VideoNuze Posts

Roku announced preliminary Q4 ’20 results this morning, including that it had 51.2 million active accounts as of Dec. 31st. While breaking the 50 million level is a symbolic milestone, more important, it’s evidence of Roku’s ongoing momentum. Roku increased active accounts by 14.3 million or over 38%, in 2020, up from 36.9 million active accounts at the end of 2019. Roku’s active accounts are up more than 5x in the past 5 years when it reported 9 million active accounts.

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While lots of attention in 2020 focused on direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming services, deals announced this first business day of 2021  are a reminder how important third-party distribution remains for premium content. The names and roles of some of these new distributors are different than in the past, but they all underscore how even in a DTC world, third-party partnerships are critical to success.

For example, Discovery highlighted the growing importance of device makers as distribution partners for its DTC discovery+ service which is now live, announcing deals today with Amazon (Fire TV), Apple (iOS devices and Apple TV), Google (Android, Chromecast, Android TV), Microsoft (Xbox), Roku and Samsung (smart TVs).

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As 2020 comes to an end, I’d like to wish all of you and your families a happy and safe holiday season - and a better year ahead.

It goes without saying that 2020 has been a year unlike any other. I’d like to express my deepest thanks to everyone in the VideoNuze community - readers, podcast listeners, conference attendees, sponsors, partners, friends and industry colleagues for your support during the year.

As we all know, the video industry is experiencing incredible change. Viewers have more choices than ever, and the entire industry is undergoing a profound shift to direct-to-consumer streaming services and monetization models. All of the building blocks are in place for key trends to further accelerate in 2021. I look forward to engaging with all of you as the year unfolds.

Happy Holidays!

FreeWheel’s Council for Premium Video has published a new report, “The Evolution of Streaming,” which outlines streaming’s rise over the past decade and describes four attributes that need to be addressed to fully unlock video advertising’s potential. These include Scale and Unification, Audience Targeting, Quality, Viewability and Fraud, and Audience Measurement.

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I’m pleased to present the 542nd edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.  

Keeping with tradition, on today’s podcast, our last of the year, Colin and I discuss our top 10 video stories of 2020. This was certainly a year unlike any we’ve all experienced, and many of our top 10 reflect how Covid has accelerated underlying industry trends.

Colin and I have had lots of fun discussing all of the industry’s highlights each week - thanks for listening in!

Enjoy!

Click here to listen to the podcast (30 minutes, 12 seconds)

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HBO Max is live on Roku devices, a day after Roku and WarnerMedia came to terms on an agreement. The HBO Max app can be downloaded from the Roku channel store and users can subscribe to HBO Max, which costs $15 per month. Roku users already subscribing to HBO will be automatically upgraded to HBO Max and can use their existing login information.

The Roku-WarnerMedia deal comes after a months-long stalemate between the companies and while terms were not disclosed, it makes lots of sense for both. For HBO Max, Roku’s estimated 46 million active users were a huge hole in its addressable audience. Missing Roku’s user base would have meant that promotions like “Wonder Woman 1984” coming on Christmas Day to HBO Max (and theaters) would have been under-optimized.

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Peacock announced a savvy move yesterday, tiering access to “The Office” when it moves to Peacock on January 1st from its current home on Netflix. Peacock said that seasons 1-2 will be available for free, with ads, but that seasons 3-9 will only be accessible on its Peacock Premium (with ads, $5/month) and Peacock Premium Plus (without ads, $10/month) tiers. Paying subscribers will also get access to longer “Superfan Episodes” which are extended cuts with previously unseen footage, starting with season 5.

The tiered approach makes a ton of sense. Signing up for free is a no-brainer for existing fans who want continued access and will follow “The Office” from Netflix to Peacock. That will help drive up the number of Peacock signups which last week stood at 26 million. For now, this is the only metric Peacock is publicly reporting; it hasn’t yet revealed how many paying subscribers there are.

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