Michelle Noon, founder and managing partner of private equity firm Clearhaven Partners, joined me for a detailed conversation on the current state of the financing market tied to valuations, interest rates, and balance sheets. Michelle discusses how operators and investors balance growth versus profitability, the importance of recurring revenue with high predictability, the true cost of debt and how the market is now rewarding companies for generating cash flow.
 
Michelle discusses how management teams are now being forced to focus on managing their capital structures at the potential expense of business operations and how this can impact focus and business results. Finally, Michelle lays out a perspective on valuation multiples based on various business factors, touches on how she sees the investments in AI playing out and explains why Clearhaven invested in SundaySky, Wowza and recently acquired Zixi.

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This week we discuss the latest temporary injunction against Venu Sports and what it may mean for Disney, FOX, WBD and Fubo. We also cover the latest pricing increase from YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket and new Sling TV and Verizon bundling options. We detail the layoffs at Paramount and the closing of Paramount Television Studios and how many in the media continue defining the "success" of streaming services while neglecting their financials. Finally, we highlight some Olympic viewing numbers across NBCU digital platforms and Disney’s new hire for their chief product and technology officer for entertainment and ESPN.

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This week, we recap details from the ongoing Sunday Ticket trial, including the news that the NFL rejected ESPN's proposed reduced price of $70 for the entire 2023 season for Sunday Ticket, along with single-team packages. Trial evidence also showed that Fox considered Sunday Ticket an "existential threat" to its business, asking the NFL in 2021 that Sunday Ticket not be allowed to grow more than 20% of subscriptions beyond its current level. We also discuss the contents of a second letter from House Representatives to Disney, Fox, and WBD about Venu Sports' business, deeming Venu Sports' response to their first inquiry "insufficient" on collusion, privacy, and pricing concerns. 

In addition, we highlight Private Equity firm Clearhaven Partners' acquisition of IP video transport vendor Zixi and CTV-focused DSP Madhive's acquisition of omnichannel marketing platform Frequence. Finally, we break down all the latest content licensing deals from Netflix, WBD, Showmax, INDYCAR, Rogers, Warner Bros. Discovery and the new advertising network from Google TV.

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This week we discuss the holy grail of of the streaming media industry, a single platform to aggregate streaming media services. With new Discover and Universal Watchlist  functionality from Plex and news from Verizon about their +Play platform to centralize subscription services, we debate what might really take place in the market. We also cover some streaming viewership numbers from March Madness, the news of Disney+ getting live content with Dancing With the Stars and breakdown some of the technical limitations of the MLB stream on Apple TV+.

Correction: The MLB games on Apple TV+ will be free for the "first 12 weeks", not just the first game like I suggested.

Companies and services mentioned: Apple TV+, MLB, Disney+, Plex, Verizon, Netflix, Peacock TV, NFL.

Questions or feedback? Contact: dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we discuss the complex streaming sports licensing business and the challenge sports fans now have in finding and consuming games from MLB and the NFL. With both league's doing exclusive streaming only deals for distribution, many consumers will now need cable or cable like bundles to get access to all games. With MLB on Apple TV+, Peacock, ESPN, TBS and some RSN services, it's getting to be a complex mess. The NFL is also getting more complex with Thursday night games now exclusive to Amazon Prime Video and won't be broadcast anywhere else, even in local markets. We debate what the impact could to the NFL and MLB when it comes to the future of fan viewership and engagement. 

Companies and services mentioned: Apple TV+, MLB, NFL, Amazon Prime Video, MLB.TV, Sinclair, Peacock, ESPN, TBS, MoviePass.

Questions or feedback? Contact: dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we debate the real impact that password sharing could have on revenue and ARPU of streaming services. We also try and decipher confusing data from Antenna on the conversion rate from free trials to paid subscribers. We question who’s watching AVOD services when so much of the content is old and not exclusive to any single platform and discuss what the financial impact could be to OTT services when adding a lower priced ad-supported tier. And we touch on the launch of CNN+ and wonder who the target demographic is for the service when so much news content is now just commentary.

Companies and services mentioned: Netflix, Antenna, YouTube TV, Pluto TV, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Disney+, CNN+, Roku, Xumo, Tubi, IMDb TV, Vizio, Discovery.

Questions or feedback? Contact: dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we preview some of the speakers and content that will be at the NAB Show Streaming Summit, taking place April 25-26 in Las Vegas. Hear what companies like Netflix, HBO Max, Paramount+, Disney, Fire TV, FOX, MotorTrend, La Liga, DAZN and others will be discussing and some of the main topics that will be covered in the program. We also discuss how industry conferences have changed since the pandemic, the role of hybrid events, what show organizers are doing well and what others need to improve on.

Companies and services mentioned: Netflix, HBO Max, Paramount+, Disney, DAZN, fuboTV, Oracle, Red Bull Racing, AWS, Salesforce, Korea Content Platform, Adobe, Dolby, Samsung, LG, Demuxed, Roku, Fire TV, Vizio.

