Amazon is on track to exceed the tech giant’s internal target of $1.8 billion in upfront video advertising commitments, a person familiar with the financials has confirmed to Deadline. The strong buy-in from advertisers follows a move last January by Prime Video to start running ads on all film and TV titles in the U.S. and nine other countries, except for subscribers willing to pay extra to avoid ads. The streaming service hosted its first upfront event in New York during the traditional mid-May corridor ...

Disney+ has laid out how its password sharing crackdown – or what streamers calls “paid sharing” – will unspool and what subscribers can expect. In a blog post today called Paid Sharing on Disney+: Here’s What You Need to Know, it said the “features and capabilities” are now available in the U.S., Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region after launching in select markets over the summer and that it expanded the program this week. The streamer, as has Netflix with other platforms fo ...

Amazon workers will be expected to return to the office five days a week starting in January, CEO Andy Jassy has announced. In a message to employees posted on the company’s website, Jassy said he was implementing the change in order to help workers more effectively collaborate. The shift from a minimum threshold of three days a week imposed in May 2023 will take effect on January 2, 2025. Jassy wrote in the message that he felt the full-time in-person footing would benefit Amazon’s culture and help the co ...

Core Viewpoint - EchoStar's shares rose by 7% following reports of renewed merger discussions with DirecTV, highlighting ongoing industry consolidation efforts amid challenges from cord-cutting [1][2]. Group 1: Merger Discussions - EchoStar and DirecTV are reportedly in early discussions about a potential merger, which could create the largest pay-TV provider in the U.S. with a combined 19 million subscribers [2][3]. - Previous attempts at a merger were halted by the FCC in 2002, but the current market conditions may favor a deal [1][4]. Group 2: Industry Challenges - Both companies are facing significant financial challenges, particularly as they attempt to establish a wireless competitor to major players like AT&T and Verizon [2]. - DirecTV recently faced a 13-day outage due to a carriage dispute with Disney, underscoring the difficulties of operating as a standalone video provider [3]. Group 3: Analyst Insights - Citi Research indicates that there is still a strong industrial logic for a merger, as both companies seek to adapt to the decline in linear video subscriptions and enhance their streaming offerings [4]. - Analyst Craig Moffett believes that the likelihood of regulatory approval for a merger is higher now than in the past, but expresses skepticism about the potential synergies from such a deal [4].

As expected, Disney’s board has named director James P. Gorman to chair its Succession Planning Committee as the search for an executive to follow Bob Iger as CEO starts to heat up. Gorman joined the Disney Board earlier this year after having overseen a recent succession process at Morgan Stanley, where he serves as executive chairman following several years as the financial giant’s chairman and CEO. Given that background, it was pretty clear that he would be tapped at Disney to do the same. “James is a h ...

Netflix said it has wrapped up its upfront ad negotiations, posting a 150% increase in sales commitments over 2023, in line with company expectations. The presence of ads on the world’s leading streaming service is a new phenomenon, of course, putting an asterix on statistical comparisons, but the news is the latest sign that a major strategic effort is showing progress. After spending more than a decade insisting it would never run ads, Netflix reversed course in 2022, quickly ramping up an ad team and es ...

Disney and NBCUniversal are locked in a dispute about how much the former must pay the latter for absorbing the rest of Hulu. Disney late last year paid Comcast’s NBCU a previously agreed upon floor price of $8.6 billion and both sides had their own bankers calculating how much more, if any, was owed. Not surprisingly, their numbers diverged. Disney’s camp figured it was in the clear, NBCU’s that another $5 billion was due. As provided for in the initial contract, the dispute was handed to a third party, ...

Disney beat its own timeframe to reach streaming profits in an upbeat June quarter that also saw a big contribution from Inside Out 2. For well over a year, the company’s promised a streaming swing to the black in the 2024 fiscal fourth quarter but nailed it earlier, reporting $47 million in DTC operating income in Q3 (vs a $512 million loss the year before).   Disney+ and Hulu actually lost $19 million (on $5.8 billion in revenue) but that was more than offset by ESPN+. Disney+ and Hulu should turn profit ...

Disney will hike the price of most streaming plans as of October 17, the company said today, about a year after its last increase in the fall of 2023. Disney reports earnings tomorrow morning. Media companies across the board have been waging regular streaming price increases over the past several years as the DTC landscape rationalizes and there’s a push to turn profitable. Here’s what’s changing: The new prices will see Disney+ with ads rise to $9.99 from $7.99 a month. Ad-free will cost $15.99, from $1 ...

Core Insights - Fubo exceeded Wall Street expectations in Q2, reporting a loss of 8 cents per share and total revenue of $382.7 million, an improvement from a loss of 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year, with revenue increasing by 26% [1] - The company has 1.45 million paid subscribers, reflecting a 24% increase from the same period in 2023, and projects to reach approximately 1.8 million subscribers by the end of 2024 [1][3] Financial Performance - Advertising revenue rose by 14%, attributed to efforts to enhance visibility within agency holding companies during the start of the 2024 upfront season [3] - Fubo has increased its full-year guidance, expecting to achieve between 1.725 million to 1.745 million subscribers and revenue of $1.57 billion to $1.59 billion, excluding potential impacts from ongoing antitrust litigation [4] Legal Context - Fubo is involved in an antitrust lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, claiming these companies colluded to undermine Fubo through a streaming joint venture, Venu Sports [2][4] - A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled in federal court, with Fubo's CEO expected to testify [2] Market Reaction - Following the earnings report, Fubo shares, which have declined over 50% in 2024, experienced a 16% increase in pre-market trading [5]