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Marketing Brew

Kelsey Sutton

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a sign that says "Look for the Light" that was part of "The Last of Us" promo

How HBO Max marketed ‘The Last of Us’ into a global hit

Big marketing swings looked to build credibility with video game fans while also attracting prestige-TV watchers. 

a collage of things related to measurement (ruler, measuring tape, etc)

What’s going on in the world of measurement in 2023 

Nielsen strikes a deal with Netflix as third-party alternatives look to gain ground. 

Have we reached the peak of peak TV? 

Investment in new scripted programming is declining, according to new data, and some TV execs say a slowdown is ahead.

TVs showing Hulu Paramount+ and Disney+ on screen

Illustration: Francis Scialabba, Photos: Hulu, Paramount+, and Disney+

Streaming

Jasmine Sheena

Media buyers, here’s one more streaming ad unit to potentially factor into holiday budgets.

This week, Paramount rolled out Streaming Fixed Units, an offering that lets brands activate against the first seven days of new episodes of some of Paramount+’s most popular shows, including 

The standard units are 30 seconds long, with Paramount offering separate pricing options for shorter or longer lengths, Leo O’Connor, EVP of streaming at Paramount Advertising, told Marketing Brew. The units will play during standard ad breaks (the second ad break in a Paramount+ show, for example, has 90 seconds of time available, enough for three 30-second slots.)

Advertisers from the AI, travel, and quick-serve restaurant categories have already bought up Streaming Fixed Units, which are designed to provide premium inventory during some of Paramount+’s most coveted programming at the time when most people are tuning in, O’Connor said. Western-wear brands have also taken an interest in the ad format to show up against the Taylor Sheridan shows, he noted.

“We saw that this filled this need in the market to eventize these big drops of new episodes,” O’Connor said. “This is something that’s available today in sports. I think there’s a lot that’s being said about that in the industry, but we felt like there was some white space on the entertainment side to do a similar type of execution, where you could find a huge audience doing the same thing at once and have a brand own that moment.”

 Paramount, which is in the midst of navigating a massive merger with Skydance, has been adding to its ad offerings this year. In January, its broadcast of the AFC Championship game between the Buffalo Bills and the Kansas City Chiefs featured 

. The same month, it joined peers like Roku and NBCUniversal in partnering on Comcast’s 

 platform for small- and medium-sized businesses.

In March, the company unveiled a measurement 

 with iSpot that implements iSpot’s Outcomes at Scale offering, giving advertisers information about conversion rates.

The new ad format announced this week is designed to offer advertisers even more ways to get in on the company’s streaming inventory, O’Connor said.

“This is meant to complement the already existing programmatic and audience targeting capabilities that we have,” he said. “This is not meant to signal a departure from that type of selling…Breaking through with the Streaming Fixed Unit and then following up that buy with more precision-targeted programmatic across Paramount+ and Pluto TV, we think that’s the formula.”

Jeremy Renner portraying Mike McLusky in the Paramount+ series "Mayor of Kingstown"

Paramount unveils new ad format letting advertisers own episode drops

Streaming Fixed Units are designed to help “eventize” new episodes, an exec said.

Morning Brew Creative Studio

How do you capture your audience’s attention? You can text them, email them, pay to reach them on social and search, or even fly a blimp over their house—but real influence starts with trust.

There’s no singular source of truth for potential customers, but if there were, it would sound a lot like 

. As Amazon’s premier podcast studio and network, Wondery is home to some of the most trusted and influential hosts in the industry, including Dax Shepard, Jason and Travis Kelce, and Keke Palmer.

 consistently top charts and garner numerous awards recognition, including NAACP Image Awards, GLAAD Awards, the Variety Creative Impact in Podcasting Award, Webbys, Gracies, and The Ambies.

With listenership and advertiser interest continuing to grow across this emerging channel, one must ask: What is it about podcasts that keeps consumers coming back for more? Wondery’s latest research study, 

One may assume everyday people can’t relate to Hollywood darlings or all-star athletes on a personal level. However, Wondery’s study proved that wrong. 

