Showbiz Sandbox 655: Netflix Stops Sweating (and Reporting) Subscriber Growth
April 23, 2024
Netflix first quarter earnings report showed growth in all areas from subscribers, to revenue and income. But with Netflix clearly dominating competitors and entering a mature market, the streaming giant will no longer provide subscriber figures on a regular basis. Instead, Netflix will concentrate on profit and the amount of time each of their 270 million subscribers spend viewing programming on their platform.
Meanwhile, the long gestating sale of Paramount Global got a lot more interesting last week when Sony entered the picture with its own bid for the media conglomerate. Unfortunately, indie production house Participant Media was unable to find a buyer and abruptly shuttered.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Taylor Swift breaks her own sales records with the release of her album “The Tortured Poets Department” and the Sundance Film Festival may be in search of a new home.
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Showbiz Sandbox 649: Hollywood’s Superhero Movie Problem
February 27, 2024
The superhero movie is facing its biggest enemy yet – audience indifference. “Madame Web” is just the latest superhero flick to open to poor reviews and/or bad box office. Entertainment journalist Geoff Boucher, who has covered the comic book world for over two decades and is a bigwig at ComicCon, discusses the declining popularity of superhero films and his belief that there are better times ahead for the genre.
Meanwhile, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are facing their own existential threats, especially when it comes to their declining ad revenue, soft earnings and overwhelming debt.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including Beyoncé making history on the country music charts, revenues soar for concert promoter Live Nation thanks to some big tours and artificial intelligence upends the expansion of Tyler Perry’s studio.
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Showbiz Sandbox 637: Spotify Fighting Fraud With New Payment Plan
November 7, 2023
Spotify is changing how it pays out royalties in an effort to deter fraud, demonetize the flood of new music that almost no one listens to and frustrate those gaming the system. None of the changes will alter the amount of money paid out in royalties each year. But Spotify believes the move may add up to $1 billion a year going to actual musical artists, rather than con artists.
Meanwhile, the actors’ strike continues despite word that SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP were close to a deal on a new three-year contract. Word is that one of the remaining sticking points has to do with how artificial intelligence can be used to create performances in future productions.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including a new Broadway season ramps up with plenty of new productions, Live Nation reports record earnings thanks to sales of concert tickets and Britney Spears becomes a bestselling author.
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Showbiz Sandbox 617: Why the Writers Strike Will Last for Months, Not Weeks
May 9, 2023
There are few people that know more about labor issues in the entertainment business than attorney and journalist Jonathan Handel. So when members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike last week, grinding most television production to a halt, we asked him to join us to discuss all the nuanced details. Handel not only tells us how the last writers strike was resolved in 2007, but explains why the writers are facing an existential problem after the entertainment business was disrupted by streamers.
As well, Handel reminds us that the Directors Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild contracts both end on June 30th, forcing producers, studios and networks to negotiate three different contracts at the same time. This is why nobody, not even Handel, believes the writers’ strike will end before July.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including what Ed Sheeran’s copyright trial victory may mean for the music business, Kevin Costner walks away from “Yellowstone” and this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.
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Showbiz Sandbox 600: The Return of Bob Iger at Disney
November 29, 2022
We were just as surprised as everyone else to hear that The Walt Disney Company was firing their CEO Bob Chapek and replacing him with their longtime former head, Bob Iger. Iger is returning to a markedly different media company than the one he left less than a year ago and his second stint as CEO will be measured by how he sets up Disney to survive into the future. Finding the right successor will be one of his top priorities.
Meanwhile, we try to unravel how Ticketmaster fumbled the sale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s upcoming concert tour. The company is claiming verified fans were unable to get tickets due to unprecedented demand and automated ticket-buying bots. The incident caused such a stir it even attracted the attention of politicians eager to hold hearings about it.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why a big book publishing merger is called off, Amazon gets serious about film distribution and Agatha Christie’s “Mousetrap” heads to Broadway.
