Posts for 'YouTube'

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.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (25 minutes, 10 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS

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. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (25 minutes, 10 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS

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. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (23 minutes, 49 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

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

 

First up this week, Fox reported that Tubi turned profitable for the first time this past quarter, with revenue up 27% and view time up 18%. Tubi has been a major ad-supported streaming success story.  

Speaking of success stories, next we discuss YouTube, which keeps growing. Alphabet reported that YouTube’s ad revenue in Q3 was $10.3 billion, up 15% vs. the prior year. Shorts is a particular highlight for the company, which separately announced voluntary buyouts this week. 

On the flip side, we discuss how Peacock’s subscribers have been stuck at 41 million for the past 3 quarters. In fact they’re up just 7 million since the end of Q1 ’24. While losses have declined, the $2.5 billion per year NBA rights deal is going to weigh on future profitability. And as we discuss, it’s not clear how many longer term subscribers the NBA games will drive.  

Listen to the podcast to learn more (26 minutes, 57 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

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

Antenna reported that ESPN and Fox One gained one million subscribers in their first 10 days, with ESPN gaining the majority. Colin and I discuss whether that’s a lot, or not. We continue to be challenged to understand just how big the target market is for these two sports streaming services. Antenna also said 60% of Fox One’s subscribers came in via Amazon, underscoring its importance to the ecosystem. 

Meanwhile YouTube held its annual “Made on YouTube” event, where it disclosed it has paid out a whopping $100 billion to creators in the past four years. We wonder how that compares to what TV networks and studios have paid out to their creators over the same period? YouTube also shared a number of product updates. 

Last, we delve into ongoing innovations at Amazon and - given its aggressiveness and heft - speculate on whether Super Bowl LXXV in 2041 will actually be known as “Amazon Super Bowl LXXV” (not that far-fetched).

Listen to the podcast to learn more (32 minutes, 55 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

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

YouTube said it had 17 million viewers for last Friday’s global livestream of the Chiefs-Chargers game from Brazil. YouTube said that was a new record for livestream. While the game was a one off license, the success of the livestream suggests YouTube’s appetite for more international streaming of NFL game could be whetted. And that the NFL will be further incented to create international rights packages. All of that would add to the considerable momentum behind digital players’ involvement with sports. 

Elsewhere, we discuss Bending Spoons’ acquisition of streaming stalwart Vimeo for $1.4 billion, Paramount Skydance’s efforts to resuscitate MTV’s cultural relevance, and the news from Google that Gemini is being built into a TCL smart TV. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (23 minutes, 58 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

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

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. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (28 minutes, 22 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

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

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. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (32 minutes, 25 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

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

New data from Looper Insights illustrates how meaningful percentages of both video executives and viewers now see YouTube as an appealing destination for long-form content, including for premium content - as well as a viable alternative to major streaming platforms. The data underscores YouTube’s amazing evolution from a primarily UGC, short-form outlet to a genuine competitor for premium streaming on the big screen. The Looper data aligns with our podcast last week about Nielsen’s The Gauge data, which showed YouTube’s increasing share of TV viewing time.  

Part of the consequence of YouTube’s ascendance is the decline of broadcast and cable TV networks’ viewership. In the podcast we discuss continuing retrenchment at Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney and NBCU. We wrap up with a discussion of new Magna-Roku data and the Fubo-DAZN sports cross-licensing partnership.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (23 minutes, 41 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

There was plenty of news in the TV/streaming industries this earnings week. First up we discuss Comcast raising the idea of spinning off its cable TV networks to shareholders. A move like this has been speculated about for years, as the networks are buffeted by cord-cutting. Comcast also said Peacock gained 3 million subscribers in Q3, benefiting from the Paris Olympics. 

Meanwhile Alphabet said that YouTube’s revenue for the past 12 months hit $50 billion, a first for the company. As we discuss, it’s likely that subscription services, which include YouTube TV, YouTube Music and Premium, Primetime Channels and Sunday Ticket, exceeded $15 billion. That would make YouTube one of the top 3 streaming subscription providers by size. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (21 minutes, 24 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

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

In concert with its Made on YouTube event, YouTube unveiled a slew of innovations aimed at enhancing creators’, viewers’ and advertisers’ experiences. Potentially the most high impact is a revamp of its CTV app which will offer “immersive previews” of creator content, modeled on best practices of SVOD apps like Netflix. Creators will also be able to customize how they categorize and organize their episodes in the app. With CTV accounting for at least 40% of YouTube’s views, optimizing the CTV app is critical.