70% of podcast fans say their fandom stems

 from feeling emotionally connected to their favorite shows or hosts. 71% go a step further to say they feel like they are 

That level of connection is a big reason why podcasts have become a staple for many fans. 54% say podcasts are part of their daily routine, and 38% say they prefer podcasts over other media they consume, including TV, radio, and streaming music. Wake up, brush your teeth, put on a podcast…sounds like a typical morning for over half of podcast fans.

But is an hour-long podcast (or even a 30-minute one, for the 2x speedheads), really enough to build a lasting connection? Absolutely. Because a podcast isn’t just a show; it’s a gateway into a larger world. It starts in their ears but expands into social media, live events, and everyday conversations. That’s how a casual listener becomes a devoted fan.

68% of podcast fans follow their favorite podcasts on social media. Another 43% engage with podcast-related content across other media formats (e.g., TV, books, live events). 20% even donate money to support a podcast or host, 

. If you follow that customer journey, a big night out to dinner may soon be replaced by catching a live podcast taping with friends.

This content stream helps connect audience members to the show on a more fundamental level. They go from being individual fans to being part of a fan community. That’s when the podcast goes from something they like to becoming a part of who they are. If you’re a brand advertising with that podcast, it means you become a part of that world too.

And herein lies the big question: What’s the secret sauce to building fandom? Wondery’s study reveals that authenticity is the key ingredient. That throughline of feeling a real connection across channels isn’t so different from a multichannel marketing strategy. You have to meet people where they are and talk 

Unlike scripted TV or curated Instagram feeds, podcasts demand authenticity. A microphone doesn’t lie, and listeners can tell when someone is faking it.

People want the more human side of these mega celebrities. Keke Palmer 

 like she could be everyone’s best friend, but she simply doesn’t have time to hang out with everyone (or return our calls). Instead, she provides a taste of that experience every week for her fans to enjoy on their own schedules. It’s that peek into something real that keeps people coming back.

That’s where smart advertisers can make an impact, ensuring that your brand and your creative matches the vibe of a show or host. 

, 89% of podcast fans expect brand messaging to be believable, and 88% value brand alignment with the podcast’s themes and values. If the brand messaging is authentic, the fans will quite literally buy it.

, one of the most talked-about sports podcasts today. Their audience isn’t just made up of casual football fans. It’s a deeply engaged community of sports lovers, hometown loyalists, and pop culture enthusiasts who follow their every move.

Now, imagine an online food marketplace advertising game-day BBQ delivery on 

 A perfect match, right? Not necessarily. If that brand pushes Carolina-style, vinegar-based BBQ, they might fumble the play. Why? Because Travis and Jason Kelce have deep ties to Kansas City and Philadelphia, two cities with strong (and very different) BBQ traditions.

Listeners pick up on these details. They know the Kelces, their teams, and their personal tastes. If the ad were for a Kansas City–style BBQ pack instead, that’s a different story. A well-placed anecdote from Travis about tailgating with ribs? That feels natural, authentic, and, most importantly, believable. That’s the difference between an ad that fades into the background and one that sticks.

Podcast audiences don’t just listen—they 

 And when an ad aligns with what they already love, they don’t just hear it. They act on it.

We know how bought-in fans are, and we know that advertising needs to align with the hosts’ ethos to work. When the authenticity shines through, advertisers will reap the benefits.

65% say they are grateful to the companies/brands that support their favorite podcast.

57% say they are more likely to pay attention to brands that support their favorite podcast.

54% say they are more likely to trust brands that support their favorite podcast.

These insights signal that when brands take the time to truly understand their audience and authentically align with podcast hosts, they will reach passionate advocates who are more likely to champion their brand any chance they get.

In this landscape where creators, fans, and advertisers are equally welcome within a fandom, you can take so much guesswork out of the advertising strategy. It requires due diligence and research, but tapping into that powerful connection can mean the difference between listeners fast-forwarding through an ad vs. actually listening and converting.

