Month: March 2025

For the first time, Netflix is set to overtake YouTube in total video revenue in 2025, according to exclusive Omdia research presented at MIP TV London 2025.

In 2024, YouTube led the market with $42.5 billion in revenue, while Netflix generated $39.2 billion. However, projections for 2025 show Netflix pulling ahead, reaching $46.2 billion, driven by $43.2 billion from subscriptions and $3.2 billion from advertising. Meanwhile, YouTube is expected to generate $45.6 billion, with $36 billion from advertising and $9.6 billion from YouTube Premium.

Netflix and YouTube take distinct approaches to revenue generation:

• Netflix is projected to have over 340 million paying subscribers in 2025, with more than 600 million users benefiting from its content.
• YouTube continues to dominate in scale, reaching over 2 billion users globally, leveraging its massive audience through advertising and premium subscriptions.

As the streaming landscape evolves, Netflix’s growing ad-supported model and subscriber base could reshape the competitive dynamics of digital video revenue.

“In markets like the US and UK, there is significant overlap between audiences,” said Maria Rua Aguete, Senior Research Director at Omdia. “In the US, 57% of YouTube users are also Netflix subscribers, while in the UK, that number rises to 67%. This dynamic presents opportunities for both platforms.”

While often positioned as rivals, YouTube and Netflix are increasingly collaborating rather than competing. “I see more collaboration than competition between YouTube, Netflix, and other industry players,” Rua Aguete stated. “Streaming services, broadcasters, and platforms are working together through marketing partnerships, content distribution, and advertising deals.”

One key example is Netflix’s use of YouTubers to promote the TV series Squid Game, leveraging influencer-driven marketing to attract new subscribers. Meanwhile, YouTube is solidifying its role as a premium content platform, outperforming Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) services.

“At the end of 2024, YouTube generated seven times more revenue than FAST platforms, $42.5 billion versus $6 billion,” Rua Aguete explained. “Major studios are taking notice. Warner Bros., for example, recently released 37 full-length movies for free on YouTube, and we expect to see more partnerships like this in the future.”

Looking ahead, YouTube is making a strong push toward TV-like content.

“Large players can turn this to their advantage by entering favorable ad-share agreements or even selling some sponsorship and video inventory directly,” Rua Aguete noted.

She also highlighted the growing role of YouTubers in cinema recovery, with influencer-driven promotions becoming an integral part of movie marketing strategies.

Another major shift is YouTube’s increasing consumption on Connected TVs. “Viewers are watching YouTube on the big screen more than ever before,” Rua Aguete said. “This changes the advertising game, making YouTube an even bigger player in premium video.” Omdia

Global media giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has published its fourth quarter (Q4) and year-end financial results, revealing a huge net loss of almost $500 million for the final three months of 2024.

The company suffered a 2% year-on-year (YOY) drop in quarterly revenue to $10 billion from $10.28 billion during the same quarter in 2023, and a 4% YoY annual revenue decrease to $39.3 billion, down 5% from $41.32 billion in 2023.

The results are the first since the company decided in December to separate its cable TV businesses from streaming and studio operations, laying the groundwork for a potential sale or spinoff of its TV business.

In Q4, WBD reported a net loss of $494 million, compared with a net loss of $400 million, during the same prior period last year.

WBD reported a full-year 2024 loss of $11.3 billion, primarily driven by $6.9 billion of asset acquisition costs and restructuring expenses and a $9.1 billion non-cash goodwill impairment charge in the networks segment.

The media heavyweight did, however, deliver a profit in its streaming business and added 6.4 million subscribers to its Max service, pushing the total figure to 116.9 million.

Q4 revenue for the streaming segment, including Discovery+, Max, and Eurosport+, came to $2.7 billion, up 5% from $2.53 billion in the same quarter last year. WBD’s quarterly profit for its direct-to-consumer (DTC) business stood at $409 million compared with a loss of $55 million in 2023.

