The Netflix episode "Woooooo!" This week, we discuss Netflix’s record Q4 earnings, their free cash flow of $6.9 billion for 2023, their growing AVOD business and their off-the-top rope deal with the WWE as they continue to dominate the industry. We discuss how the WWE deal with "scripted entertainment” differs from sports content, how it will expand Netflix’s advertising business, and what it might mean for a more significant content deal with the WWE when Peacock’s domestic WWE Network deal expires in March 2026.

We highlight new data from Netflix showing that 40% of all Netflix sign-ups are for their AVOD plan in markets where it is offered and the reason why Netflix plans to retire their Basic plan in some of their ad countries. We debate the growth Netflix could have with AVOD in the short and long term, especially with T-Mobile having just converted Netflix’s users to the ads plan in their "Netflix On Us" bundle.

Finally, we discuss what Netflix said about their shift in the mix of content spend, their historical bias to build and not buy content assets, why they are not interested in some of the big linear assets being shopped and the work they are doing to improve ad targeting, relevance and measurement.

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This week, we discuss the use cases for Apple Vision Pro and why it will not become the future of video viewing for consumers at scale. We also break down the Diamond Sports Group complex proposed restructuring plan, Amazon's commitment to make a minority investment, and the potential repercussions for Prime Video customers who will be able to purchase DTC access to stream local Diamond channels at a still-to-be-announced price. Finally, we highlight the deal between Qwilt and Cirion Technologies, which will result in Qwilt taking over the former Lumen CDN PoP infrastructure and running their edge cache software and cloud services across what was the Lumen CDN footprint in LATAM.

We also mention some executives with new positions, including Walker Jacobs at DAZN, Michal Tsur leaving Kaltura, Stephanie Mitchko at AMC Networks, and Courtney Sanchez at Tubi.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we break down all the latest sports viewership numbers from ESPN, FOX Sports, CBS Sports, and NBC Sports. We also highlight the new joint venture by YES Network and MSG Networks, the launch of an Innovation Lab by Major League Soccer and details around the Super Bowl stream, which will not stream in 4K on Paramount+ and will be in 1080P60 HDR. 

We detail the latest APRU numbers across the primary OTT services and why, with all the OTT price increases in 2023 and the recent launch of new AVOD tiers, the ARPU metric is becoming one of the most critical data points Wall Street is closely tracking. We also mention Fubo's $5/month price increase and Sony's latest stat that Crunchyroll has 13 million paid subscribers.

Finally, we discuss Netflix's 23 million global monthly active users for their advertising-supported plan and the stat that 85% of Netflix's AVOD subscribers are streaming for more than two hours per day. 

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This week, we review what's behind all the industry layoffs as companies reset the cost bar on CAPEX and OPEX expenses. With full-year 2023 financials in the book, some companies didn't hit the revenue, efficiency, and cost savings goals they had expected, prompting layoffs to start the year. We also detail how some vendors are restructuring their debt with Fubo, the most recent example, which will pay a higher interest rate in exchange for pushing debt out by three years and getting to profitability faster.

We detail the 2023 domestic box office revenue numbers, which topped $9.03 billion, an improvement on the $7.4 billion total ticket sales from 2022 and the great year that IMAX had financially. On the sports front, we discuss the NCAA's nearly billion-dollar handshake with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery's plans to continue to give away its B/R Sports Add-On for several more months before they start charging consumers. 

Finally, we mention some executive changes at VideoAmp, Prime Video, Brightcove and Edgio.  

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This week, I reviewed Peacock's exclusive NFL game stream with some users having a poor quality video experience and detailed why I think Peacock's strategy failed with their ad-free fourth quarter. I also break down the viewership numbers reported by NBC Sports and highlight how sports is a costly and unproven part of Peacock's subscriber acquisition strategy, with no ability to scale sports content globally.

I discuss, with numbers, why the rumors of Warner Bros. Discovery buying Paramount would not make sense from a financial standpoint since the deal would likely be a stock-for-stock deal, with the combined companies having about $60 billion in debt. I also detail how, from a regulatory standpoint, it would involve merging two of the five remaining major movie studios and two major television studios, creating a very high concentration of linear network ownership, including a significant consolidation of major sports rights. 

Finally, I highlight what changes I would like to see in the streaming media industry in 2024, including better innovation in the pricing and packaging of streaming content and more professionalism from those within the industry.

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This week we discuss, how in a blow to Amazon and DAZN, pay TV broadcaster Sky won broadcast rights to show a record number of Premier League matches in a new four-year deal. We also break down Paramount’s balance sheet to refute the reports they are nearing bankruptcy and highlight Peacock’s latest data of 30 million paying subscribers, their $10 ARPU, and their two upcoming exclusive NFL games. We detail Twilio’s announced layoffs and the shutting down of their Programmable Video product, a 17% workforce reduction announced by Spotify, along with Netflix's recent outage and the lack of transparency in their "What We Watched” report. 

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This week we discuss some of the latest news and rumors around bundling and aggregation of streaming services, the impact that wholesale rates have on DTC profitability, and the lack of data in the market to prove that bundling reduces churn. We also cover the viewership numbers from Prime Video's first NFL Black Friday game, Amazon's new licensing deal with NASCAR, and Charter's recently launched mobile broadband service that limits video streaming quality to 480p.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

Avi Saxena, CTO and Tyler Whitworth, CPO at Warner Bros. Discovery, join me for a detailed conversation about the technical video stack at Max. Learn how they approach the user experience when it comes to their apps, latency, adding live sports and news to the platform, device support, 4K, advertising, personalization, and how they measure QoE. We also discuss what’s ahead for the service, the technical challenges in ad delivery, expanding into LATAM, and the skills they are looking for when they hire developers and engineers across the WBD organization.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

Larry Allen, VP/GM, of Data and Addressable Enablement at Comcast Advertising joins me for a detailed discussion on how the shift in viewing habits to all screens is making it difficult to provide cohesive cross-media measurement. We discuss the impact of the loss of third-party cookies, the challenges and opportunities that exist with measurement at scale, including with FAST services, and the potential role of AI tech to fill in measurement gaps. Finally, we highlight why the industry needs a clear set of guidelines on how the industry wants to approach measurement across inventory owners and distributors to provide a common language for measurement cross-platforms.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week we cover all the latest news in the world of sports streaming tied to Apple, Amazon, ESPN, Disney+ Hotstar, Fubo, Max, Peacock, and YouTube TV. We also discuss content licensing and viewership stats across the NFL, NBA, Formula 1, and MLS. Some highlights include:

• Apple reported that they had more than a million viewers to watch the biggest MLS games this season and the rumors that Apple is eyeing Formula 1 as its next big sports investment
• The latest in the NBA media negotiations and why the NBA needs to package national TV rights with local-market rights
• Peacock's first-ever exclusive live-streaming NFL Playoff game on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, and what the viewership might be
• Disney+ Hotstar news that they hit 59 million concurrent viewers for the World Cup 2023 cricket finals on November 19
• NBC Sports latest stats on the largest streaming audience ever for a regular-season Sunday NFL game on NBC Sports (1.85M AMA) and their most-streamed college football simulcast (605,000 AMA)
• Comcast reported that Amazon's TNF games comprise roughly 25% of all Internet traffic on Thursday nights across their network
• Fox saying it has no intention of taking its premium sports content DTC any time soon, with cable revenues continuing to deliver a lucrative revenue stream for the broadcaster

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media