Netflix‘s 18-month-old advertising tier has nearly doubled in size since the start of 2024, reaching 40 million monthly active users around the world. The streaming giant revealed the number at its first in-person upfronts presentation in New York. Last year, in a presentation conducted in a virtual format due to the WGA strike, the company said it had 5 million MAUs, and the number grew to 23 million by January. Netflix President of Advertising Amy Reinhard told the crowd that 40% of all signups now come ...

Netflix has snagged rights to an NFL doubleheader on Christmas Day, taking another leap forward in live sports, After this year, the streaming giant will carry at least one holiday game over the next three years. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Bloomberg reported the fee was less than $150 million per game. Rumored in recent weeks, the deal was formally announced by the league as it also prepared to release its entire 2024-25 schedule Wednesday night. Netflix on Wednesday is giving its first-ever i ...

As streamer bundling accelerates, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said today the  company will introduce a combo of Peacock , Netflix and Apple TV+ this month “at a vastly reduced price to anything that is in the market now.” Speaking at the MoffettNathanson Media conference in NYC, Roberts said the bundle, called StreamSaver, is a way to add value for consumers in a competitive market. It will be available to all broadband customers later this month, he said, and promised more details to come. The move comes th ...

Should Sony and Apollo get their hooks into Paramount Global their strategy would be to keep theatrical release output steady between both studios –not reduced– while cutting the more burdensome parts of the conglom, read auctioning off CBS, the linear channels like MTV and Paramount Plus streaming service. The news about theatrical output is per Deadline tonight, while the New York Times reported earlier that Sony and Apollo have plans to cut Paramount’s TV assets in their $26 billion bid for the enterta ...

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are breaking ground in streaming with a bundled offering featuring Disney+, Hulu and Max in a single package. The companies are aiming to launch the bundle this summer. The exact launch date and the price point have not yet been announced, but plans call for both ad-free and ad-supported versions to be available. The move is the first cross-company partnership for any of the top-tier services to come to market as the race to catch up with Netflix began in earnest about fiv ...

Core Points - The Anaheim City Council approved DisneylandForward, a $1.9 billion expansion plan for Disneyland, with zoning changes effective in 30 days [1] - The plan includes mixed-use development on 57 acres of parking and unused land, allowing for new attractions, hotels, shopping, and dining [1][3] - Disney CEO Bob Iger indicated potential new attractions, including an Avatar-themed area, but specifics remain uncommitted [4] - Disneyland's Parks and Experiences unit has seen revenue growth primarily from overseas properties, while Disneyland itself has faced year-on-year declines due to rising costs [4] - The DisneylandForward plan is part of a larger $60 billion investment cycle in Parks and Experiences over the next ten years [4] - Disney is required to invest a minimum of $1.9 billion in various developments within ten years, along with additional funds for affordable housing and local infrastructure improvements [4] Financial Implications - Disneyland's attendance and per capita spending have increased, but the CFO noted flat growth in the current fiscal third quarter due to post-COVID demand normalization [4] - Anaheim could see an estimated additional yearly revenue of $15 million to $244 million upon full buildout of the DisneylandForward plan [4]

Fireworks at Disney’s first-quarter earnings amid a bitter proxy fight quieted down in the second and the company’s commentary on a call today, especially around the parks business, generated some investor angst and knocked the stock lower. Disney shares are down nearly 10% late morning at about $105. Parks, as has been the pattern, was outstanding for the three months ended in March with revenue up 10% and operating income up 12%. But the future may not be as clear. The uptick was driven by international ...

Disney topped Wall Street forecasts for its fiscal second quarter and inched closer to the long-awaited milestone of streaming profitability. Revenue for the quarter ended March 30 increased to $22.1 billion from $21.8 billion in the year-earlier period. Excluding items, diluted earnings per share for the quarter increased to $1.21 from 93 cents. Analysts had been expecting revenue of $20.53 billion and earnings per share of $1.02. The entertainment direct-to-consumer operation finished the quarter in the ...

Partners Sony and Apollo have formally reached out to Paramount‘s special board committee asking to discuss a potential $26 billion offer, Deadline has learned. It comes as Par’s exclusive negotiating window with David Ellison‘s Skydance is set to expire. Paramount share jumped 12% on the news. Investors would vastly prefer a Sony/Apollo acquisition to a Skydance deal as it currently configured, even after Skydance made a revised offer, that was said to be its best and last, last week. Sony and Apollo’s o ...

Amazon beat Wall Street forecasts for profit and revenue in the first quarter as advertising continued to grow at a healthy clip. Net income increased to 98 cents per share on a diluted basis, up from 31 cents in the year-ago quarter. Total revenue reached $143.3 billion, up 13%. Both metrics were about 15% ahead of analysts’ consensus outlook. Advertising services, a category that includes Prime Video, increased 24% to $11.8 billion. As part of a broader push, the tech giant began running ads on Prime Vid ...