For the full year, WBD’s DTC business turned a profit of $677 million, compared to a 2023 profit of $103 million.

The media and entertainment company said it has a “clear path” to hit 150 million global subscribers on Max by the end of 2026.

WBD previously said it targeted $1 billion or more in DTC earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in 2025.

Chief executive David Zaslav, however, recently told Wall Street that the company was now expecting to meaningfully exceed that.

He said: “We expect strong DTC subscriber growth to continue throughout 2025. And we now have a clear path to reach at least 150 million global subscribers by the end of 2026, with corresponding strong DTC revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth.

“Max continues to grow at a powerful pace, and we expect it to continue throughout 2025 and beyond. In this generational media disruption, only the global streamers will survive and prosper, and Max is just that.”

Max is set to launch in Australia at the end of March and on major pay-TV network Sky in the United Kingdom and Ireland by the second quarter of 2026 before debuting in Germany and Italy in the first quarter of that year. The service was rolled out in more than 70 countries across Europe and Asia last year.

WBD announced Wednesday that Max would keep its B/R Sports and CNN content available at no additional cost to subscribers in its standard and premium tiers. Initially, WBD planned to charge an additional cost for sports.

However, it will pull both verticals from its basic, ad-supported tier beginning March 30.

In terms of its major sports rights, WBD is losing US broadcast rights to basketball’s NBA starting next season. It still has a domestic sports portfolio that includes the French Open tennis grand slam, Major League Baseball, college football, and the ice hockey’s NHL.

With major streaming platforms such as Netflix entering the live sports scene and providing competition to established media groups, Zaslav said the company is more focused on maximizing its returns than acquiring more sports content.

He stated: “There are sports rights that we can look at opportunistically and say we can make a real return on, but we don’t need any more sports anywhere in the world to support our business. We would buy sports if we think it would enhance our business.”

Zaslav argued the continuing appeal of sports content bundles will be driven by potential value and convenience for consumers.

Last month, Venu Sports, the prospective joint venture sports streaming platform planned by WBD, Disney, and Fox Corp., was scrapped.

Venu would have combined the sports streaming property portfolios of Disney, Fox, and WBD and control over 50% of live sports broadcasts in the US both regionally and nationally.

Revenue for networks, WBD’s biggest segment that includes the aforementioned sports broadcasters in their linear form, came in at $4.8 billion, compared with $5.04 billion in 2023, and profits down 13% to $1.9 billion. Ad revenue dropped 17%, driven by domestic networks’ audience declines of 28%.

Meanwhile, WBD has acquired rights to The Snow League winter sports competition in Europe in a multi-year deal.

All the action will be streamed live on Max and Discovery+ across Europe starting with the first event in Aspen, USA from March 7-8.

Live coverage will be complemented by a highlights programme on WBD’s premium linear channels.

The inaugural season will feature some of the world’s top winter sports athletes going head-to-head in four competitions at iconic resorts, with events leading up to, and immediately following, the Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games in 2026.

The competition will feature 36 snowboarding stars including men’s reigning Olympic halfpipe champion Ayumu Hirano (Japan), men’s reigning half-pipe World Champion Chaeun Lee (South Korea), and Beijing 2022 women’s halfpipe medallists Queralt Castellet (Spain) and Sena Tomita (Japan).

The deal was brokered on behalf of Snow League by the Range Sports agency, which advises on its media rights and commercial partnerships strategy and execution. Sportcal

India’s booming short-form video market is just about getting started, with demand for engaging local content and uptake in smaller locations fuelling growth, Manohar Singh Charan, Chief Financial Officer of homegrown social media platforms ShareChat and Moj said.

Differentiated services with regional relevance are driving sustained business momentum and yielding new opportunities for brands to connect with audiences, he added.

In an interview with PTI, Charan said the company is on the brink of being EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) positive at a consolidated level. Mohalla Tech is the parent entity of the social media app ShareChat and the short video app Moj.