Questions or feedback? Contact: dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we discuss the Apple and MLB deal and debate the importance of sports streaming to the content strategy of Apple TV+ going forward. We also highlight what the deal might mean for other sports streaming companies like Sinclair’s DTC service, which will have go-fenced games from some MLB teams and we talk about the difficulty consumers are having in finding sports content from one league on a single platform. The discussion also breaks down the news by Verizon of a new platform called +play, which will allow consumers to purchase and manage some of their favorite subscriptions across entertainment, audio, gaming, fitness, music, all with a single point of billing.

Companies and services mentioned: Apple, MLB, Sinclair, Apple TV+, MLB.TV, Netflix, Hulu, Verizon, Roku, Vizio, LG, Samsung, CNN+, Verizon Fios, Disney, NBCU, Peacock TV, YouTube TV, Amazon Prime Video, Antenna, FOX Nation, Sony.

Questions or feedback? Contact: dan@danrayburn.com

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For this special edition of my podcast, I sit down with Limelight’s CEO Bob Lyons to discuss the details around their news to acquire Edgecast from Apollo Funds in an all stock deal valued at approximately $300 million (1x Edgecast revenue) and to rebrand the combined companies as Edgio. We also discuss the current state of the CDN market including the competitive landscape, pricing trends, the expected mix of Limelight's revenue between CDN and security as well as what Limelight’s product strategy looks like going forward.

Note: The podcast was recorded the night before the news was announced, so any impact to Limelight's stock price on Monday March 6th is not covered. The new website for the combined companies will be www.edg.io

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This week we highlight HBO Max entering the live sports market with the news that they will broadcast more than twenty Women’s and Men’s National U.S. Soccer matches each year. We also discuss what Disney’s new ad-supported subscription for Disney+ might look like, when the option launches in late 2022. We also break down AppLovin’s acquisition of CTV platform Wurl for $430 million, based on projected 2023 revenue of $75 million and the challenges and opportunities for the entire CTV market going forward. 

Companies and services mentioned: HBO Max, WarnerMedia, Netflix, Turner Sports, Disney+, Paramount+, Netflix, Vizio, Pluto TV, AppLovin, Wurl, Human, fuboTV, Roku, Samsung, LG, NBC Sports.

Articles Mentioned
- AppLovin, which announced their plans to acquire Wurl for $430 million has now disclosed Wurl revenue. Wurl is projected to do $75 million in revenue by 2023.

- Vizio Q4 Earnings: Platform+ revenue of $105.1M, up 74%; SmartCast Active Accounts grew 24% to 15.1M; ARPU of $21.68, up 67%; Total revenue of $628.8M, down from $734.3M y/o/y.

- Turner Sports and the U.S. Soccer Federation have reached an eight-year multimedia rights agreement that will make TNT/TBS and HBO Max the exclusive English-language home to more than 20 Women’s and Men’s National Team matches each year.

Questions or feedback? Contact us at dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we breakdown the 70,000 subscriber losses from Sling TV in Q4, the injection of $4.3B into DAZN and the upcoming soft launch of Bally Sports RSN streaming service. We also cover the key numbers you need to know from FuboTV, who ended 2021 with 1.13M subs and Discovery, who wrapped up 2021 with 22M D2C subs. We also discuss what’s behind so many streaming vendors slashing revenue growth projections for this year when compared to 2021.

Companies and services mentioned: DAZN, FuboTV, Sinclair, Bally Sports, BT Sports, DISH, Sling TV, Discovery, HBO Max, Sabio, Vidillion, Haivision, AVIWEST, Kaltura, Brightcove, Fastly, Vimeo, Agora, Limelight Networks, Akamai, Qumu, Hopin.

Articles Mentioned
- Discovery Q4 2021 Earnings: Gained 2M paying D2C subs, ended 2021 with 22M; Expects merger with Warner Bros. to close in Q2
- DISH Q4 2021 Earnings: Lost 70,000 Sling TV subscribers in Q4 to end 2021 with 2.49M Sling TV subscribers; Total revenue in Q4 of $4.45B, flat y/o/y
- FuboTV Full Year 2021 Earnings: Ended 2021 with 1.13M subs; Projects to end 2022 with 1.74M total subs; Total 2021 revenue of $637M, up 144% y/o/y; Net loss of $383M for the year
- Sinclair says the DTC “soft launch" of 5 Bally Sports RSNs with MLB teams is expected in Q2 of this year, with full launch and the addition of NBA and NHL teams to take place in Q3 of this year

Questions or feedback? Contact us at dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we breakdown the confusing streaming numbers given out by NBC Sports from the Super Bowl and cover what you need to know about revenue growth, profit/loss, market cap and revenue guidance based on earnings from Roku, Paramount, Fastly, Akamai and Brightcove. We also call out Phenix for their bogus ultra-low latency claims around the Super Bowl and the narrative they are pushing with the media claiming “sports streaming is broken”, when it isn’t. Finally, we cover the latest impact to streaming media related stocks which had another bad week, with some seeing big declines in their stock price.

Companies, services and people mentioned: NBC Sports, Peacock TV, Paramount+, AMC Networks, Roku, Akamai, Fastly, Brightcove, Kaltura, Phenix, Chas Mastin, Alex Zambelli, Will Law, Catie Keck.

