I don’t know about you, but November was a pretty troubling time for my bank account, and that’s not just because my heating was turned on for the first time since February.

Twas’ the month of impulse purchases, all stemming from the incredible amount of deals being thrown around for Black Friday. I definitely needed all of it, a future investment you see. The most impressive display came from Max and Paramount+, who went head to head on the digital storefronts to heavily promote their ‘Black Friday’ offers. It was especially intense due to the fact their promotional materials were rather similar. The difference? Paramount+ had the slight edge by spotlighting the lowest price of $1.99, although for half the amount of time that Max had on offer. Vizio TV US is where Max knocked Paramount+ down a peg or two, their deal being better highlighted using a bolder “Black Friday Deal” headline, the discounted price being ten times more eye-catching than Paramount+’s. Want to see what we’re talking about? Check out our rundown of events here.

It wasn’t good news for all of the streamers this month however. In November, despite Apple TV+ being top of the pack with a title in first position for merchandising prominence on the US digital storefronts, there is still talk of trouble for this streaming celebrity. With a reported 7% loss of subscribers for both Apple TV+ and Paramount+ (Apple Insider, 2023), there is news that these giants are in the early stages of discussion to pair up and create the streaming bundle service of our dreams. Imagine that, weekends filled with a little bit of Yellowstone, followed by a nice big helping of Lessons in Chemistry. Interested to see which title brought Apple TV+ into the top spot, for the first time this year? Well it’s quite simple really, take a look at our Merchandiser of the Month November report here.

On a more positive note, the evening of November 8th was a sweet one for all you fellow film and TV buffs out there. 118 days after walking off set, the actors’ strike was at a final end with SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP reaching a deal, and a new beginning for our much anticipated and appreciated content was back on the cards. Now that’s the perfect early Christmas gift if I’ve ever seen one.

It was also a great month again for our sports lovers out there, Warner Bros Discovery’s Bleacher Report (B/R) Sports now having an add-on tier within Max US. For the first time ever, all of WBD’s live sports content is now available to stream, including MLB, NBA and NHL games (. They made the most of this opportunity also, getting straight to it and promoting their NBA coverage within the top real estate of Xbox US. On that note, you still don’t know which Apps came first overall for their merchandising performance on the digital storefronts, to give them the best chances of user conversion to their content or service. Find out here.