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Price hikes helped Disney offset subscriber losses: Disney remained relatively still in its earnings report, but the year ahead will have major shifts.

Streaming cancellations rise as costs climb: Major platforms like Netflix and Disney+ are adapting with new strategies.

Discovery's highest number of new paid streaming subscribers ever on a single day in Europe. There is, of course, the higher churn rate associated with households who sign up for a specific content, which is going to have to navigate. I think it's been quite clever there because it's offered a 399 deal.

Netflix reports strong Q2 growth: Subscribers surged to 8.05 million, with ad-supported tier driving revenues and engagement.

Why it matters: Sports programming remains a critical driver of subscriber growth in streaming, making control over licensing a powerful tool for companies like Disney. Competition off the field: DirecTV and Dish argue that the merger allows Disney, Fox, and WBD to bundle sports licensing rights, creating anticompetitive incentives.

What it means: Streaming is still a subscription-based business, especially for Netflix, which relies more on subscriptions than any other streaming service that sells advertising. But CTV ad revenues still account for about one-third of streaming revenues, and their share will increase over the next two years. 5. Streaming subscribers are leaning into ads.

YouTube Premium hits a subscription landmark: The service now enjoys 100 million subscribers after YouTube spent much of 2023 cracking down on ad blockers.

The networks within SpinCo will need to evolve to stay relevant, possibly by integrating more with FAST (free ad-supported TV) platforms, streaming bundles, or live event programming. Comcast is betting that focusing NBCU鈥檚 efforts on Peacock, NBC, and Bravo will help drive streaming growth, even as it prepares for potential subscriber churn following the next round of price hikes.

In what the retailer touted as a 鈥渇irst-of-its-kind partnership鈥� with Burger King, subscribers will now receive 25% off one digital order daily鈥攅ither in-app or online. Starting next month, members will also be eligible for one free Whopper per quarter with a digital purchase.

During recessions, consumers spend more time at home鈥攎eaning they place more value on television and streaming services as affordable entertainment options, per Oppenheimer analysts. The platform鈥檚 focus has shifted from subscriber counts to average revenue per user (ARPU). Its ad tier, launched in 2022, is a major area of focus for the company in 2025.

Eight in 10 US Amazon Prime Video subscribers will be ad-supported this year, according to our February 2024 forecast.

On today's episode, we discuss why Disney+ lost around 3 million subscribers, how much its new ad-supported tier can move the needle, and whether The Walt Disney Co. is more likely to buy the rest of鈥攐r sell鈥擧ulu. "In Other News," we talk about how connected TV (CTV) viewers feel about "enhanced" ad formats and what a new category of video called "accompanying in-stream" is all about. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Paul Verna.

On today's episode, we discuss what's going on with Netflix's ad-supported tier, what its plans to crack down on password sharing could do to viewership, and what Netflix's subscriber growth will look like over the next few years. "In Other News," we talk about fuboTV's current position in the market and what people stream the most on their TVs. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Paul Verna.

And those services continue to focus on converting their existing ad-supported users into paying subscribers. Today, the percentage of US Spotify users who are subscribers, rather than ad-supported listeners, continues to tick upward, however slowly: By 2028, 57.5% of Spotify鈥檚 US listeners will be subscribers, up just 1 percentage point from 2024鈥檚 figure. Read the full report, Audio Ad Spending 2024.

Well, this capability has always existed with streaming services and it was one of the selling points of moving away from the cable bundle into the streaming era.

However, the company hasn鈥檛 clarified how users would be charged, whether ad-free Reddit Gold subscribers would get access to paywalled content, or if moderators for those exclusive subreddits would be paid. Shifting toward ecommerce: Many subreddits serve as unofficial marketplaces for trading and selling items like clothing and shoes.

Global cinema thrives: Record openings, strong international performance, and theatrical-streaming hybrids signal a box office comeback.

The ad-supported share of gross additions for Disney+ increased from 45% to 58% YoY in May 2024, indicating a growing preference for ad-supported tiers among new subscribers as consumers seek affordable options. Our take: The changes could benefit both Disney鈥檚 ad revenues and advertisers鈥� ROAS.

OpenAI鈥檚 Sora, which generates videos from text prompts, images, and videos, is available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers and allows users to generate up to 50 videos at 480p resolution each month. Luma AI鈥檚 Dream Machine offers an intuitive interface and personalization features that could compete directly with Adobe鈥檚 Firefly.