Netflix told Upfronts attendees its ad-supported tier now reaches more than 94 million global monthly active users, including more 18-34-year-olds than any other U.S. broadcast or cable network. The total grew by 20 million since November, when Netflix last publicly shared the tally. Making a case for ad support in a competitive market, Netflix President of Advertising Amy Reinhard added that the streamer’s U.S. users are “highly engaged, spending an average of 41 hours per month on Netflix.” The ad-supported tier was added in November 2022 and costs $7.99 per month (versus $17.99 monthly for the entry level ad-free plan). Continue reading Netflix Enters Third Year of Ad Tier with 94 Million Active Users

Though it doesn’t have the usual slate of regular series to tout at the Upfronts, YouTube showcased a sizzling one-off to promote the NFL’s first Friday game coming to the streamer and new products for driving ad engagement. A new tool called Peak Points leverages Google Gemini to serve ads to viewers when the AI finds them most receptive. Masthead on CTV reimagines the YouTube homepage as “an edge-to-edge canvas for ads,” while Cultural Moments Sponsorships involves selling placements “with a high share of voice and brand integrations within content.” Continue reading YouTube Promotes New Ad Tools, AI Tech at Brandcast Event

Disney’s ESPN all-access streaming app, priced at $30 per month for an “unlimited” package, will roll out this fall. Those who subscribe as part of a Disney+ and Hulu ad-supported bundle will get all three services for $36 per month, discounted to $30 per month for customers who sign up at launch. Included in the new app — simply named “ESPN” — will be live NFL, NBA, college football and basketball games as well as programming from sister services ESPN2, the SEC Network and ESPN on ABC. The package will also feature new betting tie-ins, fantasy products, documentaries and studio programming. A “select” plan starts at $12 per month. Continue reading ESPN Announces Its New Streaming App Will Launch This Fall

Amazon’s second Upfront presentation featured a lineup of Hollywood celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Momoa and Jamie Lee Curtis joined by sports stars such as Travis Kelce and John Cena. The streamer announced that “Spider-Noir,” the Marvel series starring Nicolas Cage, debuts on Prime Video next year, while the post-apocalyptic drama “Fallout” returns for a third season. The Academy of Country Music Awards will call Prime Video home for the next three years. The ad-supported version of the streaming service has added 15 million monthly customers since January 2024 and now reaches about 130 million U.S. households monthly. Continue reading Amazon Touts Prime Video Subs, Series and Sports at Upfront

FOX One is the brand name of the aggregated portfolio of FOX’s direct-to-consumer streaming products, due to launch this fall as a subscription service ahead of the NFL and college football seasons. The package bundles FOX sports, news and entertainment content including cable and local stations and the FOX broadcast network. Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch floated the news during Monday’s earnings call, also reporting that revenue was up 27 percent year-over-year to $4.37 billion. A launch date and pricing for FOX One will be shared at a later date. Continue reading All-In FOX One Streaming Platform to Launch Later This Year

Netflix seems determined to test consumers’ price-value tolerance, raising by $2 the price of its premium tier, now $24.99 per month, while raising the cost of the standard ad-supported tier by $1, to $7.99 per month. Its approach is so far working. The news came with an earnings report that indicated new subscribers rose by 18.9 million in Q4, a 44 percent increase to 302 million worldwide members on close of 2024. For the year, revenue grew 16 percent and operating income expanded six points to 27 percent, exceeding $10 billion for the first time in company history. Continue reading Netflix Increases Subscription Prices as Memberships Surge

CTA President Kinsey Fabrizio introduced X Corp. CEO Linda Yaccarino and journalist Catherine Herridge for a CES keynote conversation on the social media company established by Elon Musk in 2023. Herridge skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the news that Meta was abandoning third-party fact checking, and replacing it with Community Notes, adopting X’s policy on the topic. “Mark [Zuckerberg], Meta, welcome to the party,” said Yaccarino. “How exciting when you think Community Notes are good for the world. It couldn’t be more validating that Mark and Meta realize this.” Continue reading CES: X Corp. Chief Exec Linda Yaccarino Talks Social Media

Amazon is testing a new way to provide viewers with content recommendations with AI Topics, now in limited beta release for Prime Video. AI Topics eschews traditional recommendation algorithms in favor of AI that “discovers” Prime Video content based on a combination of viewing history and personal interests. Users can request “mind-bending sci-fi” or “fantasy quests,” then navigate seamlessly through topics curated for them that appear on the Prime Video home page. Once a topic is selected, movies, series and linear channels will populate alongside additional related topics. Continue reading Amazon Testing ‘AI Topics’ Recommendations for Prime Video

