On today's episode, we introduce you to the FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) services (e.g., Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Pluto TV), explain how they became so popular, and look ahead to see what their ceiling is. "In Other News," we talk about whether the advertising space is on the mend and how significant of an ad player Microsoft is. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Ross Benes and director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman.

Ads go live on Netflix and Disney+, YouTube ad revenues decline, and streaming services get creative about financing content production.

New advertising forecasts for Netflix and Disney+ shed light on streaming advertising’s evolution.

Our latest forecasts for ad spending in Canada, which include our first-ever estimates for Google and Meta, show strong growth overall and an accelerated shift to digital.

About two-thirds of the US population are monthly connected TV (CTV) users. Young people are more likely to use CTV than older people. Four in 10 US senior citizens are CTV users—whereas CTV usage is about double that, more than 80%, among those ages 25 to 54.

Connected TV ad spending continues to expand substantially.

More video viewers turn to ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) and free streaming options.

Advertisers are increasing their upfront commitments, particularly for connected TV.

Ad-supported streaming is on the rise: New data shows ad-supported viewership was up compared with other OTT services in 2020, opening up more inventory for linear TV budget shifts—and that trend is likely to only continue in 2021.

Digital video subscription fees are rising amid a cord-cutting surge, and Netflix, Disney, and YouTube are chief among those reaping the benefits.

Increased political ad spending contributed to a banner year for connected TV.

During a year where investments in most advertising channels shrunk or stalled, connected TV ad spending is poised to keep growing.

Advertisers are embracing the popularity of connected TV by allocating more money to streaming platforms.

US advertisers are committing more dollars upfront for linear TV and digital video, however the percentage of digital video ads being sold programmatically continues to increase.