Scott Levine

Do not miss my latest article in OTTVerse on the the global growth of sports viewing on FAST/AVOD and how the consumption of sports content has undergone significant transformation!

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News is out that Beachfront is now part of Seedtag - but what does it mean? Seedtag is enhancing its contextual solutions to provide highly relevant and engaging content across all screens with: 🤝 Contextual Targeting + Premium CTV to reach highly relevant audiences with laser precision. 🍿 Expanded CTV inventory providing a broader range of premium CTV placements. 🔒 Privacy-first advertising that delivers putting user privacy regulations first. 💡 Deeper audience insights with more effective campaign planning and optimization. Ready to push the boundaries of #CTV advertising? Discover more: https://lnkd.in/eXsKpwBf #BeachfrontxSeedtag #ConnectedTV #ContextualAdvertising

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Country music's defining characteristic is typically its honesty and focus on authentic emotions and stories. And country music streaming is up 20% YoY. It almost seems like we should be embracing authenticity in our marketing strategies..... https://lnkd.in/gdiwsUcz. #authenticity #b2b #thoughtleadership #personalbranding

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The latest report from 2024-2031 Global Subscription Video Forecasts has just dropped some insights that will reshape the SVOD landscape as we know it. Here’s the inside scoop: 📈 The numbers don't lie: SVOD revenue is set to skyrocket by a staggering $117 billion over the next 8 years, marking a monumental shift in the industry's financial trajectory. 💰 From $109.6 billion in 2024 to a jaw-dropping $226.2 billion by 2031, the forecasted cumulative revenue growth paints a picture of unprecedented expansion and opportunity in the SVOD market. 🔍 Dive deep into the report, and you'll uncover a treasure trove of strategic foresight, illuminating key trends and growth patterns that will shape the industry's evolution in the coming years. 👴🏼 The secret sauce behind this revenue surge? It's all about those silver streamer (consumers aged 55+) adoption rates driving price increases that cater to their needs. It's time for the industry to tap into the potential of this demographic and watch the revenue soar. 🔥 But that's not all – the report highlights the crucial role of engaging and retaining younger consumers through innovative ad-supported models. This isn't just about today; it's about cultivating tomorrow's loyal subscribers. 💡 As the SVOD market matures, revenue growth is evident, surpassing the increase in subscriber accounts. The future lies in a sustainable market model that leverages efficient monetization strategies. 🌟 Tim Mulligan, lead video analyst at MIDiA Research, boldly declares that the unsung heroes of streaming TV – Apple, Comcast, and Paramount – are destined to outshine the rest. Paramount, in particular, is poised to beat the revenue growth rate by leaps and bounds, showcasing the power of premium IP and engagement tools in the quest for subscriber retention. 🔮 Looking ahead, Ben Woods, video analyst at MIDiA Research, foresees a pivotal shift towards profitability as TV streaming services explore ad-supported tiers to widen their revenue mix. The challenge? Captivate the entertainment spenders of the future and transform casual viewers into dedicated subscribers. In a world where content is king and streaming reign supreme, the SVOD realm is on the verge of an exhilarating transformation. Are you ready to ride this wave of innovation and disruption? 🌟📺🚀 ttps://https://lnkd.in/gfQGiztB

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📢 Exciting News! 📢 Check out the latest insights from Andrew Bunten, our COO of Video Entertainment, on how to boost subscribers and ARPU in the video streaming industry. In his article, he discusses innovative strategies such as super aggregation, enhancing user experience and leveraging data analytics to stay ahead in the competitive streaming market. Learn more from Andrew Bunten. 👇🏼 #Cybersecurity #Security #Video #OTT #Streaming #Irdeto

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At some point, all streaming TV services wrestle with the same agonizing decision: Extend a launch window and deliver a streaming app with unmatched performance and quality, OR launch anything and get to market ASAP. It's the difference between an app using native code vs. non-native, HTML5-based frameworks. But what if media services didn't need to choose? We experienced this with the recent launch of mitú on #comcastX1. Using pre-built, native components, we quickly developed the core app and implemented custom optimizations not possible with generic HTML5. It's truly the best of both worlds. The native components allowed us to fine-tune performance, exploit unique platform capabilities, and create apps that deliver highly responsive user experiences. Sure, it requires specialized skills, but user engagement and retention payoff are worth it. Most importantly, it helped our client differentiate in a crowded market and drive long-term growth. 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: You no longer need to choose. With the right expertise and a balanced approach, you can launch compelling streaming apps faster than you think—without sacrificing performance. Want a demo? DM me! ------------------------ If you found this helpful, consider reposting ♻️ and follow me: Mike Ryan

