The Take

Netflix has turned YouTube creator programming into a competitive licensing market by paying established creators to bring proven shows to its platform. YouTube’s responding with financing, brand opportunities, and preferential support to keep that programming exclusive, forcing it to pay…

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…

Disney is bringing Dhar Mann Studios into its content ecosystem with a 20-episode order that gives Disney+ access to a high-volume, creator-led production model built around faster development, frequent releases, and rapid audience feedback. The deal could give Disney a…

Netflix is making premium CTV access a bigger competitive advantage for Amazon DSP, The Trade Desk, DV360 and Yahoo as it expands programmatic buying across pause ads, live inventory, audience targeting and new deal tools. Supported DSPs can keep more…

Amazon's $2 billion Latin America investment will use local originals and live sports to drive audiences into Prime Video while expanding third-party subscriptions, rentals and purchases. By controlling discovery, billing and checkout, Amazon can monetize that traffic through advertising, Prime…

Charter Communications has closed its $34.5 billion combination with Cox, adding 5.9 million internet customers and giving Spectrum a much larger base to cross-sell mobile, streaming and video products. The added scale also strengthens Charter’s leverage with programmers as broadband…

Jackbox is testing a cloud-streamed smart TV service that turns its party-game catalog into an always-available living-room product, with free ad-supported games and a broader subscription offering planned. The model gives Jackbox recurring revenue opportunities across advertising and subscriptions, creates…

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…

Amazon’s making Alexa+ free on Fire TV to drive more conversational discovery and capture more viewing-intent data. The strategy gives Amazon more opportunities to influence what users watch, subscribe to, rent and buy before they enter a streaming app.