AVOD

Combined U.S. subscriptions to the ad-supported tiers of major streaming services surpassed 100 million as of June, according to new data from Ampere Analysis. Hulu, Peacock and Paramount+ represent the bulk of ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) subscriptions, but uptake for the new ad tiers of Netflix and Disney+ are showing strong growth.

Tony Katsur, CEO of the IAB Tech Lab, shares how he’s trying to solve for universal reconciliation, universal audit, audience interoperability and creating strong anti-fraud mechanisms in CTV among an ambitious list of other priorities in 2023. A full transcript of the conversation is included.

Fox’s free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service Tubi has reached 64 million monthly active users. Tubi disclosed the figure alongside a research report on streaming and the FAST and AVOD landscape. In 2022 Tubi’s total viewing time (TVT) was up 44% year-over-year compared to 2021, with users streaming more than 5 billion hours last year.

Disney+’s and Netflix’s ad-supported tiers are opening up new inventory and audiences to marketers in 2023.

Linear TV ad revenue and pricing — until now largely immune to cord-cutting and the shift of viewers to streaming — is getting close to a tipping point with Netflix and Disney Plus entering the ad-supported video business, Wells Fargo Securities media analyst Steven Cahall says in a new report.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the company plans to charge a CPM of $65. That pricing, which the report said could ramp to $80 once the concept of ad-supported Netflix becomes more established, was described as “substantially higher than most other streaming platforms.”

Smart TV maker Samsung has unveiled a new version of its TV Plus streaming offering. The free, ad-supported TV service has reach to 24 countries and 465 million devices globally across TV and mobile, the company said. (Photo: Samsung)

Netflix and Disney hope a lower price point will convince all of those recent grads, grandparents, old boyfriends, etc. who are still on someone else’s plan to sign up for one of their own. That’s going to be a tough sell.

Executives from NBCUniversal, Fox Television Stations, E.W. Scripps, Gray Television and Estrella Media told a TVNewsCheck webinar last week they’ve needed to embrace a wide range of tools and tactics to grow audience and revenue for their streaming channels. Ubiquity and flexibility, they said, are key.

Netflix’s internal discussions for its upcoming partially ad-supported tier have honed in on a price point of around $7 – $9 a month, according to Bloomberg. That’s roughly half the price of Netflix’s most popular tier, the $15.49-a-month plan that allows HD streaming and two simultaneous viewers.

At the same time that we see a natural ceiling forming for the number of subscriptions a consumer is willing to accept, we are also beginning to see the evolution of the streaming “cycler” — the individual who signs up for a month to binge watch their favorite show, only to cancel until they see something else of interest come along. This on-and-off-again revenue model is hamstringing growth for some streamers. As the current competition for eyeballs fuels a multibillion-dollar content war, the need to embrace an advertising model has become the only logical step for addressing a decreasing subscriber universe and ballooning content budgets.

Netflix‘s foray into the advertising world will take time to build but will eventually lead to more subscribers and higher earnings, according to a new report from Wells Fargo media analyst Steven Cahall. He estimates AVOD will account for 30% of its subscribers.

TVNewsCheck‘s Michael Depp talks with Todd Krizelman, CEO and co-founder of MediaRadar, about AVOD’s $369 million quarter, which brands and categories are dominating the space so far and the likely trajectory for AVOD spending this year. A full transcript of the conversation is included.

As more people stream their television programming, the use of ad-supported video has surpassed the use of the higher profile subscription video services.

In a move that seems somewhat counterintuitive, Xumo, an ad-supported streaming service owned by Comcast, will begin offering some movies completely ad-free. Kicking off in October through December 2021, the company will showcase a completely ad-free movie each week across all of its owned and operated properties. The company said the move is an extension of a pilot program it ran last August with Xumo viewers on Comcast Xfinity X1 devices.

17% of U.S. internet users viewed one or more AVOD services in the past month,  vs. just 13% in the third quarter of 2019, according to a survey conducted by UK research firm Ampere Analysis. The research company says Tubi, recently purchased by Fox for $440 million, is leading the usage surge, based in large part by its extra-large content library, which features more than 29,000 movies and TV show episodes.

Subscription streaming video’s alter-ego, advertising-supported VOD, continues to gain traction among consumers — and advertisers. New data from eMarketer suggests AVOD revenue will grow more than 25% this year compared to 2019.

When TV advertising finds a new normal after the pandemic, targeted ads are more likely to be a bigger part of the ad mix, experts say. They also predict some “share shifting” of ad dollars away from broadcast TV toward ad-supported streaming services, social apps (such as TikTok) and other emerging video categories. And they said the pullback by some advertisers, including ones in travel-related businesses, has led to increased opportunities to advertise on platforms that are seeing a surge in viewing, including connected TV and over-the-top outlets, at reduced rates.