Why spend money on even more subscriptions when you can freeload? The best thing about cutting the cable cord is that you get a lot more control over your monthly TV bill. Instead of spending $100 per month or so on a bloated bundle of TV channels, you can throw together a few streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu and save a lot of money. Read Full Story

30-second summary: Comscore’s 2020 State of OTT report looks at Covid-19’s impact on OTT usage and provides an overview of current CTV/OTT trends in the U.S. OTT consumption spiked significantly from February to March of this year, based on average daily streaming hours per household. The “Big 5” streaming services which include, in order of volume, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Video, Hulu, and Disney+ together accounted for 83% of OTT streaming hours in April 2020. The most significant jump in CTV usage was with smart TVs, which reached about 37% of households in April 2018 versus 51% in 2020. According to the IAB’s digital video glossary, the umbrella term for TV that’s connected to the internet is “ Advanced TV .” Per the IAB, advanced TV is “any television content that has evolved beyond traditional, linear television delivery methods.” There are two common terms associated with ATV that we’ll address in …

The company is “very surprised” about having its channels unbundled from sports, despite calling for TV providers to do just that. Last week, T-Mobile announced a new streaming TV service called TVision . While it’s still just one of many alternatives to cable TV, it’s unique in that it splits most entertainment channels into a separate bundle from news, sports, and local channels. The non-sports package, whose 30 channels include Discovery, Food Network, Comedy Central, and AMC, costs just $10 per month, while the other bundle starts at $40 per month. Read Full Story

“FX on Hulu” makes the cable channel redundant as Disney bets big on streaming. As announced back in November, FX has brought its original series over to Hulu . That means if you subscribe to Hulu’s $6 per month on-demand service, you can stream full seasons of shows like The Shield , Fargo , and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia at no extra charge. While Hulu doesn’t have every FX original ( The Americans and American Crime Story are notable absentees), it appears to have most of them. Read Full Story

30-second summary: Nielsen releases eye-opening statistics about the trends in the on-demand video landscape including a spike in viewership of ad-supported streaming. COVID-19 and its associated lockdowns and social distancing rules initiated an unprecedented period of streaming TV consumption and the change appears to be permanent. Video streaming in “streaming-capable” homes was up 16% overall compared with last July. The time spent watching “other” platforms (e.g., not the SVOD big 5: Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime and Disney+) increased by 16.3 billion minutes. Ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) services are contributing to an increase in digital ad spend in a big way. Nielsen recently predicted that digital media spend would rise to $500 billion globally by 2023 with digital video ads likely comprising a big chunk of that. Watching AVOD content helps consumers control the cost of streaming content, with nearly 50% of Americans watching ad-supported video content, up from …

Philo’s sports-free streaming bundle hits 750,000 subscribers, up 300% year over year. For the first time, Philo is revealing how many people subscribe to its $20-per-month service for cord cutters. The startup says it now has 750,000 subscribers, up 300% year over year. Philo says that makes it the fastest-growing live TV streaming service. Read Full Story

The economic stimulus checks go further in states with lower cost of living. See how your state stacks up. The Economic Impact Payment program is proving much more beneficial to residents of red states, according to a state-by-state analysis by Ownerly. Using U.S. Census data, the home-valuation platform calculated average stimulus check payouts per family, and compared those amounts to regional costs of living (rent, utilities, cable or satellite television, and mobile phone). Read Full Story

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If you try to grow your consulting or freelance revenue by merely adding more clients to your portfolio, you may hit a common obstacle: Living project to project. This kind of lifestyle isn’t sustainable for everyone, and it can be frustrating and stressful. One solution to this problem may be productized services. The productized services model allows agency owners, freelancers, and consultants to break out of billing by the hour or per project and instead invoice by sets of services rendered. What Are Productized Services For? Productized services are standardized services sold like products, with clearly defined parameters and pricing. When we outline precisely what a customer will get and at what price, we can market and sell this “product” many times. The customer is still receiving a service, now with the appealing predictability of an off-the-shelf product. Benefits of Productized Services for Freelancers and Consultants Productized services allow you …

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission. Bluehost enables you to get a website up and running in no time. It’s a reputable web host used by millions to host their online projects, start businesses, and create something new. What makes Bluehost so special? For one, it offers you a free domain name upon signing up, and you can get started with hosting for as little as $2.75 per month. Bluehost offers these and many other features at an affordable price makes it the hosting provider on the market that provides the best value for your money. Bluehost Compared to The Best Web Hosting Services Bluehost lets you get on a shared hosting plan at an entry-level price. If you’re diving into creating a website as a first-timer, Bluehost is a safe and affordable option that, …