Nielsen is now offering a cross-media U.S. ad performance view that takes into account advertising on controversial social platform TikTok. As a result of the integration advertisers and agencies will, for the first time, be able to compare ad performance on TikTok across all screens, including digital, CTV, and linear. The analytics will be parsed via Nielsen ONE, a cross-media platform that debuted in alpha in May 2023 at which time it was scheduled for broad release in late 2024. Nielsen says the TikTok integration will provide “independent and verified reporting of demographic data” for campaign measurement via Nielsen ONE. Continue reading TikTok Pacts with Nielsen to Measure Cross-Media Advertising

Apple TV+ will be available as a $9.99 monthly add-on with Amazon Prime Video in the U.S., allowing users to use the service in one app with a single bill, the companies announced. The deal has the mutual upside of adding the cachet of award-winning Apple originals like “The Morning Show” and “Ted Lasso” to Amazon Prime, while getting Apple TV+ in front of Prime’s more than 100 million U.S. households. Apple doesn’t release specific subscriber numbers for Apple TV+, which has reportedly accrued about 25 million paid global subscribers since its 2019 launch. Continue reading Apple TV+ to Be Available as an Amazon Prime Video Add-On

Dolby Labs has introduced cloud-based solutions to support clients with real-time, interactive streaming capabilities. The announcement, made from IBC 2024 in Amsterdam, follows Dolby’s July acquisition of streaming tools provider THEO Technologies, which services top sports, media and entertainment companies worldwide. Dolby and THEO promise streaming that is “more interactive, personalized, and delivered with extremely low latency.” Dolby will also offer a new capability, THEOads, providing an advertising environment “that is optimized for the dynamic nature of live content.” Continue reading Dolby to Expand Its Cloud-Based Live Streaming with THEO

TikTok has published an internal research study indicating the movie viewing habits of its users, and how advertisers can use the TikTok Spotlight movie marketing tool released last month. The promotional vehicle was designed to help TikTok users discover films, as well as influence their viewing choices and drive audiences to theaters. TikTok’s research found that 47 percent of TikTok users say that while on TikTok they discovered a new movie coming to theaters, and were “inspired to take action, including 36 percent purchasing a ticket,” which they can facilitate in-app through Spotlight. Continue reading Film Promotion Tool TikTok Spotlight Shares Audience Insight

Streaming giant Netflix is partnering with CBS Sports to produce its two Christmas Day football games — the streamer’s first NFL excursion in its three-year deal. The one-year CBS agreement is for production services only, and does not cover on-air talent. Netflix is still exploring its talent options. CBS Sports announcers Tony Romo and Jim Nantz are reportedly under consideration, although Netflix is said to also be pondering a move that would allow it to create an on-camera team that would allow it to put its own stamp on the talent and the games. Paramount Global’s CBS will receive a production fee and promotional spots in the streamed games. Continue reading CBS Sports to Produce Two Christmas NFL Games for Netflix

The Roku Sports Channel is a new 24/7 FAST channel launching Monday. Combining all the Roku premium sports offerings into “a dedicated, one-click, lean-back experience,” it will feature live Major League Baseball games with the MLB Sunday Leadoff game, Emmy-nominated talk show “The Rich Eisen Show,” NFL program “GMFB: Overtime,” live Formula E races, and sports-themed Roku Originals like “NFL Draft: The Pick Is In,” “WWE: Next Gen,” and “Fight Inc: Inside the UFC.” The channel will also feature exclusive partner content, such as classic boxing matches from Top Rank and combat competitions from Swerve Sports. Continue reading Roku Launching Dedicated FAST Sports Channel Next Week

Venu Sports (pronounced “venue”) has been selected as the name of the new streaming joint venture launching this fall from Disney/ESPN, Fox Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery. Although pricing has yet to be announced (some estimate it will run $40-$50 per month), the partners are underway in branding their bundled package, unveiled in February as an effort to reach sports fans who don’t already subscribe to pay TV. In March the group announced the new venture’s CEO would be Pete Distad, who spent six years at Hulu followed by a decade at Apple in positions including running global distribution and business ops for Apple TV+. Continue reading Venu Sports Is Name of New Streamer from ESPN, FOX, WBD