Inside The Stream

Discovery revealed its three-step program to integrate Discovery+ and HBO Max. Should it stop at step 2? Netflix is trialing an upcharge for out-of-home sharing. Will the approach fly in North America?

Apple continues to tinker with its approach to Apple TV+. It is making the service available to Comcast customers in a novel way, streaming live Friday night baseball games, and dealing with the highest churn of its peers.

New data shows global SVOD subscribers will more than double by 2027, that vMVPD customers are super-streamers, and new measurement deals show progress toward multiple ad data currencies.

The streaming Super Bowl scored again this year, delivering a positive experience to a growing connected TV and mobile audience. And Paramount+ continued its strong growth adding 7.3M subscribers in Q4.

Disney+ added nearly 12 million subscribers in the recent holiday quarter, an encouraging sign that the Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ bundle is well accepted. But bundling also brings with it challenges in counting subscribers.

YouTube continues to rule the AVOD world, posting revenue of $29 billion in 2021. And Roku continues to dominate US connected TV, driving more streaming minutes than its top-four rivals combined.

At the Connected TV Advertising Preview: 2022 conference three key themes emerged: growth, new engagement strategies, and consensus on market challenges.

Netflix came up a little short on subscriber gains in Q4 2021 and is low-balling expectations for Q1 2022. But it will remain the SVOD category leader throughout 2022.

Sinclair, Apple, and DAZN are working to bring NBA, MLB, and premier league games to streaming audiences. And NBCU is looking to improve cross-platform ad measurement with a new partner, iSpot.tv.

In 2022, streamers will be able to buy NFTs on their TV, watch all the winter Olympics events on Peacock premium, and have video chat watch parties on their smart TV. All this, and HBO proves it doesn’t need Amazon to succeed.