Posts for 'Peacock'

First up this week we talk about new data from Ampere Analysis showing that the growth in SVOD price increases is moderating. But the gap in pricing between ad-free and ad-tiers is getting bigger. Colin and I have a somewhat different take on the consequences of this price gap growth. From my vantage point it seems like the SVOD services are testing the commitment ad-free subscribers have to avoiding ads by paying evermore to do so. But I acknowledge everything has a limit.

We then shift to talking about YouTube. Research from Attest shows that 90% of Americans are now accessing YouTube daily, ahead of streaming and live TV. And time spent with YouTube and other social video tops streaming and live TV. 

YouTube also continues making moves to boost creator monetization and deepen creator loyalty. These include shortening up view time required to monetize a video, embedding Amazon tags to drive affiliate revenue, and potentially paying large sums to top creators to keep their content exclusive to YouTube for defined windows. 

Listen on to learn more (26 minutes, 52 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS

Peacock Premium will be bundled with and integrated into YouTube Premium beginning in 2027. The deal is intriguing to Colin and me for a variety of reasons. As we discuss, we’re particularly interested in the cannibalization risk to Peacock, along with how the economics of the deal work, including the upside potential for Peacock. 

Then we shift to explaining why believe there’s no better than a 25%-30% chance that the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal will ever close. Last week’s decision to delay the closing well into 2027, subsequent to an antitrust trial, will, in time starkly reveal the declining value of Warner Bros. Discovery, making the already stretched acquisition price even harder to justify. 

Coupled with the particular economics of the deal, we believe there are powerful incentives for Larry Ellison to pay the breakup fee and walk away. 

Listen on to learn more (32 minutes, 53 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS
 

The World Cup’s success flowed through to streaming, with Fox One adding 2.8 million subscribers in June and Peacock adding 2 million in Q2. Peacock also turned its first profit in Q2, of $189 million, though management warned results will vary by quarter. 

YouTube also benefited, with over 1.7 billion unique viewers globally watching World Cup related video. That helped drive ad revenue to $11.1 billion in Q2, up 13% year-over-year. YouTube is also pursuing a range of ad enhancements and AI features that will grow engagement and ad revenue going forward.  

Listen on to learn more! (29 minutes, 52 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS

Comcast is splitting off NBCUniversal, 13 years after it was acquired. While the general theme is that media and distribution do not belong under the same roof, Comcast’s missteps in streaming video are also key contributors, as we discuss. 

Peacock has lost at least $11 billion since its launch and has never had a profitable quarter. As we discuss in detail, NBCU came to the streaming party very late and has had various strategies with Peacock over the years. These missteps have led to a subscale service in a crowded industry in which giants like YouTube, Netflix and Disney+ set the pace. 

In Comcast/NBCU’s case, the results are especially unfortunate because at the beginning of the streaming era the companies had numerous inherent advantages. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (32 minutes, 30 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS

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]

Listen to the podcast to learn more (26 minutes, 22 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

Subscribe to Inside the Stream
Apple 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
 

Netflix reported Q3 ’25 results this week and said it expects advertising revenue to more than double in 2025 vs. 2024. As Colin and I discuss, it wasn’t that long ago that Netflix rejected the idea of offering an ad-supported tier at all; now that tier is driving significant growth for the company. 

Meanwhile, with the NBA season underway, games on NBC and Peacock are being broadcast and streamed. But, we’re skeptical that the $27 billion 11-year rights deal is likely to pay off for Peacock in sustainable subscriber growth or significantly increased time watched. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (28 minutes, 57 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

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. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (29 minutes, 33 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

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

Peacock subscribers held steady at 36 million from Q3 to Q4, though up from 31 million a year ago. Importantly Peacock’s quarterly loss declined from $825 million in the year ago quarter to $372 million this quarter. Elsewhere at Comcast, the company lost 139K broadband subscribers in Q4, worse than the 34K loss a year ago.

We also discuss Fox’s increase in Super Bowl ad rates to $8 million, and new data showing how FAST apps built into the TVOS are garnering more attention.

Thanks to our sponsor this week, Looper Insights. Click to access their new report, “Streaming Forward: Trends Shaping Digital Entertainment in 2025.” Colin has the QR code on his site to scan for the report as well.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (26 minutes, 1 second)

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

Comcast reported Q2 ’24 results this week, including an update on Peacock, which cut its loss to $348 million in the quarter from $639 million a year ago. Peacock’s subscriber count increased from 24 million in Q2 ’23 to 33 million at the end of Q2 ’24, but that was actually down a million from the end of Q1 ’24. 

