Showtime’s time may be over: Parent company Paramount is looking to consolidate its streaming brands under one flagship service.

For ViacomCBS, becoming a streaming titan is the top goal: The media giant is rebranding as Paramount, touting its streaming products’ growth.

Hulu’s 2021 ad revenue outpaces competitors, but troubles loom: The streamer’s reliance on partners like NBCUniversal to provide content could hamstring further growth.

With growing subscription and advertising revenues, digital video’s future remains bright. But there are numerous questions that will affect its development.

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.

A standard currency for TV and digital is unlikely, despite buyers’ wishes: Media buyers want more connection between linear and streaming TV, and though individual networks are making strides, an industrywide solution is unlikely.

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

The return of live sports produced a flurry of licensing activity from broadcast networks and streaming services—including digital video, social, and ecommerce platforms. It also reignited concerns about the sustainability of pricing models for sports video and TV.

On today's episode, we discuss how The Walt Disney Co., ViacomCBS, and Roku started the year. We then talk about the new WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, Nielsen's new ratings service for streaming, and NBCUniversal's new ad formats. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Eric Haggstrom.

Addressable and programmatic TV ad spending continues to rise as the TV industry undergoes technological change.

Mobile games to stop targeting ads to kids: Some major developers and ad tech companies will need to stop tracking children under 13 after settling a lawsuit, limiting their targeting abilities.

In December, we published our first forecast for Pluto TV ad revenues. Pluto TV, a free streaming service operated by ViacomCBS, will receive $786.7 million in net US ad revenues in 2021, a 77.7% increase over the previous year. In 2022, Pluto TV’s net US ad revenues will surpass $1 billion annually for the first time.

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

Disney delays its theatrical return: Straight-to-streaming releases and shorter theatrical windows are dimming hopes of a full movie industry recovery this year. Worse, some changes may be permanent, further hurting the entertainment industry’s ad spending growth.

For the first time this year, we broke out CTV ad revenues for YouTube, Roku, and Hulu.

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.

TV ad spending takes a hit as marketers adjust their budgets amid a recession.

eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson, junior analyst Blake Droesch, and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss Oracle winning the TikTok bid, the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo definitely happening next year, CBS All Access being rebranded to "Paramount+," "YouTube Shorts" being tested in India, Americans' 2020 travel plans, what living creature is technically immortal, and more.