YouTube
YouTube TV, Google’s live streaming TV service, finished the third quarter with over 3 million subscribers. The new total suggests that YouTube TV added 500,000 subscribers during the quarter, Fierce Video reports.

Quibi
Quibi is an expensive outlier, not the norm, according to research by Parks Associates. Over-the-top video services in the U.S. now number nearly 300, with those platforms shuttering actually declining.

The narrative for why Quibi failed from founder Jeffrey Katzenberg was that the shortform platform was designed for an on-the-go mobile market, which plummeted during pandemic characterized by shelter-in-place at home. Indeed, Quibi launched on the back of a robust national advertising campaign, including a multi-million-dollar Super Bowl commercial, and record-high audience levels for streaming video, Next TV reports.

Streaming Wars
Major subscription VOD services now number seven, counting the rebranding of ViacomCBS’s CBS All Access into Paramount+ early next year. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu represent the established streamers with healthy track records and steady growth. Disney+, which launched in November 2019, leads four newcomers, Apple TV+, HBO Max, NBCUniversal’s Peacock and soon Paramount+, all contending for a share of the attention and revenue from the streaming wars. Source: Media Play News.

Word-of-mouth still rules
Word-of-mouth and advertising dominate the mechanisms used to attract and retain the attention of streaming viewers to shows, Media Play News reports. When asked how they first found out about their favorite online show, the largest percentage of respondents, 33 per cent, said they heard through word-of-mouth. For favorites watched through pay-TV, advertising was the top discovery source at 30 per cent.

Physical formats continue sharp decline
Streaming is becoming so dominant a viewing mechanism that it has undermined the disc business. Disc sales declined 34.3% in the quarter to $434 million, while DVD and Blu-ray rentals fell 34.4% to $225 million, Next TV reports.