VideoNuze Posts

Welcome to the 544th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Kids movies were a big part of the success of Disney+ in 2020, with the service having seven of the top 10 streaming movies, according to Nielsen. But as Colin and I discuss, Disney+ will be challenged this year by Netflix, HBO Max and others. With theaters still running at low capacity due to Covid, 2021 is setting up as a game-changing year for streaming movies.

Separate, this week AT&T pulled the plug on its AT&T TV Now virtual pay-TV service, which at one point a couple years ago led the category with nearly 2 million subscribers (when it was called DirecTV Now). Colin and I examine what went wrong and why AT&T shifted its strategy so dramatically.  

Enjoy!

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2020 was a strong year for streaming across the board, but newly released Nielsen data reveals some of the biggest winners. At the top of the list was “The Office,” which racked up the most viewership of any TV show, with 57.1 billion minutes streamed for its 192 episodes on Netflix.

Along with “The Office,” 6 of the top 7 streamed shows in 2020 were licensed content (and all were on Netflix). The only original show in the top 7 was “Ozark” with 30.4 billion minutes streamed. Ahead of it were “Grey’s Anatomy” (39.4 billion minutes) and “Criminal Minds” (35.4 billion minutes) and just behind it were “NCIS” (28.1 billion minutes), “Schitt’s Creek” (23.8 billion minutes) and “Supernatural” (20.3 billion minutes).

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Data released by ad tech provider The Trade Desk from two separate surveys indicates that cord-cutting could increase dramatically in 2021 and that advertisers are shifting budgets to connected TV (CTV) advertising. The Future of TV survey fielded by YouGov for The Trade Desk found that 27% of U.S. cable TV subscribers plan to cut the cord by the end of 2021, compared to 15% who planned to do so in 2020.

With the rise of streaming, there are more alternatives to pay-TV than ever, creating more incentive for consumers to drop their subscriptions. A 27% rate of cord-cutting in one year would be a significant increase from prior periods and would have major industry implications. By comparison, according to MoffettNathanson’s analysis of cord-cutting as of Q3 ’20, the traditional U.S. pay-TV industry contracted at a year-over-year rate of 7.4%.

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For 13-24 year olds, online video viewing is approximately equal to traditional TV viewing, according to Hub Entertainment Research’s new Video Redefined study based on a December, 2020 survey. Hub said that 13-24 year olds who watch online video at least weekly reported they watch 11.4 hours of such content per week, compared with 11.8 hours per week spent watching TV content (TV shows and movies).

(Hub defines online video viewing to include YouTube plus social media sites and apps. It excludes streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, etc).

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Happy New Year and welcome to a new year of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.  

Roku continues to grow, announcing over 50 million active accounts at the end of 2020. On this week’s podcast Colin and I dig into the data that Roku revealed.

The explosion of premium content for streaming no doubt is helping Roku’s account growth and viewership. A recent entrant is Discovery+ and Colin shares his initial review of the service, including a few surprising limitations he found.

Enjoy!

Click here to listen to the podcast (25 minutes, 24 seconds)

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The VideoNuze podcast is also available in Apple podcasts, subscribe today!

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!