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July 13, 2023
The Week's Top Digital Media Stories
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DEG is pleased to announce the third annual EnTech Awards, formerly known as TechOps Awards, to be presented live and in person in Los Angeles on October 12, 2023. We’re adding two new categories to the program honoring exceptional technology accomplishments in the digital supply chain: The Rising Star Award and Emerging Tech Award.
Get more information and access the nomination forms here.
Nominations are now open and must be received by DEG on or before August 2, 2023.
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Peak TV Has Peaked: From Exhausted Talent to Massive Losses, the Writers Strike Magnifies an Industry in Freefall
Variety
”The entertainment industry in aggregate can’t afford to keep producing content at the pace of recent years, as evidenced by the astounding financial losses reported and cost-cutting campaigns underway at Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global and to a lesser degree Comcast. Read more
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SAG-AFTRA Strike Imminent as Talks Conclude With No Deal
Variety
A SAG-AFTRA strike appears to be imminent, as talks with the studios have concluded without a deal or an extension. The union’s contract officially expired at midnight. In a statement, the union said that the negotiating committee had voted unanimously to recommend a strike.Read more
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Voting for DEG Board Directors Now Open
Each Ambassador, Charter and Regular member company gets one ballot. Ballots have been emailed to your main DEG contact and are due back to DEG by Friday, July 21 at 3 PM Pacific. The newly elected Board of Directors will be announced at the end of the month.
Please email Meegan@degonline.org with any questions.
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Bob Iger: Disney’s Fixation on Streaming, Episodic Content Diluted Brands
Media Play News
Disney CEO Bob Iger is throwing some shade on his own executive decisions, specifically pushing the entire media giant’s focus on streaming and episodic content — moves he said have resulted in a dilution of key brands such as Pixar Animation and Marvel Studios. Speaking July 13 on CBC’s “Squawk Box” business report, Iger said recent decisions to dramatically increase content production for the sake of evolving distribution channels such as Disney+, Hulu and others, prompted burnout among the creatives. Read more
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Notes from Sun Valley
Puck ($)
Bob Iger will take the stage Friday, and will presumably be asked by Andrew Ross Sorkin about the breaking news that he’s extending his putative two-year second run at Disney until 2026—itself a signal that the company’s challenges outweigh the talents and operating capacities of available successors. Some eagle-eyed observers said they could sense something was afoot as early as breakfast on Wednesday morning, and noted that this mid-July announcement was obviously timed to grab the Sun Valley spotlight. Read more
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Hello, Chief Content Officer. Why the Title Is the New Go-To in Hollywood Executive Shake-Ups
The Hollywood Reporter
With films back in theaters, streaming still a top corporate priority and profitable TV series a must, most of the companies in the sector have opted to put all their entertainment eggs in one basket, with a single leader to oversee them all: the chief content officer. At NBCUniversal, the role falls to Donna Langley (pictured). But Langley is far from alone. Read more
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We looked at 12 devices* in the U.S. to see which titles were winning the Top Promotional real estate. Peacock and Apple TV+’s 'Yellowstone' and 'Ted Lasso' shoot to the top of the leaderboard in 2nd and 3rd. Disney+'s 'Avatar: The Way of Water' enters the leaderboard with an impressive MPV™ score of 1,112 to snap up 4th place, despite its release being later into the month. | |
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*Roku, Google TV, Fire TV, Vizio TV, Cox Contour 2, PlayStation 4, Apple TV, LG TV, Samsung TV, Xbox One Console, Cox CSP and Xfinity
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Amazon Prime Day, Walmart Plus Week and the Battle of the Retail Giants
New York Times ($)
The most interesting thing about the competition is the (partial) convergence of two companies that were once extremely different. Walmart: Middle America, blue-collar, nothing too fancy. Amazon: West Coast, upscale, high-tech. From Dec. 31, 1999, to its peak of July 8, 2021, Amazon’s stock price rose 4,797 percent, compared with only 102 percent over the same period for Walmart’s. Read more
Hear CivicScience CEO John Dick discuss Amazon Prime Day results and what they could mean for retail in the months ahead in a live webinar today at
