Starz will split off from Lionsgate in 2025 and on today’s podcast we discuss Starz’s streaming strategy, as outlined by CEO Jeffrey Hirsch in a presentation at the UBS Global Media & Communications conference.   

The strategy’s core elements include partnering with big streaming platforms for Starz to be sold as an add-on (a successful approach for smaller services as we learned from Antenna’s Jonathan Carson several months ago), retaining the rights to its own originals and avoiding annual rate increases others like Disney+ have pursued).

Listen to the podcast to learn more (28 minutes, 19 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Google Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS

Walmart has closed its $2.3 billion acquisition of VIZIO. As Colin and I discuss on this week’s podcast, there are many opportunities that the deal creates. We focus on a few, including Walmart extending WatchFree+, driving new CTV ad revenue and also broadening the availability of one-click buying and attribution.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (26 minutes, 14 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Google Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS

This week Comcast announced its decision to spin out all of its cable networks except Bravo into an independent company. For years cable networks were the financial jewel in the TV industry, driven by both carriage fees pay-TV operators paid to carry them, plus advertising revenues. The shift from analog to digital opened up vast new shelf space which enabled even more cable networks to be created.

But as Colin and I discuss, the Internet and streaming have changed all of that. In the age of cord-cutting, cable networks have become a declining business, and Comcast’s decision to spin off most of its portfolio was inevitable. For a variety of reasons the spin off also paves the way for addition consolidation in the industry.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (20 minutes, 48 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Google Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS

Disney’s fiscal Q4 results confirmed a broader industry trend that ad-supported subscribers are driving growth for streaming services. Disney’s CEO Bob Iger said 60% of new DTC subscribers are on the ad tier, with 37% and 30% of US and international subscribers, respectively, now on the ad tier.

Related, Netflix said earlier this week that 70 million monthly users are reached via its ad-supported plan, up from 22 million in January. It also said over 50% of new subscribers in countries where an ad tier is available sign up for it. Colin and I discuss the reasons viewers are choosing ad-supported plans.

Related, we also explore new Gracenote data showing the disproportionate amount of SVOD titles on Amazon Prime Video.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (29 minutes, 54 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Google Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS