VideoNuze Posts

Disney released a flurry of announcements this week - deeper integration of Hulu and Disney+, international brand transition from Star to Hulu, ESPN acquiring NFL Network and Red Zone, NFL investing billions in ESPN, and ESPN acquiring rights to stream major WWE events. 

We break it all down and handicap what it likely means to Disney’s future success. One thing that’s for certain: starting on August 21st, when the new ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming app launches, we will all begin to get the most authentic view yet of what ESPN is actually worth in the open market. 

After 45 years of ESPN’s expensive monthly rate being buried inside pay-TV’s multichannel bundle, along with speculation as to what sports fans would actually pay if charged directly, we will all find out. Disney has a lot riding on things turning out well in this new D2C approach. 

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First up this week, YouTube continued its strong ad revenue growth in Q2 2025, with revenue rising 13% to $9.8 billion, ahead of its forecast. There’s plenty of growth still ahead as Shorts gain traction, advertisers tap conversion opportunities and AI permeates both content and monetization. 

Meanwhile Samsung signed a number of creators to put original content on its Samsung TV Plus FAST service. But as we discuss, there seems to be a looming decision for creators whether they should simply focus on their YouTube channels as YouTube becomes increasingly dominant on TV screens. 

Last but not least, we dig into the challenges that both HGTV and Peacock are experiencing. 

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Ten years after Amazon launched Prime Video Channels, giving Prime users the ability to easily discover and sign up for subscription streaming services, Comcast has belatedly launched StreamStore, its own streaming app store. 

As we discuss, unfortunately for Comcast, Amazon dominates this space with 58% share, according to recent Antenna data. Even Roku, with its 90+ million users, only has a 6% share. As always in the Internet Economy there’s a cost to sitting on your hands too long. StreamStore’s ability to achieve meaningful share in this space seems unlikely.

Other topics in our grab bag this week: Jeff Bezos is considering buying CNBC, NBC is likely to launch a linear sports network including its Peacock rights, and traditional TV is still holding onto a large chunk of ad impressions, though it’s only decreasing from here. We explore all of these and more. 

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CTV ads are booming, with the IAB releasing new data this week forecasting a 13% increase in 2025 to $26.6 billion. As we all know, within that very large number are many buyers, sellers, formats, activations, KPIs, etc. Buyers and sellers are racing to figure out how to optimize CTV ad performance across the full funnel. 

But recently Colin had an experience with his Google TV-powered Sony TV that felt to him like a bridge too far. A Target takeover ad when he turned on the TV morphed into a video ad with audio on when he tried to click past it. Another click defaulted to a static Coke ad “thinly disguised as a promotion for Star Wars movies on Disney+” as Colin described it. Exasperated, Colin is now contemplating switching to the ad-free Apple TV. 

In the fast-moving multibillion dollar CTV ad business, it is exactly these type of ad and user interface decisions that will determine the eventual winners and losers. On this week’s podcast we debate the tension for TV OSs of driving profitability from their captive on-screen real estate vs. providing a pristine UI. And what about viewers? Are they resistant, compliant or somewhere in between?

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First up this week, A+E Global Media, which is co-owned by Disney and Hearst, is the latest group of cable TV networks for sale or spinoff, as media companies rush to divest themselves of troubled assets. We discuss the reasons behind the divestments, including the steep drop-off in viewership over the past four years. 

Next, Netflix is once again the number one ranked “must keep” brand in TV according to research from The Strategic Counsel. We explore what Netflix doing so well to keep retaining the top slot. 

Rounding out, HBO Max is, HBO Max again, after a two year distraction as Max, a branding no man’s land. And Apple is eyeing F1 streaming rights, another potential foray into sports. 

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This week we’re pleased to share our interview with Roku’s Senior Director, Global Ad Platform Partnerships and Business Development Miles Fisher. We do a deep dive into Roku’s recently announced partnership with Amazon Ads, which appears to be a potentially significant milestone in CTV realizing its ultimate potential as a full funnel medium.

As Miles explains, key to the partnership’s opportunity is the scale that both companies bring; Roku has 125 million logged in viewers per day on its devices, while Amazon has massive Prime program as well as other user data. Advertisers will be able to tap this impressive scale to target specific viewers with tangible performance outcomes. Roku and Amazon first-party data will be integrated through a custom identity resolution service.   

Roku has been focused on driving CTV to become a performance medium for a while, including programmatic (see panel with Roku and Walmart executives at VideoNuze’s June ’23 CTV Ad Summit). Miles said the companies have conducted early tests of the integration with positive tests. This is a partnership is definitely one to keep an eye on.

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In May, 2025 a milestone was reached according to Nielsen’s The Gauge: total streaming viewership surpassed total broadcast plus cable viewership for the first time. Streaming had a 44.8% viewership share while traditional TV had a 44.2% viewership share. To put these numbers in context, back in May 2021 streaming had a 26% share and traditional TV had a 64% share. 

As we discuss, there have been 4 main drivers of these seismic changes: (1) YouTube’s ascent as the number one destination for streaming content on CTVs, (2) the complete collapse of cable TV viewership, down from 39% four years ago to 24.1% now, driven in part by the disinvestment in cable TV networks by media companies in favor of their streaming services and (4) the rise of free ad-supported streaming services “FASTs” which have become broadly popular, especially among viewers 65 and over, with Tubi alone now having 100 million active viewers per month.

The combination of these factors has upended the TV industry. As we discussed on last week’s podcast, “Dissecting Warner Bros. Discovery’s Split,” Wall Street has taken notice. Just two companies - YouTube and Netflix - now have an estimated combined market value of over $1 trillion. Meanwhile the rest of the industry’s value has atrophied, with media companies now spinning off their cable TV networks. 

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This week we dissect the big news that Warner Bros. Discovery is going to split into two companies, one that will hold its global cable networks and the other that will hold the Warner Bros. and HBO/Max assets. 

It has been a long, winding path for the Time Warner assets, starting with AT&T’s proposed acquisition back in 2016. As Colin and I discuss, there have been a litany of questionable strategic and product/streaming decisons that have led to a significant decline in Warner Bros. Discovery’s valuation. As I detail, WBD’s decline starkly contrasts with the massive appreciation Netflix has experienced since 2016. 

Importantly, we also discuss the structural change that’s occurred in the media industry since 2016. Netflix is now valued at around $500 billion while YouTube’s imputed value - if it were a standalone company - is now around $500-$700 billion. So just two companies have a combined value of over $1 trillion - no doubt way more than the entire media industry’s value pre-streaming. Net, net, Netflix and YouTube have dramatically expanded the value of media pie, but have kept the vast majority of that increase themselves. 

Last but not least, at the beginning of the podcast we quickly review the final decision in the Disney-Comcast arbitration over Hulu’s valuation. I can’t resist mentioning that way back in 2018 I was advocating for Comcast to acquire all of Hulu (here and here). Instead they launched Peacock and have lost billions since.

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