After stalling for the first time in this year’s first quarter, the number of U.S. households with subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) subscriptions rose by two percentage points quarter-over-quarter in Q2, according to Kantar’s Entertainment on Demand Service. Netflix’s share of households continued to decline in Q2, to 61%. Part of that is due to Amazon Prime Video, which grabbed the largest share of new U.S. SVOD subscribers (20.5%).
Marketplace
Media Companies and the Metaverse Paradox
Many media companies are still grappling with how many resources they should devote to their metaverse research and strategy. The latest data from Morning Consult shows that there’s still low awareness of the metaverse among U.S. adults; simultaneously, U.S. adults are more interested in entertainment-related activities in the metaverse than those related to other industries.
Netflix Aims to Launch Cheaper, Ad-Supported Plan in Early 2023
Netflix is angling to win over a new bloc of value-conscious consumers with a new ad-supported streaming package set to debut in early 2023. “We’ll likely start in a handful of markets where advertising spend is significant,” Netflix said in its Q2 letter to shareholders. “Like most of our new initiatives, our intention is to roll it out, listen and learn, and iterate quickly to improve the offering.”
Source: Netflix Aims to Launch Cheaper, Ad-Supported Plan in Early 2023
Facebook Shifts Resources From News to Focus on Creator Economy
Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook is reallocating resources from its Facebook News tab and newsletter platform Bulletin, as the company focuses more on the creator economy, senior executive Campbell Brown told employees in a memo. Ms. Brown, who leads Facebook’s global media partnerships, said the company would shift engineering and product support away from the two products as “those teams heighten their focus on building a more robust Creator economy.”
Source: WSJ News Exclusive | Facebook Shifts Resources From News to Focus on Creator Economy
It’s official: New music is SHRINKING in popularity in the United States
Current music in the United States isn’t just losing market share. It’s actually getting statistically less popular. That’s according to a new midyear report published by US market monitor Luminate (formerly MRC Data / Nielsen Music). It shows that ‘Total Album Consumption’ of ‘Current’ recorded music in the United States in the first half of 2022 fell 1.4% in volume versus the equivalent metric from the same period of 2021.
Source: It’s official: New music is SHRINKING in popularity in the United States
How Facebook Traffic to Publishers Has Changed
In May, reports surfaced that Facebook, eyeing market instability and a fierce new challenger in TikTok, was reevaluating its practice of paying news publishers to participate in its News tab. The reversal mirrored another change in strategy from the company when, in August 2021, it announced plans to further diminish the visibility of political news in its users’ feeds.
Viral Revivals: From Kate Bush to Tom Odell, Inside the Business of Oldies as New Hit Songs
In the case of Kate Bush, Warner Records couldn’t ignore 85 million global streams (this week alone) and re-serviced “Running Up That Hill” to radio. Without a sync on a cultural juggernaut like “Stranger Things” to open doors, artists and their teams are tackling this increasingly common scenario in a variety of different ways.
Source: Viral Revivals: From Kate Bush to Tom Odell, Inside the Business of Oldies as New Hit Songs
Americans Age 50 and Up Are Powering Streaming Growth
Americans age 50 and older are powering the growth of streaming video in the U.S., accounting for the biggest increase in time spent on services such as Netflix, Hulu and YouTube, according to data from measurement firm Nielsen. People 50 and over accounted for 39% of streaming watch time as of May, up from 35% a year earlier, the data show.
Source: WSJ News Exclusive | Americans Age 50 and Up Are Powering Streaming Growth
Midyear Music Report: U.S. Streams Rise a Solid 10.6% While Vinyl Growth Cools
Continued growth in streaming is delivering another upbeat year for the music business, both in the U.S. and globally, according to Luminate’s 2022 Midyear Report. But the report’s biggest surprise might be that a music configuration which has enjoyed more than a decade of growth could see its growth streak plateauing: the LP.
SVOD Cancellations, Additions Increasingly Driven By Price
As streaming’s explosive pandemic-driven growth has slowed and inflation has set in, pricing has become an increasingly important driver of subscription video-on-demand service (SVOD) subscription adds and cancels, according to research from NPD Group. Between October 2021 and April 2022, NPD’s surveys show cost having risen from being the No. 4 reason for cancelling an SVOD service to being No. 2, below content.
Source: Video Insider: SVOD Cancellations, Additions Increasingly Driven By Price