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Showbiz Sandbox 590: New Warner Bros. Discovery Strategy Is A Little Batty
August 9, 2022
The newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery held its first earnings call last week making so many headlines it was all anyone in the entertainment industry could talk about. The company has a ton of debt, but a plan to get into better financial shape; stop producing expensive scripted shows, shelve pricey projects and layoff thousands of employees. Most controversially the media giant decided to completely abandon the nearly finished DC movie, “Batgirl.”
Speaking of comic book movies, the Wall Street Journal believes Disney’s Marvel titles are in a bit of a slump. Their movies are grossing less, getting worse reviews are not a big deal on social media. Do people even like superhero movies anymore?
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the story behind all those expensive Springsteen tickets, why Beyonce is changing the lyrics to one of her recent songs and why “To Kill A Mockingbird” is leaving Broadway.
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Showbiz Sandbox 555: Modern Media Consumption Metrics Are A Big Mess
September 14, 2021
Keeping track of television ratings, streaming viewership and music revenue has become a hopeless task in the digital age. Everyone is mad at Nielsen though how can they realistically capture all the eyeballs content on TVs, phones, laptops and tablets? Meanwhile, Billboard keeps changing the formula they use to count album sales by working in various flavors of streaming. What the most popular shows, movies, albums or songs are at any given moment has become impossible to decipher.
The good news is, according to new data from the Recording Industry Association, music revenue for the first half of 2021 grew $1.5 billion driven by music streaming, which accounted for 84% of the $7.1 billion earned.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including an executive shakeup at Paramount Pictures, the outcome of Apple’s epic legal battle and the Venice Film Festival kickstarts this year’s awards season in a big way.
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Showbiz Sandbox 497: A Status Update on the Future of Movie Theaters
June 12, 2020
As countries all over the globe shut down their economies during the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly 94% of the world’s movie theaters closed down for business due to health concerns or lack of new releases. There has been countless speculation about when cinemas would reopen or if audiences would actually return once they do. As well, Hollywood studios have pushed back the release of so many titles, what new movies will even be available to show?
As the head of the film department at the research firm Omdia, and an expert in the cinema sector, David Hancock has been tracking all the data associated with the industry’s current predicament. He joins us to explain how movie theaters are reopening, what obstacles they face even if successful and why the industry may lose $35 billion in box office over the next two years due to the pandemic.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including why the Metropolitan Opera in New York has canceled its fall season, why one of the most successful e-sports athletes of all-time is retiring at 23 and filmmaker James Cameron returns to New Zealand to continue production on the “Avatar” sequels.
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Showbiz Sandbox 490: The Future of Journalism After the Coronavirus
April 21, 2020
Long before the coronavirus pandemic, independent journalism was on life support, especially at the local level. After businesses around the world shut down advertising revenue at media outlets completely disappeared and may never fully return. This is especially true at newspapers and industry trade publications, which have begun cutting staff.
In a wide-ranging interview, Kelly McBride, a senior vice president at the Poynter Institute gives us her take on what journalism will look like after the pandemic. She also discusses her new role as the public editor of National Public Radio, as well as her work advising the Hollywood Reporter.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including when we all might be able to attend a live event again, the latest on the Writers Guild contract negotiations and Netflix hits a new high.
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Showbiz Sandbox 479: Are Streamers Ruining Sundance?
February 2, 2020
About every five years a new group of deep-pocketed players shows up at the Sundance Film Festival and spends a small fortune acquiring a handful of films causing fear that the industry has been forever changed. This year, some of the world’s largest media and tech companies have invaded Park City, Utah and are picking up movies for amounts far in excess of what makes fiscal sense or what theatrical distributors are willing to pay.
Such companies don’t have to worry about box office results because they are more concerned with a different metric; the number of subscribers they can attract to their streaming service. Now some industry veterans are worried about whether indie distributors will be able to stay afloat with the leftover titles the streaming giants don’t gobble up.
Meanwhile, in China the film industry is down for the count with cinemas shuttered for the second week in a row due to the rapid spread of a coronavirus. Flights to and from the country have been suspended, as has all film and television production. When movie theaters finally do open for business the ripple effect on the Chinese release schedule will be felt around the world as films jockey for new playdates.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including this year’s BAFTA award winners, Apple and Netflix may be chasing MGM’s film library and MoviePass officially files for bankruptcy.
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