CTV Roundup

Netflix is serious about getting rid of account sharing. But the backlash from subscribers might be more than Netflix bargained for.

In honor of National Streaming Day – an informal holiday cooked up by Roku in 2014 that takes place every May 20 – several streaming services celebrated by slashing the price of their subscriptions.

Host-read ads are a staple of podcasting, but they have a different – and compelling – flavor when converted into video form for podcasts that also have a video component.

Pluto’s on-demand streaming is rife with ad repetition and poorly timed ad breaks, whereas the FAST ad experience felt much cleaner – and much less annoying.

Just days after Nielsen won back accreditation for its panel-based national ratings, it stuck its nose in the air and declared its disapproval of the joint industry committee’s new video currency standards, which favor big data over panels.

Netflix flubbed its second-ever livestream, and blames it on a bug. But the fail raises a critical question about where Netflix belongs in the streaming wars.

The goal of the TV joint industry committee (JIC) is pretty clear. But another debate is surfacing in the space: Is the JIC really a JIC?

Tubi’s ad load felt fair, considering it’s free. But some of the streamer’s ad placements felt jarring relative to the content and, at times, the other ads in the pod.

Now that YouTube is barreling into the CTV space, legacy programmers are putting their collective foot down about what counts as premium content.

Hulu might have a tolerable frequency rate, but it also has a much higher ad load than many of its streaming service competitors.

Now that short-form video giant YouTube is entering the TV measurement debacle, fresh debate is afoot.

NBCU’s Peacock has more experience running streaming ads compared with some of the competition. But it’s also got an ad frequency problem.

It ain’t easy being a broadcaster these days. Or a TV tech company. TV budgets are getting cut, the streaming wars are raging, and the axe of supply-path optimization is hovering.

The TV term du jour is supply-path optimization. And SSPs in particular are under intense pressure to carve out competitive edges.

The Super Bowl has always been a promotional pageantry for brands – but this year’s ads were unique in that they clearly reflected recent cultural shifts in the US, including streaming.

Identity. Measurement. Clean rooms. Privacy. Each of these topics got plenty of airtime at our Industry Preview in New York City.

The Disney+ ad experience is still basic, but Disney has plans to up the ante on targeting and measurement in time for the upfronts.

Netflix and Disney are both building out a new ad revenue stream to court advertisers ahead of the upfronts.

Netflix’s content recommendations are definitely more personalized than the ad experience.

Privacy and measurement were overarching themes of CES. Not to say that the two don’t overlap.