Архив рубрики: streaming service

Auto Added by WPeMatico

Peacock grows its paid subscriber base to 15 million after pulling back shows from Hulu

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell revealed in a CNBC interview that Peacock added more than 2 million paid subscribers in the third quarter, bringing the total to over 15 million. The recent growth shows the streaming service is recovering from its slowdown at the end of the second quarter when Peacock stalled at 13 million paid subs.
Shell claimed the boost in subs stemmed from a strong content lineup, including NBC next-day episodes that Peacock reclaimed from Hulu.
“It’s really driven by the content…So all of our content that’s on NBC, Bravo, our other channels for the first time in the next couple of weeks is coming to Peacock where it used to go to Hulu,” Shell said in yesterday’s interview.
NBCUniversal announced in August that starting on September 19, Peacock Premium will get next-day access to current seasons of NBC shows the day after they debut on the linear network. Earlier this year, the company also took next-day Bravo shows from Hulu.
Paid subscribers can watch the hit franchise “Law & Order,” as well as “One Chicago” and other popular shows like “Saturday Night Live,” “Real Housewives,” “Top Chef,” “The Voice,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and “America’s Got Talent.”
Shell also confirmed that Disney is planning to buy Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu, as has been expected. “It sounds like [Disney is] going to buy it…It’s a great asset,” he said. “If it were put on the auction block, it would fetch a high price—it would be a pretty robust auction. We’d want to participate in the auction… that’s not what we anticipate happening.”
The company will lose a valuable asset once Comcast no longer owns a stake in Hulu. Peacock is behind its competitor Hulu, which has 46.2 million subscribers.
Expanding its content library and investing in more original titles appears to be helping the streamer get back on track — slowly but surely.
In addition to NBC and Bravo content, Peacock is investing in more originals to gain more subscribers. For instance, Peacock is investing in original films as part of its deal with Lionsgate. Also, the streamer recently announced its upcoming first original adult animation series, “In the Know,” starring “Beavis and Butt-Head” creator Mike Judge and Zach Woods from “Silicon Valley.”

Peacock invests in its first adult animation series, stars Mike Judge and ‘Silicon Valley’s’ Zach Woods

Peacock grows its paid subscriber base to 15 million after pulling back shows from Hulu by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Peacock grows its paid subscriber base to 15 million after pulling back shows from Hulu

Disney+ and Star+ relaunch as native apps on PlayStation 5 for users to stream in 4K

Disney+ today relaunched as a native app on PlayStation 5 (PS5) consoles, which now supports PS5 capabilities like 4K HDR (High-Dynamic Range) streaming. The company also relaunched Star+, Disney+’s streaming service for Latin American subscribers.
PS5 users experienced various issues with the old Disney+ app, which was designed for PS4 compatibility. Subscribers reported crashes, log-in errors, poor video playback and poor sound quality. Hopefully, the new native PS5 app won’t have the same issues.
Also, Disney+ and Star+ subscribers could only stream content at 1080p resolution on the console. As of today, PlayStation5 users can experience higher video quality at no extra cost. Other streaming services like Netflix and YouTube TV charge subscribers a higher fee for 4K content.
“The ability to support 4K HDR video streaming on the platform will also improve the viewing experience for fans,” said Jerrell Jimerson, EVP of Product & Design, Disney Streaming, in a statement.
Star+ launched in 2021, and is a standalone streaming service in Latin America that offers entertainment content from Disney, FX, 20th Century Studios, Star Original Productions, National Geographic and more. It also streams live sports from ESPN.
The streamer is available in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Disney will fuel international growth with Star brand and Star+ app

Disney+ and Star+ relaunch as native apps on PlayStation 5 for users to stream in 4K by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Disney+ and Star+ relaunch as native apps on PlayStation 5 for users to stream in 4K

Netflix downsizes its animation department, impacting 30 employees

Yet another round of layoffs at Netflix has unfortunately affected 30 Netflix Animation employees. Deadline first reported the news, and Netflix confirmed to TechCrunch that the company is downsizing the department.
Earlier this year, Netflix brought on Karen Toliver as vice president of Animation Film Content and Traci Balthazor as vice president of Animation Film Production. The company told us that, similar to other major animation film studios, the idea is to downsize so the animation film production arm is better organized under a central leader — Balthazor.
It’s Netflix’s hope that with a reduced staff, Netflix Animation can make even more high-quality films. The streaming service has many Academy Award-nominated animated titles, such as “Robin, Robin,” “Klaus,” “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon,” “I Lost My Body” and “Over the Moon.” The slate also includes “Back to the Outback,” “The Willoughbys,” “Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood,” “The Sea Beast” and more.
Over the summer, the streaming service laid off over 450 employees in a major workforce reduction. This was mainly due to slow revenue growth.
In May, TechCrunch learned that changes to animated projects could impact around 70 employees in the animation division.
There has been bad news all around for Netflix, as the streaming giant lost 970,000 subscribers in July, adding to the loss of 200,000 subs in April.

