Industry

From the Archives revisits AOL’s push to dominate digital video through AOL On, syndication, and Adap.tv, which helped the company become the No. 1 U.S. video ad property by impressions in 2013 without building a dominant consumer viewing destination. AOL…

YouTube’s fighting a UK proposal that could require platforms to give public-service broadcasters and trusted news organizations greater prominence, potentially limiting the algorithmic control that drives discovery and monetization. As YouTube becomes a bigger part of television distribution, the fight…

Skip argues streaming services shouldn't chase daily usage unless extra sessions improve retention, ad revenue, or willingness to pay. The better metric is how long a service can go between meaningful moments of value before churn risk rises.

Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon are widening the gap between ad-supported and ad-free pricing to monetize subscribers differently based on willingness to pay. Cheaper ad tiers help preserve reach and reduce churn, while higher ad-free prices capture more subscription revenue from…

Amazon and Charter are increasing their streaming leverage by owning the discovery, billing, and checkout infrastructure that turns audiences into paying customers, while MS NOW is moving the other way by building a direct membership business. As churn and acquisition…

Apple, Meta and Cosm are testing immersive sports experiences that could give leagues and other rights holders a new layer of inventory to reserve, package and sell separately from conventional broadcasts. The opportunity depends on contract language, but immersive, volumetric…

From the Archives revisits how Roku built an advertising business that could monetize streaming activity even when it didn’t own the programming or sell the ads. Direct Publisher expanded ad-supported supply, Audience Marketplace layered Roku’s first-party data onto publisher inventory,…

MS NOW will launch its first direct membership product September 9, giving Versant a direct streaming, billing and customer-data relationship after losing Peacock as a distribution path. The real test is whether MS NOW can turn its large cable, podcast…

The NBA’s media-rights reset redirected advertiser spending toward streaming, with Guideline estimating a record $2.1 billion in 2025-26 NBA ad spending and streaming capturing 41% of the total. Amazon, NBCUniversal and Disney can now monetize those rights across advertising, subscriptions,…

IAB’s updated AI Transparency and Disclosure Framework gives advertisers a standardized way to flag AI-generated content that could mislead consumers about authenticity, identity or representation. Brands, agencies, ad tech platforms and publishers will now need systems to track AI use…