Fandom isn’t just a cultural phenomenon. It’s a marketing gold mine. The brands that understand this don’t just advertise; they become part of the conversation. Wondery’s latest study proves it, so 

 to learn more about how the power of fandom can power your next marketing campaign.

Wondery Q1 2025 Branded Article Native Ad

 Podcast fandoms are a force to be reckoned with in advertising

Connecting with fandoms is how advertisers win customer loyalty.

The Fandom Phenomenon: How consumers, creators, and advertisers benefit from podcast fandom

This weekend, brands like AllState, Capital One, Maybelline, and T-Mobile are set to show up during a Sunday night red carpet show ahead of 

’s three-hour 50-anniversary special at Studio 8H at Rockefeller Center.

Allstate will host a countdown clock leading up to the event, VW cars are driving up to the red carpet, Maybelline will host a “Last Looks Lounge” as SNL50’s official makeup sponsor, and T-Mobile will host a red carpet glambot. Capital One is also set to be there, hosting a fan pit.

The programming and brand integrations are set to cap off a season throughout which NBCU strategically wove advertisers into 

milestone year, using some of the sketch comedy series’ most iconic castmembers and sketches old and new to boost revenue and engagement.

“After 50 years, it’s going as strong as ever,” Sari Feinberg, NBCUniversal’s SVP of marketing and brand partnerships, advertising and partnerships, told Marketing Brew. “It's a place that brands have always wanted to be, and this is really the first time that we’ve opened the doors for partnership in such a big way.”

Ahead of the red-carpet show, sponsors for the anniversary will see additional visibility on Peacock with placements during the livestream of a Radio City Hall concert celebrating the anniversary on Friday night. Artists like Post Malone, Lady Gaga, and Jelly Roll are set to take to the stage to commemorate the milestone.

All season long, brands have gotten a front-row seat. NBCU built content campaigns for each of its SNL50 partners, which were “the crown jewel of each of the partnerships,” Feinberg said; branded content was promoted on linear, streaming, social, and digital.

 alums and current cast members, with some of them repurposing popular old 

 sketches, Feninberg told us. One 30-second spot for Capital One that debuted on YouTube in November features SNL alums Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer recording a podcast with Samuel L. Jackson and promoting the Capital One Savor card; another T-Mobile spot from January featured current 

 castmembers Kenan Thompson and Marcello Hernández singing a reggaeton tune and lauding the brand’s rewards program.

Volkswagen, meanwhile, repurposed the popular SNL sketch “The Californians” with former 

 castmembers Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, and Bill Hader to highlight its electric bus, the ID. Buzz.

To support the anniversary, advertisers are also hosting their own SNL-branded events, Feinberg said. This week, T-Mobile held an event at its Times Square branch featuring Hernandez and Thompson, and over the weekend, Capital One is hosting two SNL50 parties in New York for Capital One cardholders. (Customers also get a discount on SNL merch if they bought it with their Capital One card in the NBC store.)

“It’s still the 50th season up through May, and we’ve really been celebrating in earnest since the summer Olympics,” Feinberg said.

Brands also bought into the broadcast: Linear and streaming inventory for SNL50 is sold out, Feinberg said Thursday, adding that there was a 51% increase in the likelihood that audiences would search for brands featured in 

compared to in other late-night programming.

Looks like anniversaries are good for business. 

 brought in record-setting revenue this season, Feinberg said. In 2024, network media spend on the program exceeded $81 million, 7% more than the $75.5 million spent in 2023, according to data from MediaRadar.

“This is one of the biggest shows in culture,” she said.

Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy from SNL comedy trio Please Don't Destroy appear in an Allstate commercial

Brands are getting a front-row seat to ‘Saturday Night Live’

Allstate, Maybelline, and Capital One are among the brands showing up to a red carpet event ahead of the anniversary special.

Brands are getting a front-row seat to ‘Saturday Night Live’ for its 50-year anniversary

Dating apps have stumbled like a marathoner cramping up at mile 22. Match Group, the parent company of dating apps like Tinder and Hinge, has reported a 

 in paying users for seven consecutive quarters as of its Q2 earnings call in July. 