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Range Media Partners just raised big $$ from Liberty Global, Wildcat Capital Management. It's an M&A warchest so they don’t fall behind their peers.  Let’s break it down… BACKGROUND ON RANGE • Mgmt and prod co founded in 2020 by Peter Micelli and other top agents from CAA / WME / UTA • Goal = extend beyond trad film / TV representation • Has expanded into music, sports, gaming, digital, music pub M&A + CAP MARKETS HISTORY • Merged with film / TV prod co Automatik in Jan 2023 • Bought upstart athlete mgmt co Stoked Management Group in Sep 2023 • Existing investors incl Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures and A+E Networks (also has prod deal) NEW INVESTMENT • Last week closed significant minority investment by John Malone’s Liberty Global, TPG founder’s Wildcat Capital, and family entertainment co Playground Productions • Former CAA film finance exec Rick Hess, and The Forest Road Company were also involved (either as investors or advisors, can’t tell exactly from press release) • Use of Funds: M&A, scale in US, int’l growth, add more talent rep and prod services What you need to know about this deal 👇... It's not surprising when you consider all the other fundraising and M&A amongst Range’s peers in talent representation.  The influx of capital and high dealmaking volume is driven by a belief that outsized returns will go to rep firms who are fastest to scale, in a winner-take-most market. Because scale makes it easier to sign more talent clients, work with the largest brand marketers, hire the best talent agents and managers, package up the largest Hollywood projects, and launch the most exciting new talent-led ventures. Particularly in a world where scaled access to audience (which talent and influencers bring in a post ATT world) is the top driver in capturing share of high-growth IM spend, which is est at $7B in 2024, up 15% YoY. So it’s a race to the top. And that race is being fueled by large M&A war chests from big investor backers… Companies to watch here are: - Crestview-backed Gersh (just bought A3’s digital team) - Coral Tree-backed Loaded (just bought GG Talent) - Providence-backed Wasserman (13 deals in 2 years) - TCG-backed Night (just bought LFM and Roost Podcast Network) - The big 3: CAA, UTA, Endeavor And after last week, I expect Range Media to ramp up its acquisition activity. Particularly in athlete and digital-native representation. Curious to see what they do next with the $$. Will definitely add them to our buyers list as we bring more deals to market. —- I’m the founder of RockWater Industries. We do M&A and strategy advisory for media, agencies, and creator economy. My DMs are open. #media #agency #creatoreconomy

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UTA just promoted 24 new partners. What's driving this? Promotions can be part of a retention strategy as competition for talent, and their reps, heats up. Particularly when new firms like Range Media Partners, which was the result top agent defections from the Big 3 Hollywood agencies in 2020, are growing fast and raising growth capital (see my analysis 👇). Some questions worth asking... - How is the agency's employee retention rate trending? - How does the % of promotions compare to prior years? - What agency depts are seeing more promotions? e.g. fast-growing areas like digital? - What are the benefits of being a partner? - What type of commitment is required from partners, if any? - How does all this compare to peer agencies? Many talent reps are thinking through decisions about staying VS leaving at bigger co's, starting their own firms, staying independent, and more. This is important info to track. For both those starting out their agency careers, and more seasoned agency execs thinking about their next career step. #media #agency #creatoreconomy

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Some highlights from the recent discussion between Tony Maglio, M.S. (Journalism), MBA and John Halley on IndieWire about the Paramount Streaming success story hiding in plain sight: 🔵 "Here is the complete list of streaming services with more subscribers than Paramount+: Netflix, Disney+, and maybe Max. (Warner Bros. Discovery does not break out linear HBO from its Max/Discovery+ number.) That’s it." 🔵 "Pluto TV is unquestionably a success story." 🔵 "Paramount management has the streamer pegged to turn a profit in the U.S. in 2025. It’d be a shame to close something that has lost billions of dollars right before it starts to make money." 🔵 "Per a recent Antenna study, in 2023, Paramount+ had 13 percent of all U.S. premium-SVOD subscriptions, second only to Hulu and Netflix." A differentiated #strategy and superior #execution are paying off for Paramount Global in a scaled global direct-to-consumer business.

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On the heels of the Walmart acquisition of VIZIO, Roku has partnered with The Trade Desk, allowing TTD’s customers with access to Roku's data to enhance campaign optimization for streaming viewers via ACR data. This is in line with Roku’s partnerships strategy and creating more demand and collaboration within their walled garden to drive yield with enhanced audience precision, but this behind the velvet rope of PMP deals. What makes this interesting is that this play an important role with #CTV activation, but we cannot lose sight of the Roku data accounts for 38% of the US streaming hours and the wide array of companies participating in the Roku Measurement Partner Program, where Roku’s first-party data provides measurement partners a privacy safe, identity backbone – allowing for better coverage and accuracy when it comes to campaign reporting, verification, brand safety assessment and other measurement use cases. #CTV #Streaming #Inscape #Measurement #DataTargeting https://lnkd.in/eDRGGnDr