In this week’s podcast we discuss whether and when Peacock will turn the corner and become a scaled, profitable streaming service. Peacock is betting big on expensive sports to deliver, with the Olympics kicking off tonight, and a new multi-billion dollar NBA deal to be announced soon, validating our call for Peacock to "Go Big or Go Home" back in November, 2021.

Peacock was a very late entry to the streaming game, and according to MoffettNathanson, has lost at least $8 billion over the past 14 quarters. Colin and I explain why we aren’t convinced sports can carry the weight of Peacock’s turnaround, and agree that only time will tell. 

We then switch gears to discuss Netflix’s Q2 earnings and the company’s lagging ad-tier performance, which surprises both of us a bit. Veteran podcast listeners will recall that back in October, 2022 Colin and I expressed our optimism about the pending impact of paid sharing and the ad-tier. The former has been a monster success for Netflix, based at least partly on the expert execution of its rollout. The ad tier remains a work in progress but we remain confident Netflix will figure it out. 

Listen to the podcast to learn more (30 minutes, 46 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts 

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

Earlier this week Comcast took the wraps off StreamSaver, its new streaming bundle available for Xfinity subscribers. For $15 per month, StreamSaver bundles Peacock Premium, Netflix Standard with ads and Apple TV+. If subscribed to separately the combined total would be $25 per month, as of July 1st when Peacock Premium’s price will rise to $8 per month. That means StreamSaver provides a bundled discount of $10 per month, or 40% off the standalone rates.

As Colin and I discuss, StreamSaver’s discount is in the same range as Disney’s Duo and Trio bundles, which fall between 35% and 44%. It also means that if Xfinity subscribers took both bundles, they would get 6 top streaming services - Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV+, Peacock and ESPN+ for $30 per month, or an average of $5 per month per service.

From our standpoint, all this seems really appealing, especially to budget-conscious consumers. Think for a moment about the vast selection of entertainment and sports programming across these 6 services - all for $30 per month, which is far less than it would cost to take a family of 4 to a single movie, for just 2 hours of entertainment.

But as we also discuss, these discounted bundles need to perform their critical function of reducing churn and extending subscriber lifetime value. With so many different decisions required by viewers about what bundle (if any) to choose, it’s gong to be challenging to pinpoint causalities and correlations, making the elusive goal of streaming profitability ever more opaque.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (27 minutes, 25 seconds)

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

NBCUniversal said that last weekend’s Chiefs-Dolphins wildcard playoff game was a big success, attracting an average audience of approximately 23 million viewers on Peacock. In this episode of Inside the Stream, Colin and I dig into key metrics of how to assess the game’s financial success to Peacock, specifically, how many incremental subscribers did the game add, and how likely are they to stay around and for how long?

Peacock reportedly paid $100 million for rights to stream the game and so getting a strong financial return is essential.   

Listen to the podcast to learn more (28 minutes, 50 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

On this week’s Inside the Stream Colin and I first discuss the trend toward SVOD services being bundled with one another. We agree the approach makes sense to cut churn and increase the lifetime value of subscribers. Next, Peacock has hit 30 million paying subscribers, which we believe is a healthy milestone for the three year-old service, though its losses are in the billions of dollars.

Meanwhile, WB Discovery has launched 11 FAST channels on Freevee, and Colin shares his thoughts on why the company could be more aggressive with FASTs. Last up, Disney moved the needle on integrating Hulu by adding a tile in the Disney+ UI for a beta group of subscribers.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (31 minutes, 43 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

In Q2 ’23 Comcast lost 543K domestic video subscribers, up from a loss of 521K a year earlier. In total, for the past 6 quarters, Comcast has lost almost 3.2 million subscribers, or nearly 18% of the 18.2 million subscribers it had on December 31, 2021, to bring it to just under 15 million currently.

On the brighter side, Peacock continues to make progress, adding another 2 million subscribers to reach 24 million. Comcast said some of Peacock’s gains are coming from Comcast video and broadband subscribers who lost complimentary access to Peacock.

Colin and I discuss these various moving pieces, along with the impact of the writers’ and actors’ strikes on both of the businesses.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (25 minutes, 58 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

Disney reported its fiscal 2023 first quarter this week, the first since Bob Iger returned to the CEO role. While other parts of the business are doing reasonably well, for Direct-to-Consumer, which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, subscriber gains were weak and ARPU was down. Iger also shared that Disney will cut its content spending by $3 billion this year. For Colin and me, all of that makes Disney’s DTC future seem murky.

