Streaming Development, Series Orders Recovering Faster From COVID-19 Than Linear, According to Industry Analyst
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Although COVID-19 has damaged the entertainment industry across the board, it’s clear that streamers are making a swifter, healthier recovery than their linear counterparts.
According to Ampere Analysis’ Guy Bisson, the streamers’ scripted commissioning activity in 2020 was quicker to return to 2019 levels. However, perhaps more significantly, the streamers have strongly increased their development deals of late (up 38% in the latter part of 2020 versus 2019), while linear channels continue to lag far behind their previous figures (down 42% year-to-year in the same time frame).
How Female Executives Are Leading the International Streaming Business
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Streaming heavyweights have big global aspirations, and they’re relying on a growing cadre of women to realize them.
Female leaders abound at Netflix and Amazon Studios, where international programming initiatives are well underway, and they occupy top roles at Disney, Viacom and HBO Max as the businesses expand globally. In a sign of how important these initiatives are to Netflix, the streamer elevated Bela Bajaria, formerly head of local-language programming, to head of global TV in September as part of a broader corporate realignment. Earlier, in June, it lured Eleonora “Tinny” Andreatta, who shepherded HBO’s cross-national hit “My Brilliant Friend” as head of RAI drama, to oversee Italian originals. At Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke, a proponent of global franchises, is relying on an all-female regional leadership team to grow the company’s int
DAZN Taps Kevin Mayer, Former Disney and TikTok Exec, as Chairman of Sports Streamer
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Kevin Mayer, previously one of Disney’s top executives and ex-CEO of TikTok, was named chairman of DAZN, a global sports-streaming service, the company announced.
Mayer, who worked at the Walt Disney Co. for more than two decades and led the launch of Disney Plus, will replace John Skipper, the former ESPN chief who had joined DAZN in 2018. Skipper is stepping down to focus on Meadowlark Media, an independent content company focused on individual sports creators he launched in January with former ESPN host Dan Le Batard.
| 02 March 2021
With the launch event almost exactly a month away, the Extreme E, the all-electric off-road racing series, has confirmed Hungary’s entertainment station TV2 will broadcast all five of this season’s X Prixs on its free-to-air linear channels, TV2, SuperTV2, Spiler 1 and Spiler 2.
The series will feature electric SUVs competing in extreme environments around the world – in Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Greenland, Brazil and Patagonia, places which have all been affected by the climate crisis - and is geared towards highlighting the impact of climate change and human interference in some of the most remote parts of the world. As well as highlighting a variety of environmental issues including, desertification, rising sea levels, glacier retreat, deforestation and ice melt, the series hopes to raise awareness of the climate emergency by mixing sport with purpose to inspire change. Extreme E aims to leave behind a long-lasting positive impact through its Le
Discovery Surpasses 11 Million Streaming Subscribers
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Discovery’s fourth-quarter earnings report beat forecasts early Monday, as the company also revealed numbers for its subscription streaming service.
The company reported earnings of 76 cents per share and revenue of $2.889 billion, vs. Street projections for per-share earnings of 72 cents on revenue of $2.83 billion.
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During Q4, Discovery officially entered the streaming wars with the announced launch of a standalone streaming service of its own, Discovery Plus, which debuted on Jan. 4 in the current Q1 for $4.99 to $6.99 a month. Execs there have preciously said they expect the service to have an addressable market of 70 million domestically and 400 million globally.