Showbiz Sandbox 652: Comscore, Nielsen and the Battle Over TV Ratings
March 26, 2024
The way audiences watch television has changed radically over the past ten years, bet it when, where or how. Nielsen, long the king of TV ratings, is facing competition from upstarts like Comscore. With viewership on mobile and over-the-top devices not always being measured, advertisers are beginning to include social media awareness into account when determining the success of their marketing campaigns.
Meanwhile filmmaker Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar acceptance speech for the movie “Zone of Interest,” in which he referenced the ongoing conflict in Gaza and Israel, has generated a lot of debate with nearly 1,000 industry professionals signing a petition denouncing his statements.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including this year’s IRA Awards, a controversial hire at NBC News and IMAX heads to the Paris Summer Olympics.
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Showbiz Sandbox 645: Amazon Prime Video Set To Dominate Advertising Market
January 16, 2024
Unlike most major streaming services, which allow new subscribers to choose between a more expensive ad-free plan and a cheaper ad-supported tier, Amazon has taken an opt-out approach with Prime. When Prime Video begins streaming ads in late-January one of the biggest streaming services in the world with at least 150 million subscribers, will immediately become a major player in television advertising. Especially since most of its customers will decide not to pay extra to avoid ads.
Meanwhile the Emmys got slotted into January due to last year’s actors and writers strikes forcing the awards ceremony to compete with football playoffs and presidential election campaigns. Will anyone be paying attention to see who wins prizes for television series that aired two years ago? Or with guild awards nominations piling in has everyone already moved onto the Oscars.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the deal Tom Cruise landed to make movies at Warner Bros., Harry Potter’s best selling video game and another former cable news anchor launches a program on X (née Twitter).
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Showbiz Sandbox 575: Should Movie Theaters Charge More For Blockbusters?
March 8, 2022
The opening weekend of “The Batman” was the anticipated blockbuster everyone was expecting, though an ongoing pandemic and a political crisis in Europe softened its global take. AMC Theatres on the other hand saw an opportunity to raise ticket prices, but only for the latest entrant to the Batman franchise. Is this a strategy that was a long time coming or one that will keep casual moviegoers at home.
Meanwhile, the cultural boycott of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine has escalated over the past week with film festivals banning Russian delegations, movie studios pausing new releases and Netflix halting its streaming service in the country.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including video game publisher Epic gets into the music business, Amazon closes its physical bookstores and the big winners at this year’s Spirit Awards.
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Showbiz Sandbox 564: Film Critics Start Selecting the Best Movies of 2021
December 7, 2021
It’s that time of year when Film Critics Start Selecting the Best Movies of 2021 for newspapers, magazines and websites begin naming their favorite movie releases. The National Board of Review named its favorite film of the 2021, then proceeded to name 32 more in various categories. The New York Film Critics were tougher however, naming five top films in categories like nonfiction, debut film, animated feature and foreign language. We discuss where any awards season favorites are beginning to stand out.
Thankfully, movie theatres around the world are mostly open, allowing audiences to catch up with some of the critics top picks. However, a new COVID variant named after what would appear to be a character out of a Transformers movie, is temporarily shuttering cinemas in various parts of the world such as China and Russia.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why CNN fired the host of its highest rated news program, the Grammys clarify who can be nominated as a songwriter and the reason Middle Eastern countries won’t show Steven Spielberg’s take on “West Side Story.”
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Showbiz Sandbox 563: The Grammy Nominations Are Bigger and More Baffling Than Ever
November 30, 2021
When this year’s Grammy nominations were announced last week the Recording Academy made a last minute decision to expand some of its biggest categories from eight to 10 nominees. This allowed popular artists like Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Lil Nas X to be included in this year’s list. While this generates a small amount of grumbling, we discuss why it may not be such a bad move.
Meanwhile the Thanksgiving weekend helped the worldwide box office continue to recover from the ongoing pandemic. Still some industry watchers are dismayed that popular releases like Disney’s “Encanto” and the latest “Ghostbusters” aren’t opening to bigger numbers. Though, when you have studios claiming blockbusters such as the Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” are still in the red after earning nearly a billion dollars, would it really matter if they doubled their opening weekend gross?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Adele got Spotify to stop shuffling around, The Weeknd breaks a long-standing record on the music charts and Netflix (sort of) becomes more transparent with viewership data.
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Showbiz Sandbox 514: Has Disney Lost Its Soul?
October 13, 2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, things are not getting any easier for the Walt Disney Company. The company, long a cheerleader for the theatrical moviegoing experience, has just moved the latest Pixar film to its streaming platform, Disney+. Meanwhile, Disneyland still hasn’t been allowed to open and now a well known activist investor is making all sorts of problems for the media giant.