He said hiring will be “cautious”, geared to selective and specialised roles as the company gets into the profitability zone.

The Google-backed company is also looking to rope in a few more marquee investors before it goes for an IPO in a 24-month timeframe.

Charan said the company, in FY24, made “great progress” on revenue and cost optimisation, with the top line growing at 33 per cent and losses down to one-third. The momentum continues in FY25.

ShareChat, he said, has been profitable at the EBITDA level on a standalone basis for the last few months, and further losses – and at a consolidated level – are expected to be down to one-third once again in FY25.

An IPO is still some time away – a 24-month timeframe is what the company estimates, as it goes about prioritising the path to profitability. The last round of capital raise was a debt round, but other than that, most rounds have been equity funding.

“We are on the brink of profitability, and we are very well capitalised, all thanks to the round that we raised in 2024. So, per se, we don’t need capital to continue to extend our runway. As we start getting closer to the IPO, we will look to rope in a few more great investors. We already have a handful of really good investors on our cap table.

“There would be cap table rationalisation. You will try and get in people who enter cap tables just before IPO and stay beyond IPO. So, at the right time, we would look to add a few more names before we go public,” he said.

On the growth of short-form video and broad market trends, he said, India is “just getting started”.

“We are on this upward trajectory today. Our internet penetration is more than 60 per cent of our population today. We have 650 million internet users with a 1.4 billion population,” he said, citing estimates that India’s internet user base would swell to one billion by 2030.

“So, you’re looking at a further 50 per cent expansion in the sheer number of people connected on the internet. Indian audiences that are getting connected to the internet today are straight-away landing onto social media and landing onto short-form video as the predominant format of social media.”

The Indian economy, among the fastest growing large economies globally, will fuel per capita incomes and given the rise of short videos as the predominant form of content consumption, it will likely also nudge brands into infusing more money into the social media economy, which is increasingly influencing purchase decisions.

“As our economy continues to grow, we continue to be one of the fastest growing large economies, the discretionary income of the audiences that are on the internet is going to increase significantly.

“Superimpose that with short videos becoming a predominant form of content consumption…in forming an opinion about things, in purchase decisions, relying on a regional language content…we would see that brands are going to start shifting their focus and efforts more and more on vernacular language platforms, and on micro-influencers to carry their brand stories to the length and breadth of the country,” Charan said.

The brand engagement in the social media economy is going to increase multifold in coming years, he noted.

“So, I would say we’re getting started, and we are very optimistic about what the future has to bring for us,” Charan added. PTI

With just over two weeks to go for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, JioStar—the joint venture between Reliance Industries Ltd’s Viacom18 and The Walt Disney Co.—has secured 12 sponsors and is targeting ₹5,000 crore in advertising revenue from this edition, according to two people aware of the matter. However, industry experts are not sure if this target is achievable.

JioStar executives remain bullish, citing strong advertiser demand, new audience targeting capabilities, and real-time measurement innovations.

“We are seeing record demand for IPL this year,” said Ishan Chatterjee, chief business officer, sports revenue, SMB & creator at JioStar. “With the kind of reach and engagement IPL commands, brands are prioritising it as the marquee event in their marketing calendar.”

Last year, IPL reached 525 million viewers on TV and 425 million on digital. With momentum from the India-England series and the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, JioStar expects total viewership across platforms to cross 1 billion.

Shashi Sinha, CEO of IPG Mediabrands, sees IPL 2025 as a strong opportunity for advertisers, especially as it aligns with the start of the financial year when brands have fresh marketing budgets. “IPL allows clients to plan budgets early, giving them flexibility. But it’s too soon to make firm revenue projections.”

To be sure, JioStar had initially set a revenue goal of over ₹6,000 crore for IPL 2025 but later lowered it to ₹5,000 crore, the people quoted earlier said on the condition of anonymity.

The combined TV and digital ad revenue of IPL hit a record of close to ₹4,000 crore in 2022, and stood at ₹3,600 crore in 2024, according to industry estimates.

