Digital

For the past two years, media and entertainment companies have been dead-set on showing Wall Street that they have a strong streaming video strategy to counter traditional pay-TV decilnes. But after Netflix forecast first quarter subscriber additions that missed analyst estimates last week, investors seem to have soured on streaming, or at least curbed their enthusiasm.

U.S. podcast advertising spend jumped 21% in 2021, to reach nearly $590 million, according to new data from MediaRadar. Spending rose by 46% year-over-year in 2Q, and 31% YoY in 3Q. Vertical categories showing double-digit growth in spend included tech, media and finance. The top 10 categories accounted for 83% of total podcast spend for the year:

He will succeed Jon Steinberg who is leaving the company this spring. Also, Kristin Malaspina becomes general manager of Cheddar News.

Beneath all the ideological noise is a simple business truth — pay TV is less and less able to support niche channels across the political dial.

The tech giant reported a total of $123.9 billion in revenue, while Wall Street analysts expected the Tim Cook–led company to make $118.3 billion.

The TV and digital news veteran oversaw the recent launch of NBC Owned Stations’ local news streaming channels on Peacock.

Netflix rose handily in after-hours trading Wednesday following news that Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital has acquired more than 3.1 million shares to become a top-20 stockholder.

Bitcentral’s acquisition of direct-to-consumer video publishing vendor Powr.tv this week sees the company edging closer to an end-to-end streaming publishing solution, building on its AI-powered video playlisting tool.

The network’s boss, Jeff Zucker, tries to make up for lost time by signing Chris Wallace, Audie Cornish and Eva Longoria.

Networks like CBS and CNN are leaning on “iconic franchises” and “old-school” reporters in a bid to transition linear audiences to digital viewers.

Single-camera comedy series Maggie, originally picked up by ABC for the 2021-22 season, now will stream exclusively on sibling Hulu in the U.S. as a Hulu Original. The decision, underscoring the blurring of the lines between linear and streaming at the major media companies, was made in order to get Maggie in front of audiences instead of keeping it on the bench because of a lack of available slots on the network.

The new arrangement comes as a direct result of NBCUniversal’s RFP last year to social media platforms to propose new content, product and monetization approaches for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

CBS News and the network’s owned stations get a major streaming overhaul with a new name, the CBS News Streaming Network, dramatically expanded OTT programming and the launch of a new local streaming channel in Miami.

NBCUniversal said it hired senior Hulu executive Annie Luo as EVP, global partnerships and strategic development for its Peacock streaming service. Luo follows Kelly Campbell, who was head of Hulu and is now president of Peacock. Hulu is controlled by the Walt Disney Co., but NBCU’s parent Comcast owns a minority stake in Hulu. Comcast is expected to sell its stake to Disney, but the two sides are haggling about how much Hulu is worth.

The research company admits that Don’t Look Up was “not fully credited” in its Christmas week rankings.

Marvel’s Daredevil appears to be making a comeback, three years after its cancellation by Netflix, ranking at No. 8 on Nielsen’s weekly U.S. streaming chart of originals for Dec. 20-26. The series has sparked new interest following the recent cameo of Matt Murdock, aka Daredevil, played by Charlie Cox, in Spider Man: No Way Home. Additionally, Murdock’s arch-nemesis, Kingpin, played by Vincent D’Onofrio was revealed as a key part of Disney+’s Hawkeye storyline that week.

It’s officially a green light: Squid Game, Netflix’s breakout hit of 2021, will be getting a Season 2, Ted Sarandos, co-CEO and chief content officer, affirmed Thursday. On Netflix’s fourth quarter 2021 earnings Q&A, Sarandos was asked whether there would be a second season of the violent South Korean survival drama, which has scored as the company’s No. 1 most-viewed TV series. v“Absolutely,” Sarandos replied. “The Squid Game universe has just begun.”

NBC News Digital Executive Editor David Firestone is retiring in mid-May after 45 years in the journalism business, the last five of them at NBC. Firestone joined NBC News on May 1, 2017. He first served as managing editor for NBC News Digital, and was promoted to executive editor in March of last year.

LocalBTV, a streaming service for local broadcast channels, has added another two markets and hopes to reach 100 by the end of this year. The service’s two newest markets are Cincinnati and Toledo, bringing its current total to 21. Jim Long, CEO of LocalBTV parent company Didja, said that both new markets are starting with fewer than 10 channels but that figure should double soon. LocalBTV plans to reveal its next 20 markets soon and Long added that a still-unannounced partnership will be key to that expansion.

The Los Gatos, Calif., company added 8.3 million worldwide subscribers during the October-December period, about 200,000 fewer than management had forecast. Besides releasing its fourth quarter results Thursday, Netflix also projected an increase of 2.5 million subscribers during the first three months of this year, well below analysts’ expectations for a gain of 4 million, according to FactSet Research.