Podcasts

Disney reported quarterly earnings this week. While it no longer shares specific Disney+ subscriber numbers, new CEO Josh D’Amaro spelled out how Disney+ will expand from a traditional streaming service to become a central place in the relationship Disney fans have with the company. The role of Disney+ will span businesses including parks and experiences, and will also incorporate interactivity. 

In today’s episode we discuss this approach why we think it’s uniquely beneficial for Disney to pursue. 
    
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YouTube’s Q1 ad revenue approached $10 billion, up 11% vs. last year and around 25% vs. two years ago. YouTube said that both direct response and brand advertising were strong. However, subscriptions were the fastest growing part of the business, with YouTube Premium and Music performing best, recording their largest increase in non-trial subscribers. 

Meanwhile Antenna estimates that Roku’s Howdy has hit 1 million subscribers less than one year following its launch. At $2.99 per month Howdy is a relatively low cost SVOD service that appears to have high stickiness. The gains speak to Roku's promotional clout. Roku also reported a strong Q1 for ad revenue. 
    
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Netflix reported more steady growth in Q1 ’26 as it transitions to maturity. But from advertising to gaming, and live sports to video podcasts, Netflix is innovating and staying opportunistic. 

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Roku announced that it now reaches 100 million households, up from 90 million in Q1 ’25 and 80 million in Q4 ’23. Related, Hub found in a survey that among households that stream monthly 55% have a Roku smart TV or streaming media player. Roku has become a strong player in aggregation, with 26% of Hub respondents citing Roku as their source for streaming subscriptions, behind Amazon with 54%. 

We discuss all on this week’s podcast, plus  Sony’s plan to remove over-the-air features from certain Bravia TVs, and a protest letter sent by Hollywood celebrities who are against the Paramount-WBD deal. 

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Wurl’s EMEA GM Keith Bedford joins us on this week’s Inside the Stream to explain why FASTs have a big opportunity in streaming sports and some of the early success stories. 

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Netflix has raised its prices again, with its ad-supported plan increasing by one dollar per month and its ad-free plans going up by two dollars. Netflix has the biggest price gap between ad-supported and ad-free plans, suggesting the company is guiding subscribers toward the former. 

Related to price increases, we also discuss how the monthly cost of the top six SVOD services compares to several years ago. We consider this in the context of Ampere’s forecast showing the global SVOD industry will top $200 billion in revenue in 2030. 

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New data from Deloitte’s Digital Media Trends report shows that 68% of consumers now subscribe to at least one ad-supported tier, up from 46% two years ago. The Deloitte data is the latest to highlight how consumers are managing their streaming budgets. We discuss this and other Deloitte findings. 

We also explore the implications of the short-lived Disney-OpenAI deal that unravelled with the demise of Sora, the ongoing push toward CTV-enabled commerce, with Walmart-Vizio and Samsung-Amazon all making announcements this week, and the MLB season opener on Netflix. 

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Advertising continues to gain greater acceptance in the streaming era according to data from Hub. There’s been a gradual decline in the percentage of viewers who can’t tolerate ads from 17% in June ’21 to 12% in December ’25. In addition, 32% of viewers say they’d pay $4-5 more per month to go ad-free vs. 40% four years ago. 63% of 18-34 viewers strongly or somewhat agree that they don’t mind watching TV with ads as much as they used to. 

Elsewhere, Nielsen data shows sports continuing to lead in ad-supported viewing and a report from Tubi shows that for many, creator content is now on a par with premium TV. We discuss all the data.

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YouTube is now the world’s biggest media company, with an estimated $62 billion revenue in 2025, according to analysts MoffettNathanson. That would exceed Disney’s, though be slightly less than the combined Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery. We discuss key components on YouTube’s revenue, its competitive advantages and prospects going forward. 

Then we discuss the challenges viewers have navigating streaming services to find sports they’re looking for. New Hub Entertainment Research found that sports fragmentation caused frustration by 87% of viewers. Addressing this pain point are new features from ESPN, Roku and others helping ease things. 

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Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison said this week that its streaming portfolio and Warner Bros. Discovery’s will be combined into one platform in the coming years. While details still need to be revealed, on this week’s episode Colin and I discuss the move’s opportunities and challenges. A critical decision will be the branding of the streaming services, and retaining the marquee HBO brand front and center. We also like the potential for bundling and technology integration.

Less clear would be how the combined services would be priced and how much new streaming audience share and revenue they’d generate. Another question is how fast services can wean the merged companies from reliance on legacy TV revenue. 

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First up this week we discuss Antenna’s new State of Subscriptions report, which shows a maturing SVOD market with single-digit subscriber growth in 2025. Spike days of acquisition continue to be concentrated, with Q4 becoming ever more important. Churn has also stabilized. We also discuss the increasingly important role of bundling.

