Архив метки: TV

Fire TV launches a new dedicated Oscars hub that lets users predict the winners

Amazon announced today the launch of a dedicated Oscars hub on Fire TV where movie buffs can get ready for the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony, including watching all the nominated movies and casting their votes for Oscar winners via the on-screen interactive voting experience, “Oscars predictions.”
The new Oscars hub will live on the Fire TV interface starting today, March 6, until March 20.
The most interesting feature is the voting experience, which will be available on March 7. It allows users to select their Oscar winner predictions in the seven major categories, including “Best Actor in a Leading Role,” “Best Actress in a Leading Role,” “Best Adapted Screenplay” and “Best Director,” among others.
Users can access the feature by speaking into their voice remote, “Alexa, vote for the Oscars.”
After the Oscars ceremony is over and the winners have been determined, Fire TV users will receive an accuracy score, which they can then brag about to their friends. The day of the ceremony, March 12, is the last day that users can put in their votes.
The voting feature will likely be fun for viewers to play around with. There’s even an option to share predictions on social media platforms or via text message. The company says this is the first time it’s launching an interactive experience that lets viewers fill out an Oscars ballot and share it on social.
In addition to the “Oscars predictions” experience, Fire TV is also giving viewers a single place to find all the 2023 Oscar-nominated films and where they are streaming. So, whether users want to watch “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which is streaming on Netflix, or “Top Gun: Maverick” on Paramount+, they’ll be able to select the streaming app that has their desired movie.
Also, Fire TV users get access to a collection of Oscar-nominated movies throughout history, including the ones from last year. Users can ask Alexa, “Take me to Fire TV’s Oscars Collection.”
Fire TV is also giving viewers the ability to watch free red carpet coverage, interviews and post-show analysis. And, of course, the dedicated hub will feature the live TV streaming services that are broadcasting the event, which includes Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV, FuboTV and more.
The 2023 Academy Awards will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and be broadcast on ABC on March 12 at 8 p.m. ET.
Amazon received one Oscar nomination for its international film “Argentina, 1985.” The drama film “Women Talking” was also nominated, which was produced by the Amazon-owned studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

Netflix’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ is among the most nominated Oscar films

Fire TV launches a new dedicated Oscars hub that lets users predict the winners by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Fire TV launches a new dedicated Oscars hub that lets users predict the winners

Roku soars past revenue expectations as it bets on streaming devices to boost growth

Over a month after Roku announced its first Roku-branded TVs, which will launch in the U.S. in spring 2023, the hardware company reported its quarterly earnings this afternoon, which showed Roku beat its own revenue expectations, reporting a total net revenue of $867.1 million for Q4.
The company previously cautioned investors of a shaky fourth quarter, predicting total revenue at around $800 million, a 7.5% decrease year over year. In Q3, Roku had total revenue of $761 million. Analysts predicted a year-over-year decline of 7% to $804.19 million.
However, the company’s Q1 2023 guidance is still cautious of the current macroenvironment. Roku predicts a total net revenue of $700 million.
Also, Roku recently announced that it surpassed 70 million active accounts globally in 2022, an impressive milestone for the company. It had 65.4 million active accounts in Q3. For comparison, rival Tubi, Fox’s free ad-supported streaming TV service, revealed yesterday that it reached 64 million monthly active users.
Plus, Roku had a 19% year-over-year increase in global streaming hours, with a total of 87.4 billion streaming hours in 2022 and 23.9 billion for the fourth quarter.
Despite the growth in accounts, Roku continued to see operating losses widen to $249.9 million, compared to a loss of $147 million in the prior quarter. Due to the economic challenges, Roku wrote in an SEC filing in November that it planned to cut 200 jobs in the U.S. between Q4 2022 and Q1 2023.
“We plan to continue to improve our operating expense profile to better manage through the challenging macro environment while building on our platform’s monetization and engagement tools and partnerships,” the company wrote in its letter to shareholders. “Through a combination of operating expense control and revenue growth, we are committed to a path that delivers positive adjusted EBITDA for full year 2024. Our platform and industry leadership positions us well for reaccelerated revenue growth as the ad market recovers and the shift to TV streaming continues.”
The company added that Roku’s operating system (OS), which will power the forthcoming Roku-branded TVs, grew to 38% of units sold in the U.S. Q4 2022, per NPD. This means Roku OS continues to be among the top-selling smart TV OS in the U.S. The new Roku-branded TVs, announced last month, were another significant move for the company.
Roku recently closed a few deals with major companies to boost its streaming business. For instance, the company closed a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, getting 2,000 hours of movies and TV shows, including HBO’s “Westworld,” “The Bachelor,” “Cake Boss” and “Say Yes to the Dress,” among others.
Earlier this week, the company struck an exclusive programming deal with Pocket.watch, a kids and family entertainment studio, to bring more children’s content to the Roku Channel.
Also, Roku partnered with DoorDash earlier this month to give customers a free six-month subscription to DashPass and launched interactive shoppable ads for DoorDash businesses on Roku devices.

