-
Inside the Stream: Fubo’s Spulu Duel, Apple’s $700M Movie Splurge, Max and Disney Follow Netflix
First up on this week’s podcast we discuss Fubo CEO David Gandler’s statement that the company is in a “duel to the death” with Spulu, the new sports JV from Disney, WBD and Fox. He makes a good point that if the 3 companies allow the JV access to their sports networks without requiring the JV to also pay for non-sports networks as companies do with typical pay-TV deals, this would put the JV at a cost advantage compared to pay-TV operators like Fubo.
Next, Variety reported Apple spent $700 million on just 3 movies last year, a bet that Colin and I both believe is far too concentrated for a streaming service that is struggling with high churn and badly needs catalog depth. Finally, both Max and Disney+ are trying to emulate Netflix in cracking down on password sharing and on improving churn. Can they catch up with the clear market leader?
Finally, all the session videos from last week’s VideoNuze CTV Advertising PREVIEW: 2024 virtual are available.
Listen to the podcast to learn more (26 minutes, 43 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSSCategories: FIlms, Podcasts, Sports, Studios, SVOD
Topics: Disney, Fox, fuboTV, Netflix, Podcast, Warner Bros. Discovery
-
Inside the Stream: Netflix’s Record Q4 Boosted by Paid Sharing and Ads
Netflix added 13.1 million global subscribers in Q4 ’23, its best fourth quarter ever. As we discuss, the company is capitalizing on the introduction of paid sharing and a lower priced ad-supported tier. Paid sharing, which requires those who were using someone else’s login credentials to start their own subscription, has been especially effective. Netflix designed a smart strategy to eliminate this long-valued benefit. It could have become a PR nightmare, but instead has rolled out seamlessly.
Netflix said that the ad-supported tier now accounts for an impressive 40% of new subscriptions in markets where it is available. In yet another move to optimize revenue, Netflix is discontinuing its $11.99 per month Basic plan, which will drive more new subscribers to the ad tier or the least expensive ad-free tier which is $15.49 per month.
Listen to the podcast to learn more (32 minutes, 20 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSSCategories: Advertising, Podcasts, SVOD
-
Inside the Stream: CES Highlights, NBCU and Disney Step Up in Ads, Netflix Growth
Big TV manufacturers made news at CES with new models and improved viewer experiences. Meanwhile NBCUniversal and Disney stepped up their ad games with announcements of many new initiatives. Separate, Netflix said it now has 23 million monthly active users, up 8 million in the past couple of months. Lastly, Amazon announced broad headcount cuts to Prime Video, MGM and Twitch.
Listen to the podcast to learn more (27 minutes, 50 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSSCategories: Podcasts
Topics: Amazon, Disney, NBCU, Netflix, Podcast
-
Inside the Stream: Streaming TV Predictions for 2024
Keeping with our annual new year’s tradition, this week Colin and I offer our top predictions for streaming TV in 2024. They cover a wide range of topics including SVOD, CTV ads, TV OS, sports, FASTs, AI, cord-cutting and more. Let us know what you think - agree or disagree with us?
Listen to the podcast to learn more (28 minutes, 18 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSSCategories: Podcasts
Topics: Amazon, NBA, Netflix, Podcast
-
Inside the Stream: The Top 10 Streaming Video Stories of 2023
This week on Inside the Stream we discuss our top 10 streaming video stories of 2023. As longtime listeners know, the top 10 countdown is our tradition for the final podcast of the year.
In 2023, our top picks include the rise of smart TVs, the Actors and Writers strikes, TV OS wars, CTV advertising, traditional TV’s continued fall, Disney acquiring the rest of Hulu, YouTube’s growth, SVODs drive for profitability, sports migration to online and Netflix remaining the king of SVOD. We dive into all of them and explain why each is significant. Let us know what you think of our top 10 - did we miss anything?
Listen to the podcast to learn more (38 minutes, 12 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSSCategories: Podcasts
Topics: Disney, Hulu, Netflix, Podcast, YouTube
-
Inside the Stream: Surprises Revealed By Netflix’s Engagement Report
On this week’s Inside the Stream Colin and I dig into Netflix’s first engagement report, released earlier this week. The report details what subscribers watched during the January-June 2023 period. It includes viewership of over 18,000 titles, which comprises 99% of all viewing on the service. Colin has used the data to make several calculations about Netflix’s overall business. Hopefully other streaming services will share similar data in the future.
