s a record, surpassing by 21 percent the 17 million years’ worth of video streamed in 2022. Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” was the most streamed original, while “Suits” was the most-streamed show in a single year. Its 57.7 billion viewing minutes on Netflix and Peacock surpassed “The Office,” which generated 57.1 billion viewing minutes on Netflix in 2020. According to Nielsen’s Gracenote, “audiences had 90 different streaming services to choose from at the end of last year, up from 51 at the start of 2020.” Continue reading Nielsen: 21 Million Years Worth of Video Was Streamed in 2023

Content hubs are gaining traction with streaming platforms as a search and discovery tool, according to a new study by Horowitz Research, which notes eight in 10 consumers indicating they watch content from a collection or hub occasionally. Multicultural audiences are turning to using hub resources in significant numbers, with African American streamers engaging at the 80 percent rate, and Asian viewers at 65 percent. The number trends higher — at 77 percent — among less acculturated Asian streamers. Among Latinx streamers, nearly 59 percent say they’ve turned to Latinx content collections, with less acculturated doing so at higher rates (78 percent). Continue reading Study: Streaming Viewers Are Interested in Hubs for Discovery

Cord-cutting among U.S. consumers hit record highs in Q3, according to research firm MoffettNathanson, which reports total pay TV subscriptions dropped by 6.3 percent in the July through September period, up from a 5.2 percent decline in Q3 2021, and slightly ahead of the 6.2 percent contraction of Q2 this year. MoffettNathanson defines “pay TV” as paid subscription services, including from cable and satellite operators in addition to vMVPDs packaged through companies like Verizon and AT&T. The Q3 loss totaled roughly 655,000 subscribers, as compared to 617,000 from the same period last year, and 91,000 in Q3 2020. Continue reading Report: Cord-Cutting Translates to New Low for Pay TV in Q3

The number of households in the U.S. that are subscribing to some sort of multichannel pay-TV package has declined to 66 percent in 2022, from 88 percent in 2012, according to a new study from the Leichtman Research Group. The study defines pay TV as multichannel service delivered via cable, satellite, telco TV or ISP. “Two-thirds of U.S. TV households now get a live pay-TV service, a significant decrease from 79 percent five years ago,” LRG president and principal analyst Bruce Leichtman said, calling the decline “not solely a function of those disconnecting services, but is also related to a slowdown in those entering or reentering the category.” Continue reading Number of Pay-TV Package Subscribers Drops to 66 Percent

Dish Network posted a Q2 subscriber loss in both the satellite TV sector and among customers of its virtual multichannel video programming distributor Sling TV. Sling shed 257,000 traditional satellite video subs while Dish lost 202,000 net satellite subscribers. Regarding Sling TV, the vMVPD lost subscribers for the third consecutive quarter, down 55,000 in Q2, a marked improvement over Sling’s Q1 net loss of 234,000 subs. Dish ended Q2 with 7.79 million satellite TV subscribers, while Sling closed the April through June period with about 2.19 million customers. Meanwhile, Dish announced its Boost Infinite postpaid wireless service will launch later this year. Continue reading Dish Loses Subscribers in Q2, Preps Launch of Boost Infinite

Nielsen debuted its Streaming Video Ratings, which will measure streaming activity including how the different platforms compare, the devices being used and the streaming behavior of different audience cohorts. Nielsen stated 10 services will be tracked although it initially didn’t name them. But, since last summer, it has included Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Hulu and Netflix in its weekly content ratings. The syndicated Nielsen Streaming Video Ratings is powered by Nielsen’s NPower audience insights platform. Continue reading Nielsen Debuts Ratings Tool That Measures Streaming Video

We’ve seen a wide range of recent forecasts regarding cord cutting and the impact on traditional pay TV. According to a new survey from RBC Capital Markets, only 55 percent of respondents said they would continue their pay-TV subscriptions. While 2016 saw a loss of 2 million subscribers, a future increase exceeding 5 million per year “does not seem impossible,” wrote RBC analyst Steven Cahall. “The RBC survey found that 21 percent of current cable, satellite or telco TV customers were considering switching to a lower-cost virtual pay-TV service,” reports Variety, “like Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV or DirecTV Now.” Continue reading Pay TV Losses Could Jump to 5 Million Households per Year