Articles Mentioned
- Q4 Earnings: Key Numbers From Brightcove, Akamai, Fastly, Cloudflare and Vimeo
- NBC Sports Confusing Super Bowl Streaming Numbers
- The Super Bowl Didn’t Offer Ultra-Low Latency Streaming Because There Was No Business Value In Offering It

Questions or feedback? Contact us at dan@danrayburn.com

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we discuss some of Netflix's latest data on its ad-supported business, including usage, monthly active users and the news that it will launch an ad tech platform to control its ad buying, placement, and targeting. We also cover news from YouTube's Brandcast, announcing that viewers watch more than 1 billion hours of content on TV screens daily. We discuss why FOX's CEO said 90% of viewing time on Tubi comes from VOD content, not their FAST channels and why I think FAST won't be profitable for all but the major content owners. We break out the nearly 2 million live linear TV losses in Q1 across pay TV and vMVPDs and how consumers continue to move from a deep linear channel lineup to specific live content. Finally, we discuss why Nielsen's new Media Distributor Gauge is flawed in viewership data when Nielsen compares companies, like The Walt Disney Company, to single streaming services, like Prime Video. 

We also quickly recap earnings from Vizio, Brightcove, Akamai, WBD, and EchoStar and highlight a new patent lawsuit filed against Google regarding caching and content delivery methods dating back to Sandpiper Networks. 

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This week we breakdown earnings from Amazon, Meta and Alphabet including Amazon's disclosure of revenue from its fast-growing advertising business, AWS revenue growth of 40% and Amazon raising their Prime membership fee. We also cover Apple’s negative impact on Meta’s business, estimated to be in the order of $10 billion in 2022, and YouTube's ad revenue of $8.6 billion, up 25%. We also cover Brightcove's acquisition of audience insight platform Wicket Labs and Dolby’s acquisition of ultra-low-latency video platform Millicast.

Companies and services mentioned: Amazon, Meta, Alphabet, YouTube, Discovery, HBO Max, Starz, Brightcove, Millicast, Lionsgate, Apple, Wicket Labs, Dolby, AWS, Instagram, BT Group, WarnerMedia, Comcast.

Questions or feedback? Contact us at dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we breakdown Q4 earnings data from Comcast, Verizon, Apple, AT&T and Charter and discuss different pricing and bundling trends of OTT services. We also highlight new subscriber numbers given out on Peacock TV and HBO Max as well as the latest number of pay TV losses reported by the cable operators. We also debate the global TAM for streaming media households, estimated by Netflix to be 600-800 million, and question why if that number is accurate, Netflix is having trouble growing faster in low-penetration regions such as Europe and APAC.

Companies and services mentioned: Netflix, Comcast, Peacock TV, Apple TV+, Verizon, Charter, HBO Max, Discovery, Disney+, Spotify, AT&T, Hulu.

Questions or feedback? Contact us at dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we breakdown Netflix's Q4 earnings after watching the stock drop over $100 the next day, also causing new 52-week lows for stocks from Disney, Roku and fuboTV. We also discuss the proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, announced on the same day that the DOJ and FTC discussed plans to update and modernize merger enforcement guidelines, something that could mean more rigorous scrutiny of major tech and media transactions. Other news highlighted includes Limelight Networks earnings, the rumor of DAZN in talks to acquire British channel producer BT Sports for $800 million and fuboTV raising their RSN Fee in New England.

Companies and services mentioned: Netflix, Disney, Roku, fuboTV, Limelight Networks, DAZN, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Discovery, WarnerMedia, Amazon, MGM, Vimeo, Peacock TV, Apple, Amazon, NHL.

Executives mentioned: Bryan Walls, Eric Iverson, Eric Black, Lexie Knauer, Lisa Bennett.

Links to articles mentioned:

Netflix Q4 2021 Earnings: Added 8.3M subs; has 222M total subs. Forecasts Q1 2022 paid net adds of 2.5M. Full year revenue of $30B
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danrayburn_netflix-streamingmedia-activity-6890038907413876737-pHIp

Limelight Q4 2021 Earnings: Revenue of $62.9M, up 14% y/o/y, GAAP net loss of $7.7M; Total 2021 revenue of $217.6M
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danrayburn_limelight-networks-reports-record-fourth-activity-6890320324928634881-i2b-

Questions or feedback? Contact us at dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we talk about industry challenges with churn and retention and highlight some of the major problems when it comes to the methodology being used to compare services. We also discuss Netflix's recent price increase and the potential impact it could have on their subscriber growth. We also cover the recent sports licensing deals with the news that ViacomCBS secured the exclusive rights to stream English Premier League soccer; Sinclair announced a new distribution rights agreement with the NBA and we've read rumors of Apple talking to MLB. We also highlight new subscriber numbers from fuboTV, the growth of IMAX's revenue in 2021 and our take on the attendance numbers from the CES Show.

Companies and services mentioned: Netflix, ViacomCBS, Paramount+, Discovery, Sinclair Broadcast Group, fuboTV, IMAX, Vimeo, Roku, NBA, Apple, MLB, V-Nova, Disney, Salesforce. 