Roku ends 2022 with new milestone, tops 70M active accounts

Roku unveils its first-ever TVs designed and built by the company

 
Roku soars past revenue expectations as it bets on streaming devices to boost growth by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Roku soars past revenue expectations as it bets on streaming devices to boost growth

Tubi reaches 64M monthly active users as ad-supported streaming grows

Fox’s free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service, Tubi, reached 64 million monthly active users, the company announced today. The last time the company reported its subscriber base was in May 2022, when Tubi had 51 million. When Fox purchased the streaming service in 2020, Tubi then had 25 million monthly active users.
Fox recently reported quarterly earnings, which showed significant viewership growth at Tubi. Its total viewing time was up 44% year over year, with over 5 billion hours streamed in 2022. It’s likely Tubi viewership will increase even more since the streamer struck a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, gaining more than 2,000 hours of WB-branded content.
Tubi claims to have the largest free streaming content catalog, with over 50,000 titles and more than 200 live TV channels.

Tubi reports record growth, expands original content and linear channel offerings

The latest monthly active user figure was reported alongside Fox’s annual research report, “The Stream: 2023 Actionable Insights for Brands,” which shows an increased interest in cheaper ad-supported plans. The company predicted that by 2024, one in three U.S. consumers would stream AVOD (ad-supported video-on-demand). This is likely due to subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services hiking up their prices. Netflix and Disney+ were the most recent SVOD streamers to launch ad tiers.
Fox predicts that AVOD growth will increase by 9% in 2023 and 24% between 2022 and 2026 in total. Meanwhile, SVOD growth will remain “relatively flat,” the company wrote.
“As subscription costs continue to rise, nearly one in three streamers plan to reduce spending on streaming services this year,” said Mark Rotblat, chief revenue officer at Tubi, in a statement.
The report also stated that, within the past year, Tubi content was watched by one in five AVOD subscribers.
It’s pretty easy to see why AVOD services — especially free services — are becoming more and more favorable as they are closer in proximity to the cable experience, without the long-term contracts or hefty fees. Sixty-three percent of survey respondents said that free AVOD services are attractive because they typically offer more flexibility than cable and satellite TV and provide a more customized viewing experience.
Also, 45% of respondents said that they value streaming services with fewer ads. Tubi has arguably one of the lightest ad loads across AVOD services, citing between four and six minutes of ads per hour. However, the report found that less than one in five customers are still unsatisfied with the length of ad breaks on Tubi, but still prefer lighter ad loads compared to traditional TV, which has about nine or ten minutes.
For comparison, Peacock keeps the ad load around five minutes per hour. Disney+, Netflix and HBO Max aim for about four minutes.

Fox-owned Tubi expands its free streaming service to five Latin American countries

Tubi reaches 64M monthly active users as ad-supported streaming grows by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Tubi reaches 64M monthly active users as ad-supported streaming grows