Where are singles finding matches these days? Among other venues, singles’ running clubs and run clubs in general, which are exploding in popularity. As these clubs have grown, both endemic and non-endemic brands have pursued partnerships with them as a way to target specific demographics and broaden their marketing and branding.

Sneaker and sportswear brand Saucony has partnered with several run clubs, including Black Girls RUN!, Black Men Run, and No Bad Days, Jordan Yob, brand marketing director at Saucony, told Marketing Brew.

“You can’t go a day without seeing a couple of the run crews in Brooklyn,” Yob said, noting the increasing popularity of run clubs in the US, and particularly in New York City.

At some of these meetups, outside of providing T-shirts or refreshments, Yob said, Saucony has provided shoes for runners to try on, and even 

 in partnership with some run clubs. (The company declined to share how much of its marketing budget goes toward these types of partnerships.)

“A lot of times, run communities have their favorite shoes that they may already be running in,” Yob said. “It is an opportunity, when we do these events with run crews, to have them maybe try on a product that they’re not used to wearing.”

Other brands are bringing their goods to run clubs, too. Gainful, a nutritional supplement brand, has teamed up with Lunge Run Club in New York several times this year. For some of the events, Gainful has supplied pre-workout supplements, hydration, and food, Kaitlin O’Neill, the brand’s experiential and events marketing manager, said. At one of Lunge’s October meetups, Gainful ran a “golden ticket-esque” giveaway, she told us, where the brand handed out tubes of its mango hydration product, three of which included a golden ticket good for six months of Gainful product for free.

It’s not just sportswear and wellness brands like Saucony and Gainful that are showing up. Netflix recently partnered with Lunge for its new rom-com show 

, which follows an agnostic woman who falls in love with a rabbi.

The event included a matchmaking game at New York bar Houston Hall for the occasion: Runners could fill out a survey to find their “perfect match,” then were given an envelope that contained the Instagram handle of another attendee who was their match.

Brands aren’t only showing up to target specific consumers. They’re also using run clubs as a way to diversify their marketing and branding.

Saucony has a “strong organic presence,” and is active on TikTok and Instagram like many brands, Yob said. However, activating with run clubs can help Saucony connect with consumers outside of social media and help drive “brand love and brand loyalty,” she said.

“A lot of times people run with a certain community that they identify with or that they connect with,” she said.

For Gainful, run-club partnerships are an effort to diversify its marketing. In the past, Gainful’s partnerships were focused on fitness-oriented groups like gyms and the fitness race Hyrox, Courtney Scott, VP of marketing at Gainful, said. But now, as run clubs are exploding and bringing in people who may be approaching wellness more casually, Gainful is courting those consumers, too, she said.

“A lot of supplement brands are very focused on more high-intensity athletics,” Scott said. “Running is so hot right now, but I think it’s because it’s welcoming to all people. Anybody can start running, and on Day One, you can go as slow as you want, and you can work your way up…That’s one of the things that really attracts us to run clubs and to Lunge specifically.”

Mixed collage of close up runners and hands with phones.

Why brands are racing to get involved in running clubs

Netflix partnered with New York’s Lunge Run Club to help promote its new series “Nobody Wants This.”

Unrivaled is getting an alley-oop from Ally Financial, which will be the first (and founding) brand partner for the new women’s basketball league that tips off in January 2025.

The league is currently seeking to drum up brand and viewer interest at a time when women’s sports are bigger than ever.

“I’ve been in this business now 38 years,” David Levy, who is the co-founder and co-CEO of Horizon Sports & Experiences, which has invested in Unrivaled. “This product is coming at the right time.”

Unrivaled, which was announced earlier this year and co-founded by two WNBA players, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, signed several players recently, including Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray. The league promises to pay the highest average salary in women’s sports and is giving equity in the league to its players. Several figures in the sports world, like Megan Rapinoe and Steve Nash, have already signed on as investors.