Netflix lays off 300 more people — almost 3% of its staff

Netflix lays off 150 staffers, citing slowing revenue growth

Netflix downsizes its animation department, impacting 30 employees by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Netflix downsizes its animation department, impacting 30 employees

Amazon launches $1.2 mobile Prime Video plan in India

Добавить комментарий

Amazon is doubling down on one of the biggest strengths of its Prime Video streaming service: aggressive pricing.
The e-commerce giant on Wednesday launched Prime Video Mobile Edition, an even more affordable tier of the on-demand video streaming service — now also bundling some mobile data.
Prime Video Mobile Edition, for which Amazon has partnered with Indian telecom network Airtel, will feature 28-day mobile-only, single-user, standard definition (SD) access to customers in India for Rs 89 ($1.22). This tier will include 6GB of mobile data that customers can consume during the subscription period. There’s also a slightly expensive plan for Prime Video Mobile Edition that will charge customers Rs 299 but will offer 1.5GB mobile data for each day of the subscription. To anyone who subscribes to Prime Video Mobile Edition, Amazon says it will pick the tab for the first month.

Amazon Prime subscription costs $1.7 a month in India and includes access to Prime Video and Prime Music.

The new Prime Video plan is currently only available in India. Its launch comes two years after Netflix unveiled a similar plan in India.
Affordable pricing is key for on-demand steaming services that are looking to make inroads in India, the world’s second-largest internet market. Even as more than 600 million users are online in the country today, only a fraction of them currently pay to access digital subscriptions. In a recent report to clients, analysts at Goldman Sachs estimated that gaming and video streaming market in India could clock as much as $5 billion in gross value transactions by March 2025.

Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.8) mobile-only monthly plan in India

“India is one of our fastest growing territories in the world with very high engagement rates. Buoyed by this response, we want to double-down by offering our much-loved entertainment content to an even larger base of Indian customers. Given high mobile broadband penetration in the country, the mobile phone has become one of the most widely used streaming devices,” said Jay Marine, vice president, Amazon Prime Video Worldwide, in a statement.
Airtel, the second-largest telecom operator in India, is the first roll-out partner for Prime Video Mobile Edition, said Sameer Batra, director, Mobile Business Development at Amazon, suggesting that the company may ink similar deals with other telecom operators in the country as it looks to expand the “reach of our service to the entire pre-paid customer base in India.”
Nearly every on-demand video streaming service in India, including Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar, maintain various partnerships with local telecom operators and satellite TV providers to reach more users in the country. Amazon did not explicitly say when or if it plans to extend Prime Video Mobile Edition outside of India.

Amazon launches $1.2 mobile Prime Video plan in India

Netflix’s latest experiment is a TikTok-like feed of funny videos

Добавить комментарий

Netflix already borrowed the concept of short-form video “Stories” from social apps like Snapchat and Instagram for its Previews feature back in 2018. Now, the company is looking to the full-screen vertical video feed, popularized by TikTok, for further inspiration. With its latest experiment, Fast Laughs, Netflix is offering a new feed of short-form comedy clips drawn from its full catalog.
The feed includes clips from both originals and licensed programming, Netflix says. It also includes video clips from the existing Netflix social channel, “Netflix Is A Joke,” which today runs clips, longer videos and other social content across YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Fast Laughs resembles TikTok in the sense that it’s swiped through vertically, offers full-screen videos and places its engagement buttons on the right side. But it’s not trying to become a place to waste time while being entertained.

Like many of Netflix’s experiments, the goal with the Fast Laughs feed is to help users discover something new to watch.
Instead of liking and commenting on videos, as you would in a social video app, the feed is designed to encourage users to add shows to their Netflix watch list for later viewing. In this sense, it’s serving a similar purpose to Netflix’s “Previews” feature, which helps users discover shows by watching clips and trailers from popular and newly released programming.
As users scroll through the new Fast Laughs feed, they’ll encounter a wide range of comedy clips — like a clip from a Kevin Hart stand-up special or a funny bit from “The Office,” for example. The clips will also range in length anywhere from 15 to 45 seconds.
In addition to adding clips to Netflix’s “My List” feature, users can also react to clips with a laughing emoji button, share the clip with friends across social media, or tap a “More” button to see other titles related to the clip you’re viewing.

Here’s the full intro explaining this new Netflix feature… pic.twitter.com/T7OriLUHd8
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) November 12, 2020

The feature was first spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra, based in the U.K. In his app, Fast Laughs appeared in front of the row of Previews, where it was introduced with text that said “New!”
Netflix confirmed to TechCrunch the experiment had been tested with a small number of users earlier this year, but has recently started rolling out to a wider group this month — including users in the U.K., the U.S. and other select markets.
It’s currently available to a subset of Netflix users with adult profiles or other profiles without parental controls on iOS devices only. However, users don’t need to be opted in to experiments nor do they need to be on a beta version of the Netflix app to see the feature. It’s more of a standard A/B test, Netflix says.
And because it’s a test, users may see slightly different versions of the same feature. The product may also evolve over time, in response to user feedback.

Netflix is hardly the first to “borrow” the TikTok format for its own app. Social media platforms, like Instagram and Snapchat, have also launched their own TikTok rivals in recent months.
But Netflix isn’t a direct competitor with TikTok — except to the extent that any mobile app competes for users’ time and attention, as there are only so many hours in a day.
Instead, the new feed is more of an acknowledgment that the TikTok format of a full-screen vertical video feed with quick engagement buttons on the side is becoming a default style of sorts for presenting entertaining content.
“We’re always looking for new ways to improve the Netflix experience,” a Netflix spokesperson said, confirming the experiment. “A lot of our members love comedy so we thought this would be an exciting new way to help them discover new shows and enjoy classic scenes. We experiment with these types of tests in different countries and for different periods of time — and only make them broadly available if people find them useful,” they added.

Netflix’s latest experiment is a TikTok-like feed of funny videos