streaming

After a slow start, Netflix’s advertising business has gained some momentum. The company’s advertising-supported service reached about 1 million monthly active users in the U.S. after its second month, according to internal data. The user base grew by more than 500% in the first month from its launch and another 50% in its second month. Netflix has also fulfilled its forecasted deliveries to advertisers, according to people familiar with the deals.

In a notice to customers, YouTube TV said: “As content costs have risen and we continue to invest in our quality of service, we’ll be adjusting our monthly cost, after 3 years, from $64.99/mo to $72.99/mo, in order to bring you the best possible TV service.” New subscribers to YouTube TV will see the higher price effective Thursday (March 16), and existing members will see the price hike on their first monthly bill on or after April 18.

The Fox-owned streaming platform Tubi made its debut in Nielsen’s monthly platform rankings, becoming the second FAST service to break into the rankings.

According to Wells Fargo’s Steven Cahall, Disney selling Hulu is no longer just an alternative counter-theory, existing on the outer fringes of the broader, rampant forward-looking speculation regarding Hulu’s fate. It’s evolved into a mainstream thesis. “Ask 10 investors if they think Disney will sell Hulu, and we think ~7 will answer, ‘yes,'” Cahall wrote in a Wednesday morning investor note.

Time to get more sand for the hourglass. Days of Our Lives has been renewed by Peacock for two more seasons, which means the iconic soap opera will make it to at least its landmark 60th season. Days moved to Peacock in September, having previously aired on NBC since 1965. It was NBC’s longest-running drama series before switching to Peacock in 2022.

The Speedvision FAST channel brings more than 500 hours of automotive programming to the AMG free-streaming platforms Local Now, Sports.TV and theGrio streaming app.

YouTube TV is rolling out early access testing for multiview, a feature that will allow subscribers to watch up to four different programs at the same time. “Those who are part of early access will receive an email and see an alert about this feature in their YouTube TV experience,” YouTube wrote in a blog post. There’s no way to manually opt in at the moment. “We’ll gradually roll out availability to all members over the coming months,” the company said.

in light of steep falloffs of new subscribers and millions of existing customers jumping ship, where can streaming companies find additional revenue? Companies need to begin exploring new ways to monetize existing subscribers, beyond the obvious ad revenue. I hold that two creative options can be found in augmenting product placement and in harnessing the metaverse.

The multiyear agreement covers the broadcaster’s CBS, CW and MNT affiliates, four indies as well as NewsNation.

The biggest bank failure since the financial crisis more than 15 years ago has hit streaming giant Roku. In an SEC filing Friday, the company disclosed that 26% of its cash was held at Silicon Valley Bank, and the funds were “largely uninsured.” The 16th largest bank in the U.S., with more than $200 billion in assets, SVB collapsed earlier in the day and was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It ranks as the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history after Washington Mutual in 2008. Roku’s filing says the FDIC has told those with insured funds at the bank that they will have full access to their insured deposits no later than Monday morning.

The CBS affiliate board has endorsed a new carriage proposal from Paramount Global that will keep affiliated stations’ feeds on Paramount Plus, Hulu Plus Live TV and YouTube TV and return them to FuboTV. Affiliates were informed of the new agreement in principle Friday morning, according to a station executive. The proposed deal could head off a period in which relations between networks and affiliates could have turned stormy.

Ebright is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations for six CBS News and Stations’ local streaming channels in the Western U.S. as well as Chicago and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Harner has the same role overseeing eight local streaming channels in the Eastern U.S. as well as Dallas-Fort Worth.

The People’s Choice Awards are expanding. NBCUniversal revealed that there will now be an entire ceremony dedicated to country music. The People’s Choice Country Awards will air in September across NBC and Peacock, live from the world-famous Grand Ole Opry stage in Nashville.

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.

CBS Sports said it plans to launch the Golazo Network,  a free, 24-hour free streaming network dedicated to soccer, on April 11. The network will be available on Paramount+, Pluto TV, the CBS Sports App and CBSSports.com at launch.

As Netflix inches closer to rolling out password-sharing guidelines in the United States, college students are bracing for changes to their streaming habits. The gradual password-sharing changes have created uncertainty for college students who might not have, or want to spend, disposable income for their own subscription.

Roku has found its new CFO, Dan Jedda, a veteran Amazon executive who most recently served as chief financial officer of online apparel company Stitch Fix. He replaces veteran Roku CFO Steve Louden, who served in the position since 2015 and announced his imminent departure back in December, pending the hiring of his successor.

Showtime has been going through downsizing and recalibration since the November ouster of longtime CEO David Nevins and the premium network’s inclusion in Paramount Media Networks President Chris McCarthy’s portfolio. There have been layoffs, series cancellations and an executive restructuring as McCarthy articulated the plans for the network, which will soon be rebranded as Paramount+ with Showtime. They include multiple TV universes built around some of Showtime’s biggest series, including multiple Dexter and Billions offshoots. During the Morgan Stanley conference Wednesday, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish addressed the strategy and indicated that other Showtime series could be revisited too.

Amazon announced Tuesday that the Black Friday game on Nov. 24 will be available for all fans to stream for free. The 2023 season will mark the first time the league has scheduled a game for the day after Thanksgiving. The teams for the 3 p.m. ET game will be announced later.

The top media buying agencies have joined with most major programmers in setting standards for currency-level media measurement and the key measurement companies have been invited to be certified that they can meet those standards. GroupM, Publicis Media, Omnicom Media Group, IPG Mediabrands and RPA have become part of the working group that will be making decisions and certifying vendors for the U.S. Joint Industry Committee (JIC) on media measurement. Roku is the first streamer to join.

Streaming’s golden age has been ending for a while, but it’s only now become clear what’s replacing it.