Many of the women's basketball players recruited to the league so far, like 

, have their own personal brands, which Unrivaled plans to leverage in its marketing to drive viewer interest, Kirby Porter, Unrivaled’s chief brand officer, told us. Digital content showcasing players’ stories, along with paid and organic creator content, will be central to the league’s marketing, as well as plain old word-of-mouth.

The league is betting on the recent heightened interest in women’s sports to bring in more brand partners. Brands like Google, Buick, and Nissan have invested big money advertising in women’s sports, and betting on women’s sports has increased, too, according to Levy, who is working on media rights for Unrivaled.

While basketball has largely been leading the hype, interest in other women’s sports like soccer and volleyball is also growing, he told Marketing Brew. Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife are becoming controlling owners of LA's Angel City Football Club, making it the highest-valued women’s sports team. The Paris Olympics this year has more female athletes than male in the US, making it the fourth iteration of the Olympic Games with that breakdown.

Levy sees an opportunity to capitalize on that women’s sports hype for Unrivaled.

“We’re looking for all sorts of brands,” he said. “We’re looking for the official car [and] the official telco.”

As a founding and brand partner to Unrivaled, Ally Financial will receive several placements across the league, including on its jersey patches, on in-arena signage, and in other hospitality and fan engagement spaces, according to Unrivaled’s announcement.

“Unrivaled is addressing a marketplace challenge,” Andrea Brimmer, Ally’s CMO said in a statement. “And we’re here to help them build a pathway to success and sustainability. All with the intention to make women's sports unmissable.”

Levy’s also betting on streaming and other media companies being interested in Unrivaled. Amid an 

 sports streaming landscape, having rights to sports leagues like Unrivaled can help companies reduce churn and attract new subscribers, said Levy, who has been taking meetings with related companies for potential sponsorships.

Sports is “the last destination programming on television, whether it’s streaming or whether it’s linear,” Levy said. “It’s appointment viewing. No one records a sports property and watches it the next day, and if they do, it's [a] very, very small group.”

Women’s basketball league Unrivaled wants brands in its court

The league’s high-profile investors include Megan Rapinoe and Steve Nash.

Unrivaled, the new women’s basketball league, wants brands in its court

Ryan Barwick

MKBR: Shoppable Ads

Since its founding in 1986, QVC’s on-air personalities have hawked stainless-steel steak knives and Tupperware with the same cozy-yet-ruthless refrain: act quickly, pick up the phone, and buy now.

If streamers have their way, that’ll soon be as easy as lifting the remote control.

Shoppable ads, which effectively turn television interfaces into shopping carts and let viewers purchase the products they see on screen, have followed in the footsteps of social commerce platforms, bringing the ease of e-commerce to the tube. While the ad format has 

 for a few years, there were considerable advancements in the format unveiled during this year’s upfronts.

 to shoppable ad formats for Prime Video, including formats like carousel ads and interactive ads that allow users to shop from a 

. Warner Bros. Discovery also announced last month that it would bring a “seamless and integrated shopping experience” to Max.

, which have all made strides to bring shopping experiences to TV.

In other words, the QVC of streaming is nigh—because if you’re going to be 

 for dog food or toilet paper, why not buy it right then and there?

Predictably, there is Big Tech to thank for the innovation, explained Lisa Herdman, SVP and executive director of national video investment and marketplace intelligence at the agency RPA. Google, Amazon, and Meta collapsed the marketing funnel, offering as many 

 as linear television (though not the same 

) along with the ability to move products off of shelves.

For streamers, shoppable ads give them a new lever to pull for advertisers and show that they, too, can drive sales. Once a few platforms started testing this inventory, everyone else was bound to follow.

“It’s just about keeping up with the neighbors,” Herdman said.

Naturally, this kind of inventory has tended to work for retailers, clothing brands, DTC products, and even food delivery, she said. What’s still unknown, though, is the kind of programming that might work best for shoppable ads to run against, she said. If viewers are deeply engaged in, say, a cliffhanger ending during an episode of 

“Maybe they don’t if it’s a drama, but maybe the research has shown that reality TV [works], it’s a little lighter, there may be a different demographic, and they will pause and go buy,” Herdman said. “I don’t think it won’t work. I think we need some time on it.”

