Business

ESPN and The CW are turning CW Sports into a broader distribution play, with more than 800 hours of live sports heading to ESPN’s Unlimited tier while CW entertainment programming lands free on The Roku Channel the day after broadcast.…

Skip explains that streaming services prioritize episodic content because it drives longer engagement, more ad inventory, and stronger retention than films. Shows extend viewing sessions, create repeat entry points, and generate multiple monetization cycles, while movies typically deliver a single,…

Fox’s Red Seat Ventures has signed a multi-year deal with Kill Tony to manage advertising, expand distribution across Tubi and Fox One, and build a subscription layer through Supercast. The agreement gives Fox end-to-end control over monetization across video, audio,…

Netflix is set to stream a heavyweight bout between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, with financing led by Turki Alalshikh, marking another step in its push into high-impact live sports events. The deal highlights Netflix’s strategy of delivering globally scaled,…

From the Archives revisits how CollegeHumor built an early “creator factory” with a structured, repeatable system for producing and scaling internet-native comedy, prioritizing consistent output, rapid iteration, and in-house talent development over one-off viral hits. As platform-driven distribution and monetization…

YouTube and creators like Dhar Mann are reshaping ad spending by offering brands measurable outcomes instead of just reach, turning content into a direct driver of traffic, engagement, and sales. Creator-led media operates as vertically integrated businesses that control production,…

Streaming services have lost the front door. Devices, TV operating systems, aggregation layers, and AI-driven discovery now shape what gets surfaced before an app opens, which weakens services’ control over selection, monetization, and ad pricing power.

Basics of Streaming breaks down content discovery as a layered system spanning metadata, OS-level placement, in-app UX, personalization, and off-platform triggers that collectively drive engagement. As content libraries expand and fragmentation grows, discovery has become a key driver of retention,…

Paramount-WBD’s $110 billion merger has shareholder approval, but regulators in the U.S., U.K., and EU now control how much value survives the process. State attorneys general add another layer of risk, while scrutiny around streaming pricing, bundling, content access, labor,…

Skip breaks down how CTV operating systems now control discovery, monetization, and viewer decision-making, pushing streaming services into a fulfillment role within OS ecosystems. As home screens become the primary interface, services are optimizing for placement and visibility instead of…