YouTube also updated a number of relatively new AI-powered tools, including “Dream Screen,” which generates backgrounds in YouTube Shorts and a 6-second clip generator, both using Veo, which is DeepMind’s video AI technology, plus a refreshed Inspiration Tab to help brainstorm new video ideas.

Also new is the launch of Communities which allows engagment within the creator’s channel, pulling into YouTube discussions already happening in other social platforms. The feature builds on commenting, which has long been available in YouTube.

YouTube also confirmed broad availability of Pause ads, long in use by others like Hulu, which are likely to get a strong reception.

Many of the features are described in this post.   

Listen to the podcast to learn more (33 minutes, 4 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

Early returns show Olympics viewership is up strongly so far. But while many devoted fans watch the full-length events, many other more casual fans consume just the highlight clips - often after they search for them subsequent to hearing about a particularly exciting moment (e.g. the clutch pommel horse performance, the long match-ending runback in rugby sevens, etc.). Watching highlights can also help drive casual fans to watch full length. 

All this means that for a long duration event like the Olympics, solid strategy/execution highlight clips distribution is imperative. In today’s podcast Colin and I discuss how we’ve been impressed so far with NBC’s Olympics highlight clips distribution across Peacock and YouTube. We’re able to compare and contrast experiences because Colin’s only been watching on the former and I’ve only been watching on the latter.

We discuss NBC’s balancing act of seeking to build value in Peacock, its owned and operated property, while also recognizing and respecting the reality that YouTube is the number one video search destination for hundreds of millions of users, so it simply can’t be ignored. Finally we discuss the business model benefits of distributing on Peacock and YouTube. 

Overall NBC’s Paris Olympics clips execution is far superior to the last games, and provides lessons for others. Still, we see still further room to optimize, which we review toward the end. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (36 minutes, 12 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

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

We’re excited to have top Wall Street media analyst Michael Nathanson join us this week. Michael and his partner Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson are the “one-two punch” of the TV, streaming and broadband industries. Their analyses and insights are widely considered best in class. Michael is an old friend, and we’re so pleased to have him join us in this exclusive, must-listen interview.

Among the many topics we cover: the recent decline in CTV CPMs due to Amazon’s market entry and why the new inventory will be digested, the competitive dynamics in the broader CTV/AVOD market, YouTube’s massive scale and Michael’s prediction that YouTube TV will be the pay-TV market leader in two years with 10 million subscribers, FAST’s potential, legacy media’s abysmal $30B cumulative loss on DTC services in the past 5 years, why streaming’s future will be driven by advertising and why the “unit value” of advertising is poised to soar due to AI and finally, the biggest potential surprise in the next year.

Anyone who wants to understand what’s really happening in the TV/streaming industries will find this exclusive interview invaluable.

Listen to the podcast now (44 minutes)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

This week we discuss the logic of Amazon shutting down Freevee, which Adweek reported, and Amazon denied. We see a number of pros and cons to the move. Meanwhile Nielsen said that YouTube was once again the number one streaming service used on CTVs, ahead of Netflix and everyone else. This was the twelfth month in row for YouTube and we explore the reasons behind it.

Finally the rumor mill is swirling that Peacock and Paramount+ may combine forces, and we dig into how it would benefit both entities.  

Listen to the podcast to learn more (25 minutes, 26 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

This week on Inside the Stream we discuss our top 10 streaming video stories of 2023. As longtime listeners know, the top 10 countdown is our tradition for the final podcast of the year.

In 2023, our top picks include the rise of smart TVs, the Actors and Writers strikes, TV OS wars, CTV advertising, traditional TV’s continued fall, Disney acquiring the rest of Hulu, YouTube’s growth, SVODs drive for profitability, sports migration to online and Netflix remaining the king of SVOD. We dive into all of them and explain why each is significant. Let us know what you think of our top 10 - did we miss anything?

Listen to the podcast to learn more (38 minutes, 12 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

Most media and technology companies have now reported Q1 ’23 results. We dig into who’s up, who’s down and who’s pick ‘em, and where they all might be headed. We share all this with the caveat that one quarter’s results are not the final word on a company’s ability to survive and thrive going forward. We hope we’re not in any way contributing to the short-term, quarterly performance myopia so common on Wall Street.