Links to articles mentioned:

Over 58% of OTT Services Surveyed Have “Limited” to “No” Insight Into The Main Reasons for Churn
https://www.streamingmediablog.com/2022/01/churn-retention-challenges.html

LCEVC must compete against all other standards, starting with AV1 which is a royalty-free codec
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6887822698634870784/

Questions or feedback? Contact us at dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we breakdown the latest HBO Max/HB0 subscribers numbers just released by AT&T and question how the industry should define sub growth. While 73.8M sounds like a big number, the service had 61M at the end of 2020 and won’t have day-in-date releases this year. We also debate some of the latest “estimates” released on vMVPD subscriber growth and highlight the challenges faced with vMVPD packages now averaging $65 a month. We also touch on some of the latest numbers given out at the CES show around Five TV device sales and Google TV adoption.

Companies and services mentioned: HBO Max, Fire TV, Peacock TV, Sling TV, Hulu, Disney, Netflix, Discovery, WarnerMedia, Apple, Roku, Samsung, TCL, Google TV, YouTube TV, fuobTV, Philo, DIRECTV STREAM, PlayStation Vue, ESPN+, Comcast, AT&T, Fastly, Cloudflare, Brightcove, Limelight Networks, Haivision, Kaltura, Qumu, Vimeo, Twitter, Akamai.

Executives mentioned: Jay Utz, Noah Levine, Robert Coon, Guy Paskar, David Belson.

Links to articles mentioned:

AT&T says they ended 2021 with "approximately 73.8 million total global HBO Max and HBO subscribers
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danrayburn_hbomax-streamingmedia-activity-6884528669679747072-gVXM

Growth of vMVPD Services Stalling: Sling TV Added Only 260,000 Subs in 4 Years
https://www.streamingmediablog.com/2021/02/vmvpd-stalling.html

Amazon says they have now sold over 150 million Fire TV devices globally
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danrayburn_fire-tv-is-on-the-move-in-2022-activity-6884522654821302272-BgbL

NBCU says that Premium Peacock customers will be able to stream every minute of every live event of the 2022 Winter Olympics, "All in One Place"
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danrayburn_peacocktv-nbcuniversal-nbcsports-activity-6884599211048890369-ZtmV

Questions or feedback? Contact us at dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we discuss how the industry gushes about video advertising growth, without really addressing the problems around personalization, measurement, formats and low CPM rates. We also discuss the growth of AVOD services and question how many can exist when they are offering essentially the same thing — a bundled offering of free networks with a lot of old movies and TV shows and syndicated programming. We also debate which content companies might get acquired in 2022 including Starz, AMC and ViacomCBS.

Companies and services mentioned: Tubi, Pluto TV, Starz, AMC Networks, ViacomCBS, TikTok, Noggin, Comcast, Sony Pictures, MLB.TV, Amazon IMDb TV, Roku, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Samsung TV, LG, Amazon, MGM.

Executives mentioned: Darren Lepke, Stephen Condon, Yueshi Shen, Andy Beach.

Links to articles mentioned:

Video Advertising Experiences Got More Annoying and More Frequent in 2021
https://www.streamingmediablog.com/2021/12/video-ad-experiences.html

Streaming wars drive media groups to spend more than $100bn on new content
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danrayburn_streaming-wars-drive-media-groups-to-spend-activity-6882089080708972544-c7D1

Ad-Supported Video On Demand Is The TV Disruptor For 2022
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeremiahmcmillan_ad-supported-video-on-demand-is-the-tv-disruptor-activity-6881641152739733504--dKA

Questions or feedback? Contact us at dan@danrayburn.com

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This week we discuss the problem with Nielsen's reporting and how the industry should define churn and retention; the importance of HBO Max and Disney defaulting to a single video stack; how some vendors are overestimating their valuations; and why Roku and Google's dispute isn't over.

Companies and services mentioned: Roku, Google, Disney Streaming Services, Hulu, HBO Max, NFL, ESPN, Amazon, NFL, YouTube, WarnerMedia, Discovery, Nielsen, SiriusXM, Vudu, Hive Streaming, Firstlight Media, Vimeo, Mux, Hopin, Brightcove, Fastly, Panopto.

Executives mentioned: Joseph Inzerillo, Jonathan Stock, Rick McConnell, Mike Green, Nathan Veer, Doug Castoldi, Tony Miranz.

Questions or feedback? Contact us at dan@danrayburn.com

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With all the recent sports streaming news, co-host Mark Donnigan and I did a special “Sports Streaming Podcast Episode” this week. We discuss the upcoming Venu Sports offering (Disney/WBD/FOX sports JV) and the limitations we expect the service to have when it launches. We weigh in on some of the tech behind the scenes and consider whether a 'beta' label could soften the blow for fans expecting a fully polished service from day one.

We also cover Netflix’s deal with the NFL, including its importance as the first global licensing deal with no blackout restrictions and how the agreement is structured. Finally, we highlight the NFL's 2024 fragmented distribution strategy across broadcast and streaming, which is great for the NFL's revenue but terrible for fans. (Correction: I say on the podcast the games will be on seven broadcast networks and platforms, but it's ten or eleven, depending on if you separate ESPN from ABC and add in YouTube TV.)