For now, though, shoppable ads are “rarely—if ever—worth the upcharge,” David Nyurenberg, associate director of digital video at Rain the Growth Agency, told Marketing Brew, though he noted that some platforms, like Amazon, aren’t charging advertisers extra for their shoppable features.

“We never see them perform,” he said.

Most shoppable ads work in one of two ways:

viewers can either make the purchase with their remote, or they can use their phone, which usually involves a QR code.

Some retailers have used both, depending on the platform they’re advertising on. Walmart, for example, has run both shoppable ads with QR codes on Peacock and click-to-purchase ads on Roku, explained Marika Roque, chief innovation officer at Kerv Interactive, which makes technology that creates shoppable ads for platforms like Peacock, Paramount+, and Disney.

“There is a lack of standardization in that path to purchase,” Roque said.

But faith in the humble QR code is seeming to falter, in part because ads featuring the scannable images require viewers to find and pick up their phones, unlock them, and then successfully scan a code, usually within the span of 15 or 30 seconds.

“There’s too much friction,” David Zapletal, COO of Digital Remedy, explained. “The majority of time, it’s a struggle.”

When Roku began experimenting with shoppable ads, early tests showed that engagement increased more than 10x if viewers were prompted to use a remote instead of scanning a QR code, Peter Hamilton, director of ad innovation at Roku, said. “Remote control is still the primary way that people want to interact with their television.”

“Anyone can create a video ad and put a QR code in it, and we don’t have any issues with that—we just find that the performance is very low in that scenario,” he said, adding that roughly 1% of audiences that see a shoppable ad on Roku actually engage with it.

Figuring out the right path forward is a long time coming. In 2008, The New York Times 

 that “interactive TV has been sort of a holy grail for Madison Avenue” for years. Meanwhile, Google has had e-commerce features dating back all the way to 2002, and these days, platforms like Instagram and TikTok are littered with e-commerce ads.

Even still, shoppable ads may still need time to mature, Hugh Scallon, SVP and head of video activation at VaynerMedia, told Marketing Brew.

“I think it’s still early days,” he said. “I hope TV doesn’t wind up looking like a Sunday shopper or all TV looks like QVC.”

A hand pointing a remote control at a TV displaying a shoppable ad for lotion.

Streamers keep leaning in on shoppable ads. Who will get it right?

During upfronts, the tech was on full display—but questions about effectiveness and which approach is best remain. 

Folks still using their exes’ Disney+ passwords, it’s (almost) over: Starting this summer and rolling out globally this September, Disney will officially begin cracking down on password sharing, CEO Bob Iger said on the company’s most recent earnings call.

Disney is not the only one bringing the hammer down. Netflix also plans to expand its paid sharing efforts, the company’s own answer to widespread password sharing across households, CFO Spence Neumann said on the streamer’s earnings call last month.

The major streamers on the market are at different levels of maturity, but they’re responding to similar market pressures and industry trends. Now that earnings season has wrapped, here’s the rundown of how streamers stacked up:

 The streamer now counts nearly 270 million global paid subscribers, according to its letter to shareholders. Its ad tier is also continuing to grow: membership of Netflix with Ads, which had around 23 million subscribers in 

, grew 65% quarter over quarter, and more than 40% of signups in its ads markets were for the ad tier, according to its earnings release. After price hikes, Netflix is also making more money per subscriber in the United States and Canada, with average revenue per membership hitting $17.30, compared to $16.64 in the previous quarter.

However, this is one of the last times Netflix will break out average revenue per membership. Starting in 2025, it will no longer report quarterly membership numbers and average revenue per membership partly as a result of differing price points across its global offerings, the company said.

Other orders of business for the streamer include increased investment in live programming, including a boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson, WWE 

 beginning next year, and its Netflix is a Joke comedy festival, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on the earnings call.