Listen to the podcast to learn more (24 minutes, 30 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSS -
Inside the Stream: Dissecting Netflix’s U.S. Account Sharing Cap, Limitations of Comcast’s NOW TV
Netflix has begun rolling out its account sharing limitations in the U.S.. The rollout effectively puts an end to one of the most-loved features of Netflix subscriptions - the ability to share log-in credentials with family members and others. For years Netflix “looked the other way” on this activity as it sought to bake Netflix usage into as many viewers’ lives as possible.
But all good things come to an end. With subscriber growth slowing as the market matures, Netflix has flipped its approach, linking a subscription to a household, meaning anyone that who doesn’t live under the same roof does not qualify. Those people will need to start an “extra member” account, being offered for $8 per month. We discuss the pricing decision as well, and how it relates to the $8 per month ad-supported plan.
We also discuss the launch of Comcast’s new streaming service NOW TV. Neither of us believes there’s much value and will likely have only limited appeal. We explain why.
At the beginning of the podcast I also mention a new report released by the Goteborg Film Festival, the largest festival in the Nordics, called the “Nostradamus Report: Everything Changing All At Once.” I was among a small group of industry professionals interviewed for the report, which is extremely well-done and comprehensive. It’s free and for anyone looking to get a strong overview of our evolving industry, I highly recommend downloading it.
Listen to the podcast to learn more (35 minutes, 31 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSSCategories: Cable TV Operators, Podcasts, SVOD
Topics: Comcast, Netflix, NOW TV, Podcast
-
Inside the Stream: Q1 ’23 Earnings Review: Who’s Up? Who’s Down? Who’s Pick ‘Em?
Most media and technology companies have now reported Q1 ’23 results. We dig into who’s up, who’s down and who’s pick ‘em, and where they all might be headed. We share all this with the caveat that one quarter’s results are not the final word on a company’s ability to survive and thrive going forward. We hope we’re not in any way contributing to the short-term, quarterly performance myopia so common on Wall Street.
Rather, we’re looking at these companies’ results in the context of prior results, the competitive landscape and their particular products’/services’ positioning. All while trying to do some basic “pattern recognition” - what have we seen before and how is this likely to play out in TV and video. Our discussion is primarily focused on Netflix, Roku, Amazon, AMC, Disney, Comcast, Vizio, YouTube, The Trade Desk, Paramount, Diamond Sports Group, Tegna, Dish and how they’re sorting themselves in the up, down and pick ‘em categories.
Listen to the podcast to learn more (38 minutes, 50 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSSCategories: Advertising, Podcasts, SVOD
Topics: Amazon, AMC, Comcast, Dish Network, Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Podcast, Roku, Tegna, The Trade Desk, Vizio, YouTube
-
Inside the Stream Podcast: Netflix’s Q1 ’23 Suggests Ad Tier Launch and Account-Sharing Curbs Will Boost Revenue
Back in our Oct. 21, 2022 podcast, “Netflix is Poised for 2023 Revenue Growth,” Colin and I articulated all the reasons we were optimistic about Netflix’s upside in the new year. Primarily we were focused on its newly launched $7/month “Basic with ads” tier and its plans to eliminate password sharing throughout the world.
Flash forward 7 months, and Netflix provided its first tangible results and commentary from the initiatives, as well as optimistic signs of where things go from here. In today’s podcast, Colin and I dig into these signs, including most prominently Netflix’s disclosure that $7/month "Basic with ads" subscribers already produce a higher average monthly revenue than do its $15.50/month "Standard" plan (ad-free) subscribers. Some basic math reveals that "Basic with ads" subscribers drive at least $8.50/month in ad revenue for Netflix, which in turn means that aproximately 55% ($8.50 / $15.50) of "Basic with ads" subscribers’ total revenue is already derived from ads, not subscriber payments.
That Netflix accomplished all of this despite 1) it still being very early days for the ad offering, 2) a massive headwind in the ad business due to recession/etc. worries, 3) all of its ad revenue being “linear TV replacement” or upper-funnel reach and frequency inventory, with nothing yet from more valuable full/lower funnel offerings, suggests the ad business is already a big win for Netflix and has huge potential.
(At this point I can’t resist noting that I have been badgering Netflix for years to launch a lower-priced ad-supported tier because of the upside…see “Why Netflix Will Launch an Ad-Supported Tier in 2020” from Dec. ’19, “6 Reasons Why Netflix Should Launch an Ad-Supported Tier Now” from Mar. ’20, and “Revisiting Why Netflix Should Launch an Ad-Supported Tier” from Mar. ’21 for a sample of my haranguing. So, in the category of “better late than never,” hallelujah, Netflix finally, finally put aside its religious objections to advertising and saw the light.)Categories: Advertising, Cable Networks, Podcasts, Sports, SVOD
-
The Titans of Streaming Are Going to Up-Level the Ad Opportunity for Everyone
Friday, March 10, 2023, 9:41 AM ETPosted by:Nicole Scaglione
Global VP of OTT and CTV, PubMaticOur industry loves to talk about the “streaming wars” and speculate on which of the big names out there—Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Apple, and so on—will ultimately “win.” This speculation has reached a fever pitch recently as more players have moved into ad-supported models (and Netflix has started gaining important traction in this regard). But here’s the thing: We don’t need to crown a winner. There are plenty of victories to go around when it comes to the immense opportunity of advertising within premium streaming environments.