Rather, we’re looking at these companies’ results in the context of prior results, the competitive landscape and their particular products’/services’ positioning. All while trying to do some basic “pattern recognition” - what have we seen before and how is this likely to play out in TV and video. Our discussion is primarily focused on Netflix, Roku, Amazon, AMC, Disney, Comcast, Vizio, YouTube, The Trade Desk, Paramount, Diamond Sports Group, Tegna, Dish and how they’re sorting themselves in the up, down and pick ‘em categories.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (38 minutes,  50 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

First up this week on Inside the Stream we discuss YouTube’s advertising revenue for Q1 ’23, which was $6.7B, down 2.6% from Q1 ’22 of $6.9B. Obviously growth, not contraction, is the goal, but given the huge headwinds blowing through the ad business, in my view, a slight dip can rightly be considered a clear win. And the quarters that YouTube is now lapping were extremely strong to begin with, so comps will be tough by definition.

We also spend a few minutes discussing YouTube’s four priorities outlined in the earnings call. I’m looking forward to attending YouTube’s NewFront presentations on Monday morning, especially “AI and the Future of Creative Transformation.”

Next up, we both like how Paramount is leveraging Pluto TV by having it stream “THE TONY AWARD: ACT ONE,” preceding the main Tonys broadcast on CBS and Paramount+ on June 11th. ACT ONE is a perfect example of how “shoulder content” that can drive free streaming viewership (helping build Pluto’s brand) while acting as lead gen for Paramount+ and maybe even a little incremental retention for pay-TV.

We expect to see a lot more of this “shoulder content on FAST” playbook run in the future elsewhere too. It’s a solid, synergistic play.

Last, we make a maiden foray into the intersection of AI, video and music, prompted by a well-reported - though maybe slightly over-dramatic - article in The Verge about “AI Drake.” It’s a bit of a head-spinner to keep track of the machinations, but the net of it is that - no surprise to anyone - generative AI is already kicking up some dust related to copyright and Fair Use.

Big players like Google and Microsoft will have to sort out what positions they ultimately want to stake out given their varied business interests. We do our best to decipher things and discuss implications. No easy answers here, but expect a lot more about AI on Inside the Stream in the future.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (31 minutes, 59 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

Happy new year and welcome to the first edition of Inside the Stream for 2023. Just after recording our Top 10 streaming stories of 2022 podcast a couple of weeks ago YouTube announced its deal with the NFL for Sunday Ticket.

In this week’s podcast we dig into how we think the economics of the deal might work. Colin modeled many of the variables, which I then tinkered with. The clear caveat is that no external person, including us, really knows all the pieces of the deal, nor the terms. So we’re taking our best guesses, based on how Sunday Ticket has performed for DirecTV and the new value we believe YouTube brings to the package.

Based on all of this Colin is skeptical about YouTube’s ability to turn a profit on Sunday Ticket, while I’m more optimistic. In addition I highlight a number of valuable strategic aspects of the deal to YouTube and Google, especially gaining direct experience with the NFL for the next 6-7 years. These insights will be extremely valuable as YouTube contemplates potentially bidding for some or all of the NFL broadcast package when it’s up for renewal in 2033.

Ultimately the value of Sunday Ticket to YouTube hinges on its ability to monetize the package much better than DirecTV did - more subscribers and more advertising revenue.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (30 minutes, 36 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

On this week’s podcast Colin Dixon from nScreenMedia and I discuss Q3 2022 bumpiness for four companies heavily focused on streaming. Comcast reported a small gain of 10K residential broadband subscribers compared with 281K a year ago. It also lost 540K residential video subscribers compared with a loss of 382K a year ago, as cord-cutting and cord-nevering continue.

Meanwhile YouTube ad revenue was down 2% in Q3, after a blistering period of growth during the past couple of years. Apple TV+ is raising its monthly rate by $2, betting subscribers see enhanced value in its 3 year-old service. And Disney’s CEO envisions Disney+ being tied closer to its theme park business. We explore all of them and share our thoughts.

Listen to the podcast (25 minutes, 7 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

In this week’s Inside the Stream podcast nScreenMedia’s Colin Dixon and I discuss the Q1 results of Comcast and YouTube, as well as a new report from Pixability that details YouTube’s massive reach.

Colin leads the discussion of Comcast, which lost 512K video subscribers, leading to a total loss of 1.7 million subscribers in the past 4 quarters. On the broadband side, subscriber growth slowed to 262K, compared with 434K a year ago. Peacock was a bright spot, reaching 28 million monthly active users and 13 million paid users.

Separate, YouTube’s revenue grew at a slower 14% rate in Q1, to $6.9 billion. We discuss more of the details of YouTube’s performance which remains very strong. Pixability also released a valuable new report showing the extent of YouTube’s massive reach and its proliferation on connected TVs. The report is available as a complimentary download.

Colin wraps up with a few takeaways from NABShow earlier this week.

Listen to the podcast (25 minutes, 14 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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