Also briefly discussed are Roku's deal with MLB for Sunday morning baseball games, Sky Sports+ launching this August, and how, months later, Max's Bleacher Report (B/R) Sports Add package is still free for users.

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This week, we detail all the P&L numbers from the Q1 earnings across OTT platforms and streaming vendors. We highlight that while Disney+ and Hulu had an operating income profit of $47M, the rest of Disney's business didn't fare well, with linear TV operating income slumping 22% and linear network revenue across Disney’s portfolio fell 8% (excluding ESPN). We discuss why simply cutting costs isn't enough and that Wall Street wants to see growth, which is why Disney's stock was down 10% after earnings. 

We detail Vimeo's Q1 earnings but, more importantly, debate what the future holds for the company. While Vimeo expects an operating loss of only about $3 million for full year 2024, their projected revenue guidance means revenue would be down 8% to 4% year over year. We review all the infrastructure numbers from Fastly, Cloudflare and AWS, with Fastly breaking out revenue for the first time based on three services and lowering full year guidance, sending their stock down 27%. We also detail how AWS's growth rate puts it on a $100 billion annual revenue run rate. Also interesting to note was Amazon's CEO saying that AI will drive "tens of billions of dollars" of revenue in the next several years.

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Fubo’s Co-Founder and CEO, David Gandler, sits down for an in-depth discussion about their lawsuit filed against Disney, FOX, and WBD, its Q1 earnings numbers, industry challenges around content licensing pricing and bundling and Fubo’s goal to get to profitability in 2025. 

David defines antitrust, why Fubo believes the JV is anticompetitive and how the suit's outcome could impact the entire industry. We also highlight why so many carriage disputes are happening, leading to a fragmentation of sports content and an unfriendly fan experience. We discuss the pricing and bundling of vMVPD services, including how Fubo picks RSNs to work with and why pricing for OTT services never goes down.

Finally, David recaps Fubo’s most recent earnings, including its subscriber growth numbers, lower net loss, the recent reduction of its debt, and Fubo's operating plan as they work towards profitability.

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This week, we recap all the Q1 subscriber and P&L numbers you need to know across Peacock, Paramount+ and Roku, breaking down profitability, losses, subscriber additions, ARPU and free cash flow. We cover the latest cord cutting numbers from Verizon, Comcast and Charter, who lost 938,000 pay TV subs in the quarter combined. We also discuss some recent numbers from WBD about their expansion of Max in LATAM, Prime Video getting the National Monday Night NHL Games in Canada, and the latest RSN and sports news.

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This week, we did a mini-review of the NAB Show Streaming Summit and some topics we heard discussed around the difficulty in scaling streaming services for low latency and QoE. We also cover Netflix’s Q1 earnings and excellent user growth, adding 9.3 million subs, which was tempered by the news that they will stop reporting quarterly membership numbers and ARM a year from now. We highlight the latest rumors about Paramount Global, with it being reported that Sony Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global are interested in the company, and detail the restrictions and complications on the companies if such a deal were to occur. 

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This week, we discuss the latest news around Disney, including their plans to crack down on password sharing in June in a "few" countries and markets, with a "full" rollout in September. We detail how complex ESPN’s DTC offering is becoming, with Disney announcing that its new ESPN streaming service will launch in the fall of 2025 and will be offered as part of the Disney+ bundle, which will give Disney three separate ESPN sports streaming services in the market. We also detail sports news from Formula One’s US-based owner, Liberty Media, announcing a takeover of MotoGP’s parent company and the "rumor" that Amazon might get the rights to take over the entire NHL Monday night package from Rogers in Canada, including playoffs, for the remaining two years of Rogers’ contract. Finally, we highlight the NBA teaming up with Roku to launch its first-ever FAST channel, Diamond Sports Group renewing its distribution deal with Charter Communications, and DAZN announcing an exclusive deal with the PGA TOUR across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.

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Step up to the plate with us this week as we tackle the complex maze of baseball streaming. We cover the latest baseball streaming news with Fubo adding RSNs, Hulu+ Live TV adding the MLB Network, and discuss the terrible fan experience with some MLB teams requiring fans to access five different networks to stream games. We also highlight other sports news, including Peacock's exclusive streaming deal for the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in Brazil and Amazon's sublicensing deal with Viaplay to broadcast 38 live Premier League games a season in Sweden and Denmark. We break down the launch of Hulu on Disney+ in the U.S. for Disney bundled subscribers, and why we think the report that YouTube TV will reach profitability in 2024 isn't accurate. Finally, we debunk the ridiculous report suggesting that because Bitmovin's live encoder is now deployed on Akamai, it "raises M&A eyebrows" for them to be acquired.   

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This week, we detail WBD's planned international expansion of Max, which will make the OTT service available in 25 countries in Europe and 65 countries and territories worldwide. We also highlight comments made by the NFL's Chief Business Officer regarding the newly announced WBD, FOX and Disney sports JV, which is missing over half of all NFL games. We discussed the latest rumors regarding a potential sale of Paramount Global, with Skydance still conducting due diligence and having yet to submit a final offer. We detail the new YouTube TV multiview functionality on iPhones and iPads and Peacock's new upcoming enhanced four-view experience called "Discovery Multiview," coming in time for the Olympic Games in Paris that will be supported across smart TVs, streaming devices, web browsers and tablets. Finally, we discuss Kingsoft Cloud's Q4 CDN revenue, which decreased by nearly 10% compared to the previous quarter and some changes coming to Comcast's internal CDN.