11 AM Pacific/2PM Eastern.
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How Univision Uses Streaming To Reach Hispanic Audiences
TVRev
As SVP of Product Management at Univision, Brian Lin heads up all aspects of product for the ad sales team, including Advanced TV, new capabilities in the digital and streaming world, and programmatic offerings. His focus, he says, is on "challenging the status quo of how media is bought." He spoke with TVREV about how Univision is innovating across both linear and streaming platforms and how the IRIS_ID is helping his team make better use of contextual targeting. Read more
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Redbox Inks TikTok Deal to Stream Trending Videos, Serve Ads on 3,000-Plus DVD Rental Kiosks
Variety
Redbox, looking for a new way to turn heads and generate incremental revenue, signed a deal with short-form video platform TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance. Under the pact, TikTok will provide Redbox with “top content” curated from the app, which will be featured on more than 3,000 video screens on Redbox kiosks across the U.S. In addition, brands will have the opportunity to buy advertising that runs alongside the TikTok content. Read more
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Lionsgate, Starz Take New Step Toward Separation
The Hollywood Reporter
On Wednesday, the Hollywood studio disclosed the public filing of a Form 10 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission around its planned separation into two independent, publicly traded companies. Lionsgate said the potential separation would spin off its studio business, including the Motion Picture and Television Production groups, into a separately traded public company, while the media networks business, which mostly comprises Starz, would remain in the existing company. Read more
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The Barbie Movie Marketing Campaign Will Be Taking Over Roku Too
The Hollywood Reporter
In an expansion of its already enormous marketing campaign, Warner Bros.’ Barbie movie will be taking over Roku devices, including a Barbie Dreamhouse in Roku City; a takeover of the Roku home screen (where users access the apps to watch their shows and movies); and the ability to watch a trailer for the movie or buy a movie ticket directly on their TV sets. Read more
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'Super Mario' Speeds Past
'John Wick'
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1 The Super Mario Bros. Movie
2 John Wick: Chapter 4
3 Avatar: The Way of Water
4 The Covenant
5 Evil Dead Rise
6 Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret
7 Hypnotic
8 The Pope's Exorcist
9 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
10 Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
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11 65
12 Renfield
13 Sisu
14 The Black Demon
15 Big George Foreman
16 Indiana Jones Quadrilogy Collection
17 Knights of the Zodiac
18 Yellowstone S5
19 The Wrath of Becky
20 Confidential Informant
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It was a relatively busy week on the latest Watched at Home Top 20, with The Super Mario Bros. Movie speeding up to No. 1, knocking John Wick: Chapter 4 down to No. 2 after a lengthy streak in the top spot. The top 6 additionally saw two entrants gain traction, with Evil Dead Rise increasing 5 spots to No. 5 following its physical disc release and Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret increasing 6 spots to No. 6. Many new titles made their top 20 debuts this week, peppering the bottom half of the chart. These include thriller Hypnotic at No. 7, historical action flick Sisu at No. 13, biopic Big George Foreman at No. 15, manga adaptation Knights of the Zodiac at No. 17, campy horror The Wrath of Becky at No. 19, and thriller Confidential Informant at No. 20.
Source | DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group
Includes U.S. Digital Sales (EST), Digital Rentals (VOD), DVD & Blu-ray for week ended 7.1.23; excluding Premium releases.
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Disney Explores Strategic Options for India Business
Wall Street Journal ($)
Disney is exploring strategic options for its Star India business, including a joint venture or a sale, a sign of strain at one of the premier properties it acquired from Fox. The company has talked to at least one bank about ways to help the India business grow, while sharing some of the costs, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks are in the early stages and it is unclear which options, if any, Disney might pursue. Read more
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Imax To Acquire Full Control Of China Subsidiary In $124M Deal
Deadline
In a press release, CEO Rich Gelfond said being a publicly traded subsidiary enabled Imax China to enjoy a period of “tremendous growth,” and he said the acquisition “has the potential to usher in a new era of expansion for our brand and technology in this thriving market for entertainment.” Read more
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