Newsletter – September 18th, 2025

OTT.X NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 18TH, 2025

Roku’s Projector Play Isn’t About Hardware. It’s About OS Land Grab.

Roku’s Projector Play Isn’t About Hardware. It’s About OS Land Grab.

Aurzen’s new D1R Cube is the first projector to ship with Roku TV built in. It’s a budget-friendly, portable device that plays all the hits: Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Roku Originals, and over 500 FAST channels. But the real story is what’s happening under the hood. Roku is moving beyond TVs and bringing its OS into a category long dominated by Google TV.

The Take

Roku is building an OS-first ecosystem. TVs were phase one. Projectors are now phase two. This is Roku future-proofing its distribution, making sure that wherever streaming happens — living rooms, backyards, camping trips, it’s powering the experience.

Read the Full Analysis: The Streaming Wars

Hub: Viewers Turn to SVODs as the “Starting Gate” for Streaming

Today, consumers typically use four or more streaming services. For providers, reducing churn is now the top priority—and engagement has become a stronger indicator of brand health than subscriber counts. Since 2013, Hub’s annual “Decoding the Default” survey has measured which platforms consumers consider their “home base” for TV – the ‘first thing they turn on’ when they want to watch TV content.

In 2025, more viewers start their viewing sessions on an SVOD platform than anywhere else. To add, more start watching on Netflix than any other streamer – but alternative platforms (especially YouTube) are beginning to cut into that lead.

More viewers default to SVOD than to live TV.

· About a third (32%) of viewers say they start watching by turning on live TV – from pay TV operator, live streaming from a virtual MVPD, or live broadcast networks from an antenna.

· But 40% default to a paid SVOD service, and another 17% start watching on a free streaming service (usually YouTube).

Almost 80% of younger viewers default to streaming sources.

· 56% of viewers under 35 default to a paid streaming service and another 22% start watching on a free streaming platform.

· Only 15% default to watching live TV.

Netflix dominates other streaming platforms – but the competition is getting tighter.

· A fifth (19%) of respondents say that Netflix is their starting point for TV – almost twice as many as default to YouTube (11%), and 4x the next highest paid streaming service (Hulu, at 5%). But the numbers also show the collective investment in competing streamers is eroding Netflix’s lead.

- In aggregate, more viewers (21%) said their default was a paid SVOD service *other* than Netflix.

- The percent of viewers who say that Netflix is their default has fallen from 23% in 2020.

“The data is clear: being a viewer’s default dramatically increases the likelihood they’ll keep you,” said Christina Pisano, consultant at Hub and one of the study authors. “First-stop status drives more sessions, more time spent, and higher retention. That’s why the battle for the TV home base is the most important fight in today’s entertainment landscape.”

For Complete Report Hub: “Decoding the Default”

2025 OTT.X Summit - Alan Wolk on How Feudal Media is Reshaping Entertainment

The entertainment ecosystem is undergoing a profound transformation as we are witnessing the rise of what Alan Wolk, Co-Founder & Lead Analyst for TVREV has termed “feudal media”—podcasts, Substacks, TikTok channels, and other independent platforms that cultivate deeply loyal communities within self-contained worlds.

The affinity for these versatile platforms garners an intensity and passion that traditional media often struggles to command. Yet most fans inside these ecosystems remain largely unaware of the broader entertainment universe beyond their chosen domain.

Join Alan Wolk at the 2025 OTT.X Summit for a keynote exploration of feudal media and what this fragmentation means for media and entertainment at large.

Explore how companies can evolve beyond seeing these platforms as merely “social” or “marketing,” and instead integrate them into sustainable monetization models that better reflect the dynamics of artists, fans, and long-term value creation.

More Information & Registration

Gracenote signs Index Exchange as first contextual CTV ads partner

A year after first touting its entry into connected TV’s (CTV) contextual TV ads market, Gracenote has announced its first partner.

Index Exchange, one of the largest independent supply-side platform (SSP) operators, will embed Gracenote’s brand-safety segments and granular do-not-air (DNA) controls directly into its SSP.

Nielsen-owned Gracenote specializes in the creation and management of metadata and content identifiers for the video business, and has primarily provided these assets for consumer-based search-and-discovery mechanisms.

By extending these same IDs into Index's SSP platform, publishers can now package streaming supply with contextual data and provide show-level targeting and transparency to advertiser clients. Publishers keep full control over when and with whom they share contextual data, supporting their monetization strategies and protecting their data.

Contextual targeting is still fairly new to CTV, and still not technologically easy to pull off, either. But it can potentially provide a way for brands and advertisers to strategically connect with audiences at key moments with relevant messaging, while also helping them avoid running commercials that could turn select viewers off.Or, as Gracenote puts it, its segments and DNA “give marketers the ability to align ads with the right shows while avoiding placements in content that doesn’t fit their brand standards.”

Read the full story: StreamTV Insider

Global Demand for Recent Premieres in the NCIS Franchise

Presented By:

As long-running linear procedural franchises continue to expand, these shows have proven valuable in the streaming era as retention powerhouses for platforms.

Key Findings

Procedural franchises keep expanding. With 9-1-1: Nashville premiering in October and NCIS: Tony & Ziva launching this month, networks are testing how far procedural spinoffs can scale before audiences hit saturation.
Subsequent spinoffs of 9-1-1 have succeeded in attracting younger audiences to the franchise, while new iterations in the NCIS franchise have doubled down on the franchise’s existing fanbase.
Focusing on keeping the core NCIS audience may make sense strategically. The franchise remains a powerful retention engine. Parrot Analytics' Streaming Economics model calculates it was responsible for retaining 1.6M Paramount+ subscribers globally in Q1 2025.

In Case You Missed It

Ask Skip (feat. The Streaming Madman): What’s the Biggest Scam in Advertising Right Now? The Streaming Wars
Hollywood Studios Target MiniMax in AI Copyright Clash. The Streaming Wars
TV Adaptations Are Doing What DLC Never Could: Building the Bridge Between Seasons. The Streaming Wars
41.4 Million Viewers: Crawford vs. Canelo Sets Streaming Record for Netflix. The Streaming Wars
Paramount Skydance Eyes Warner Bros. Discovery in Potential Blockbuster Deal. The Streaming Wars
Basics of Streaming: Cracking the Code of Monetization. The Streaming Wars
EverPass Just Cemented Its Role as Sports Bar Middleware. The Streaming Wars
Vimeo to Go Private in $1.38B Deal With Bending Spoons. The Streaming Wars
Netflix Partners with Amazon DSP in Global Ad Sales Push. The Streaming Wars

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