Digital

Streaming video might have made the turn from a go-go industry to a mature business, according to a new report from MoffettNathanson senior research analyst Michael Nathanson. Looking at data from HarrisX, Nathanson noted that streaming penetration dipped to 84% in the first quarter from 85% in the fourth quarter of 2023. “Whether this marks a new plateau or whether there is additional room for streaming to increase its penetration will be a key question for investors going forward,” Nathanson said.

We are in the midst of a shift in the media industry in which many companies are pursuing business models that have yet to be proven and may never pan out. As consumers shift to an on-demand approach to television viewing driven mostly by digital delivery of video, many of the biggest media companies, far bigger than Scripps and our peer-group broadcasters, have taken steps to break their content out of the exclusivity of existing bundles that have served the industry so well for the last 50 years.

Spotify Technology, the audio streaming giant, reported Q1 results broadly in line with analyst forecasts as the company continued to add new features. Paid subscribers rose 14% year over year to 239 million, the company said Tuesday in a statement, in line with analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Total active users, including those plans with advertising, grew to 615 million, compared with the 617.9 million forecast by analysts.

The former president’s hush money trial is illustrating the potency of live blogs as a news tool — by necessity. Television and text journalism are normally two very different mediums. Yet because New York state rules forbid camera coverage of trials and the former president’s case has such high interest, blogs are emerging as the best way to communicate for both formats. Pictured: Donald Trump stands as the jury files into the courtroom at the start of the trial in Manhattan criminal court Monday, April 22, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

The enhanced AI-driven CTV channel uses MundoNow’s Hispanic first-party data to connect advertisers with inventory in a cookie-less world.

Jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include an opening for a director of sales and an account executive, executive producer, meteorologist, weekend anchor, sales manager, senior newscast producer, digital video producer and reporter.

Many more people are jumping from one streaming subscription to another, a behavior that could have big implications for the entertainment industry.

Waves of layoffs and policy shifts are forcing campaigns to change tactics, potentially transforming the 2024 election.

The fate of TikTok in the United States is even more uncertain as the House on Saturday voted on a package that requires that parent ByteDance divest its popular social media platform or face a ban on app stores. Lawmakers passed the bill 360-58, part of a series of votes to break a six-month standoff over a $95 billion aid package to Ukraine as well as to Israel and to Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. The Senate is expected to take up the package of bills, including Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan aid, soon, perhaps as soon as April 23.

A preliminary injunction hearing for Fubo’s legal battle against Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery’s sports streaming joint venture has been set for Aug. 7 at 9:30 a.m. by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The hearing will continue on Aug. 8 and Aug. 9, if necessary.

Apple said it removed WhatsApp and Threads from its China app offerings Friday on Beijing’s orders, amid technological tensions between the U.S. and China.

TikTok, which officially landed in the United States in 2018, was the most downloaded app in the country, and the world, in 2020, 2021 and 2022. It wasn’t that the elements of it were so new — compelling videos from randos had long been a staple of American pop culture — but TikTok put the pieces together in a new way.

In an effort to help brands get the attention of as many viewers as possible, YouTube is launching a “Select Shorts” ad offering, to give advertisers the ability to engage audiences across a variety of content genres by placing their ads alongside best-performing Shorts. According to the Google-owned social platform, YouTube Select Shorts will allow advertisers to choose to place their ad alongside the app’s top Shorts across five categories including entertainment, beauty, fashion and lifestyle, food and recipes, gaming and automotive.

The docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV posted Max’s best streaming numbers to date for its premiere week. The show, which streamed on Max concurrent with its on-air premiere on ID, had 1.25 billion minutes of viewing for the week of March 18-24. That’s the largest weekly total for any series on Max in the nearly four years of Nielsen’s streaming rankings, edging out the 1.19 billion for The Last of Us in early 2023.

Comcast on Thursday surprised with a suite of prepaid products that includes wireless, fixed broadband, Wi-Fi and streaming TV, all under the new Comcast “NOW” brand. Wireless has offered prepaid mobile plans for years. These plans have typically been targeted to lower-income people; they don’t require good credit scores (since they’re prepaid); and they can easily be switched on and off. But prepaid has not been widely offered in the fixed broadband world.

Netflix added 9.3 million subscribers in the quarter ended March 31, reaching 269.6 million worldwide, and outperformed expectations in other key areas in its latest strong financial report. Revenue and earnings per share both handily exceeded Wall Street forecasts at $9.37 billion and $5.28, respectively. The top line was up 15% from the same quarter in 2023, while EPS came in at nearly double the year-ago period’s $2.88. In its quarterly letter to shareholders, Netflix said it planned to stop reporting subscriber totals and average revenue per subscriber starting with its first quarter results in 2025.

Meta Platforms and other large online platforms should give users an option to use their services for free without targeted advertising, EU privacy watchdog the European Data Protection Board said on Wednesday. The EDPB’s opinion came after it was asked by national privacy regulators in the Netherlands, Norway and Germany to look into consent or pay models adopted by large online platforms such as Meta.

A new measure attempts to force the Senate’s hand on passing legislation to ban TikTok or mandate the app’s sale.

Global digital rights advocates are watching to see if Congress acts, worried that other countries could follow suit with app bans of their own.

Frndly TV, the low-priced, family-friendly streaming service, said it launched a channel store where users can sign up for subscription streaming services. Lifetime Movie Club, History Vault, A&E Crime Central, from A+E Networks, and Great American Pure Flix will be added to the channel store.

Netflix’s plan to maintain subscriber growth after two quarters of blockbuster increases will be in focus when it reports earnings on Thursday, with some analysts warning that gains from a crackdown on password sharing are set to ease. The streaming pioneer saw its strongest growth since the pandemic in the second half of 2023, with about 22 million people signing up for the service after the company curbed the sharing of passwords globally.

Last fall, Charter Communications went to the mat with Disney over program licensing renewal, trying to, among other things, gain more flexibility in terms of how it bundles channels. And the fruits of the cable operator’s hard-won battle are apparent with its introduction Tuesday of Spectrum TV Stream, a virtual, ESPN-less skinny bundle, that includes more than 90 entertainment and news-themed channels for $39.99 a month.

YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu posted viewing gains in March versus February contributing to streaming’s continuing virtual dominance — up 12% in persons age 18 plus viewing year-over-year, according to Nielsen. YouTube posted another gain (up 0.4 point from February) to a leading 9.7% best share of a platform TV-video. Netflix was right behind with an 8.1% share, up 0.3 point — helped by three original shows Love is Blind, The Gentleman and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Hulu added 0.2 of a point, now at 3.0% TV share.

Travis Kelce will host Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?, a spinoff of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, that will stream on Prime Video. Kelce plays tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s been in eight Pro Bowls and his girlfriend is Taylor Swift. MGM Alternative produces the show and 20 episodes have been ordered.

According to IAB’s annual Internet Advertising Revenue Report, retail media, connected TV and audio advertising experienced double-digit growth with the creator economy helping to spark a social media rebound.