Venu Sports is officially out of the game. Today, Disney-owned ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced in a joint statement that Venu Sports, their proposed virtual MVPD service, will be discontinued. The decision is effective immediately. It comes the same week that Disney announced a deal to combine its Hulu + Live TV business...
Disney is giving advertisers tiers of joy thanks to its latest ad-supported streaming numbers. Today, at its 5th annual Tech and Data Showcase at CES, the company's president of global advertising, Rita Ferro, announced that the company reached an estimated 157 million monthly active users globally, including 112 million domestically, on average per month over...
The 82nd annual Golden Globes ratings are in, and they're Wickedly good. According to VideoAmp data, Sunday's Golden Globes, which went up against NBC's Sunday Night Football matchup of the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions, averaged 10.1 million viewers, which was on par with final numbers from 2024. The show's live-streaming audience was up...
The Mouse House is expanding, with Disney combining its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo, but the streaming TV deal may be about way more than settling a legal battle over Venu Sports. Today, Disney announced its deal to combine its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo, creating a combined virtual multichannel video...
Amazon is again bend-and-snapping up an upfront week presentation slot for 2025, but its second year presenting will have some tweaks. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) today, Amazon announced it will have its second annual upfront presentation on Monday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m. ET at The Beacon Theatre in New York City. The...
The year is ending, so it's time to go back down the witches' road and bring you the can't-miss TV of 2024. ADWEEK's "best of" TV and streaming list is a little different from others. Though plenty of lists will include the usual prestige players, we're changing things up and bringing you the shows from...
Moana 2 has already hit $600 million at the global box office, and no one knows how far it'll go. But before the film was breaking revenue records and joining Inside Out 2 to add to Disney/Pixar's 2024 box office wins, Disney's marketing was setting it up to make a big splash. The project started...
This article was originally published Dec. 12 ADWEEK previously reported that the streaming war was entering its messy era--and 2024 did not disappoint. This year saw Prime Video's ad inventory shake up the TV upfront, streamers push further into sports--or try to in the case of Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox's joint venture, Venu--and...
NBCUniversal is continuing to bolster its ads team. Today, NBCU announced that former Roku executive Kristina Shepard will join its advertising and partnerships team as executive vice president of streaming and performance sales and partnerships. Shepard will join the company next month, having oversight of all programmatic, digital, and performance sales while reporting to Alison...
A+E Networks is announcing a new ad sales leader. Today, A+E Networks named Toby Byrne its new president of ad sales, effective February 2025. Byrne will succeed Peter Olsen, who has decided to retire after nearly 20 years at the company. Paul Buccieri, president and chairman of A+E Networks, announced the news. Byrne joined A+E...
Disney+ is adding a new player to the roster, with ESPN now coming onto the streaming platform. As it did with its Hulu tile on Disney+ earlier in the year, Disney is now bringing an ESPN tile to the streaming service for its bundle subscribers in the U.S. Additionally, the company has revealed all Disney+...
Walmart is officially even more connected to connected TV. Today, the retail giant closed its $2.3 billion deal for TV manufacturer Vizio, which was first announced in February. In a press release, Walmart noted that the purchase of Vizio and its SmartCast Operating System, which has more than 18 million active accounts, will enable the...
TelevisaUnivision is making structural changes, CEO Daniel Alegre announced. During an earnings call in October, Alegre, who joined the company as CEO in September, noted that TelevisaUnivision was at a "pivotal point" in its evolution and was looking for better integration and operational optimization moving forward. In a memo to employees Monday, the CEO made...
It's been a busy year for Disney Advertising and the company's streaming platforms. In 2024, Disney saw 40% of its total upfront dollars earmarked for streaming and digital offerings, and it has taken steps throughout the year to bolster that side of the business, including now working with nearly 40 demand-side platforms, making investments in...
Netflix is announcing massive streaming numbers for its Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight from over the weekend. However, the streaming service also suffered a technical knockout thanks to buffering and crash issues, and it's raised questions among viewers and advertisers as the company's two exclusive NFL Christmas games loom. The streaming giant has a...
Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to Max-imize its shoppable ads with new AI-powered formats. Ahead of Black Friday, Warner Bros. Discovery Advertising Sales is announcing two new ad solutions for shoppable, including Moments and Shop with Max, which work in unison to create a more seamless ad experience. According to the company, the new formats...
Is getting into smart TV OS a smart move for The Trade Desk? Today, ad tech platform The Trade Desk announced that it has developed Ventura, a new streaming TV operating system (OS). Additionally, it will partner with smart TV original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and other streaming TV aggregators to launch the OS as early...