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Post-podcast bubble it looks like deals are being made again for real businesses. The PodX model is to roll up profitable audio businesses with real revenue. Given that greed and fantasy led everyone to imagine their loss-making audio division was the next Tesla, or that their revenue alone was worth multiples of total valuation, it’s good for the industry that sanity and hard cash is returning. After pets dot com and the yo app there came Amazon and Tik Tok. From what I know of the podx people they are savvy, and the Swedes know a thing or two about audio. #podcast #business #uk https://lnkd.in/gU-MCkVT

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Announcing our commitment to enabling clients to buy Roku #CTV inventory the way they want with all the necessary signals and data

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The use of #HDMI CEC is an innovative way to hit an extremely targeted market, especially in the gaming industry. It'll be interesting to see how receptive consumers will be to this and what companies jump on board first. #RokuTV #TargetMarket

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This is such a wonderful news to learn that Connected TV is gaining traction in this marketing world. Honestly, everytime I see a brand buying the tiny bottom footer of the top header banners with illegible fonts and images on mobile, I cringe and almost want to scream. Cheap CPM and CPC is not about sacrificing your brand image to chase the reach figure. A reach is nothing to your potential customer is you can’t even communicate your message clearly and standout from the crowd. Time to rethink everyone? What metrics matter most? Ultimate is always the revenue and margins, not your reach and frequency figures. When will we shake off this mindset?

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Prime an outlier in SVOD churn "Parks Associates’ most recent churn data, from its quarterly consumer survey of 8,000 internet households, shows that Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios has a churn rate of 8%, while Discovery+ is nearly at 43%." As the article mentions, there's a unique reason why Prime has lower #churnrate "Amazon Prime Video has held the lowest churn rate for the last two years because it is included with Prime." Prime perhaps shouldn't even be considered in the churn analysis. It's because, despite being the third largest SVOD/AVOD #streamingplatform it's totally different beast to its competitors. It’s an add-on to Prime, and not a standalone product. This provides distortion to the natural market dynamics, and a lot of protection for Prime in terms of churn. The more interesting aspect of the news is "Netflix continues to creep closer and reduce churn by adding more tiers of service and syndicated content." Netflix is the market leader in the space, and it seems they're going from strength to strength. In one area, via their pipeline, investment in local international content. But, that's only one part of a sustainable future. There's no point in investing huge amounts of money in production, if you've not got a sustainable base. Retention is as important as growth, and slow and stable growth with minimal churn is preferable to high growth but then high churn. Netflix's is diversifying its offerings, and cementing its position as the leading SVOD platform. One point that's surprising is that Discovery+ has the highest churn - isn't that HBO Max? It's no longer called Discovery+ or am I missing something? #television #tvindustry #streamingmedia #streamingservices #vod

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📈 Streamflation Alert: Subscription prices are rising again! In 2024, platforms are boosting prices for the second time in two years. Streaming services like Peacock, Max, and Spotify are increasing costs, often coinciding with major events or new content launches. 💡 Why the price hikes? Streaming platforms are adding more content and employing strategic moves to drive users towards ad-supported tiers, which generate higher revenue. For example, Peacock raised prices right before the Paris Olympics, and Max did so ahead of the new season of House of the Dragon. Bundling services are also on the rise, with companies like Disney and Verizon offering attractive package deals to reduce subscriber churn and enhance value. 📊 What's next? Analysts believe these price hikes are just the beginning, expecting more increases by the end of the year. The goal is to boost margins and gently push consumers towards ads and bundles, supporting the company's larger financial objectives. #TV #svod #streaming #bundle https://lnkd.in/e8-uYitV

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We're seeing a steady increase in the number of consumers and advertisers gravitating toward CTV and streaming. It's the fastest-growing advertising channel right now and is expected to reach $30.1 billion in spending this year. To succeed during this shift, advertisers will need to leverage their first-party data, focus on smart buying practices through premium channels, and embrace sound measurement solutions. #Advertising #DigitalAdvertising #CTV

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Heads up. Is there a new SEO in the age of AI? 👀👀 This study shows evidence of LLM’s being manipulated to increase viability. If true, there is an excellent chance to get ahead of the game now. Great breakdown in this tweet thread as well - https://lnkd.in/gw7zXcSP #ai #seo #llms #artificialintelligence

“Spotify is increasing its prices for the second time in less than a year. Investors have welcomed the move, reckoning that it won’t negatively impact on total user numbers and will help Spotify in its ongoing bid to become a profitable business.” “Many in the music industry have long argued that streaming subscriptions are under-priced. So, Spotify instigating a second round of price increases in under a year would likely be widely welcomed, if it wasn't for the streaming service’s sneaky bundling tricks causing a new controversy….” Read on - #Spotify #DSPs #Streaming #Songwriters #StreamingRoyalties #Royalties #MusicTracks #MusicStreams #Music #MusicBusiness #Musica #MusicIndustry #Musique #Musik #MusicBiz

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