In this week’s Week in Charts, CTV Decides DSP RFPs, Streaming Captures Majority of Primetime Upfront Spend, and Linear Viewing Climbs Above SVOD in New Zealand.
To have Week in Charts delivered to your inbox, you can sign up to the newsletter here.
Quote of the Week
Number of the Week
Charts of the Week
Linear Viewing Climbs Above SVOD in New Zealand
Across markets, we’ve seen rising viewership of subscription video on-demand (SVOD) streaming services paired with falling linear TV consumption. And as these two lines have continued to head in opposite directions, some have seen it as a sign of terminal decline for linear TV.
New data from New Zealand shows that’s not necessarily the case. Data from the country’s broadcast commission found that SVOD consumption had overtaken linear back in 2023, opening up a seven percentage point gap. But this year’s figures show that linear has actually overtaken paid streaming, due to a slight rebound in linear viewing and a significant drop in SVOD.
RTL Group Completes Journey to Streaming Profitability
Back in 2019, RTL Group pledged significant incremental investment in streaming, earmarking at least €350 million to help develop its various streaming products across markets into major players. A lot has happened since then: the launch of RTL+, the sale of RTL Nederland, the acquisition of Sky Deutschland, and significant streaming losses since 2020. Now, however, RTL’s streaming arm is in the black, with profits this year expected to reach around €100 million.
Ad Tiers Account for More Than Half of NA SVOD Revenues
Ad tiers on paid streaming services have quickly evolved from small incremental income drivers to major growth generators, as revenues from ad-supported subscriptions have soared over the past ten years. Data from Ampere Analysis shows that total ad tier revenues in North America have grown by over 10 times since 2018, from $4.4 billion to $45.1 billion. As a result, ad tiers are now projected to account for 54 percent of total SVOD revenues by the end of the year.
Microdrama Apps See Mega Download Growth
Apps dedicated to short drama series (or ‘microdramas’) saw 95.5 percent year-on-year growth in downloads in H1 this year, according to data from app analytics business Insightrackr and consulting firm Mintel. This was the highest growth rate by far for any app category as defined by the two companies. Microdramas are popular on the major short-form apps like TikTok and Instagram, but many producers distribute via their own dedicated apps. As the data indicates, these apps are gaining traction with audiences.
The Week in Stocks
Agencies
Dentsu’s share price fell by over seven percent this week following the company’s H1 earnings, which showed sluggish net revenue organic growth of just 0.3 percent.
TV
Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery both benefited once again as further regulatory hurdles for their proposed takeover deal were cleared. Paramount says it has now satisfied all regulatory clearances required under the merger, though it still faces a major challenge in the form of litigation brought against it by the State of California and 11 other State Attorneys General.
Publishers
Thomson Reuters’ share price dipped below $100 this week, and it’s down by over 40 percent over the past year. Looking at the last six months, however, the stock is up by nearly 14 percent.
Ad Tech
Viant’s share price dipped by ten percent this week, having surged on the company’s Q2 earnings in the previous week. PubMatic also fell back slightly, though it’s still up by over 30 percent compared with its pre-earnings share price.
Tech
NVIDIA was the only riser among the big tech stocks this week, as it expanded its lead as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company. However, it’s still nearly five percent below its all time high from May earlier this year.
