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Belfast Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
How we treat ourselves in The Subscription Age
We are in the age of subscriptions. Pretty much every single thing you enjoy, you can subscribe to. Everything from food to beer, beauty products to limited edition collectables, cloud storage to pet clothing… the list goes on and on. However, we're going to focus on the entertainment forms of subscription, and what we reckon are the best of the bunch for you to treat yourselves to, starting with… GAMES – Game Pass Ultimate In this case, when we say games, we don't mean whip out the Monopoly board, and we don't mean check out the selection of casino online UK sites. No, in this case, we specifically mean video games, and if you've got an Xbox or a PC (or both), then the Game Pass Ultimate is a must-have. For £14.99/€17.99 per month, you get access to hundreds of multi-generational games on console, PC, and cloud, as well as being able to play brand new games on their very first day of release at no additional cost. Game Pass Ultimate also allows you to play multiplayer online for consume, includes a membership for EA Play, as well as additional member deals, discounts, perks, and in-game benefits for free-to-play games. STREAMING – YouTube Premium Yes, we know you've got so many amazing streaming platforms to choose from. Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, Prime Video, Paramount+… the list goes on and on. And on. But might we make a completely leftfield choice here and say that forking out for YouTube Premium is one of the best decisions you can make for your daily entertainment consumption? Starting at £12.99/€13.99 per month for an Individual Plan (alternatives include a Family Plan or a Student Plan, depending on your needs), it means you've got access to all of the videos on YouTube, but without any of the ads. You'll also be able to continue listening to YouTube even if you lock your phone, or download and playback when you're out of internet range. Additionally, you'll also get access to YouTube Music, which is essentially its very own version of Spotify (more on that in a bit), so you're getting A LOT for this one subscription. CINEMA – Omniplex It really does feel we're in the middle of a fantastic cinema-going resurgence, following the big drop-off that the big screen had to endure in the aftermath of the pandemic. 2025 has already seen some incredible blockbusters that have people packing out screens again – Sinners, 28 Years Later, F1, Jurassic World Rebirth, A Minecraft Movie, Lilo & Stitch, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, How To Train Your Dragon – and there are LOADS more still to come in the second half of this year alone. Omniplex's subscription MyOmniPass starts from just £11.99/€14.99 per month (depending on your location), which gets you a Super Saver seat for every single movie that gets released, as well as getting access to exclusive members-only previews before general release. MUSIC – Spotify Premium There are probably better/more affordable/etc. music streaming platforms out there (for example, the YouTube one we mentioned above), but in terms of ease-of-use, nothing seems to come close to YouTube. For £11.99/€11.99 per month (there are also Student, Duo, and Family Plans to look into), you'll get ad-free music, which you can download to listen to at any time, even when offline. Other obvious benefits include being able to listen to songs in any order, and organise you're listening queue (something not available on the Free Plan), and you're given access to the HQ audio versions of the tracks, as well as 15 hours per month of listening time from Spotify's audiobooks subscriber catalogue. However, speaking of books… BOOKS – Happily Ever After Book Box We don't know about you, but going in blind when trying to decide on what the next book you're going to invest your next few days with can be a daunting process. Outside of already enjoying the author's previous works or being given a specific recommendation from a third party, how do you pick your next book? We know we shouldn't judge the cover, but sometimes they do win us over… Thankfully, companies like the Happily Ever After Book Box do a lot of that heavy lifting for us. You simply tell them what your favourite genre is, and every month you'll get a new surprise book. Additionally, for £19.99 per month, along with the book, you'll also get a bookmark, a surprise beauty product, some vegan chocolate, a hot drink sachet, and a little note letting you know which animal charity your box has raised money for that month!