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This week, we recap the key points from Q2 earnings involving media companies and vendors, highlighting DTC subscriber additions and losses, profit and loss, cord-cutting, WBD and Paramount writing down the value of their TV businesses, and highlight how media stocks have performed over the past 12 months. We also explain crucial financial terms like GAAP, non-GAAP, EBITDA, OIBDA, and EPS, making it easier to understand how these companies report their finances to Wall Street.

On the vendor side, we detail how security and compute revenue now represent 66% of Akamai’s total revenue, Fastly cutting full-year guidance and laying off 11% of the company, Brightcove and Kaltura’s revenue growth being flat and the challenges some vendors are having in growing their media businesses while continuing their efforts to keep costs down. 

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This special podcast takes you inside the NAB Show Streaming Summit with a preview of all the content, speakers and expert strategies you’ll learn at the event. Hear what the keynote fireside chats will cover with Paramount Global, Prime Video and NBCU. We also give an overview of the new AI Demo Track and break down all the sessions tied to sports, content bundling, churn and retention, and streamlining video workflow strategies. Finally, we highlight case studies from NFL, SiriusXM, Disney+ Hotstar, and Sinclair and detail why you can’t miss the day one Happy Hour event. And if you're feeling the sting of recent layoffs or seeking career growth, join me for an empowering talk on how to find a job, advance your career, set yourself up for success and stand out amongst the crowd.

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This week, we detail how SeaChange, which once dominated the cable TV operator market and had over $216 million in revenue, will have its assets acquired for $30 million. We break down the numbers you need to know from Fubo's full-year 2023 earnings, ending with 1.61M subscribers and reaffirming their expectation to reach positive cash flow and adjusted EBITDA in 2025. We also detail Paramount's full-year 2023 earnings, ending with 67.5M subscribers and DTC losses of $1.6B, forecasting profitability for Paramount+ domestically in 2025. Finally, we discuss some of the latest news from Disney, including Bog Iger's remarks about the mistakes they made around the launch of Disney+, including not having the right tech to lower customer acquisition and retention costs and acknowledging that the company is behind Netflix in terms of technical capabilities.

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This week, we break down all the numbers from Warner Bros. Discovery's full year 2023 earnings, including DTC profitability in 2023, exclusive NBA negotiations, international expansion of Max, and their disciplined approach to investing in subscriber growth, mindful of lifetime value to subscriber acquisition cost ratios. We also highlight why Fubo is suing Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery over their recently announced JV deal to offer a sports streaming service and the overlapping distinct authority that the FTC and DOJ have to challenge anti-competitive practices. Finally, we detail earnings from Vimeo, which projects only 4-8% of revenue growth in 2024 and Brightcove, whose projected 2024 revenue growth would be flat or slightly down over 2023.

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This week, we cover infrastructure news and Q4 and full-year earnings from Akamai, Fastly, and Broadpeak, highlighting overall CDN industry revenue growth, pricing trends, and Akamai's continued dominance of the content delivery market. We also discuss the Super Bowl stream on Paramount+, my 8.5 million AMA viewership number, and reported news that Amazon secured an exclusive NFL playoff game for Prime Video in 2025. 

We detail why Roku's stock is getting hammered, even with the company beating all of the street's expectations in their Q4 earning results with revenue up 14% year-over-year, active accounts growing 14% year-over-year to 80 million, and their achievement of positive adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow for the full year 2023, ahead of schedule. Finally, the plot thickens as we examine the Disney, Fox, and WBD streaming partnership, the DOJ's potential scrutiny, and predictions of how giants like the NFL might play their hand next.

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This week, we discuss the key numbers from Disney's latest earnings, including subs, ARPU and D2C profitability projections. We detail what the ESPN brand could look like with their comments that they will bring its ESPN DTC app to the market in the fall or late August of 2025, including integrated fantasy betting. We debate what their newly announced plans to offer a joint sports streaming service with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery means for the streaming and pay TV industry and why they made a $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games. 

Finally, we break down all the cord-cutting numbers from Comcast, Charter, and Verizon, highlight YouTube TV's subscriber count of 8 million and discuss MLB's goal of introducing a DTC streaming package that would include, at a minimum, roughly half of the teams, by 2025. 

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This week, we discuss the key takeaways from Q4 earnings across OTT platforms and streaming vendors, including Apple seeing a "huge opportunity" with AI, YouTube's ad revenue growth of 15% and AWS closing out 2023 with $90.8 billion in cloud revenue. We discuss new numbers released by Amazon, which spent $18.9 billion on content in 2023, of which "approximately $7 billion" was spent on Amazon originals and live sports.  