Categories: Aggregators
Topics: Amazon, Apple, Disney, Netflix
-
Inside the Stream Podcast: World Cup 4K, Netflix Ad Refunds, HBO Max Removes “Westworld”, Music FASTs
On this week’s edition of Inside the Stream, nScreenMedia’s Colin Dixon and I dig into four topics: World Cup streaming quality and the lack of 4K differentiation, Netflix’s offer to refund advertisers due to inventory shortfalls, WBD’s decision to remove “Westworld” from HBO Max, and the proliferation of music-oriented FAST channels.
Listen to the podcast to learn more (31 minutes, 25 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSS
Categories: Advertising, Music, Podcasts, Sports, SVOD
Topics: HBO Max, Netflix, Podcast, Vevo, Warner Music
-
Inside the Stream Podcast: Netflix is Poised for 2023 Revenue Growth
In Q3 ’22 Netflix added 2.4 million subscribers globally, beating its forecast of a million additions, and more importantly, reversing the two prior quarters’ declines. As nScreenMedia’s Colin Dixon and I discuss on this week’s Inside the Stream, there’s a lot of action just ahead for Netflix as it rolls out its ad-supported tier and modifies its longstanding account sharing approach.
The latter will likely impact tens of millions of subscribers, who will have multiple variables to consider in order for family members to retain access to Netflix. We do a little back of the envelope math that illustrates the significant revenue opportunities all of this will create for Netflix.
Listen to the podcast (31 minutes, 11 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSS -
Inside the Stream Podcast: Disney Membership, Paramount Bundles, Netflix CPMs
On the podcast this week nScreenMedia’s Colin Dixon and I dig into four topics that have caught our attention: Disney’s rumored membership program, Netflix’s plan to charge advertisers CPMs of up to $65, Paramount’s bundling of Paramount+ and Showtime, and how “diginet” channels and FAST linear services are converging.
Listen to the podcast (28 minutes, 43 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSSCategories: Podcasts
Topics: Disney, Hearst, Netflix, Scripps
-
Inside the Stream Podcast: Netflix’s Plans for Ad Tiers and Paid Account Sharing Bring Complexity
This week on Inside the Stream nScreenMedia’s Colin Dixon and I discuss Netflix’s plans to launch ad-supported service tiers and introduce paid account sharing options. Netflix provided updates on both during its Q2 ’22 earnings call earlier this week. Colin and I agree that both are important steps for the company but that there are myriad execution challenges as the moves will introduce new complexity and decision-making for subscribers.
Listen to the podcast (25 minutes, 59 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSSCategories: Advertising, Podcasts, SVOD
-
Inside the Stream Podcast: Unpacking Netflix’s Conflicting Satisfaction Data Among SVOD Services
This week on Inside the Stream nScreenMedia’s Colin Dixon and I discuss conflicting data about Netflix’s customer satisfaction from ASCI and Whip Media. Netflix remains an essential streaming service for many people, especially for watching drama, according to Parrot Analytics. However, new data from Antenna indicates that in April almost a quarter of Americans who signed up for Netflix dropped it within a month. We try to make sense of it all.
Listen to the podcast (22 minutes, 24 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSS -
Inside the Stream Podcast: Netflix’s Subscriber Loss
In this week’s Inside the Stream podcast nScreenMedia’s Colin Dixon and I discuss Netflix’s Q1 results which included a loss of 200K subscribers vs. a forecast gain of 2.5 million.
Netflix provided a number of reasons for the loss, which we explore. We’re both excited about the prospects for a lower priced ad-supported option, which is long overdue. We’re less sanguine about Netflix reeling in widespread password sharing, which it has traditionally sanctioned and now reaches an estimated 100 million households.
Listen on to hear all of our observations about Netflix’s challenges and what it can do to restart growth. (29 minutes, 46 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSS -
Inside the Stream Podcast: Netflix’s Growth Slows, But It Remains the SVOD Leader
Welcome to this week’s edition of Inside the Stream, the podcast where nScreenMedia’s Chief Analyst Colin Dixon and I take listeners inside the world of streaming video.
