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Streamers take Newfronts: Most TV networks and streaming services are focused on Upfronts, but Peacock and Roku will present at Newfronts this year as both services face significant challenges. Roku鈥檚 Newfronts plans come days after it announced the layoff of an additional 200 employees, the second round of layoffs it implemented in two months.

Industry KPI subscribers can immediately measure attention for display, online video, CTV, streaming audio, and podcasts, as well as gauge their performance against more than 400 industry benchmarks. See more here.

The news: YouTube accounted for 9.7% of all TV viewership in the US in May, the largest share ever for a streaming platform, per Nielsen鈥檚 "The Gauge" report. Netflix, the second largest, had 7.6%. Among streaming platforms alone, YouTube holds nearly 25% of the market share. Its 9.7% share was up slightly from the prior month (see chart below).

Netflix boasted nearly 5 million ad-tier subscribers during its upfront presentation in an effort to secure advertiser confidence in the offering. The increased focus on its ad-supported tier is a concession of sorts for Netflix, which maintained an entirely subscription-based model for years. 鈥淚 think [the move to AVOD] is going to happen kind of slowly,鈥� said Verna.

The 2023 Hollywood strikes prompted Netflix to prioritize unscripted content in 2024 (rival Max also brought unscripted content to its streaming service following the Warner Bros. Discovery merger). Our take: Netflix鈥檚 hefty spending on 鈥淪tranger Things鈥� and other costly originals helped it establish a reputation as a streaming service with high-quality content.

We expect 80% of Amazon Prime subscribers to be on the ad-supported tier this year鈥攁nd advertisers鈥� early successes on the platform could net Amazon as much as 15% of video budgets for the year, one ad buyer told Business Insider. Looking ahead: While Amazon鈥檚 retail business continues to grow at a healthy clip, the retailer isn鈥檛 entirely immune to economic uncertainty.

To keep subscribers locked in, Amazon is steadily adding more benefits: Members received access to fuel savings in October, a free subscription to Grubhub+ in May, and add-on subscriptions for prescription medications and grocery delivery. Events like Prime Day are helping both fuel sign-ups and cement Amazon鈥檚 role as members鈥� retailer of choice. Improving delivery speed is a priority.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how Netflix's ad business is coming along; the streaming giant's first live sports broadcast; and its new retail, dining, and live experience destinations. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Daniel Konstantinovic.

YouTube TV just passed Dish Network in total subscribers and is on pace to exceed DirecTV鈥檚 subscribers in 2025. By the end of 2025, only Comcast and Charter will have more pay TV subscribers than YouTube TV, per MoffettNathanson. Sources. MoffettNathanson.

As Charter Spectrum adds more of those links to streaming services鈥攅arlier this year it also announced a partnership with TelevisaUnivision to give subscribers access to Vix+鈥攖he threat to its longevity grows. But it鈥檚 between a rock and a hard place: Losing access to the flood of popular channels that streaming providers like Disney and WBD own would similarly eat away at their business.

A purely neutral media source may not appeal to all subscribers, especially in a fragmented political climate, and the paper will likely need to make the bias meter鈥檚 training data clear to gain readers鈥� trust. This article is part of 蘑菇AV鈥檚 client-only subscription Briefings鈥攄aily newsletters authored by industry analysts who are experts in marketing, advertising, media, and tech trends.

My AI鈥檚 expansion is notable as well: Initially launched exclusively for Snapchat+ subscribers, it's now freely available for all Snapchat users.

The news: Meta announced numerous updates to its messaging ad options, with a heavy focus on WhatsApp. Meta is expanding Ads Manager to include WhatsApp campaigns, centralizing multi-campaign management across its platforms. The feature allows businesses to upload subscriber lists to use Advantage+ to optimize ad budgets or manually choose messages for additional placements. Our take: The ongoing potential for divestiture could have significant implications for advertisers that rely on Meta鈥檚 ecosystem鈥攂ut the new features will still make WhatsApp a more appealing option for those that haven鈥檛 considered it as a key ad channel.

CTV鈥檚 share will continue to increase as more streaming ad inventory opens up. And as more buys are enabled by programmatic and its more precise audience targeting capabilities. CTV ads have substantially higher video completion rates than any other device format.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how this year will look as Google's cookies fade away, the biggest threat to Google's search dominance, how many consumers are moving to ad-supported streaming, whether Apple can move the VR needle, Peloton's content hub on TikTok, the first person to ever complete Tetris, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Ross Benes, Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf, and Max Willens.

Snapchat+ hits 3 million subscribers in part thanks to MyAI chatbot, while Snap focuses on partnerships and exclusive content to boost engagement.

PRO+ subscribers have access to Industry KPIs, our collection of more than 400 benchmarks in marketing and retail and ecommerce across a range of industries and countries. Click here for more information.

The feature lets creators offer exclusive content to paying subscribers, making TikTok a competitor to Patreon, Instagram, and YouTube Channel memberships. Subscription-based earnings for US creators are set to rise significantly, with revenues projected to reach $350 million by 2025, reflecting 27.4% year-over-year growth (see chart below).

What it means for Roku: For Roku, which already hosts events like Formula E racing and leads all FAST providers in viewership, securing MLB games would mark a significant expansion into live sports, potentially boosting its profile and attracting more subscribers.

In Netflix鈥檚 most recent earnings, it reported the slowest increase in subscriber numbers since it launched in the UK. Disney鈥檚 addition of an ad tier, meanwhile, was prompted by a sharp drop in global subscriber numbers earlier this year.

As retailers vie for subscribers, they need to demonstrate the value of their offering鈥攍ike Amazon's ecommerce, entertainment, and delivery infrastructure鈥攊n order to be worth consumers鈥� limited budgets. While 58% of US adults are Amazon Prime subscribers, far fewer are members of Sam鈥檚 Club (27%), Walmart+ (25%), and Costco (21%).

There are a lot of sort of bargain offers to Spotify for new Premium subscribers that give them access to a streaming service like Hulu or something like that. So, they are still doing a really good job at onboarding new customers.

It needs to add and retain just over 3 million new Snapchat+ subscribers by the year-end. AI features will be a major selling point for subscribers. Snapchat+鈥檚 success can be partly attributed to its subscriber-only or prerelease genAI tools, like My AI. X launched chatbot Grok to Premium+ subscribers in December 2023 via Musk鈥檚 company xAI.

I think about the transparency thing, which is apparently one of the most vicious fronts between these two sides, and what they got was essentially something that's great for the Ryan Murphys and the Shonda Rhimeses of the world, where if you have a show that gets viewed by more than 20% of the streaming services subscribers, you get a nice fat bonus.