Established streaming industry leaders like Netflix and Amazon are facing more competition than ever. Now legacy entertainment giants are in the game with their own subscription services, like Peacock, HBO Max, Paramount Plus, and the Disney Plus / Hulu / ESPN Plus bundle, while Apple TV Plus attacks around the edges. Meanwhile, the rise of ad-supported free platforms like Roku Channel and Pluto TV has attracted enough attention that Plex, YouTube, and Amazon’s Freevee are trying to get a chunk of the action too.
The airline now offers a selection of ad-free YouTube videos, podcasts, and music playlists in case you forget to download a movie on your phone. That includes content from some of the platform’s most popular creators, including MrBeast, Nick DiGiovanni, Kinigra Deon, Michelle Khare, and others.
The Netflix film has an intriguing premise: “When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.” The trailer is mostly people looking very emotional in control rooms, and yet it’s still pretty intense. It streams on October 24th.
Disney has had a tumultuous couple weeks. It pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air, suffered a widespread boycott, then reinstated Kimmel’s show last night. Sounds like the perfect time to raise prices.
supernova-high:
Hiking prices a couple of days after the disastrous decision to cave to Trump and kick-off a boycott of your platform that lost you thousands of subscribers? This is the kind of business thinking that AI just can’t replace yet.
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MrBeast is the face of the content creator industry; he’s the exception, not the rule, going from being a guy online to a household name. His business is also increasingly not in YouTube videos but in chocolate bars, snack boxes, and more.
Bloomberg goes deep into the finances and strategies of MrBeast’s empire and how the thing he is most known for is losing him money.
The latest trailer for HBO’s Welcome to Derry series is chock full of alarming new scenes from the It prequel, but the most intriguing thing about it are its shots of what seems to be Pennywise’s arrival on Earth from space(?) in a massive ball of fire.
Despite Disney announcing the show’s return, the television operator in control of 39 local ABC affiliates across the US, including Washington DC, issued the following statement:
Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return.
It’s unclear if Nexstar, the other major operator that’s also seeking FCC approval for a merger, will follow suit.
That might have been “part of the reason” the company figured things out with Jimmy Kimmel to bring his show back, according to independent journalist Marisa Kabas.
ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel in fear of Donald Trump is already casting an ugly shadow on the Disney brand.
“Never break trois.”
In an effort to help folks consume as much streaming content as possible, Tubi has just released Productubity, a new Chrome extension designed to make it easier for you to hide the fact that you’re watching movies or shows when you’re supposed to be, you know, increasing shareholder value.
I’ve long wanted a way to quickly switch between watching, listening to, and reading a YouTube video, depending on how I want to consume it. Turns out, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg wants the same thing:
Many [videos] are essentially like podcasts, and from a product perspective, I think we need to figure out how to sync and allow seamless movement between watching, listening, or reading transcripts
Mullenweg runs a bunch of businesses that could totally make this happen, just saying. I really hope someone does build it.
Soon, Disney Plus subscribers will have access to a “curated selection of content” on a new digital comics platform that’s being developed by Disney and Webtoon. In addition to thousands of classic titles from the Marvel, Star Wars, and 20th Century Studios brands, the platform will feature original Webtoon series.
Every Friday, Spotify will release “The Drop,” where its editors highlight the latest in music in a series of scrollable, vertical video clips. You can find the new series on the app’s homepage or by searching “The Drop Weekly.”
Though the third season of Apple TV Plus’ Foundation adaptation is set to wrap this Friday, the series won’t be coming to an end. Apple announced today that it has renewed Foundation for a fourth season whose production will kick off some time in early 2026.
In a statement about the renewal, Foundation co-showrunners and executive producers Ian Goldberg and David Kob said they were honored to be coming back for another season. Apple TV Plus head of programming Matt Cherniss added that the studio is beyond excited to be producing a show that has “become such a global phenomenon.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, the newly merged Paramount Skydance Corporation is thinking about making a majority cash bid to acquire the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery — a move that would consolidate two of the world’s largest media conglomerates into a single entity run by billionaire Larry Ellison’s son.
[The Wall Street Journal]
Kim, who recently oversaw the launch of its new TV app, became CPO in 2023 when Greg Peters was promoted to co-CEO. Bloomberg reports Netflix didn’t give a reason for her exit; however, CTO Elizabeth Stone will fill the role for now.
In a statement, she noted the apps’ recent changes:
We also redesigned the product experience, expanding beyond VOD to support a much broader entertainment offering –including live events, ads, and games.
The feature will expand to “millions of creators over the coming weeks,” YouTube says.
[blog.youtube]
