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What if Dario Amodei Is Right?

Streaming Frenemies: Amazon DSP Partners with Netflix as Trade Desk Headwinds Grow

Earlier today, Netflix and Amazon Ads announced a DSP partnership (link), three months after Amazon announced DSP partnerships with Roku (link) and Disney (link) at Cannes Lions. With the addition of Amazon, Netflix now has DSP partnerships with five companies, including Trade Desk, Yahoo, Magnite, and Google’s DV360. Despite Trade Desk Founder and CEO Jeff…

Elon Talks Starlink Phone. Disruption Looms for Telcos and Apple

On the All-In Podcast last night, Elon Musk addressed SpaceX’s $19 billion spectrum purchase, framing it as a step toward a “comprehensive solution for high-bandwidth at home and direct-to-cell.” With U.S. wireless prices climbing and EBITDA margins pushing 60%, the industry is clearly vulnerable to disruption and SpaceX has the brand power and direct-to-consumer model…

NFL Mystery: YouTube’s “Free” NFL Game Only Modestly Exceeds Peacock’s Viewership

One year ago, the second game of the NFL season aired exclusively on Peacock. Despite Peacock’s relatively limited subscriber base of 36 million, viewership reached 14.2 million (AMA, average minute audience). Note: the 14.2 million included broadcast TV airings in each team’s home market, a standard practice with all NFL games. We always assume the…

Spotify’s Product Keeps Getting Better: First Look at Messaging

While Spotify’s industry peers have largely abandoned iterating on their music platforms in favor of focusing on streaming video, Spotify continues to expand its content offerings, rolling out new features and innovations from podcasts to audiobooks to AI DJ and now messaging (see press release here). What makes Spotify’s messaging so interesting is that it…

Disney Goes Old School: Using Original ESPN Additional Network Playbook to Drive ESPN Streaming Carriage

ESPN launched ESPN2 in 1993, utilizing the power of ESPN and adding an increasing number of live games to drive distribution and carriage fees for the additional network. ESPN replicated that playbook repeatedly to build the sports network behemoth that exists today, including ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN HD, ESPN Classic, ESPN News, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network…

Shocking Difference Between ESPN and FOX One Authentication

The FOX One ($19.99/month) and ESPN ($29.99/month) streaming apps both launched today. The high price points for both apps reinforce that they are targeted at capturing a portion of the cord-cutter/cord-never universe. With the MVPD/vMVPD universe sitting somewhere between 65 and 70 million homes today, there are over 35 million households that have exited pay…

Ellison’s Bold UFC Move Surprises Everyone (But LightShed)

Paramount signed a seven-year deal with UFC to take all of its major domestic output, including the numbered fights and fight nights.  The deal accomplishes all three of TKO’s goals: bigger dollars, wider distribution, and meaningful cross promotion spanning broadcast and digital distribution.  LightShed expected Ellison to step up for UFC, especially after reading his…