When cinemas do finally reopen there will be a glut of Marvel and DC titles trying to find release dates. Presently, they can only play at a drive-in, which by the way now qualifies a movie for an Academy Award. It’s also the only kind of movie theater New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is allowing to open.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why artists are debuting at the top of the music charts more frequently, why the ad spend during the TV upfronts is down this year and Broadway will remain closed until at least May of 2021.
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Showbiz Sandbox 473: There Is A Disturbance In The Chinese Force
December 23, 2019
The “Star Wars” franchise was never a huge phenomenon in China the way it was elsewhere in the world, so it wasn’t much of a shock when the latest installment, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” flopped in its opening weekend in the country. It even came in second behind a local martial arts epic from Donnie Yen. In fact, eight out of the top ten earning movies in China during 2019 were homegrown hits as the country’s annual box office reached new heights.
The box office won’t break any records in North America this year, despite the strong opening of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” A film version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Cats” sure isn’t helping either. It opened to scathing reviews and grosses to match. Good news though, a new version of the film should be in theaters for its second week.
Meanwhile, Netflix released subscriber info region by region and investors liked what they heard. Obviously, Netflix has hit peak subscribership in the United States, but when you look at how the company is doing in the rest of the world, you can see its customer base is growing substantially.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including a new owner for Miramax, NBC/Universal reveals the pricing for the upcoming streaming service and “South Park” rules cable television for the seventh year in a row.
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Showbiz Sandbox 427: Debating This Year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees
October 15, 2018
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio announced next year’s nominees for induction into it’s prestigious institution, setting off the annual bickering over who should or shouldn’t get in. Is the British heavy metal band Def Leppard more deserving than the gothic rock darlings The Cure? Bands such as Roxy Music and Radiohead with their lengthy history seem like no-brainers, but what about popular acts like Rage Against the Machine who only ever released four albums? We take an educated and opinionated guess on which nominees we think should make the cut.
In China, box office began to slow down considerably in August for the same reason grosses decline in other parts of the world; a lack of hit movies. It doesn’t help that subsidies from online ticketing platforms are now being blocked by the government, as is the practice of distributors buying bulk tickets to their own films to boost box office.
Meanwhile, the rush by every media company on the planet to launch their own streaming platform has created an environment where consumers might begin to push back against having to pay for so many subscription services. WarnerMedia is the latest to announce plans for a streaming play.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the nominees for the National Book Award, guitarist Lindsey Buckingham sues Fleetwood Mac and a new television series will depict the formation hip hop legends Wu Tang Clan.
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Showbiz Sandbox 375: The Seedy Side of Show Business is Revealed in “Walking Dead” Lawsuit
July 30, 2017
Six years after AMC fired Frank Darabont from “The Walking Dead,” the hit TV series he created and oversaw, details about why he was axed are emerging during a lawsuit filed by the filmmaker over profit participation. Citing unprofessional and erratic behavior AMC provided profanity filled emails Darabont sent to producers and executives during his tenure as showrunner. This has lead to many in Hollywood asking whether Darabont’s behavior was out of line or if he was simply trying to defend his show?
The lawsuit itself hinges on Darabont’s deal and whether the revenue AMC earns from “The Walking Dead” is significantly lower because the network is making deals with itself at a significantly reduced cost per episode. This is not the first self-dealing lawsuit to be filed by a creative in Hollywood, but given the $280 million being sought, its outcome could affect how the business operates in the future.
Meanwhile, under pressure from the Chinese government, the Dalian Wanda Group says it will no longer seek to acquire international entertainment properties, causing AMC Theatres, one of its own subsidiaries, to publicly distance itself, and leaving Hollywood wondering if funding from China might be drying up.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including how Amazon will start to distribute its own movies theatrically, Hulu gets nostalgic and Daniel Craig is set to return as James Bond in the next 007 movie.
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Showbiz Sandbox 374: Streaming Services Rack Up 2017 Emmy Nominations
July 18, 2017
When this year’s primetime Emmy nominees were announced HBO still lead the way with 111 nominations, including 22 for “Westworld”, but streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon are quickly gaining ground with their own popular shows. Even Hulu managed to push their way into the Emmys for the first time with 13 nominations for “The Handmaid’s Tale”.
The only thing that remained the same about the Emmys from previous years is that some shows were nominated that shouldn’t have been, while others weren’t nominated but should have been. Don’t get us started on the TV episode that was somehow nominated for Outstanding Television Movie.
One series that wasn’t nominated for an Emmy was “Hawaii Five-O”, the hit CBS show which had two of its main actors depart after a contract dispute that became a flashpoint over the salaries and casting of minority talent.
Of course, we also cover the week’s top entertainment news including why a major Chinese entertainment company is taking a hit on the stock market after criticism from government officials, Tyler Perry signs a producing deal with Viacom and Quincy Jones sues the Michael Jackson estate over royalty payments.
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