A world of opportunities to improve both the audience experience and effectiveness of advertising were the subject of a C-Space panel on the first conference day of CES 2020. All of the panelists from Hulu, WarnerMedia, Accenture, IBM, Nielsen and Twitch focused on the central role of the consumer. Yet even as advertising becomes more addressable based on consumer interest and behavior, making it theoretically possible to serve every viewer a different tailored ad, there will still be some commercials that will remain universal. Continue reading CES Panel on Transforming Contextual Advertising and Media

The full potential of AI is still years away but LG Electronics president and chief technology officer Dr. I.P. Park presented four levels of artificial intelligence that will alter the relationship between humans, technology and life. Park, who delivered a CES keynote last year, was joined at LG’s CES Media Day press conference by Jean-François Gagné, CEO of the Montreal-based Element AI. The two companies announced a memo of understanding on January 5 to work together in development of AI technologies. Continue reading LG Presents AI Levels, ThinQ and NextGen TV at CES 2020

Continue reading Dynamic Branding: Ryff’s Quest for Virtual Product Placement

Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill built “League of Legends,” a monster video game that draws up to 8 million concurrent players daily and has reaped billions of dollars. But, tired of being disrespected by the broader culture as a game maker, Merrill has come up with a way he hopes will minimize the negative judgment: expand beyond the video gaming world to produce a TV show, “Arcane.” The two “Angry Birds” films earned a combined $500 million at the box office and “Assassin’s Creed” made $240.6 million. Continue reading Riot Games to Produce Show Based on ‘League of Legends’

For the first time, Netflix released subscription details and numbers for global regions, including Asia, Europe and Latin America. The company stated in October that it would begin to release this information. It comes after another first: Netflix’s loss of U.S. subscribers — 126,000, to be exact — in Q2 2019. With 60 million Netflix subscribers in the U.S., Netflix appears to have saturated the U.S. market, which is valued at $9 billion annually, making its focus on global markets more crucial. Continue reading Netflix Targets International Markets as U.S. Growth Slows

Netflix started a global test of a new feature — dubbed Watch Now — that allows users to skip browsing titles and begin streaming immediately. The new feature will appear as a button on the profile selection page that opens when the Netflix app launches on a smart TV or streaming device. Netflix is well known for testing features with specific local markets, device categories or audiences. Watch Now is being tested for a month or two with a small worldwide audience on TVs and TV-connected devices including Roku and Fire TV. Continue reading Netflix Tests Feature to Skip Browsing and Begin Streaming

Netflix scored 17 film nominations for the 77th Golden Globes, a major jump since its first movie Globes nod in 2016 for “Beasts of No Nation.” This go-round, Netflix campaigned hard — and successfully — with six nominations for Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” including Best Drama, Actress (Scarlett Johansson), Actor (Adam Driver), Supporting Actress (Laura Dern), Screenplay (Baumbach) and Score (Randy Newman). “The Irishman” and “The Two Popes” were also nominated for Best Drama. Additionally, the company received 17 nominations in television for a total of 34 nominations. Continue reading Netflix Tops Golden Globe Nominations with 34 Total Nods

Comcast chief financial officer Mike Cavanagh announced that the Philadelphia-based telecom giant plans to invest $2 billion in NBCUniversal’s streaming service Peacock during 2020 and 2021, with the expectation that it won’t be profitable for five years. Cavanagh, who spoke at the UBS Global TMT Conference in New York City, added that the spending will represent, at its height, only about 1 percent of Comcast’s annual revenue. Comcast pay-TV subscribers will have free access to Peacock, scheduled to debut in April 2020. Continue reading Comcast to Invest $2 Billion in Peacock Streaming Service

After years of development, direct-to-consumer streaming is poised to actively provide new choices for how the world consumes entertainment content. While it started as a response to the one-size-fits-all model offered by cable companies, it now offers choice of separate walled gardens, each with a different gate. Aggregators in the streaming space are quickly bulking up to what traditional providers charge based on the cost of channel acquisition. To some consumers this will seem like déjà vu. Others will choose carefully among the direct offerings to customize the content entering their world.  Continue reading CES: Streaming Digital Citizenship as a Societal Experiment

It’s almost a new year and a whole new crop of technology is about to introduce a phase change into our collective psyche. It’s time to reflect before we dive into the shameless and enthusiastic possibilities it portends. Let’s take a moment to muse about our new realities. With 5G no doubt to be pervasive at CES 2020 next month, some of the new effects of the streaming marketplace will soon be apparent to the consumer. As each entertainment giant introduces new streaming services at what appears to be astounding value, when cobbled together they increasingly grow to approximate a consumer’s old aggregated service bill from a cable provider.  Continue reading CES: Anticipating New Era of Streaming Digital Citizenship

The Paris Theater has, for decades, been a cherished movie venue in New York City. Many mourned its August closure as the last surviving single-screen theater in the city. But now Netflix has come to the rescue, reopening it this month as a hub for premieres, screenings and special events. Netflix held its theatrical run of director Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story” there earlier this month. Having its own theater will make it easier for Netflix to arrange Oscar-qualifying theatrical releases of its movies. Continue reading Netflix Reopens Beloved Shuttered Theater in New York City

Movies and TV shows have combined real and CG images for decades, for the purpose of entertainment. But we’re seeing the rise of deepfakes, which mix fake and real elements in still images or videos with a malignant or harmful aim. Many Big Tech companies that have benefited from letting users post and share photos are now turning their attention to battling deepfakes. According to cybersecurity startup Deeptrace, the number of deepfakes online has nearly doubled to 14,678 from December 2018 to August 2019. Continue reading Big Tech, DARPA Ramp Up Deepfake Research, Detection

“The Mandalorian,” one of the original exclusive shows on Disney+, follows a mysterious bounty hunter who takes on secretive jobs after the fall of the Empire. Recent data reveals that the show was the third most “in demand” digital original show since its debut. Epic Games is listed in the show’s end credits because series creator Jon Favreau used it in his production process. Epic Games’ Unreal Engine is a popular platform for creating games, such as “Fortnite,” but it’s now being used in more Hollywood productions. Continue reading ‘The Mandalorian’ Uses Epic’s Unreal Engine for Production

The Justice Department’s antitrust division plans to terminate the so-called Paramount consent decrees governing movie distribution, indicating they are no longer useful. Those rules were established in the wake of a landmark 1948 Supreme Court ruling covering the eight major movie distributors in the U.S. Their end will dramatically change movie distribution. DOJ antitrust official Makan Delrahim noted that streaming services and new business models have opened the door to “consumer-friendly innovation.” Continue reading Justice Department to End the Paramount Consent Decrees

T-Mobile plans to debut its U.S. 5G service on December 6, with a low-frequency 600MHz radio signal and 5G-capable devices to provide high-speed service to 200 million customers. The carrier has been building out its 5G capabilities for over a year and expects to be able to cover 5,000 cities and towns by the end of 2019. Samsung Galaxy Note10+ 5G and OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren are the two devices customized for T-Mobile’s 5G network. China, meanwhile, rolled out the world’s largest 5G network, via three state-owned carriers. Continue reading T-Mobile Will Launch its 5G Networks in the U.S. This Year