To help YouTube creators moderate comments on their content, the video hosting platform blogged Tuesday that it has given creators a new optional comments setting, "increase strictness," to help catch more spam or potentially inappropriate comments. It said those comments are held for review in YouTube Studio, giving creators the chance to approve, remove or report them. It said it has updated YouTube Studio so comments potentially considered more hurtful are put in a separate, hidden section of the held for review tab, letting creators ignore them completely if they choose. It said it also has started putting out channel guidelines letting creators communicate what is and isn't allowed in their comments section.

Wedbush expects Roku to announce 800,000 net active account additions for Q2, an increase of 1.3% sequentially, when the streaming media platform company announces quarterly results Thursday, said analyst Michael Pachter in a Tuesday investor note. That would be the lowest sequential or annual account growth for Q2 since 2016, owing to supply chain disruptions and lower TV demand, Pachter said. Despite lower overall viewership as people spend more time outside the home, plus cuts to streaming subscriptions, Q2 advertising budgets continued to migrate toward streaming platforms, he said. In Q1 the top 10 broadcast TV advertisers spent about 80% more on Roku than in the year-ago quarter and 7% less on legacy TV, a trend he expects to carry through the year. “There is significant room left for domestic growth since streaming platforms currently capture around 46% of U.S. audience TV viewing time, but only receive 18% of advertisers’ TV ad budgets, said the analyst. Roku continues to invest heavily in global expansion, while securing partnerships to bolster its ad-supported Roku Channel offering, Pachter noted: “While Roku’s share price has been penalized for its reduced profitability, we think Roku’s investments are prudent and will pay off over the long-term.” Shares fell 7.9% Tuesday to close at $79.87.

The Fox Nation direct-to-consumer subscription VOD service is now available on FuboTV, Fox National President Jason Klarman announced Thursday. The $5.99 monthly SVOD service includes Fox’s original news and entertainment series plus prime-time shows on demand the next day. Subscribers can access Fox Nation on the FuboTV app on smart TVs, smartphones, tablets and the web.

There appears to be conditional acceptance among Netflix subscribers in the U.S. of the company’s plans to explore launching a lower-priced ad-supported VOD tier, reported Simon-Kucher Thursday. The marketing consultant canvassed 1,000 U.S. consumers in April and May, and among Netflix subscribers in that group, more than three-quarters said they would keep their accounts if Netflix introduces an AVOD tier, said the consultant. For 14% of the sample, acceptance of Netflix’s move into advertising was conditioned on the expectation of no price increases for at least a year, it said. Netflix plans to debut its AVOD offering in early 2023, starting in countries with more "mature" ad markets, said the company this week (see 2207200001).

Household penetration of free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) services has doubled in the past year, Comcast Advertising said Thursday. Six in 10 households with connected TVs are using FAST services exclusively or in addition to other services "without the costs or logins required for linear TV or paid streaming," it emailed, saying FAST gives consumers streaming video with “linear-style channels” that encourage a lean-back experience and content discovery “that mimics traditional TV viewing." Comcast said the average Xumo user spends about 104 minutes within the Comcast-owned platform once she has entered. Many consumers may be landing on FAST channels without realizing it, since many are programmed directly into the channel guide by TV manufacturers, Comcast said. Some 70% of Xumo users are cord cutters, using the service as a complement to subscription VOD services, the company said. Comcast Advertising President James Rooke called FAST services a “valuable complement to traditional TV and other [advertising-based] VOD streaming options as part of a holistic multi-screen media plan.”

Netflix Q2 paid net subscriber losses reached 970,000, roughly half of the 2 million losses it had forecast in April (see 2204190066), reported the company in its quarterly shareholder letter Tuesday. The Q2 losses were up 385% from its 200,000 losses in Q1. Netflix finished 2022's first half with 1.17 million net losses compared with 5.52 million net additions in January-June a year earlier. Netflix plans to launch its ad-supported VOD tier “around the early part of 2023,” having just picked Microsoft as its ad technology and sales partner (see 2207130048). Netflix is in the early stages “of working to monetize the 100m+ households that are currently enjoying, but not directly paying for, Netflix” through shared passwords, said the letter. It’s testing two different approaches in Latin America “to learn more,” it said. Netflix shares were trending 15.2% higher Tuesday in after-hours trading.

Netflix’s choice of Microsoft as technology and sales partner for its ad-supported VOD subscription tier (see 2207130048) “will go a long way to steady the waters” for the upcoming offering “while helping Microsoft solidify its position as a major player in digital advertising,” blogged eMarketer analyst Daniel Konstantinovic Thursday. Netflix Chief Operating and Product Officer Greg Peters said Wednesday that Microsoft has “the proven ability to support all our advertising needs,” saying the AVOD offering is in “very early days” with “much to work through.”

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria, Virginia, ordered the freezing of accounts of virtual private network (VPN) operator VeePN, in a temporary restraining order Thursday (docket 1:22-cv-741). The TRO was sought by movie production companies suing various alleged pirates and data center DataCamp, to which the alleged pirates subscribe, said the order. The content companies say VeePN is also a DataCamp subscriber and a distributor of the Popcorn Time video piracy app. Trenga ordered Panama's VeePN cease marketing itself as a Popcorn Time VPN or using the Popcorn Time app on its websites. VeePN didn't comment Friday.

Cable and satellite TV customers spend $1,600 a year on unwatched TV channels, up more than $500 from 2019, said a Wednesday CordCutting.com study. The average pay-TV customer has access to 190 channels but regularly watches only 15, vs. 11 in 2019, which averages out to $9.57 per channel watched, it said. About 80% of cable/satellite users watch five or more channels; 47% watch 10 or more; 24% watch 20-plus and 13% watch 30 or more, it said. The average cable TV monthly bill has risen 52% in the past three years from $96 to $147, it said. Cordcutting.com noted channels such as ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are available for free without a cable or satellite package. About 37% of cable/satellite TV subscribers find good value in their subscription; 45% would cancel if it weren’t tied to their internet service, it said. Over two-thirds of millennials and Generation Z cable or satellite TV users also pay for a streaming service vs. 57% of Gen X and 44% of baby boomers, the study said. The study of 507 people in the U.S. who paid for cable or satellite service was fielded in May. The percentage of Americans watching cable or satellite TV dropped by over 20 points from 2015 to 2021, with another 4.7 million households cutting the cord last year alone, said Managing Editor Stephen Lovely.

Netflix picked Microsoft as its “global advertising technology and sales partner,” as it works to launch the ad-supported streaming tier it announced in April (see 2204200002), blogged Chief Operating and Product Officer Greg Peters Wednesday. “Microsoft has the proven ability to support all our advertising needs as we work together to build a new ad-supported offering,” said Peters. “It’s very early days and we have much to work through,” but the long-term goal is “more choice for consumers and a premium, better-than-linear TV brand experience for advertisers,” said Peters. Terms of the arrangement with Microsoft weren’t disclosed. Netflix reports Q2 results Tuesday.