CONSUMERS CONFIDENT DESPITE ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
As the Holiday shopping season approaches, consumer spending projections are getting stronger and stronger. Consumer confidence is high, though consumption is expected to be more thoughtful and deliberate. With Thanksgiving falling early in the month and five shopping weekends between Black Friday and Christmas, shoppers have the luxury of time to look for deals and promotions and to assess product quality. Retailers will promote sales across multiple channels as consumers compare digital and brick-and-mortar offerings. Bottom line: Your loved ones have plenty of time to find the right gift for you and have no excuse to hand you another sweaty last-minute purchase. (Forbes: Nov 15, 2023)
THIS JUST IN: PEOPLE LIKE FREE TV
When asked if they agreed that a streaming service being free “makes up for the lack of newer shows & movies,” an unsurprising 42% said that it does. Only 16% disagreed—with just three percent disagreeing strongly. Forty percent of U.S. adults who watch free streamers like PlutoTV and Freevee have increased the time they spend watching those services and are fine with seeing ads. Noteworthy: the leading reason for preferring free streamers is that they feature more enjoyable shows and easier selection. Classics are classics for a reason; newer doesn’t always mean better, and advertising is still welcome. (Aluma Insights via marketingcharts: Nov 14, 2023)
AND MORE FREE TV IS ON THE WAY
BounceTV founder Jonathan Katz has announced his latest venture: Free TV Networks, a company devoted to free over-the-air and streaming channels. FTN is working in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery, Lionsgate, and station owner Grey Television and will kick off on January 1 with The365, focusing on African-American viewers and Outlaw, which will feature westerns. Both will have 80% US coverage at launch. They plan to roll out additional FAST channels later in 2024. (NextTV: Nov 7, 2023)
VIRTUAL MVPDS CONTINUE TO GROW
With providers such as Sling TV and Fubo collectively adding more than 1.3 million customers in Q3 2023, 20% of U.S. pay TV customers now use vMVPDs—a major threshold for a still-growing area. In fact, many secondary and tertiary cable operators have stopped offering their own streaming options and are instead directing their broadband subscribers to vMVPDs via partnership agreements. (Leichtman Research Group: Nov 14, 2023)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
This is the last edition of XACTV Video News that we’ll publish before Turkey Day, and we just wanted to take a moment to wish you and your family a safe, happy, relaxing holiday. Thanks for reading these, and we’ll be back in December.