It’s the end of 2023, and what a year it was. From Barbenheimer to the SAG-AFTRA film and television actors’ strike, it was an action packed year for the film and TV industry. So, what did the final month of the year bring?

December is a time that many unwrap their most desired gifts from loved ones, but Santa was not the only one gifting us with the goodies. For the first time, Netflix has released a biannual report which means six months of viewership data transparency on the streaming habits happening within the platform, revealing how licensed content has performed, as well as its own originals. This is all in order to gain trust and increase data transparency. And what does the “What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report” include? Firstly, it covers over 18,000 titles and almost 100 billion hours viewed, Jan-Jun 2023. We will be able to get an insight into hours viewed with content watched for over 50,000 hours, premiere date and whether a title was available on a global scale. Wowza, that is not something we were expecting under the Christmas tree so soon (don’t forget to take a look at our Merchandiser of the Month: December 2023 report).

But Netflix didn’t stop there, once again being mentioned in the media for yet another surprise. We’ve spoken about Apple TV+ and Paramount+ bundling in our previous Merchandiser of the Month, but I must say, we were not expecting yet another announcement detailing that others are jumping onto the bundling bandwagon. Verizon announced in December that they will be offering a deal for $10 a month, which includes the ad tiers for Netflix and Max. Well, that was certainly the cherry on top of many Christmas puds, considering that will mean a 40% discount from the streamers standard price. And as we mentioned previously on the topic of Disney+’s ad-tier success, it appears that we might be right in that it is now the era of the ads, users putting up with toothpaste commercials for their beloved streaming sessions.

As a bit of a wrap up for you all, what did 2023 look like for our beloved Connected TV Device market? In short, it has been a great year indeed. As streaming continues to grow at a rapid rate, so does Connected TV, and is even expected to grow further by 13.8% in 2024 compared with 2023. And for our sporting fans, more specifically? Sports content also continues to increase in popularity, being responsible for 23.5% of all viewing hours in 2023, compared to 14.1% in 2018, becoming increasingly desirable for ad space across streaming. Before I go, are you after the final results on which Streaming Apps and titles won in terms of digital prominence during the final month of 2023? You can view our Merchandiser of the Month: December 2023 report for that. Happy New Year to all!