Disney also plans to lay off 7,000 employees and take a $5.5 billion charge, while also stating it intends to restore its dividend by the end of the year - all a big victory for Wall Street. The layoff continues a disturbing pattern by most large tech and media companies (a topic about which I do a mini-rant during the podcast, sorry) which has put CEOs' lack of accountability on full display and smashed any delusions anyone might have had about any sort of an employer-employee "social contract" still existing (again sorry, I digress)

The most meaningful quote from Disney’s earnings call on late Wednesday was when Iger said “…the streaming business, which I believe is the future and has been growing, is not delivering basically the kind of profitability or bottom-line results that the linear business delivered for us over a few decades.”

Nor will it ever.

As Colin and I discuss this week (and as we’ve discussed ad nauseam in the past), the linear business model was based on the pay-TV multichannel bundle, which was the very definition of artificial economics. In the bundle, lots and lots of channels were delivered for a single price. The bundle’s monthly price steadily increased over the years as broadcast and cable TV networks raised their carriage fees paid by pay-TV operators.

The “elephant in the room” was that most pay-TV subscribers watched only a handful of TV networks, and yet paid for ALL of them. By far the biggest beneficiaries of pay-TV’s artificial economics were sports networks, with ESPN at the very top of the list. I first wrote about the “sports tax” 12 years ago in “Not a Sports Fan? Then You're Getting Sacked For At Least $2 Billion Per Year.” Things have only gotten worse for non-sports fans since. However, with streaming’s rise, the elephant is now fully visible, and has driven cord-cutting to record levels.

And just as the Internet has ruthlessly rationalized the economics of practically every other industry, it is now doing the same to the TV industry. The Internet allows zero room for artificial economics and anyone who violates this precept is an ostrich with their heads fully underground. Iger understands this, and his quote should fairly be seen as a signal to Wall Street that Disney is extremely unlikely to ever achieve historical financial performance in its TV businesses.

As if all of that weren’t enough, Iger then went on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” yesterday and told David Faber that “Everything is on the table…" with respect to Hulu’s eventual ownership resolution (reminder, Disney has a deal in which Comcast can force Disney to buy its 30% stake for a set minimum price that would translate into around $9 billion).

Iger’s comments basically turned Hulu into a hot potato. Really dedicated VideoNuze readers will recall that almost 5 years ago, in March, 2018 I wrote “Why Comcast Should Take Control of Hulu.” Then, subsequent to Comcast’s Peacock reveal in January, 2020, I followed up with “Quick Math Shows Comcast Missed Out On Almost $6 Billion in Revenue By Not Buying the Rest of Hulu.”

Instead, Comcast/NBCU launched Peacock and will have lost over $5.5 billion on it just between 2022-2023. If Comcast does come back in and buy Disney’s 70% stake in Hulu it will rank as the #1 irony in all the years I’ve been in the industry.

And it would make Disney’s DTC future even murkier still.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (34 minutes, 46 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

Welcome to this week’s edition of Inside the Stream, the podcast where nScreenMedia’s Chief Analyst Colin Dixon and I take listeners inside the world of streaming video.

This week Colin leads off with highlights of smart TV innovations announced at CES. Then we discuss why Peacock streaming every moment of every event of the upcoming Winter Olympics is a big win for the service and also a milestone decision for parent NBCUniversal.

Finally, HBO and HBO Max ended the year with nearly 74 million subscribers, which we both shows clear momentum and how they’re moving past the decision to withdraw from Amazon’s Channels programs earlier this year. HBO Max is one of few subscription services that doesn’t need Amazon’s distribution strength.

Listen to the podcast (28 minutes, 47 seconds)

Browse all previous podcasts

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

Yesterday Peacock and NBCUniversal announced that every minute of every live event at the upcoming Winter Olympics from Beijing will be streamed on Peacock. In addition, full replays of all competition will be available on Peacock immediately upon conclusion. Peacock viewers will also have access to the Opening and Closing ceremonies, the studio shows and medal ceremonies.

The announcements are smart moves and allow Peacock to clearly communicate and promote that all events will be available on the service. It’s a big improvement from last summer’s Olympics, which had incomplete coverage on Peacock and where replays and clips of concluded events sometimes were delayed and/or showed up on YouTube prior to being posted on Peacock itself. The execution fell short of many Peacock viewers’ expectations.

continue reading