We also highlight the latest pay TV losses from Charter, nearly 1 million Xumo Stream Box's deployed, Plex's new round of funding, and Harmonic's update on the strategic review process of their video business. As Lumen officially shuts down its CDN and sells off some assets, we detail the history of its CDN business and its contribution to the industry for so many years. Finally, we discuss why 2024 is going to get a lot worse for layoffs across the video industry, streaming, pay TV, vMVPD, broadcasters, and content owners. 

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The Netflix episode "Woooooo!" This week, we discuss Netflix’s record Q4 earnings, their free cash flow of $6.9 billion for 2023, their growing AVOD business and their off-the-top rope deal with the WWE as they continue to dominate the industry. We discuss how the WWE deal with "scripted entertainment” differs from sports content, how it will expand Netflix’s advertising business, and what it might mean for a more significant content deal with the WWE when Peacock’s domestic WWE Network deal expires in March 2026.

We highlight new data from Netflix showing that 40% of all Netflix sign-ups are for their AVOD plan in markets where it is offered and the reason why Netflix plans to retire their Basic plan in some of their ad countries. We debate the growth Netflix could have with AVOD in the short and long term, especially with T-Mobile having just converted Netflix’s users to the ads plan in their "Netflix On Us" bundle.

Finally, we discuss what Netflix said about their shift in the mix of content spend, their historical bias to build and not buy content assets, why they are not interested in some of the big linear assets being shopped and the work they are doing to improve ad targeting, relevance and measurement.

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This week, we discuss the use cases for Apple Vision Pro and why it will not become the future of video viewing for consumers at scale. We also break down the Diamond Sports Group complex proposed restructuring plan, Amazon's commitment to make a minority investment, and the potential repercussions for Prime Video customers who will be able to purchase DTC access to stream local Diamond channels at a still-to-be-announced price. Finally, we highlight the deal between Qwilt and Cirion Technologies, which will result in Qwilt taking over the former Lumen CDN PoP infrastructure and running their edge cache software and cloud services across what was the Lumen CDN footprint in LATAM.

We also mention some executives with new positions, including Walker Jacobs at DAZN, Michal Tsur leaving Kaltura, Stephanie Mitchko at AMC Networks, and Courtney Sanchez at Tubi.

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This week, we break down all the latest sports viewership numbers from ESPN, FOX Sports, CBS Sports, and NBC Sports. We also highlight the new joint venture by YES Network and MSG Networks, the launch of an Innovation Lab by Major League Soccer and details around the Super Bowl stream, which will not stream in 4K on Paramount+ and will be in 1080P60 HDR. 

We detail the latest APRU numbers across the primary OTT services and why, with all the OTT price increases in 2023 and the recent launch of new AVOD tiers, the ARPU metric is becoming one of the most critical data points Wall Street is closely tracking. We also mention Fubo's $5/month price increase and Sony's latest stat that Crunchyroll has 13 million paid subscribers.

Finally, we discuss Netflix's 23 million global monthly active users for their advertising-supported plan and the stat that 85% of Netflix's AVOD subscribers are streaming for more than two hours per day. 

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This week, we review what's behind all the industry layoffs as companies reset the cost bar on CAPEX and OPEX expenses. With full-year 2023 financials in the book, some companies didn't hit the revenue, efficiency, and cost savings goals they had expected, prompting layoffs to start the year. We also detail how some vendors are restructuring their debt with Fubo, the most recent example, which will pay a higher interest rate in exchange for pushing debt out by three years and getting to profitability faster.

We detail the 2023 domestic box office revenue numbers, which topped $9.03 billion, an improvement on the $7.4 billion total ticket sales from 2022 and the great year that IMAX had financially. On the sports front, we discuss the NCAA's nearly billion-dollar handshake with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery's plans to continue to give away its B/R Sports Add-On for several more months before they start charging consumers. 

Finally, we mention some executive changes at VideoAmp, Prime Video, Brightcove and Edgio.  

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This week, we detail the key data and numbers from Roku, Comcast, Charter, Fubo, Vimeo, Harmonic, and Alphabet's Q2 earnings. We also discuss the most recent developments in content news, including Venu's pricing, the NBA agreement that permits Disney to air alternate broadcasts, the $4.7 billion antitrust conviction against the NFL that was overturned, and Diamond Sports' agreement to bring its RSNs back to Comcast's cable TV subscribers.

We also detail Netflix’s news that it is seeking to raise $1.8 billion in a new debt offering, Disney’s price increases, Dolby suing Roku, Amazon suing Nokia, Gcore raising $60 million in series A funding, and Dolby acquiring THEO Technologies.

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This week, I reviewed Peacock's exclusive NFL game stream with some users having a poor quality video experience and detailed why I think Peacock's strategy failed with their ad-free fourth quarter. I also break down the viewership numbers reported by NBC Sports and highlight how sports is a costly and unproven part of Peacock's subscriber acquisition strategy, with no ability to scale sports content globally.

I discuss, with numbers, why the rumors of Warner Bros. Discovery buying Paramount would not make sense from a financial standpoint since the deal would likely be a stock-for-stock deal, with the combined companies having about $60 billion in debt. I also detail how, from a regulatory standpoint, it would involve merging two of the five remaining major movie studios and two major television studios, creating a very high concentration of linear network ownership, including a significant consolidation of major sports rights. 

