The 10 Most Consequential Streaming Moments of 2020

This year threw a lot of curveballs at the television entertainment industry. Covid-19 forced businesses to experiment left and right as consumer adoption of streaming continued in force, and two huge streaming players debuted. Meanwhile, a wave of executive departures upended entertainment institutions and came with major business shake-ups and shifts that will continue to reverberate in the coming year. As part of Adweek’s Year in Review coverage, we took a look back at some of the biggest moments in the streaming industry in 2020. There were so many momentous moments that the debuts of HBO Max and Peacock didn’t even make our list. Randy Freer Exits Hulu Freer announced in January he was stepping down, setting in motion Hulu’s continued evolution and integration into Disney’s broader streaming operations. With Freer gone, the ad sales team was moved under Disney ad sales chief Rita Ferro’s purview; ad sales chief Peter Naylor left for Snapchat shortly thereafter. Kelly Campbell was also elevated to president upon Freer’s exit, putting a marketer in the front-seat at the company as Hulu continued pushing its live TV product. The departure foretold just some of the ways Hulu would continue shifting under the Disney umbrella: Hulu is now advertised heavily as part of the Disney+ bundle of which Hulu is a part, and the service is getting new programming from Disney-owned FX and investing in reality. Bob Iger Steps down as CEO of Disney Iger’s February exit from the top of Disney, and Bob Chapek’s elevation to the corner office, came just months into Disney+’s early success, and shook the House of Mouse weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Chapek has since hit the gas on streaming while steering the rest of the business through the pandemic; the move is also widely considered to be an impetus for Disney streaming head Kevin Mayer’s ill-fated exit to TikTok, which paved the way for an ever-more-streamlined approach at Disney. It's also been a fortuitous move for Iger, who has now gotten to focus more on content just as Disney has moved to pour more money into programming to keep Disney+ a must-have streaming service. Fox Corp. Buys Tubi Fox Corp.’s acquisition of free ad-supported streamer Tubi in March wasn’t the only AVOD acquisition that happened in 2020, but it was one of the most consequential. With Tubi, Fox, which lightened its asset load with a monster sale to Disney, was able to considerably expand its direct-to-consumer footprint, helping set the broadcaster up for a chance to win over younger audiences that are eschewing linear television. The transaction has also meant Tubi has gotten a boost, too: the streamer has been injected with Fox programming like The Masked Singer, and the streamer’s inventory was included in all of Fox Corp.’s upfront talks with advertisers. Tokyo Summer Olympics Postponed for 2021 The postponement of the Olympics in late March dealt a blow to athletes and competitors while also marking a major upset for NBCUniversal, which had been counting on the games as a marketing vehicle for upcoming streaming service Peacock. With the absence of the games (and the ad dollars it would bring in), NBCUniversal promptly shifted marketing of its fledgling streamer to focus on its free price point, and has held some more aggressive marketing pushes for the upcoming year, when NBCUniversal will have both the beloved comedy The Office and, hopefully, the forthcoming games — now rescheduled for 2021 — to boost its streamers’ profile on a national stage. WarnerMedia Taps Jason Kilar as New CEO Kilar, the founding CEO of Hulu, headed to WarnerMedia in April and promptly helped usher in a new streaming-centric era at the company less than two months ahead of the planned debut of HBO Max. Kilar wasted no time making his presence at the company known — by August, after a tepid debut of HBO Max in May, chairman Bob Greenblatt and chief content officer Kevin Reilly were both out, and chief marketing officer Chris Spadaccini would exit a month later. But Kilar’s mark on WarnerMedia might have been most strongly felt in the last several weeks, after the company moved to make all of Warner Bros.’ 2021 films, plus this month’s Wonder Woman 1984, available to stream on HBO Max the same day they debut in theaters—a seismic shift that is likely to forever change the theatrical business landscape. Disney Moves Hamilton to Disney+ By May, several companies, including Universal Studios, had opted to make some of their new theatrical releases available to rent on streaming platforms. But Disney’s decision to move the smash hit musical to Disney+ more than a year earlier than its planned theatrical release was an industry inflection point. Disney's decision to eschew theatrical revenue and focus on bolstering original programming has since become a temporary new industry normal where studios and media companies determine which titles go straight to streaming, which titles get a premium release (like Disney’s Mulan), and which ones head to theaters and streaming simultaneously. It’s also marked a paradigm shift: now that consumers can expect the option to watch new titles from the comfort and safety of their homes, release calculus is likely to change for good. Ted Sarandos Named Co-CEO of Netflix Through the first weeks of the pandemic, Netflix had an unprecedented growth spurt. Hits like Tiger King supported back-to-back subscriber gains, and the company’s content chief has since been richly rewarded. Sarandos’s elevation to co-CEO in July, which he assumed while maintaining his position as chief content officer, signaled that programming decisions belong at the very top of Netflix, helping to justify the billions spent on original programming on the streamer every year. Sarandos’ elevation also ushered in other changes among Netflix’s upper ranks. The streamer’s vp of original content, Cindy Holland, headed for the exits in September as Sarandos moved to streamline the company’s television operations led by former vp of local language originals Bela Bajaria, now vice president of global TV. Quibi Closes Its Doors The short-form video service dedicated to creating programming for “in-between moments” never found its groove—or its audience—and became one of the most prominent casualties in the so-called-streaming wars. The streamer, which debuted April 6, announced in October that it would shut down. That marked a quick end to the attempt to make short-form Hollywood programming attractive on mobile phones. It also highlighted some of the bigger business challenges that come with making expensive programming profitable. “Our failure was not for lack of trying; we’ve considered and exhausted every option available to us,” co-founders Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman wrote at the time of the shutdown. The app finally ceased to function in December. Discovery Plans a Heavy-Hitting Lifestyle Streamer Discovery+, is slated for a Jan. 4 debut. While it’s a late entrant in streaming, it’ll almost certainly be a heavy-hitter among reality TV fans. In December, Discovery pulled the curtain back on the upcoming ad-supported and ad-free streamer, which is priced at $4.99 a month for an ad-light experience and $6.99 a month for ad-free viewing. The new service is aimed at cornering the market on reality television and will have more than 50 original unscripted series available out of the gate and a backlog of library content. The service and its price point may convince consumers hanging onto cable for the flush of reality programming to finally cut the cord, signaling another challenge for traditional television distributors as the pivot to streaming continued apace. Discovery’s roll-out also proved that the industry dynamics and heavy-hitters are changing: company executives were clear that Discovery isn't following Netflix’s playbook, but is instead hoping to replicate the success of Disney+. Disney Plots World Domination Coming off the astonishing early success of Disney+, Disney is steering even more resources into its streaming business. The company reorganized to put streaming at the center of its operations this fall. In early December, it spent more than four hours detailing to investors how it just can’t wait to be a content king: Disney+ plans to have 10 Star Wars series, 10 Marvel series, and 30 other original shows and films in the next several years. It's also aiming to debut more than 100 new titles on Disney+ per year, or about two new shows and movies per week. The huge investment in programming will help Disney’s international ambitions as it plans to roll out a general-entertainment service, Star, as soon as February. The strategy, coupled with Disney+’s enviable 86 million subscribers, is fast applying pressure to other streaming services looking to woo customers and keep them plugged. It also highlights just how much entertainment giants are willing to pay to figure out how to succeed in the streaming world.