Rick Eiserman

Nielsens “The Gauge Report” for July is out, and streaming is hotter than ever, and July just set a new record. For the first time, streaming grabbed nearly half of all TV viewing, 47.3% in July. That’s the closest it’s ever been to owning the majority of TV time. YouTube stayed number one, hitting a record 13.4% share, fueled by younger audiences who basically live there. Netflix had a big bounce too, up 5% from June, climbing to its highest share ever at 8.8%. Clearly, it still knows how to drop the kind of shows that keep people glued. But the sleeper story? The Roku Channel. It jumped 7.5% to 2.8%, the fastest growth of any platform in July. That’s major proof that FAST channels aren’t just filler, they’re pulling real attention. Well done to everyone at Roku 🙌🏻 Bottom line: streaming didn’t just grow in July, it leveled up. The shift away from traditional TV isn’t coming, it’s already here. Follow for more smart, fast media breakdowns just like this.❤️ #news #entertainment #hollywood #tv #netflix #youtube #roku #streaming #hollywood

16

7 Comments

📰Innovation & Technology in Sports for 2025: Key Takeaways from Nielsen Global Sports Report (download 👇) 📺 Streaming & Digital Media: Sports streaming is booming across all age groups, with a 21% increase in fans aged 50+ streaming sports since 2022. Streaming is now a true cross-generational phenomenon, expanding reach and inclusivity of sports content. 🎮 Tech-Driven Formats & Fan Engagement: Hybrid and “phygital” sports formats are on the rise! Leagues like TGL (tech-powered golf) are attracting new, younger audiences—32% of TGL fans are not regular PGA Tour viewers. These innovations blend real-world action with digital interactivity for next-level fan experiences. 🤖 Advanced Analytics & Smart Equipment: AI, computer vision, and connected devices are revolutionizing training and match analysis. From sensor-embedded balls to VR-based coaching tools, tech is delivering real-time insights for athletes, coaches, and fans. 🌐 Immersive & Virtual Experiences: Virtual stadiums and immersive viewing platforms are redefining how fans engage with live events—no matter where they are in the world. 📈 The Bottom Line: Innovation and technology are driving new engagement models, expanding audiences, and unlocking fresh commercial opportunities across the global sports industry.

88

7 Comments

Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t the story. The media operating system is. • This showdown is a fight between theatrical preservation and streaming sovereignty. • A Netflix-WBD outcome likely accelerates the fastest collapse of U.S. syndication economics in decades. • When syndication weakens, local stations and cable ad models lose their last durable cash engine. • The hidden casualty is ecosystem diversity: WBD has supported content breadth across FAST and multi-platform mixes. • A Netflix absorption could compress that breadth into a single-platform gravity well. • If Paramount wins: three-horse era (Netflix–Disney+–Paramount+). • If Netflix wins: one-strong, one-mid, two-weak (Netflix 1-strong, Prime /Disney+ 2-mid, Peacock/Paramount+ 2-weak). • For Korea/Asia, a Netflix-WBD deal may tighten regional rights and incentivize global-slate efficiency over local optionality. This is less about ownership and more about what media pluralism still looks like after consolidation.

93

1 Comment

Free streaming is growing fast. Will it catch up with paid streaming in share of US time spent? YouTube, Roku, and Tubi have grown their collective share of viewing time from 10.9% to 17.2% in just two years. Paid streaming grew too, from 18% to 21.3%. But it's undeniable that free is paying off. YouTube's growth and its algorithmic flywheel have been covered a lot. Less so are Roku and Tubi, both of which doubled their viewership with extensive libraries, super-serving passionate communities, lean-back and lean-forward television. Most importantly, they don't have to convince people to become or remain subscribers. All they have to do convince them to create an account and log-in, which delivers far better monetization, and keep coming back. (I say "all" in jest, but acknowledge all of these things are incredibly difficult to do in practice). As Streamonomics® readers know, the Freemium Tightrope makes it difficult for streamers to offer free and paid under the same brand. Give away too much free content, it's hard to get people to pay. Hulu and Peacock once have free tiers, but discontinued them primarily for this reason. But as competition against AI-driven hyperscalers gets more intense, I've argued streamers will need multiple moats: 1. Content/UX/brand that drives frequency, duration, and willingness to pay 2. A self-funding, integrated upper funnel By self-funding, I mean profitable on its own (YouTube, Spotify). By integrated, I mean one app, one brand, easy upgrade path (the above plus Vix for Spanish-speaking audiences and JioStar in India) Free funnels can come in different forms. Netflix's original free upper funnel was password sharing. One of Amazon's is their constant inflow of people searching for single TV shows or movies, since they know they will always find them in the Amazon ecosystem. THE BIGGER PICTURE: → Free streaming's 58% growth vs paid's 18% signals a macro trend → Paramount is the only premium streamer that owns a free one (Pluto). Will the brands merge? → Roku and Tubi prove there's more than one way to win free streaming Which paid streamer cracks the freemium code first, and how?