Finally, I highlight what changes I would like to see in the streaming media industry in 2024, including better innovation in the pricing and packaging of streaming content and more professionalism from those within the industry.

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This week we discuss, how in a blow to Amazon and DAZN, pay TV broadcaster Sky won broadcast rights to show a record number of Premier League matches in a new four-year deal. We also break down Paramount’s balance sheet to refute the reports they are nearing bankruptcy and highlight Peacock’s latest data of 30 million paying subscribers, their $10 ARPU, and their two upcoming exclusive NFL games. We detail Twilio’s announced layoffs and the shutting down of their Programmable Video product, a 17% workforce reduction announced by Spotify, along with Netflix's recent outage and the lack of transparency in their "What We Watched” report. 

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This week we discuss some of the latest news and rumors around bundling and aggregation of streaming services, the impact that wholesale rates have on DTC profitability, and the lack of data in the market to prove that bundling reduces churn. We also cover the viewership numbers from Prime Video's first NFL Black Friday game, Amazon's new licensing deal with NASCAR, and Charter's recently launched mobile broadband service that limits video streaming quality to 480p.

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Avi Saxena, CTO and Tyler Whitworth, CPO at Warner Bros. Discovery, join me for a detailed conversation about the technical video stack at Max. Learn how they approach the user experience when it comes to their apps, latency, adding live sports and news to the platform, device support, 4K, advertising, personalization, and how they measure QoE. We also discuss what’s ahead for the service, the technical challenges in ad delivery, expanding into LATAM, and the skills they are looking for when they hire developers and engineers across the WBD organization.

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Larry Allen, VP/GM, of Data and Addressable Enablement at Comcast Advertising joins me for a detailed discussion on how the shift in viewing habits to all screens is making it difficult to provide cohesive cross-media measurement. We discuss the impact of the loss of third-party cookies, the challenges and opportunities that exist with measurement at scale, including with FAST services, and the potential role of AI tech to fill in measurement gaps. Finally, we highlight why the industry needs a clear set of guidelines on how the industry wants to approach measurement across inventory owners and distributors to provide a common language for measurement cross-platforms.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week we cover all the latest news in the world of sports streaming tied to Apple, Amazon, ESPN, Disney+ Hotstar, Fubo, Max, Peacock, and YouTube TV. We also discuss content licensing and viewership stats across the NFL, NBA, Formula 1, and MLS. Some highlights include:

• Apple reported that they had more than a million viewers to watch the biggest MLS games this season and the rumors that Apple is eyeing Formula 1 as its next big sports investment
• The latest in the NBA media negotiations and why the NBA needs to package national TV rights with local-market rights
• Peacock's first-ever exclusive live-streaming NFL Playoff game on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, and what the viewership might be
• Disney+ Hotstar news that they hit 59 million concurrent viewers for the World Cup 2023 cricket finals on November 19
• NBC Sports latest stats on the largest streaming audience ever for a regular-season Sunday NFL game on NBC Sports (1.85M AMA) and their most-streamed college football simulcast (605,000 AMA)
• Comcast reported that Amazon's TNF games comprise roughly 25% of all Internet traffic on Thursday nights across their network
• Fox saying it has no intention of taking its premium sports content DTC any time soon, with cable revenues continuing to deliver a lucrative revenue stream for the broadcaster

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media

This week, we examine the Q3 financial results of OTT industry heavyweights Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, DISH, and Vizio, along with streaming providers Akamai, Brightcove, Kaltura, Comscore and Vimeo. We go over some of the most important conclusions, such as Disney+ having 5 million AVOD customers and ESPN+ making $33 million in profit. We go into detail on how WBD paid off an astounding $12 billion in debt this year and anticipates producing at least $5 billion in free cash flow. The company is attempting to position itself as an acquirer, as evidenced by the $111 million in positive EBITDA that their DTC sector generated during the quarter. We conclude with all the P&L data from streaming providers in the industry that you should know, including an examination of CDN77's remarkable revenue growth and the current macroeconomic environment's potential impact on the industry.

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This week we detail the Q3 earnings numbers you need to know tied to Paramount+, Peacock, Fubo, AMC+, Roku and Brightcove including subscriber counts and DTC profit and loss. We also draw attention to the roughly one million new Comcast, Verizon, Charter, and Altice pay TV customers who have cut the cords. We talk about the announcement from Netflix that their ad tier now boasts 15 million monthly active users worldwide; Harmonic's strategic review of their video division; Bitmovin revealing that their revenue for the upcoming year will be in the 30s million; and Nokia suing Amazon and HP for allegedly violating patents related to H.264 and H.265 video decoding.

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This week we break down the numbers from Netflix’s Q3 earnings, their content spend for 2024, what their ad business looks like today and the reasons why many are undervaluing Netflix's prospects for AVOD in the coming years. We also talk about YouTube's statement indicating that they most likely won't participate in the upcoming round of bidding for NBA broadcast rights and we highlight ESPN's newly released revenue figures. In conclusion, we discuss Lumen's departure from the CDN sector and the recent patent litigation filed by Sling TV and Dish Network against BritBox.

Podcast produced by Security Halt Media