Ads began running this month on scripted series and films on Prime Video, except for subscribers who opt to pay an extra $3 a month in order to avoid ads. Amazon’s approach has differed from that of streaming rivals like Netflix, which rolled out a lower-priced tier with ads as an option instead of forcing those who want to stay ad-free to pay extra.
Siding with Meta Platforms, a federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit alleging that the company wrongly banned ads on Facebook for the Holocaust-related movie Beautiful Blue Eyes.
Ad commitments for primetime broadcast TV fell 3%, to $9.595 billion, compared with $9.91 billion in last year’s market, according to Media Dynamics Inc., an advertising consultancy that tracks the upfront, when U.S. TV networks try to sell the bulk of their commercial inventory for their next programming cycle. Cable TV saw even worse erosion, with advertisers committing $9.52 billion for primetime TV, down 7% compared to the $10.23 billion in commitments secured last year.
Exclusives
The new AVOD offering rolled out in the U.S. on Thursday, with plans to expand internationally in 2023.
TV viewing by Comcast subscribers drops to 6 hours, 2 minutes per day.
That alternate delivery system number is an all-time high, while wired cable hits a 21-year low.
Cable Penetration Hits 21-Year Low
According to Nielsen NTI data, cable penetration represented 60.7% of households in November, down from 61.7% in November 2009, while national alternate delivery system penetration reached 30.5% of television households last month, an all-time high that represents 33.7% of subscription television customers (those paying for video delivery), another all-time high.