35

2 Comments

From growing at 15.6% in 2023, the music industry grew at only 6.2% last year—the first year in which revenues fell short of expectations. So where is the growth - new streaming markets, new models to monetize music, video content, and superfans offer potential for the industry to expand its revenues. https://lnkd.in/gtE-rH79

35

2 Comments

#AI #WMG #UMG “Robert Kyncl has published a letter to Warner Music Group shareholders that pushes back against any under-appreciation of WMG’s value in the financial market, while talking up AI’s potential to drive that value higher. Recent context is important: despite healthy commercial momentum, both WMG and Universal Music Group shares are currently trading significantly below their 52-week peaks. Last Tuesday (February 24), a telling analyst note from Rothschild & Co Redburn argued that music rightsholders are particularly “exposed” to threats from AI-generated content….” “He writes: “With #Deezer reporting that more than 60,000 AI tracks are uploaded to its platform daily and with seven million #tracks generated per day on #Suno alone, [AI music’s] abundance has prompted understandable concern about oversupply, dilution, and the long-term value of recorded music….” Read the article for more: #WarnerMusicGroup #RecordedMusic #UniversalMusicGroup #MusicRoyalties #Music #MusicBusiness #Musica #MusicIndustry #Musique #Musik #MusicBiz #CreatorEconomy #CreatorsRights #RightHolders #MusicRights #MusicIncome #SongRights #RecordingRights #GenerativeAI #AIGeneratedContent #ArtificialIntelligence #InteligenciaArtificial #IA #InteligenciaArtificialGenerativa #IntelligenceArtificielle #KünstlicheIntelligenz #GeAi #AIGovernance #AIModels

1

The news is out! Wolf Games has partnered with NBCUniversal and raised our Series A. We’re excited to have the support of Main Street Advisors, Jimmy Iovine, Maverick Carter, Dick Wolf, Tom Werner, Rashid Johnson, and all of our amazing investors that see the same future we do. Our mission has always been simple and ambitious: to build the world’s first AI-native, creator-driven game platform where anyone can create, play, and expand the IP universes they love. We believe that the next generation of entertainment should allow fans to be able to expand the IP that they love. Writers, artists, role-players, modders… millions of creators building stories inside the universes that move them. Wolf Games exists to give these creators a creative, technical, and legal home to create deeply fun experiences. A place where their stories can become games, and their games can become canon. This next round of funding allows us to accelerate our roadmap on: - Game releases with NBCUniversal and our original IP. Each introducing new mechanics, systems, and stories - A unified Wolf Games platform linking all Wolf titles with metaplay from Public Eye to upcoming worlds. - AI-assisted creator tools that make it possible to build playable stories through natural language, remixing, and collaboration. In the long term, we see Wolf Games evolving from studio to service to ecosystem. Join us on the journey, learn more at: wolfgames.net Read about it: https://lnkd.in/gfnhp4Jy

125

8 Comments

TV is only 70yrs old (1950 only 9% of households had one). Sports broadcast rights only became a thing in 1960 with the CBS - NFL deal. Distribution is everything. These social platforms are intricate webs of different creator communities/fanbases with loyal viewers. It would be interesting to see if broadcast rights deals will start to include creator-led co-streams of those broadcasts to help increase viewership and boost their numbers. OR some of your larger creator media companies look at this opportunity to launch their own live channels and capture some of these broadcast opportunities for themselves. They have the fans, they have clipping networks, and they have brand partners who have spent 10s - 100s of millions of dollars with them over the past decade. It would be like if NBC, ABC, or FOX, had a loyal fanbase and a sense of community… #creatoreconomy #sports #broadcast #TV #contentcreators #gseworldwide #gsedigital

17

1 Comment

SXSW is a wrap. It was great. And while I’m tired, I learned a lot and connected with so many people. We had 5 Creators on panels. Alexis Ramos, our Head of Sports and Partner, spoke on two panels. I also moderated and spoke on two panels. And Lighthouse Studios launched Lyrical Lemonade TV, a media network for a new generation. A few of my observations: 1) Creators and Hollywood are merging, but also separate! Panels and activations were more creator-packed than I can remember. IP ownership. Business models. What I found most interesting is that both sides need each other - just for different reasons. Some Creators still crave the validation that Hollywood represents. Hollywood needs Creators to stay culturally relevant. But here’s my actual take: Hollywood needs to take bigger bets and move faster. And Creators need to start building real prestige IP that leads to longevity. Both sides will keep merging. But Creators are also just fine on their own. That part gets overlooked. 2) Go to the dinners and intimate gatherings. Skip the parties. People go to the parties to say they went. That’s it. No real business happens. No real relationships form. Everyone’s orbiting the same room, waiting in long lines for a drink. The dinners and curated events were different. Smaller rooms. Actual conversation. People who can finish a thought without having to yell. Food has a way of bonding people that a 200-person open bar simply cannot. I left those dinners with real relationships, which almost never happens in a free-for-all concert. And I left the smaller parties, like the Lyrical Lemonade party, having truly bonded with people. 3) AI has a new publicist or sentiment is slowly changing. Every conference runs an AI panel or 20 now. But the tone felt different this time. The “AI is taking our jobs” panic has quietly shifted to “this makes me better at my job.” For Creators, the realization is setting in that authentic voice is the differentiator. The people winning with AI aren’t replacing creators. They’re using it to lean into comedy, science, pop culture - things that still need a real human perspective to land. The doom narrative didn’t disappear. But it definitely got quieter. 4) Panel etiquette is apparently optional now. I moderated one panel, spoke on another, and went to a dozen. All were great, except for the people loudly having full conversations while speakers were presenting. Audience members. And at times, the people throwing the event and their staff. I’ve spoken at a lot of conferences and I’ve never seen this before. I’m loud. If I’m having trouble hearing myself, something has gone very wrong. These speakers are unpaid. They’re giving you their time and their thinking. The least you can do is act like you want to be there or leave. And next time I’m on a panel and the person who asked me to be there is having a full conversation in the front row, I’ll take that as my cue to wrap early and let them take it from here.

91

12 Comments