As we recorded the news broke that Netflix has backed out of the bidding for WBD, so we briefly discuss that, in the context of the latest Nielsen The Gauge numbers and how TV viewing shares will change when the deal eventually closes. 

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Apple has partnered with IMAX to screen 5 F1 races at 50 different IMAX locations around the US this year. The move follows Apple’s 5-year deal with F1 from last October for exclusive US broadcast rights. Both of us like how the IMAX partnership leverages the broadcast deal and broadens exposure of Apple TV, likely driving more subscribers. 

Elsewhere, more than half of YouTube’s UK audience now watches on their TVs. YouTube has also become the fourth most-viewed navigation platform, illustrating how YouTube has integrated mobile and web with connected TV. Speaking of YouTube, Stephen Colbert used it this week to stream an interview CBS blocked him from broadcasting. We discuss all. 

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YouTube TV has begun rolling out its less expensive tiers of service, which it announced late last year. The tiers focus on sports, sports plus news and entertainment. All are priced less than its $83 per month base tier. Colin and I discuss whether the new tiers will attract cord-cutters and cord-nevers and whether existing subscribers will downgrade. 

Elsewhere, AMC reached a milestone, reporting that in Q4 it generated more revenue from streaming domestically than from its affiliate/traditional pay-TV distribution. And of course, last Sunday’s Super Bowl was a broadcast hit, but we are still waiting on specific Peacock numbers. We discuss all. 

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The NFL-ESPN deal has closed with the league taking a 10% ownership stake in the sports cable network, in exchange for handing over NFL Network, NFL RedZone and fantasy assets. Meanwhile the NFL is looking to renegotiate it existing media deals. We discuss the implications. 

Meanwhile Fubo and Hulu+Live have joined forces, though we’re not sure about the specifics. YouTube’s total revenue for 2025 topped $60 billion, and Peacock’s losses escalated despite adding 3 million subscribers in Q4. Join us for a discussion of all.

[UPDATE: Fubo asked Colin to correct the net loss numbers he quoted in the podcast and clarified that ad revenue from Hulu+Live is transferred to Fubo. Here are their numbers:

– Reported Net Loss of $19.1 million, compared to $38.6 million


– Pro Forma Net Loss of $46.4 million, compared to $130.4 million]

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Netflix reported a strong 2025 though Colin calculates engagement per viewer seems to have lightened up. The jockeying for WBD continues with Paramount. Meanwhile BBC is going to start making shows specifically for YouTube. This comes in the wake of last week’s report that by certain metrics YouTube viewership is eclipsing BBC’s in the UK. 

Then we discuss the demise of Sony’s TV business, which was spun into a JV with TCL this week. Finally, Amazon is on a streak, recently recording a new record for live-streaming an NFL game.

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The YouTube colossus rumbles on as new data shows YouTube with 51 million viewers in the UK in Q4 ’25, just edging out the BBC with 50.8 million viewers. The caveat is that this is for three minutes only, with an expanded 15 minute definition still showing the BBC ahead. 

Meanwhile ad-tier usage among paid streaming services continue to increase across the board. Netflix has 40% of its active accounts using its ad plan, while Disney+ has 44% and HBO Max has 28%, all up year-over-year. Last we discuss the impact of Peacock of losing Versant content. 

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In our first podcast of 2026 we discuss Comcast’s spinoff of Versant, which was finalized earlier this week. So far Wall Street has been cool to the stock, indicating further concern about cable networks’ future. Next, Colin shares his observations on news from CES related TV OEMs and AI. The NFL continued its streak of record viewing on Christmas with Netflix, and on Thursday Night Football with Amazon. Last, we explore Disney’s plan to sunset the Hulu app.


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YouTube will begin streaming the Oscars globally in 2029 per a new deal with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As Colin and I discuss, it’s another indicator that streaming platforms’ financial clout and distribution reach have become critical differentiators for marquee events. 

Next we discuss Netflix’s further push into video podcasts following announcements with iHeartMedia and Barstool Sports this week. Finally, we explore Google and YouTube’s return to Movies Anywhere and the ongoing WBD acquisition saga. 

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In a bold move, Disney has licensed 200 of its characters for use in OpenAI’s Sora. In today’s podcast we discuss the benefits and risks of the deal, which opens a new chapter of collaboration between rights holders and AI platforms. We like Disney’s openness to user-generated content to better compete with YouTube, but are cautious about the effectiveness of the proposed guardrails in deterring misuse of Disney’s prized characters. 

Then we shift focus to the battle to own Warner Bros. Discovery. Colin thinks Netflix is likely to prevail, while I think Paramount has the edge. We explain why. 

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This week on Inside the Stream, we start with MS NOW’s plan to evolve into a streaming and community hub for progressive activism. Given cord-cutting and the decline of linear TV news consumption by younger viewers, we see it as a positive move. Next, we discuss why data indicates engagement with Prime Video is far lower than other streaming services. Finally, microdramas continue their growth and monetization. 

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