Merged Disney+ and Hulu App to Launch as Beta Next Month

Disney, which is in the process of completing its purchase of NBCUniversal’s 33 percent stake in Hulu, will begin beta testing a combined Disney+ and Hulu bundle next month for subscribers of both services, according to CEO Bob Iger. Last week, Disney announced it would pay Comcast at least $8.61 billion for the Hulu stake, indicating the final cost could be higher, based on market value estimates by each party’s investment bankers. “We remain on track to roll out a more unified one-app experience domestically via Disney+,” Iger said in discussing the September quarter on an earnings call. Continue reading Merged Disney+ and Hulu App to Launch as Beta Next Month

YouTube Lowers Monetization Threshold to Attract Creators

YouTube has adjusted the requirements for its Partner Program (YPP), making it easier for creators with smaller followings to earn money. The Google subsidiary has cut in half — to 500 — the minimum number of subscribers required for creators to monetize across paid chat, shopping, tipping, channel memberships and more. Other thresholds have also been lowered, with valid watch hours reduced to 3,000 (from 4,000) and Shorts views cut to 3 million (as opposed to 10 million). The new parameters are initially effective in the U.S., Canada, UK, Taiwan and South Korea. Continue reading YouTube Lowers Monetization Threshold to Attract Creators

Peacock Signs Up for Vizio’s WatchFree+ Discovery Feature

Vizio has added a new discovery feature, Content Connections as part of its WatchFree+ service and smart TV interface. NBCUniversal’s Peacock has climbed aboard as the platform’s first Content Connections partner. With Content Connections, users can move seamlessly from Vizio’s FAST environment, WatchFree+, to services available through paid subscription. The Peacock Preview channel will let consumers with Vizio smart TVs have free access for a three-week period to select episodes from more than 16 Peacock series. Content Connections will serve viewers with “intuitive messages” directing them to participating platforms’ streaming apps. Continue reading Peacock Signs Up for Vizio’s WatchFree+ Discovery Feature

Ad-Supported Streaming Tiers Vie for Piece of the Upfront Pie

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

Advertising Exec Linda Yaccarino Named New CEO of Twitter

Twitter 2.0 is ready for takeoff, now that former NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino has been appointed the social media giant’s new CEO. Yaccarino has extensive experience in advertising and has long been one of Madison Avenue’s major power brokers. Twitter, which relies primarily on ad revenue, is still trying to recover from stumbling after Elon Musk alienated sponsors in a series of erratic moves immediately after acquiring the company for $44 billion in October. Musk says he will now focus on product design and technology while Yaccarino concentrates on business development. Continue reading Advertising Exec Linda Yaccarino Named New CEO of Twitter

TikTok Pulse Premiere Gives Publishers a 50 Percent Ad Cut

TikTok’s new Pulse Premiere will allow publishers to sell ads alongside their posts and keep half the revenue, a move to engage institutional creators in addition to the influencers and app-savvy individuals that have been the video-sharing platform’s mainstay. An offshoot of TikTok’s Pulse program revenue-sharing plan, available for the top 4 percent of creators’ posts, Pulse Premiere permits ads against all posts from publishers including Condé Nast, NBCUniversal and Vox Media. Advertisers have embraced TikTok to reach Gen Z. Sensor Tower predicts the ByteDance-owned company will secure 2.5 percent of the domestic digital ad market in 2023. Continue reading TikTok Pulse Premiere Gives Publishers a 50 Percent Ad Cut

YouTube Debuts Ad Tech at Gen Z-Themed NewFronts Event

YouTube is branding itself to advertisers as the “home of Gen Z.” At the streaming platform’s NewFronts event at parent Google’s Pier 57 complex in lower Manhattan, the message was plastered across numerous signs and in videos. The company had creator Jon Youshaei, a former Instagram product marketer, deliver a presentation entitled “What Matters to Gen-Z” at the Monday event. Apparently Gen Z likes quick hits, making them a natural audience for commercials. At the NewFronts presentation, YouTube explained it is expanding its AI-driven video reach campaigns to include YouTube Shorts. Continue reading YouTube Debuts Ad Tech at Gen Z-Themed NewFronts Event

