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 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 612: No Easy Cure for Concert Ticket Troubles
March 28, 2023
Everyone from fans of popular music groups to Broadway regulars are still facing angst and high prices when buying tickets. When the English rock band The Cure decided to forego dynamic pricing and charge only $20 to verified fans for tickets to their upcoming tour, the service fees and facility charges added up to more than twice that amount. Now lead singer Robet Smith is calling out Ticketmaster to explain how this could happen.
Meanwhile, the awards season officially comes to an end as the 48th Annual IRA Awards are announced, highlighting at least 30 films, some of which were previously overlooked and definitely worth checking out.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the controversy over Disney’s firing of a top executive at Marvel, how ad supported streaming services are making their presence known and Apple plans to spend big money to make original films for movie theaters.
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Showbiz Sandbox 601: Middle East Film Industry On Display at Red Sea Film Festival
December 14, 2022
The second Red Sea International Film Festival just came to a close in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a country which didn’t even have movie theaters until four years ago. In fact, several Saudi films premiered at the event which put an emerging Middle East film industry on full display.
Meanwhile there is no debating that we are in the throes of the awards season. The National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics and the Golden Globes are handing out kudos even though none of them really matter when it comes to the Oscars.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including why highbrow films are losing audiences, the Sight & Sound poll of best movies of all time is published and Ticketmaster messes up in Mexico.
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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 518: The Cord Cutting Epidemic Is Growing
November 17, 2020
This year, consumers have continued to migrate from pay television providers to over-the-top services at an increasing rate. In the United States alone, the number of cable and satellite subscribers has dropped 25% to 73 million in just five years. Many industry watchers are expecting that number to bottom out at 50 million by 2025.
Yet people are watching more television than ever; they’re just doing it on services such as Roku, HBO Max and Hulu. Last week Disney reported that their new streaming service has attracted 73 million subscribers. Their original target was 60 million by 2024. They reached that number their first nine months.
Of course we also cover some of the week’s top entertainment headlines including how Spotify is investing more in podcasting, Ticketmaster makes a plan to safely hold concerts again, and the Super Bowl has booked its halftime show.
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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 470: The End of the Paramount Consent Decree
December 1, 2019
The Department of Justice has announced their intention to jettison the Paramount Consent Decree, the agreement that ended the studio system and under which the film industry has operated for the past 70 years. What will this mean for movie theater operators moving forward? Now that studios have become big media conglomerates will they behave anti-competitively?
Speaking of agreements, more mid-level talent agencies have signed the Writers Guild of America’s code of conduct. In the process, these agencies have gotten the WGA to agree not to enforce the ban on television packaging until one of four major firms signs on.
Meanwhile, the Thanksgiving holiday weekend was once again a time for audiences to return to cinemas en masse. However this year instead of going to see the latest blockbuster sequel, moviegoers actually sought out original films.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including the Grammy nominations, why Netflix bought a movie theater in New York City and the controversy over the firing of Gabrielle Union from “America’s Got Talent.”
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Showbiz Sandbox 463: Why the Emmy Awards Make For Such Bad Television
September 23, 2019
How is it that an awards show honoring the best and brightest talent and content on television always winds up being such a poor representation of the medium? We’re talking about the Emmy Awards, which were handed out this past weekend in a ceremony without a host. While it was nice to see a few new honorees take home trophies, the proceedings themselves were rather dull. We try and figure out why.
Meanwhile, in the music business Live Nation and Ticketmaster are once again being scrutinized by the Department of Justice for antitrust. It doesn’t help that the company’s latest attempt to thwart scalpers left some fans of the Black Keys holding worthless canceled tickets.
Speaking of music, Amazon is raising the bar for streaming services by offering a Hi-Def streaming tier with lossless audio. Even the notoriously fussy rocker Neil Young is hailing the move.
Of course we also cover the week’s top entertainment headlines including how “Downton Abbey” spurred adults into cinemas, French courts claim you have the right to resell your legally purchased digital content and screenwriters take a big stand in their dispute with talent agencies.
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