Streaming Hasn't Won... Yet

Peacock Gets NBCU's Next Days

Although Comcast is in the curious position of owning one-third of Disney’s Hulu service, this week they moved all of NBC and Bravo’s next-day programming off that platform and over to Peacock.

This makes a world of sense in that it allows Peacock to be more closely identified with popular NBCU shows like Saturday Night Live, which is surely a gateway drug for many viewers who ultimately make the switch to full-time streaming.

It may also be a way to finally jump-start Peacock, whose subscriber numbers have languished compared to its rivals as it struggles to find an identity.

Given that much of that was due to simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Peacock has a chance now to zag while the other SVODs are zigging.?[READ MORE]

Streaming Overtakes Cable, Not All Of Linear

Nielsen put out some numbers this week showing that streaming viewership has ever so slightly nudged out cable viewership, 34.8% to 34.4%.

And despite the fact that we are talking about four-tenths of one percent here—well within the margin of error—you would think the sky had come crashing down from the way The Overwhelming Media Narrative has quickly become “STREAMING SURPASSES CABLE TO WIN STREAMING WARS!”

This from the same crew that turned a?subscriber drop of nine-tenths of one percent?into NETFLIX SUFFERS MASSIVE SUBSCRIBER LOSSES this winter.?

So there’s that and there’s the fact that streaming is only beating out cable channels, not all of linear pay TV.?

Factor in broadcast, which is, of course, part of the linear pay TV experience, and linear pay TV viewing is 20 percentage points ahead of streaming. (21.2% to be exact.)

Watching the Streaming Wars from an insider perspective has been a fascinating window into how misinformation spreads.?[READ MORE]

READ THE FULL WEEK IN REVIEW?ON TVREV

Featured Report:?FASTs Are The New Cable

The FAST ecosystem is massively confusing, even more so than when we first coined the term “FAST” back in?March 2019.

This report is designed to help untangle a lot of that confusion by walking readers through the?key issues.?There’s also a look at the future of FASTs, and Evan Shapiro’s latest map of the FAST ecosystem, created specially for TVREV.

In addition, you’ll find exclusive one-on-one interviews with key industry thought leaders.?

Download The Report

LATEST FROM TVREV

Building A Better Streaming Service For Latin American Markets?—?David Bloom

No matter where they are located, frustrated streaming viewers want?a simpler, easier experience than the industry is giving them now.

Nexstar’s Majority-Stake CW Acquisition Solves Problems For Everyone?—?John Cassillo

The deal is poised to have major implications for everyone involved, and solve a lot of problems in the process.

How LG Uses Data To Stand Up The FAST Channels Users Want Most?—?Alan Wolk

LG Ads Solutions?CEO? Raghu Kodige on how LG uses its proprietary?data to personalize the FAST experience for consumers.

NEWS YOU CAN USE

What Happens If Ads Aren’t Enough?

Nearly every streaming service will have an ad-supported tier by early 2023, but baked into those moves is a blanket assumption that doing so automatically boosts the bottom line. Will $3-5 fewer dollars really make the difference for those not currently subscribed??Kagan research says maybe not.

• Disney?touts its full array of networks and streamers to advertisers, but also doesn’t really offer consumers a discount – compared to the original Disney+ price – for ad-free, which could be an inhibitor for both new subscribers and for existing ones to pay to avoid ads.
• Plus, the deluge of ad tiers is?removing high-income households?from the audience pool, as they just pay to avoid advertising at every turn.
• Premium services are also increasingly competing against social video?and/or video content on smaller screens.

Featured

Cable TV Is Back ... Sort of?[Next TV]

While there seems to be much hand-wringing about how this could happen, there’s a relatively simple explanation: people actually liked old-school cable TV and the options it provided. What they didn’t like was the way cable companies treated them, the horrific customer service, the confusing bundles and packages, the sadistic interfaces, the ever-rising prices.

Zaslav’s Disappearing Act?[Puck]

Proven success is a phrase that’s come up a lot lately as Warner Bros. Discovery C.E.O. David Zaslav focuses on cost-cutting and debt service. Zaslav killed CNN+ (an estimated $1 billion saved) and Batgirl (a $90 million write-off), and has begun company-wide layoffs. But the penny-pinching maneuver that is most alarming to Hollywood’s creative community is his removal of some 36 series from HBO Max.

What If Streamers Adopted An Ad Revenue-Sharing Model For Original Programming??[Digiday]

Why not broaden the economic model a bit more by co-opting the rev-share model for original programming as digital video platforms have done? The streamers would pay a certain amount of money upfront to help pay for a project’s production, the producing company would cover the remainder, and then both sides would make back their money by splitting the revenue from ads running against the show or movie

Advertising

• A Leaked Presentation Shows How Disney Is Going Up Against Netflix, HBO Max, And Others For Streaming Ad Dollars?[Insider]
• What Happens When High-Income Households Opt Out Of Ads??[Marketing Brew]
• Large Ad Agency Networks Have Resisted the Economic Downturn—So Far?[WSJ]

Streaming Wars

• Ad-Supported Streaming May Not Lead to the Subscriber Boom Netflix, Disney Are Hoping for, Kagan Says?[Multichannel News]
• Nielsen Notices That Streaming Has Surpassed Cable Viewing ... and Other Silly Season News???[Next TV]
• Peacock President Kelly Campbell On Reclaiming Next-Day Premieres From Hulu, Doubling Content Spend And Spurring ‘Next Evolution Of Growth’?[Deadline]

Data & Measurement

• National Cinemedia Strikes Measurement Pact With iSpot?[Variety]
• In New Setback, Nielsen Says Its ‘Big Data’ Isn’t Ready for Transacting?[NextTV]
• Why The TV Industry Says Panels Are ‘In’ Again?[AdExchanger]

Sports

• DirecTV To Air Thursday Night Football Games In Bars, Restaurants?[Axios]
• NFL’s Dominance Grows As Preseason Games Crush MLB, Premier League, MLS?[Sportico]
• NBCUniversal Agrees To Sell Controlling Stake In NBC Sports Washington, Calling It A ‘Unique Opportunity’ To Divest?[Deadline]

Landscape

• TV Ratings: ‘House of the Dragon’ Is HBO’s Biggest Premiere Ever?[THR]
• Nearly 60% Of Americans Now Stream Video Daily On Smart Phones, Tablets And Computers?[NextTV]
• This Ad Network Is Sidestepping Esports’ Media Rights Problems With A ‘Many To Many’ Broadcast Model?[Digiday]

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