NFL considers a cheaper Sunday Ticket offering on YouTube with fewer games

YouTube recently became the exclusive streaming rights holder of NFL Sunday Ticket, a sports package that was reportedly bid on by other tech giants Apple and Amazon. While YouTube will likely charge a high price for the NFL Sunday Ticket, there may be a more affordable YouTube offering for viewers that want access to fewer games.
According to NFL’s chief media and business officer, Brian Rolapp, the league is considering a “lighter” NFL Sunday Ticket offering on YouTube and YouTube TV that provides a select number of games for a lower price.
“We’re also thinking about, but haven’t made any decisions, do you create a new product? Do you do a lighter version? We haven’t made any decisions there, but you will see that. I don’t know if we’ll go team-by-team, but could you get fewer games for a lesser price? I think that’s all up for debate and conversation,” Rolapp revealed to the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand and Sports Business Journal reporter John Ourand in their podcast.
Rolapp noted that one reason the NFL struck a streaming deal with YouTube is so the league could make new changes to the Sunday Ticket product. “It’s been distributed for so long. I think there’s probably a lot of opportunity between the ‘all you can eat’ and free television. I think there’s a lot of room there to explore.”
YouTube wasn’t immediately available to comment to TechCrunch.
NFL Sunday Ticket is launching on YouTube and YouTube TV later this year. The company confirmed that it would be available as an add-on package on YouTube TV as well as a standalone offering on YouTube Primetime Channels. Notably, this will be the first time that Sunday Ticket will be available à la carte for viewers.
While pricing details haven’t been announced, it will probably be expensive. NBC Sports reported that “a TV person” estimated that NFL fans would have to pay around $300 per season for Sunday Ticket. DirecTV charges its customers $293.94 per season or $395.94 for the NFL Sunday Ticket Max package with extra content.
YouTube has to pay approximately $2 billion per season for the rights, The Wall Street Journal reported. For comparison, DirecTV paid $1.5 billion.
In Alphabet’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Google’s Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler mentioned plans to launch a feature on YouTube TV that allows viewers to watch on multiple screens at once. He added that YouTube TV customers would get new features specific to the Sunday Ticket experience, such as comments, chats and polls.
Updated 2/10/23 at 3:55 p.m. with correction to DirecTV prices.

YouTube secures NFL Sunday Ticket in landmark streaming deal

NFL considers a cheaper Sunday Ticket offering on YouTube with fewer games by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
NFL considers a cheaper Sunday Ticket offering on YouTube with fewer games

Disney+ reports its first subscriber loss of 2.4M subscribers, plans to lay off 7K employees

Disney’s first quarter with CEO Bob Iger back in command isn’t looking so good. Disney announced its Q1 2023 earnings today, reporting a total of 161.8 million Disney+ global subscribers, a decrease of 2.4 million subs from 164.2 million in the previous quarter. This is the streamer’s first subscriber loss since launching in 2019.
The drop in Disney+ subscribers was mainly driven by a decrease in Disney+ Hotstar subscribers. The international streaming service, available in India and parts of Southeast Asia, saw a decline of 3.8 million subscribers, down from 61.3 million subs in the previous quarter.
On the semi-positive side, Disney+ gained 200,000 domestic subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.
The results put Disney+’s 2024 target into question. Disney+ plans to reach 215 million-245 million subs by 2024, which could see streaming king Netflix, with over 230 million global subscribers, lose its crown. However, it’s looking like Netflix can relax — at least for now.
Notably, Iger announced during today’s earnings call that Disney will no longer provide subscriber addition guidance, the same move that Netflix recently made.
The subscriber loss comes on the heels of the company increasing the subscription price of its Disney+ ad-free plan to $11 per month in tandem with its new $7.99 ad-supported tier. For that reason, analysts were actually expecting a larger loss of 3 million subs, so today’s news is not entirely bad from that perspective.
Disney’s other streaming services, Hulu and ESPN+, had a decent quarter, gaining 800,000 subscribers and 600,000 subscribers, respectively. Hulu now has 48 million subscribers, and ESPN+ has 24.9 million.
Disney also reported an increase in revenue for the quarter, citing $23.51 billion, just barely beating expectations of $23.33 billion. Last quarter, Disney reported $20.15 billion in revenue. In addition, its operating loss among the direct-to-consumer segment narrowed, losing $1.1 billion versus $1.5 billion in Q4 2022. Disney plans to save $5.5 billion in costs.
As part of Disney’s effort to make its streaming business profitable, Iger revealed during today’s earnings call that the company is planning a significant restructuring, including job cuts. The layoffs will affect 7,000 employees. The company froze new hiring in November.
“I have enormous respect and appreciate for the dedication of our employees worldwide,” Iger said during the call. “While this is necessary to address the challenges we face today, I do not make this decision lightly.”
There have been rumblings in the media that Disney may be exploring the sale of licensing rights for its films and TV series to its competitors in a desperate attempt to combat streaming losses. If the rumor turns out to be true, this would be a significant change in strategy since Disney is known to keep much of its original programming exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu.
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) was the most recent major media company to license its shows in order to gain revenue. WBD struck deals with Roku and Tubi to license 2,000 hours of movies and TV shows, including “Westworld,” which was pulled from HBO Max in December.

Disney+ reaches 164.2M subscribers as it prepares for ad-supported tier launch

Disney+ reports its first subscriber loss of 2.4M subscribers, plans to lay off 7K employees by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Disney+ reports its first subscriber loss of 2.4M subscribers, plans to lay off 7K employees