Netflix explores live sports rights, according to reports.
Over the past year, SVOD platform Netflix has changed in a number of ways in response to rising competition from powerful rivals, most notably by embracing advertising. The Wall Street Journal says that the corporation is now considering buying live sports rights if the price is right. The Wall Street Journal quoted people “familiar with the negotiations” in a report that was picked up by numerous media sites.
The information that Netflix is considering sports is not entirely new. Reed Hasting, the company’s co-CEO, indicated interest in acquiring F1 rights in 2021. More recently, the business has been considering tennis as a possible entrance point, a move that would mirror how Amazon made its mark in the industry.
If Netflix does enter the sports industry, it is unlikely to compete head-to-head with its major digital rivals for the largest properties in the world since Hastings is cautious about investing too much money. More likely, this will be an experiment to see how well sport can draw in and keep fans. Given the escalating expense of producing scripted content and Netflix’s increased capacity to manage two revenue streams, such a move would undoubtedly make sense. Click here to read more.
Disney+ keeps growing fast. But streaming loses $1.5 billion.
Disney+ subscribers increased by 12.1 million during the Walt Disney Company’s fiscal fourth quarter, contributing to the period’s overall direct-to-consumer (DTC) subscriber additions of 14.6 million. Although the corporation saw an increase in subscribers, DTC operational losses reached around $1.5 billion; however, officials expect these losses to decrease in the upcoming quarters.
Nearly 9.3 million Disney+ core subscribers were gained during the most recent quarter, an increase from the 6 million it added during the previous one. While the majority came from foreign countries, Disney+ added roughly 2 million domestic customers in the United States and Canada during that time. It increased its core base of over 103 million by 7.4 million worldwide Disney+ customers, a 38% increase from the number of core Disney+ subscribers at the same time previous year.
ESPN+ has 24.3 million subscribers at the end of the most recent quarter, an increase of almost 1.5 million over the previous three months. Hulu currently has 47.2 million members, comprising 42.8 million SVOD only users (which added over 600,000 in the quarter) and 4.4 million Live TV Plus SVOD subscribers (up by around 400,000 from fiscal Q3).
Disney expects continued subscriber growth for ESPN+ and Hulu, with relatively marginal increases in core Disney+ users. McCarthy emphasized that because it is influenced by things like content launches, subscriber growth won’t be linear every quarter. Click here to read more.
Apple’s Major League Soccer streams may come with ads.
The popularity of entertainment with ads is still rising. The Bloomberg article comes as other companies, including Disney+ and HBO Max, are getting ready to launch their own ad-supported services and as Netflix introduces its own ad-supported platform. In fact, some rumors claim that Apple is covertly looking into making its premium TV+ service ad-supported.
The action is also being taken as Apple makes clear that it wants to develop a reliable source of income from its advertising division. Bloomberg estimates that Apple’s ad revenue is around $4 billion annually, and corporate leaders hope to increase that figure into the double-digit billions.
The tech giant has been looking into additional opportunities to increase its ad revenue. Most recently, it changed the App Store’s rules so that “boosted” social media posts in apps that run on its mobile platform are treated as in-app purchases. The change has been interpreted as a significant blow to Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram since it allows Apple to take a portion of the app developer earnings from those posts. Additionally, the business just started enabling businesses to purchase advertising space on the App Store’s home page. Click here to read more.
YouTube Shorts now available on TV, as platform targets big screen growth.
YouTube Shorts films received 30 billion daily views as of the spring of 2022, and the business plans to introduce advertising to the format by 2023. In light of this, attacking the share of speech on large screens makes sense commercially.
“Shorts have transformed the way people create and watch video on YouTube,” said Neal Mohan, chief product officer of YouTube. We enhanced the mobile creator and viewer experience when we launched this new format. We’re currently widening access to the TV screen, which is our fastest-growing surface.
In terms of the user experience, YouTube conducted research that revealed viewing Shorts on a big screen might have special benefits. For instance, the larger screen makes them more pleasant to watch while socializing with others. Although it might seem like a logical next step, an amazing lot of effort and attention went into bringing this vertical, mobile-first experience to the big screen, according to Mohan. Click here to read more.
Comscore expands measurement partnerships with Scripps, Charter.
In the third quarter, Comscore maintained its position as a leader in audience measurement by strengthening its alliances with significant media organizations and showing positive cross-platform growth. This week, the firm and Charter Communications renewed their data license arrangement, with the cable giant increasing its support of Comscore from five to seven years.
In addition to Charter, Comscore strengthened its partnership with Scripps Networks and made it possible for 16 additional Scripps areas to use local currency. The CEO of Comscore, Jon Carpenter, emphasized the value of cooperating with large organizations like Scripps on the company’s earnings call on Tuesday.
Fox is another distributor that has added Comscore currency to its local advertising toolkit, providing Fox stations more metrics for identifying audiences. And today, Comscore announced it will integrate its viewership data into Simulmedia’s TV+ platform, helping advertisers more effectively run campaigns in the fragmented distribution environment.
The business stated in September that Comscore is also implementing a significant restructuring plan that will result in layoffs of employees. To reach a total of $149 million in operating expenses for the quarter, restructuring charges contributed $5.8 million. As it realizes the cost-saving advantages associated with the restructuring plan, Comscore anticipates a decrease in its core operating expenses in the fourth quarter. Click here to read more.