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
YouTuybe Tests Threaded Comments, Additional AI Music Options
This story was originally published on Social Media Today. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Social Media Today newsletter. YouTube is testing out a new 'comment threading' feature with YouTube Premium subscribers, while it's also adding some new features to its AI-powered 'Dream Track' music option. First off, on comment threading. As it sounds, comment threading makes it easier to track a conversation, by linking replies to a comment within a single stream. As you can see in this example, with comment threading active, viewers will be able to tap through in a comment to see the full conversation related to that reply in a single comment tree. As explained by YouTube: 'Comment threading provides a more focused reading experience and helps users easily understand conversations. Click on the 'X replies' button under a comment and view threaded replies in the 'Replies' panel. Only available on iOS and Android.' So it's a simplified discussion tracking display, which could help to spark more specific discussion in the comment panels. It seems like a handy formatting update, though we'll wait and see what YouTube's testing uncovers in terms of utility. YouTube's also testing some new updates to its Dream Track experiment, which enables you to create short audio clips, via AI, based on text prompts. YouTube first announced that it was working with a range of musicians on Dream Track back in 2023, before making the option available to all U.S.-based creators last October. And now, it's looking to enhance your AI-generated music outputs, with additional tools that will enable you to further customize your generated tracks. 'If you're a creator in the experiment group, you may see new options and quality enhancements to the customized soundtracks you can create for your Shorts. These experimental features are rolling out to a select group of creators in the U.S.' So not a lot to go on, in terms of specifics, but Dream Track audio clips are essentially designed to provide a soundtrack option for Shorts, based on trending music styles and genres. Some small, but potentially handy updates, which could help in your YouTube creation process. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
22-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
DraftKings Makes Royal Debut in Online Sports Betting and iGaming Industry, While Bluesky Receives Highest Social Media Score Ever, ACSI Data Show
BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI ®, video streaming stumbles 1% to a score of 78 (on a 100-point scale). Social media (74) and subscription TV (70) are unchanged, and online sports betting and iGaming debuts with an ACSI score of 76. The winners in this increasingly competitive environment will be the ones who can seamlessly integrate technological innovation, personalized engagement, and clear value propositions. Share While satisfaction with digital entertainment is mostly steady, these industries must find new ways to add value and variety to keep customers happy in an uncertain economy. 'Right now, we face a critical inflection point across digital entertainment and betting platforms,' says Forrest Morgeson, Associate Professor of Marketing at Michigan State University and Director of Research Emeritus at the ACSI. 'Consumers are no longer just seeking services. They're demanding comprehensive, intuitive experiences that respect their time and wallet. The winners in this increasingly competitive environment will be the ones who can seamlessly integrate technological innovation, personalized engagement, and clear value propositions." Paramount+, Peacock, and YouTube Premium share video streaming lead Three brands — Paramount+, Peacock, and YouTube Premium — sit atop the video streaming industry with scores of 80 apiece. The former improves 3% year over year, while the latter two are unchanged. All three leading platforms receive strong scores for overall quality and value. Last year's leader Amazon Prime Video slides 4% to meet Netflix (unchanged) at 79. HBO Max (unchanged) and Hulu (down 1%) are next at 78 each, followed by three platforms with scores of 77: Apple TV+ (down 3%), Hulu + Live TV (unchanged), and YouTube TV (up 1%). ESPN+ tumbles 8% to 69, finishing last. While it exclusively offers sports content, its catalog is limited, especially compared to platforms that pair live sports with original programming and full libraries. It only offers limited NFL coverage, and MLB will be done on the platform after the 2025 season. Along with the overall drop in industry satisfaction, all aspects of the customer experience show small declines or no change. Mobile app quality remains the highest-rated aspect of the customer experience despite slipping from 86 to 85. The range of sports programming is the lowest-rated metric by a wide 5-point margin. 'As streaming price increases surpass inflation, brands must manage the dynamic between the quality of their service and its cost,' adds Morgeson. 'In an already saturated market, video streaming services will need to find a balance between preserving a broad appeal and offering a unique experience at a price point that resonates with both old and new subscribers.' The device matters … and so does optionality ACSI finds that the device consumers use for streaming impacts the overall experience. Consumers that use a smart TV or a dedicated streaming device are the most satisfied with scores of 80. The least satisfied are smart TV box users at 74. Additionally, many consumers subscribe to both video streaming and traditional subscription TV — and these cord-stackers are the most satisfied at 80. Cord-cutters, who have given up subscription TV, follow with an ACSI score of 79. Verizon Fios maintains stronghold on subscription TV While several brands show significant movement, both positive and negative, the top of the leaderboard remains unaffected. Verizon Fios decisively defends its number-one spot with an ACSI score of 78, widening its lead following a 4% year-over-year improvement. Spectrum posts the largest gain, jumping 5% to second place among the reported brands at 69, while Xtream tumbles 7% to a score of 62, sharing last place with Optimum (unchanged). Like video streaming, all customer experience metrics for the subscription TV industry decline or remain stagnant. Picture quality and mobile app quality top the list at 81 apiece. Call center satisfaction is dead last, unchanged at 68. Customer service metrics like the courtesy and helpfulness of staff and the speed of transaction are among those that experience multipoint declines. DraftKings wears the online sports betting and iGaming crown DraftKings (78) edges out BetMGM (77) and FanDuel (76) in the industry's inaugural measurement. These three operators have put a modest gap between themselves and ESPN BET and Fanatics, each scoring 73. Caesars, the final reported brand, finishes last with a score of 69. Mobile app quality tops the list of customer experience benchmarks at 80 — which shouldn't be surprising considering online sports betting and casino games rely heavily on the mobile user experience. Several other fundamentals — mobile app reliability, privacy, and ease of navigation — are just a point lower at 79 apiece. In an industry poised for exponential growth, operators are battling to find ways of providing an engaging experience with high-tech resources, access to valuable information, personalization, and helpful tools. New AI integrations that assist players in their wagering strategies and the option to use cryptocurrencies for payment, for instance, are just some of the ways companies are trying to differentiate themselves and bring in more users. Bluesky makes a big statement in the social media space Bluesky debuts with the highest ACSI score ever recorded in the social media industry at 82. It leads second-place Pinterest (up 5%) and YouTube (up 1%) by 4 points. The fact that Bluesky has not yet introduced ads certainly works in its favor. The decentralized platform has so far maintained its 'friendlier' reputation with users despite the inevitable moderation issues that accompany massive influxes of users. One of the other newcomers, Nextdoor, finishes at the other end of the spectrum with a score of 64. It trails the next lowest-rated sites, Facebook and Truth Social, by 6 points. Although Nextdoor can be a great place to organize neighborhood events or find a sitter, it can also become a platform for neighborhood squabbles and intrusive advertising. Several brands outside of Pinterest show substantial satisfaction gains this year, Snapchat and X each jump 6% to 72 and 73, respectively. Pinterest's efforts to improve both personalization and its user interface are helping secure a new demographic of young users. Snapchat's gain comes from usability improvements to its platform and a return to its messaging and picture-sharing roots. X's improvement is driven in part by changes to the composition of its user base after many left for Bluesky. Contrary to other industries covered in this study, several customer experience metrics improve for social media. Despite ranking at the bottom of the list, ad-related metrics account for much of the positive momentum, alongside key usability metrics. Privacy, relevance of content, and ease of uploading and editing photos and videos are among the metrics that decline. Moving forward, social media networks should focus on finding a balance between ads, targeted content, and user-selected content while increasing perceptions of privacy. The ACSI Entertainment Study 2025 is based on 24,879 completed surveys. For the subscription TV and video streaming industries, customers were chosen at random and contacted via email between April 2024 and June 2025. For online sports betting and iGaming, customers were contacted between November 2024 and June 2025, while social media users were contacted between July 2024 and June 2025. Download the full study and follow the ACSI on LinkedIn and X at @theACSI. No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the data and information in this release without the express prior written consent of ACSI LLC. About the ACSI The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI ®) has been a national economic indicator for over 25 years. It measures and analyzes customer satisfaction with about 400 companies in about 40 industries and 10 economic sectors, including various services of federal and local government agencies. Reported on a scale of 0 to 100, scores are based on data from interviews with roughly 200,000 customers annually. For more information, visit ACSI and its logo are Registered Marks of American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC.
Mint
20-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Meet the people who don't skip ads online
Last month, Amazon Prime Video introduced ads to its subscription tier in India. You can still go ad-free, it'll just cost an additional ₹ 129 per month on top of the existing ₹ 299 monthly plan. Naturally, a section of the internet wasn't thrilled. Every time there's a furore around ads interrupting our content experience, I can't help but think of a set of people for whom this is just another day at work. Media planners, marketing consultants and ad strategists have to sit through ads not because they can't afford to go ad-free, but because it's part of the job. Their work requires constant monitoring of ads across platforms. Exposure becomes essential market research, almost like an audit, some of them tell me. It helps them advise clients, track competitor strategies, and stay on top of where brands are showing up. And over time, this constant exposure shapes how they consume media. Mumbai-based Geetanjali Bhattacharji, who's spent over three decades in media and marketing, says it often feels like being 'stuck at a party where everyone's trying to sell you something.' Bhattacharji is the founder of Glassbox Ventures, a business and strategy consultancy. 'Sometimes I wonder if I'm reading the news or just a cleverly disguised commercial,' she says. The result? 'It's made me a more cautious and selective media consumer, and maybe a little more cynical too.' For Aditi M, a digital marketing professional from Mumbai, the impact is different. 'YouTube is my primary music platform, and the newer mid-video unskippable ads have made the experience of listening to a song a lot more annoying,' she says. As part of her job, she still has to watch and analyse those ads for potential client opportunities. I relate to this, too. I've resisted getting YouTube Premium even though I pay for Spotify. My reasoning: what kind of brands are allocating ad dollars to the world's biggest video-streaming platform tells you a lot about the state of business and the role of digital media in it. And the content of the ads—the plot, the meme references, the casting—reveals how storytelling is evolving and culture is shifting. Besides, ads on Spotify are torture, with their repetitive storylines. No wonder it is widely suspected to be a clever nudge to make people buy the subscription. Aditi's occupational hazard extends beyond YouTube. Early in her career, she worked on seeding branded content into films—figuring out how to integrate products into scenes without disrupting the narrative. 'You'd spend weeks trying to get a placement just right,' she recalls. By the time the film was released, she'd be so immersed in the mechanics of selling that she no longer wanted to watch it. 'I see every piece of content from a sales perspective now. It's off-putting, but you can't help it.' What feels like forced ad consumption to some is a source of curiosity for digital media veteran Karthik Nagarajan, even two decades into the business. 'I consider myself a great target for ads,' says Chennai-based Nagarajan, CEO of Hogarth India, a WPP-owned content company. When an ad influences him, he breaks it down to understand why. 'Tapping into your instincts as a consumer gives you an edge as a marketer,' he says. 'Further, I don't just see ads through an audit lens—they're also a form of art,' he adds. Either way, ad-watchers make you appreciate that not all viewers have the luxury of being annoyed by ads. Some are too busy taking notes.
Korea Herald
15-07-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Google bows to antitrust pressure with YouTube Lite in Korea
Google will launch a new standalone YouTube subscription in Korea without YouTube Music — a move aimed at addressing antitrust concerns over alleged unfair bundling practices, according to the country's competition regulator on Tuesday. The new product, dubbed YouTube Premium Lite, will provide ad-free video streaming without the music streaming service at nearly half the price of the current YouTube Premium plan. Monthly fees are set at 8,500 won ($6.15) for Android users and 10,900 won for Apple customers. The pricing disparity reflects fees imposed by Apple's in-app payment system, the Fair Trade Commission said. On Tuesday, the antitrust watchdog unveiled a provisional consent decree outlining these changes as part of its investigation into Google's potential violation of Korea's Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act. The regulator will collect feedback from interested parties for 30 days until Aug. 14 before making a final decision. If approved, Google will be required to launch YouTube Premium Lite in Korea within 90 days. The corrective measure stems from the FTC's view that Google's current bundling of YouTube Premium with YouTube Music ― priced at 14,900 won ― unfairly limits consumer choice. In response, Google agreed to create the new Premium Lite offering, which includes only ad-free video viewing. Compared to the full Premium service, the new plan costs about 57.1 percent less on Android and 55.9 percent less on iOS. 'Even after the launch of YouTube Premium Lite, the existing subscription products ― YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium ― will remain unchanged,' said Kim Moon-sik, director general of the FTC's anti-monopoly investigation bureau. 'Consumers who prefer the current packages can continue their subscriptions as before.' Google has also committed to freezing the prices of both YouTube Premium Lite and YouTube Premium for at least one year after launch, a move aimed at alleviating concerns about rising subscription fees across digital platforms, a trend now dubbed as 'streamflation.' To further incentivize users, Google plans to offer a two-month free trial to both new subscribers and existing Premium users who switch to the Premium Lite plan. This promotional offer will be implemented exclusively in Korea, making it the first such initiative globally. Additionally, Google will introduce discount plans in partnership with local telecom providers and retailers. These initiatives are expected to benefit up to 2.1 million Korean consumers, the antitrust regulator estimated. The consent decree includes provisions for fostering the domestic content ecosystem. Google pledged to invest 15 billion won over four years to support emerging Korean artists, selecting up to 48 teams, with at least eight to receive support for global expansion. Chosen artists will benefit from training in composition and vocals, promotional support and overseas performance opportunities. This case marks one of the first applications of the consent decree process to a global tech platform in Korea. Addressing criticism that the measure may serve as a 'free pass' for Google, Kim emphasized that the consent decree allows for faster and more effective enforcement than traditional legal proceedings, which can take four to five years. 'Especially in tying cases, it allows for concrete negotiations on the design and conditions of new product offerings, ultimately enhancing consumer protection,' he said.