Popularity of FAST TV Surges as Viewers Look to Economize

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

Amazon Has Ad Surge, Looks to Better LLM to Power Alexa

Amazon is giving Alexa an AI update, with a “more generalized and capable” large language model in development to power the device, CEO Andy Jassy told investors on the company’s Q1 earnings call. While Jassy addressed updates to the company’s AI and machine learning tech that is now facing increased competition, it was actually advertising that gave the company bragging rights this quarter. Amazon’s ad products had 21 percent revenue growth year-over-year, totaling $9.5 billion. As many digital companies struggle to maintain ad momentum in a restrained market, the results are impressive. Continue reading Amazon Has Ad Surge, Looks to Better LLM to Power Alexa

Spotify Reports Q4 Loss Despite 20 Percent Growth in Users

Spotify reported strong net growth of 33 million new monthly active users but another quarterly loss for Q4 2022, culminating a period during which the company invested heavily in podcasts. The news came amidst layoffs and an announcement that the company’s chief content and advertising officer Dawn Ostroff will depart. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek conceded with regard to the aggressive podcast growth that he “probably got a little carried away and overinvested relative to the uncertainty we saw shaping up in the market.” Given the result — 20 percent global user growth, to 489 million MAUs — Ek concluded “I would do it again.” Continue reading Spotify Reports Q4 Loss Despite 20 Percent Growth in Users

IAB Says FTC Digital Ad Inquiry May End Up Costing Billions

The advertising industry is pushing back against the Federal Trade Commission’s exploration of rulemaking as relates to collecting personal data to serve ads, which the FTC is calling a crackdown on “commercial surveillance.” The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) says the FTC’s definition of that loaded term is “so broad” that any resultant rulemaking “could criminalize the Internet itself” as well as potentially reduce digital ad spending by billions of dollars. FTC chair Lina Khan says “potentially unlawful practices may be prevalent” in the “endless hoovering up of sensitive user data” that has become common practice in ad targeting. Continue reading IAB Says FTC Digital Ad Inquiry May End Up Costing Billions

Technology Firms Offer Users More Control Over Advertising

Tech companies are giving consumers more control over the type of advertising they see online, a feature that customers frequently request. Meta Platforms, Mozilla, Google and the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) have been actively exploring ad-blocking options. Now ByteDance’s TikTok and others are joining in. While the increased control may make some consumers happy, the effect it will have on Big Tech’s already ailing ad sector is as yet undetermined. While the various techniques let consumers limit exposure to ads, proponents argue the ultimate effect will be positive, ensuring ads are served to an interested audience. Continue reading Technology Firms Offer Users More Control Over Advertising

HBO Max Ad-Supported Tier Bodes Well for Netflix Ad Plans

As Netflix strategizes its rollout of a cheaper, ad-supported subscription tier, industry analysts are citing HBO Max data to predict the plan will be a win for the streaming service. A survey by Insider Intelligence says that 67 percent of HBO Max subscribers are opting for the $14.99 per month ad-free streaming tier, while 28 percent have chosen the $9.99 ad-supported tier. Launched in June 2021, the economy tier offers access to the same movie and series content, but is capped at 1080p and without the convenience of downloading for offline viewing. Continue reading HBO Max Ad-Supported Tier Bodes Well for Netflix Ad Plans

TikTok Shakes-Up Its Content Format with 10-Minute Videos

TikTok is pivoting to longer videos. The social platform that became the fastest-growing ever on the strength of short-form videos and had competitors scrambling in its wake to copy the format, is now allowing users to post videos of up to 10 minutes. Launched by China’s ByteDance in September 2016, TikTok was initially formatted for videos of 15-seconds or less. In 2018, when it merged with Chinese lip-sync service Musical.ly, it permitted videos of 1 minute, and then bumped up to three-minutes last summer. By September 2021 TikTok announced it had hit one billion users worldwide in only five years. Continue reading TikTok Shakes-Up Its Content Format with 10-Minute Videos

Roku Users and Streaming Hours Skyrocket During Pandemic

Roku benefited from the rise in streaming due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding 2.9 million accounts in Q1 2020, up 37 percent year over year. The company now has 39.8 million active accounts, with 13.2 billion streaming hours in the quarter, representing a 37 percent year-over-year increase. This, however, was a smaller increase than its 68 percent jump in Q4 2019 and a decline from 16.3 billion hours in the same quarter. Roku also warned that advertising revenue will also likely drop in 2020. Continue reading Roku Users and Streaming Hours Skyrocket During Pandemic