Big spenders and key categories
JioStar has already locked in 12 sponsors, including Campa (Reliance Retail), My11Circle, Opus Paints, State Bank of India, Coca-Cola, Kent Fans, Amfi (Mutual Funds), Amul, Zupee, PhonePe, Jaquar Bath Fittings, and Asian Paints, the people said. More deals are expected to close in the coming weeks.

While Chatterjee declined to confirm specific brands, the people quoted earlier indicate that Campa has signed a ₹200 crore deal, while My11Circle will announce its association today (Monday).

“Summer is coming early, so categories like beverages, air conditioners, and fans are showing strong interest,” Chatterjee said. “We are also seeing aggressive spending from fintech players, BFSI brands, fantasy gaming platforms, and mobile handset manufacturers.”

Premium ad targeting and innovation
JioStar is betting on new ad innovations to attract brands and enhance audience targeting.

“For the first time, advertisers can combine Connected TV (CTV), iOS, and high-end Android devices in their media plans,” Chatterjee said. “This allows brands to precisely target premium audiences.”

The company is also expanding hyperlocal advertising, enabling businesses like real estate developers and auto dealerships to run campaigns targeted at specific geographic regions.

To improve transparency in digital ad performance, JioStar has partnered with Nielsen for third-party, real-time campaign validation. A Neurons Inc. study found that IPL ads on JioHotstar generate significantly higher engagement than user-generated content platforms or on-demand OTT services.

JioStar is also pushing for greater participation from small and medium businesses (SMBs). Through a 10-city roadshow, the company is educating local advertisers on IPL’s advertising potential and offering lower entry points to attract regional businesses.

“We want to break the perception that IPL advertising is only for big-budget brands,” Chatterjee said. “With our new targeting solutions, even SMBs can advertise effectively with smaller budgets.”

TV vs digital: Where is the ad money going?
While television remains critical, digital advertising is growing faster, with Connected TV emerging as the most expensive and sought-after inventory.

While declining on exact numbers, Chaterjee said that CTV is fastest growing. “I wouldn’t go into too much details about the exact numbers, but, CTV is a lean back experience. You have a number of different formats on CTV, lots of functionality that is unlocked. So CTV is, of course, our fastest growing consumption surface,” Chatterjee said.

However, advertisers have raised concerns over JioStar’s shift from concurrent viewership reporting (previously on Hotstar) to a ‘views’ metric. The lack of standardization has led to confusion among brands.

“Unlike when Hotstar reported concurrent viewership figures, the shift to ‘views’ has left advertisers unclear about actual audience size,” said a senior media agency executive. “This has become a key discussion point in negotiations, with brands pushing for more clarity.”

Will paywall hurt viewership?
Adding to these concerns is JioHotstar’s new paywall model for IPL streaming. Reports indicate that users will get four hours of free streaming per month, after which they must subscribe.

Amid worries that it could impact IPL’s overall reach, Chatterjee said the company remains flexible in its approach.

“We are very clear that we will meet our advertiser objectives. That is the number one priority,” he said. “We want users to experience a significant portion of content before reaching a paywall. While we’re still testing and haven’t set a fixed limit, free access will be generous—enough to watch an entire game. This ensures users get a meaningful experience while also aligning with advertiser goals.”

He pointed out that despite the paywall, India-Pakistan match in the Champions Trophy recorded the highest-ever digital viewership for an India-Pakistan cricket match ever, suggesting that IPL will not suffer a decline in audience.

Will IPL set a new ad revenue record?
While sales momentum is ahead of last year at the same stage, high ad costs, concerns over digital measurement, and the potential impact of the paywall model remain key risks.

JioStar is banking on premium ad innovations, strong demand across categories, and aggressive sales efforts to make IPL 2025 a record-breaking year for ad sales.

“With 16 working days left before IPL 2025, we are very confident this will be the best IPL ever in terms of ad revenue,” Chatterjee said. LiveMint