This just in: all the streaming news that’s fit to (digitally) print. Walmart+ partners with Paramount to make its free shipping service competitive, Nielsen partners with Amazon to measure TNF streaming audience and engagement.
Related: The Complete Guide To NFL Streaming 2022
Walmart+ to offer Paramount Plus at no cost
On Monday, retail giant Walmart announced that it would begin offering Paramount+ at no additional cost for Walmart+ members. The premium monthly membership, which comes in at $12.95 monthly ($98 annually), already offers 6 months of Spotify Premium, $.10 per gallon discounts for gas at partner locations, free shipping with no minimum order, contact-free checkout, same-day delivery for groceries in select locations, and early access to special promotions and events.
The ad-supported membership, which offers a cost-savings to Walmart+ customers of $4.99 monthly, will rollout next month and give Walmart+ members access to exclusive Paramount+ releases like Sonic the Hedgehog, Beavis and Butthead, and Top Gun: Maverick. The move is no doubt intended to make both Walmart+ and Paramount+ more competitive against online retail Goliath Amazon, which includes free shipping, Amazon Music, Amazon Gaming, Amazon Reading, GrubHub, and Amazon Prime TV with its Amazon Prime membership ($14.99 monthly).
Paramount+ releases in August:
- Beavis and Butthead (August 4)
- Orphan: First Kill (August 19)
- Star Trek: Lower Decks (August 25)
Paramount+ releases in September:
- Ink Master season 14 (September 7)
- Evil season 3 (September 8)
- The Good Fight season 6 (September 8)
- On The Come Up (September 23)
Paramount+ is also home to Paramount exclusives like Halo and South Park: The Streaming Wars.
From PRNews, for distribution: Nielsen and Amazon sign agreement for national TV measurement of NFL’s Thursday Night Football on Prime Video
On Tuesday morning Nielsen announced it had signed a three-year agreement with Amazon Prime to measure Prime Video’s exclusive NFL Thursday Night Football telecasts, a “first-of-its-kind deal” where a streaming service is included in Nielsen’s television engagement measurement service.
Beginning with the 2022 NFL season, Nielsen will measure coverage of TNF broadcasts, which includes pregame, in-game, and post game programming (on both Amazon and Twitch), in addition to over-the-air stations and out-of-market viewing.
“TNF will be measured and processed like all other NFL games, using Nielsen’s panel, allowing for the same metrics to be reported across all other national networks, continued trending, and comparability,” Nielsen said.
The move reaffirms existing forecasts regarding streaming services, which Nielsen reported last month was expected to overtake cable viewership by the end of 2022. Experts have argued that continued OTT fragmentation will give consumers more flexibility but increase monthly entertainment budgets.
“Nielsen is the long-time leader in the measurement space, providing gold-standard currency to the media industry and we’re thrilled that Amazon recognizes that and is working with us to bring a streaming service into our National TV measurement for the first time ever,” said Deirdre Thomas, Managing Director, US Audience Measurement Product Sales, Nielsen, “We are committed to delivering comparable, comprehensive measurement of all audiences, across all platforms, and this agreement to measure TNF viewership is a testament to that commitment.”
“Our collaboration with Nielsen will allow us to provide advertisers with familiar campaign measurement to make apples-to-apples comparisons across their multi-channel media investments. Additionally, advertisers will have access to metrics from Amazon that will provide actionable insights to understand brand awareness, engagement, and sales. This powerful combination of first and third-party measurement is something only Amazon can provide,” said Srishti Gupta, Director of Media Measurement, Amazon Ads.
It will be interesting to see Nielsen’s findings next quarter regarding how viewer habits have changed with the flexibility to stream sporting events on any device from anywhere.