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Streaming services are offering a multitude of bundles as they try to expand their ad-supported audiences.

Decoding Amazon's pitch deck: From Preferred Deals to Premium Sponsorships, Prime Video aims to set new standards in ad-supported streaming.

Apple's 13 Oscar nominations for 'Killers' and 'Napoleon' underscore its $700 million film investment: The strategy enriches its Hollywood presence and streaming allure.

The mobile-only plan with ad-free music and limited offline listening didn鈥檛 get a wide release perhaps to avoid losing higher-paying subscribers. Amazon鈥檚 Prime video-only subscription has almost no marketing and has been absent from investor calls since its 2016 introduction, indicating that the video-only version may have hurt core Prime memberships.

Netflix exceeds Q1 forecasts with strong earnings and subscriber growth: Shifts reporting focus from subscriber numbers to revenue and engagement starting 2025.

Netflix hits 238 million members in Q2 after account-sharing purge: The streaming service saw revenues rise 2.7% despite a quarter of ups and downs.

Sunday Ticket propels YouTube TV to 48% growth: The pay TV service has seen subscriptions jump significantly since it acquired the costly streaming rights.

That鈥檚 active users and not subscribers, meaning the figure includes viewers on the same account. After a rough first quarter with low ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) adoption that saw Netflix fail to meet expectations with its first advertisers, Bloomberg reports that Netflix is now properly delivering on its viewership estimates.

After DirecTV held the Sunday Ticket rights for so long, the league had been seeking a relationship with a streaming provider. The price tag: The deal's specifics were still being worked out as of Tuesday, but The New York Times reports the final deal could cost Google about $2.5 billion.

HBO and Discovery+ going to the 鈥淢ax鈥�: Combined streaming service kicking off in May will bring new business leads for advertisers. Read online.

Looking ahead: Netflix will dominate paid streaming in Latin America. While new players have emerged on the scene, the global giant will remain victorious in this year鈥檚 streaming wars, according to our latest forecast. We estimate that 79.4% of sub OTT viewers, or 142.9 million people in Latin America, will watch Netflix at least once per month.

On today's episode, we discuss what to make of Meta's new Threads app, whether the internet is becoming more like TikTok, the argument against "click to cancel," ad-supported versus ad-free video streaming, how shipping works, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood and analysts Zach Goldner, and Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf.

Global streaming paid memberships rose 4.9%鈥攈igher than Q4's 4.0% growth. 1.75 million new global streaming paid memberships was far lower than 7.66 million in Q4, but outperformed the three preceding quarters. The first two quarters of 2022 resulted in negative net additions.

On today's special episode, we continue our monthly show where we discuss the biggest trends of the moment and the newest research, sprinkle in some analysis, and bundle it up into a quiz. Every month, three of our analysts representing their respective coverage area teams compete against each other. (We also encourage you to play along at home.) We鈥檒l keep a running score all year and crown a winning team at the end of the year. Today, we cover Americans' sentiment toward AI, how much Netflix's password-sharing initiative will boost subscriber numbers, how retail media ad spending dollars are moving around, and more. Tune in to the discussion with this month's contestants: our analysts Sky Canaves and Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf and vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti.

A more accessible and expansive Walmart+ membership will help the retailer to reach 29 million subscribers this year, while in-store retail media formats could boost ad revenues. A push into B2B, logistics, and international markets may also prove lucrative.

The number of companies generating more than $1 billion in annual US CTV ad sales more than doubled from two in 2020 to five in 2024. With ad dollars spreading out among services, a few streaming platforms stand out because of their heavy usage.

Google鈥檚 Veo 2 launch: Gemini Advanced subscribers can now experiment with its high-end, text-to-video generator, Veo 2, which was previewed in December. Users can create 8-second video clips on web or mobile. Veo 2 costs 50 cents per second, or $30 per minute. By comparison, OpenAI鈥檚 Sora is bundled into its $20/month ChatGPT Plus and $200/month Pro plans and can generate 8- to 10-second videos.

Why it matters: Streaming costs are climbing鈥攁nd viewers are already adjusting their spending. The average cost of streaming subscriptions jumped 22.2% YoY in 2023, far outpacing both pay TV increases (4.8%) and inflation (3.6%), per our analysis; In 2024, streaming subscriptions increased 12.6%, again outpacing both other measures, though less dramatically.

Netflix previously canceled its Basic tier for new subscribers in Canada, the US, and UK last summer. The ongoing phaseout is for existing subscribers. Kicking into gear: In January, Netflix stated it would make a concerted effort to convert Basic subscribers to ad-supported tiers.