This week we discuss Netflix’s Q4 ’21 earnings report released yesterday and its forecast for Q1 ’22. Both came up a little light, as the SVOD category continues to mature, Covid pull-forward creates tough comparisons, there’s intensifying competition, and Netflix’s release schedule for popular content shifts.
All of that said, with over 220 million global subscribers, Colin and I still see Netflix as the SVOD category leader well into the future.
Listen to the podcast (23 minutes, 37 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSS -
Inside the Stream Podcast: Netflix Q2 2021 Earnings - Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Focus?
Welcome to this week’s edition of Inside the Stream, the podcast where nScreenMedia’s Chief Analyst Colin Dixon and I take listeners inside the world of streaming video.
Netflix reported its Q2 2021 earnings this week, and considering the most critical metric of U.S. and Canada subscriber additions/losses, the company did very well. Sure, it lost 430K subscribers, reversing a big Q2 2020 Covid gain, and also tripled its 130K loss from Q2 2019. But it could have been a whole lot worse if post-Covid churn had spiked which would have sent Wall Street into a tizzy.
After reviewing the numbers, Colin and I zero in on the fact that while Netflix has numerous revenue expansion opportunities, it seems uninterested in any of them. In fact, the theme of this quarter’s earnings conference call was Netflix’s 100% focus on SVOD. It has no plans to make money from its new video gaming service. Live sports is still mainly off the table. The new commerce extension won’t generate anything material. And a lower-priced advertising-supported tier? Well the analyst/moderator didn’t even ask about it.
Colin and I are really scratching our heads. It’s like Netflix’s management took a sacred oath: “We will not make money beyond SVOD.” “We will not make money beyond SVOD.” “We will not make money beyond SVOD.”
For my part I’m growing weary of these “religious” responses. I have been doggedly saying Netflix needs to launch a lower-priced ad-supported tier for ages. The CTV ad business in the U.S. alone in 2021 will be $13B, going to at least $28B in 2025. As the biggest player in brand-safe streaming, Netflix has an automatic claim on a portion of this revenue. Perhaps most important, there is simply no other catalyst as sizable for Netflix’s top and bottom lines. But it won’t entertain the option, asserting in the past that it will diminish the user experience, though it hasn’t provided any meaningful backup to support its position.
There’s a lot to be said for staying focused, but in our view, this is getting a little bit ridiculous.
Please let us know what you think!
Listen to the podcast (30 minutes, 8 seconds)
Browse all previous podcasts
Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music RSS
(Note I’ll continue to publish Inside the Stream in the prior feed but please try to move to this new feed)
-
Netflix Q2 2021 Earnings Report: Whew!
If you detected the wind pattern figuratively shift around 4:01pm Eastern Time yesterday, you weren’t imaging it. Rather, the shift was due to the collective exhaling of Netflix stockholders who were justifiably on edge about the company’s Q2 2021 earnings report, and in particular its subscriber additions, especially in the all-important UCAN (United States and Canada) region.
Q2 2021 was the first quarter to be comp’d against a full Covid quarter, Q2 2020. It is old news that Covid created many major distortions in the economy, but perhaps the biggest distortion (aside from the bizarre run on toilet paper) was the massive acceleration in streaming and connected TV. And few companies benefited more from shelter-in-place orders than Netflix, which in Q2 2020 gained over 10 million global subscribers, on top of the 15.8 million it added in Q1 2020.
To say that first half 2020 would be a tough act to follow in UCAN would definitely qualify for the understatement of the year award. Netflix said last year that it was experiencing a “pull forward” in demand. Results in Q1 2021 began bearing that out with global subscriber additions coming in at 3.98 million, obviously way down from the freakish first quarter of 2020, but also just a fraction of the 9.6 million global subs that Netflix pulled in back in Q1 2019.Categories: SVOD
Topics: Netflix
-
Report: SVOD Market Fragments Following New Service Launches
The U.S. SVOD market has undergone significant fragmentation over the past two years as new services have launched, according to the Q1 2021 Growth Report from Antenna, an SVOD insights provider. In Q1 ’19, Netflix and Hulu together accounted for over three-quarters (78%) of all SVOD subscriptions. But two years later, in Q1 ’21, their combined share fell to just over half (51%), with Disney taking 17%, HBO Max 11%, Paramount+ 7%, Starz 6%, Showtime 4% and discovery+, Peacock and Apple TV+ all at 2%.
Antenna didn’t report Amazon Prime Video numbers. Amazon said in its Q1 ’21 earnings report that 175 million Prime members have streamed TV shows and movies in the past year, though it didn’t provide any breakdown of U.S. share vs. rest of world.Categories: SVOD
Topics: Antenna, Apple TV, discovery+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock