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February 3, 2022

Repeating Ads Wastes Billions and Annoys Viewers, Study Confirms

Airing ads multiple times to reach desired audiences may be costing brands billions of dollars, and largely ineffective, new data from first-party connected TV measurement firm Samba TV revealed. The company found that 97% of all linear TV ad impressions delivered in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2021 reached the same 55% of audiences—a high-frequency subset that was shown to be less diverse, older and lower-income than the national average. The data is based on automatic content recognition (ACR) data from more than 46 million smart TVs worldwide. (ACR is a technology built into smart TVs that allows companies like Samba to know what’s on the screen at any given time.)

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January 7, 2022

Spider-Man: No Way Home, Piracy, and the End of the Box Office

Almost every movie released in 2021 came with a whispered plea from fans: “I hope it doesn’t tank.” In some ways, this was just a desperate wish that the movie not suck. But it was also a hope for something more: That, amidst an ever-fluctuating Covid-19 pandemic scene, the movie be a success, make money, find an audience. Moviegoers are savvy enough now to know that if any particular franchise/director/star doesn’t do well, the chances of more films from that franchise/director/star dwindle. Success begets opportunities for more success.

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January 5, 2022

Data: How Movies Powered HBO Max 2021 Subscriber Growth

WarnerMedia shared updated subscriber numbers Wednesday for HBO and HBO Max, noting that the 73.8 million total exceeded internal projections for 2021. CEO Jason Kilar credited his controversial decision to debut Warner Bros.’ entire 2021 film slate in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously. While the company stopped short of sharing any numbers on how specific movies performed, data from connected TV analytics firm Samba TV gives a sense of how the titles fared on the streaming service.

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January 3, 2022

Mortal Kombat Had Highest Streaming Debut of HBO Max's Big-Screen Simultaneous Releases: Report

Mortal Kombat proved to be a hit for HBO Max. In 2021, the streaming service released a slate of major Warner Bros. movies to subscribers the same day they hit movie theaters. According to stats from Samba TV, a third-party tracker of online viewership, as reported by Business Insider, Mortal Kombat had the most viewers upon its opening weekend of any of the day-and-date releases.

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December 29, 2021

Samba TV Hires Amazon Exec Robert Coon As CRO

Samba TV -- the TV measurement company, which recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to become a public company -- has added to its growing executive team by hiring former Amazon executive Robert Coon as chief revenue officer.

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December 27, 2021

‘Matrix Resurrections’ Ranks Behind ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ In Streaming Viewership; Pic Is Most Pirated Of The Week

Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s theatrical-day-and-date release of The Matrix Resurrections didn’t wow in its 5-day opening at the domestic box office with $22.5M, while in its HBO Max debut in homes fared OK, watched by 2.8 million smart TV U.S. households over the Wednesday-Sunday period. This is according to fresh stats from Samba TV which measures streaming viewership across 46 million TV devices with a panel of 3 million Smart TV households.

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