The NBCUniversal-owned streamer continues to narrow its losses, dropping to $639 million in the first quarter compared to $704 million in the prior-year period. The streamer counted 34 million paid subscribers at the end of March, up 12 million year over year, Comcast president Mike Cavanagh said on Comcast’s earnings call, and average revenue per user (ARPU) came in at $10, while revenue reached $1.1 billion in the quarter.

Like Netflix, the streamer is leaning into live sports. An NFL wild-card game that was available exclusively on the streamer in January “added, and then retained, even more new Peacock subscribers than we expected,” Cavanagh told investors. After streaming the Paris Olympics, which has netted at least 

 in ad sales, Peacock will exclusively stream the NFL Week 1 Eagles-Packers game live from São Paulo, Brazil.

Ahead of the Olympic games, Peacock is also raising prices for the second time in two years. In mid-July, the price of a Peacock subscription will increase by $2 a month, with ad-supported Peacock Premium coming in at $7.99/month and ad-free Peacock Premium Plus increasing to $13.99/month.

While parent company Paramount is currently in the middle of a closely watched acquisition battle and recently parted ways with CEO Bob Bakish, Paramount+, the company’s three-year-old streamer, now counts more than 71 million subscribers, with 3.7 million net additions in Q1. Like Peacock, it has further stemmed its losses this quarter, reporting a loss of $286 million in the quarter, down from $511 million in Q1 2023. Meanwhile, revenue from Paramount+ hit $7.7 billion, and global ARPU grew 26% year over year, the company reported.

Paramount+ rolled out an ad-tier plan in Canada in April, and will debut a similar option in Australia in June.

 Disney+ had close to 118 million core subscribers at the end of March, with 22.5 million subscribers watching on its ad tier, according to the company’s Q2 earnings. ESPN+ had 24.8 million paid subscribers, a 2% drop from the previous quarter, while Hulu’s subscriber count stayed almost flat quarter over quarter, with 45.8 million subscribers at the end of March. The three services lost a combined $18 million in the quarter, a notable improvement from the same period last year, when they collectively lost $659 million.

Overall, Disney’s entertainment DTC business posted a profit for the 

. ARPU for core Disney+ subscribers was up 6% to $7.28, from $6.84 the prior quarter.

Amazon Prime Video counts 200 million monthly viewers, according to a recent letter to shareholders, and 85% of its users are on its ad tier, according to recent 

Like a few of the other streamers, Amazon is snapping up live sports rights left and right: This year, it has struck deals to stream some NHL games in 

 with the NBA to air the league’s mid-season and play-in tournaments.

Ahead of the upfronts, Prime Video rolled out shoppable ad formats, including carousel ads, pause ads, and trivia ads.

 Warner Bros. Discovery streamer Max posted a global streaming subscriber count of 99.6 million paid streaming subscribers in March, up from 97.7 million at the end of 2023, according to its Q1 earnings release. WBD’s DTC unit, which includes Max, brought in $86 million in the quarter, up from $50 million a year ago. Global DTC ARPU hit $7.83, up 4% compared to the prior year quarter, according to its earnings release.

Max is also leaning into live sports. WBD already has rights deals with MLB, the NHL, the NBA, and the NCAA, and in October, Max introduced a Bleacher Report live sports add-on package. WBD, whose network TNT 

 the rights to the NBA to NBC, is “hopeful” it will strike a new rights deal with the league, CEO David Zaslav told investors, and at upfronts, Luis Silberwasser, chairman and CEO of TNT Sports, told advertisers that WBD wants to reach an agreement “that makes sense for all the parties.”

 Besides cracking down on password sharing and leaning into live sports, streamers are also bundling up. Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and Disney are all poised to debut Venu Sports, a joint sports-streaming venture, this fall, while Max, Hulu, and Disney+ are rolling out a joint streaming bundle, the companies announced in early May. Over at Comcast, Netflix, Apple TV+, and Peacock will be bundled as part of an offering for Comcast customers.

a TV screen with a lock and chain over the front