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YouTube TV shed subscribers in Q1 2024, for the first time ever, after the NFL season ended

7/1/24 10:59AM

“YouTube TV” might sound like something of an oxymoron — with many turning to YouTube for short hits or highlights — but, since its launch in 2017, the premium service from YouTube had grown steadily to some 8 million subscribers. At least, until Q1 this year, when it took its first backward step.

Estimates from MoffettNathanson, reported by Variety’s VIP+, reveal that YouTube TV experienced its first quarterly loss of subscribers, dropping 150K paying members, as the virtual pay TV service begins to grapple with the seasonality of live sports offerings. The end of the football season — live TV's largest draw — makes Q1 particularly challenging for pay TV and this year the exodus wasn’t just limited to traditional cable.

YouTube execs will be hoping that the lost subscribers return once the season picks back up again come September, as YouTube TV holds the exclusive streaming rights to Sunday Ticket games… particularly because the company is still in the early years of a 2023-2029 deal that’s reportedly worth an eye-watering $2 billion a year. That is, as Variety points out, if the Sunday Ticket still exists following last week’s bumper antitrust trial verdict, in which the NFL was ordered to pay $4.7 billion to plaintiffs.

For years, YouTube TV was big tech’s answer to cord-cutting, but its latest quarter proves that consumers don’t exactly care how they get access to the content… once it stops being a draw, they will cancel.

Millie Giles

GOLDEN RATIO

1/12/26

Big winners at the Golden Globes could indicate this week’s Oscar noms

With the Academy’s nominations voting opening today, the results of the Globes might signal the direction of certain Oscars categories (statistically speaking).

Chalamet with award at the Golden Globes

Millie Giles1/9/26

Tamagotchis are making a comeback, 3 decades after first becoming a global toy craze

If you were a ’90s kid, you might remember the craze around little egg-shaped toys with an 8-bit digital screen, displaying an ambiguous pet-thing that demanded food and attention.

Now, on the brand’s 30th anniversary, the Tamagotchi — the Japanese pocket-sized virtual pet that launched a thousand cute and needy tech companions, from Nintendogs to fluffy AI robots — is making a minor comeback.

Tamagotchi Google Search Trends — Sherwood News

Looking at Google Trends data, searches for “tamagotchi” spiked in December in the US, up around 80% from just six months prior, with the most search volume in almost two decades.

While the toys are popular Christmas gifts, with interest volumes often seen ticking up in December each year, the sudden interest might also have something to do with the birthday celebrations that creator and manufacturer Bandai Namco are putting on, including a Tokyo exhibition that opened on Wednesday.

Game, set, hatch

More broadly, modern consumers appear to have a growing obsession with collectibles (see: Labubu mania), as well as a taste for nostalgia (see: the iPod revival, among many other trends).

But, having finally hit 100 million sales in September last year, the brand itself is probably just glad to exist, giving a whole new generation the chance to experience the profound grief of an unexpected Tamagotchi death.

Millie Giles

PANDORA’S BOX OFFICE

1/5/26

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” surpasses $1 billion globally after 18 days

James Cameron is now the first director in history to have four consecutive movies gross over a billion dollars.

$5.6B

Max Knoblauch12/23/25

Disney could be well on its way to its third billion-dollar film of the year following a $345 million opening weekend for “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” The film’s opening gross puts the “Avatar” franchise’s total box office earnings at $5.6 billion — and counting.

The latest film, the second “Avatar” entry under Disney’s tent, earned about 75% of its total box office gross internationally — in line with previous movies in the (as of now) trilogy. Domestically, this one earned $88 million, falling short of expectations.

“Fire and Ash” was the widest Imax release ever, debuting on 1,703 screens globally and earning $43.6 million through the format. The $345 million “Fire and Ash” opening weekend was the second-highest of 2025, behind Disney’s “Zootopia 2,” which recently passed the $1 billion mark, globally.

Year to date, Disney has earned $5.8 billion globally at the box office.

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Three reasons Netflix needs Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO

It’s tough out there for the top paid streamer.

Rani Molla12/22/25

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