Altice is now producing News 12 New York, a streaming feed of news stories from its regional cable news channels around the metropolitan New York area, it said Tuesday. 12 New York is available on Tubi and The Weather Channel's Local Now streaming service, and will soon be on Plex and the Vizio SmartCast, it said.
Comscore plans to deploy a measured advertising system for addressable ads in 2021, CEO Bill Livek told investors Monday. He called it an MVPD-connected TV-centric approach. Livek cited “dramatic changes” to media consumption behaviors in 2020, with increased streaming, gaming, e-commerce spending and mobile shopping. “As media content, particularly video, becomes increasingly cross-platform in nature, media buying and selling is shifting away from traditional age and gender demographics in gross rating points to audiences and impression-based measurement.” Q3 revenue was $88 million vs. $94.3 million in the year-ago quarter on "challenging" market conditions, said the company. It's "in advanced discussions" on a "recapitalization transaction with an anchor investor," it said. "The transaction would provide for enhanced commercial relationships to support Comscore's growth initiatives."
MVPDs seeking exemption from the list of top five nonbroadcast networks covered by audio description requirements (see 2011020043) because they don't air at least 50 hours quarterly of prime-time programming that isn't live or near-live or are otherwise exempt have until Dec. 9 to seek one, said Monday's Federal Register.
Starz had its best-ever quarter for over-the-top subscriber growth, said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer on a fiscal Q2 investor call Thursday. The quarter ended Sept. 30. Starz U.S. streaming subs increased to 9.2 million from 7.4 million in Q1 “on the strength of a focused content strategy and the launch of successful new series,” he said. The new shows are “driving subscriber growth,” plus “boosting subscriber retention with record levels of engagement,” he said. Starz had a record-high 13.7 million global streaming subscribers at the end of Q2, reaching its full-year target of 13 million to 15 million subs “a full six months early,” he said. The stock closed 10.5% higher Friday at $7.78.
Though live concerts remain off limits in virtually all global regions, recent surveys show 95% of fans plan return to live events when restrictions are lifted, “the highest point of confidence since the start of the pandemic,” said Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino on a Q3 investor call Thursday. “We are working on a road map to get back to live safely,” encouraged by progress on COVID-19 testing and vaccines. “We still expect shows at scale next summer, but recognize that some exact timeline of this return will vary by region.” The company developed a social-distancing seat-mapping tool and “time entry” technology for managing “everything from venue access to box office interactions,” he said.
Roku revenue soared 73% in Q3 to $452 million on demand for TV streaming products, growth in advertising and expansion of content distribution partnerships, said the company in a Thursday shareholder letter. Advertisers “reassessed their TV upfront advertising commitments and moved significant portions of their investments to connected TV platforms like Roku,” said CEO Anthony Wood on a Thursday investor call. Advertising with Roku gave marketers additional reach over linear TV and capability to target advertising and measure effectiveness, said Wood. Some 97% of TV advertisers that spent $1 million or more with Roku in Q3 last year returned in the 2020 quarter; the company closed 2021 upfront deals with the six major agency holding companies at increased levels of commitment. Unit sales of Roku players jumped 57% year on year, the highest growth in seven years, while average selling price slipped 1%, said Chief Financial Officer Steve Louden on the call. Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak said in a Friday investor note that the “significant revenue beat” was due to a “favorable backdrop” of cord cutting, COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, “relatively few competitors in" direct-to-consumer aggregation and an election-driven advertising rebound. Q3's 2.9 million net new active subscriber accounts topped PRG’s forecast of 2.7 million. Wlodarczak maintained his view that Roku will be squeezed by Comcast, Cox and other traditional distributors “attacking the [over-the-top] aggregation opportunity.” Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter called Roku’s growth “sustainable” because most advertising remains on linear TV and “will continue to shift in Roku’s direction” as content moves to OTT platforms. Roku users streamed 14.8 billion hours in the quarter, up 54% year over year; streaming hours per active account grew 9%, after easing of pandemic-related restrictions in summer, said the company. The number of active accounts rose 43% to 46 million on strong player and Roku TV sales in U.S. and international markets. Average revenue per user rose 20% to $27. Roku again didn't provide quarterly guidance due to global COVID-19 resurgences and uncertainties about the holiday season and consumer spending levels. Louden said Q4 year-over-year revenue growth will be in line with the last few holiday seasons, in the mid-40% range. The company expects platform receipts to be about two-thirds of total Q4 revenue. Shares closed 12.6% higher Friday at $253.36.
Twitter should suspend President Donald Trump’s account for “repeated violations” of company policy by spreading election disinformation, Common Cause and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law wrote CEO Jack Dorsey Thursday. The platform labeled as potentially misleading several tweets by the president about the election. Trump made unsubstantiated claims of victory in Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina and about ballot processing violations, the groups wrote. Twitter and the White House didn’t comment.
TiVo announced application programming interface-based metadata technology to make it easier for consumers to find relevant programming and movies. It signed a multiyear extension and expansion of an agreement with Finnish digital services company Elisa Viihde for the tech, saying Wednesday the Deep Discovery package lets TV and video service providers, CE manufacturers and media companies “better maximize the value of their catalogs and drive conversion, engagement and loyalty.” Content is tagged with metadata like moods, tones, themes, weighted keywords, age descriptors and popularity.
The FCC Media Bureau OK'd TV market modification for KVMD Twentynine Palms, California, to include Los Angeles designated market area communities served by Charter Communications' Spectrum cable systems where KVMD currently isn't being carried on a mandatory basis. The order came Tuesday.
Microsoft gave a hat tip to Apple TV+ in a Monday announcement listing streaming apps that will be available on the Xbox Series S and Series X when the consoles go on sale Nov. 10. Other apps include Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube TV, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, NBC Peacock, Vudu, FandangoNow, Twitch, Sky Go, Now TV and Sky Ticket, it said. Apple TV+ goes live on the Xbox One the same day, Microsoft said.