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Disney to spend $33 billion on developing content

Disney said it will spend $33 billion in developing new content for the company’s streaming services.

Disney has Disney+, ESPN+, and owns a majority stake in Hulu. The $33 billion is an increase of $8 billion from the 2021 fiscal year. Disney is also outspending Netflix in developing new content by $13 billion, according to the New York Post.

Last Fiscal year, Disney spent $25 billion on new films and shows for their streaming platforms. Disney is investing heavily on growing their already massive subscribers count.

As an example, Netflix has 214 million global subscribers while Disney+ only has 118 million subscribers. Netflix also reported a recent decline in new subscribers, the LA Times reports. According to that report, Netflix added over 60% fewer subscribers in July the second quarter of 2021 than it did in quarter one. However, Netflix is riding the wave of the popular Squid Game film gaining 4.4 million in the third quarter of 2021.

“The increase is driven by higher spend to support our DTC [direct-to-consumer or streaming] expansion and generally assumes no significant disruptions to production due to COVID-19,” the company wrote in the annual report.

Disney+ is currently the fastest growing subscription service around. The company will see big competition soon as HBO MAX’s parent company WarnerMedia is currently in the process of merging with Discovery to combine the two companies streaming services. The new company will include HBO, Discovery, Warner Bros., and TLC and the Food Network under one umbrella.

Disney+ added 2 million paid subscribers in the third quarter of 2021.

27 November, 2021 0 comment

Business Tech

Hundreds of Google employees oppose company’s vaccine mandate

written by Ruben Jay

Hundreds of Google’s employees are fighting back at the company’s vaccine mandate.

When the Biden administration as proposed a vaccine mandate for companies with 100 or more employees, Google requested their employees to upload their proof of vaccination to their database. Employees has until December 3 to upload the requested proof. Google is still requiring proof of vaccination after OSHA suspended plans implement the mandate.

Google is even telling employees that work remotely that they will have to be vaccinated.

“Vaccines are key to our ability to enable a safe return to office for everyone and minimize the spread of Covid-19 in our communities,” wrote Chris Rackow, Google VP of security, in an email sent near the end of October.

CNBC reports that the manifesto is asking Google’s leadership to create a new mandate that is “inclusive of all Googlers.” The 600 employees who have signed the manifesto also ask co-workers to “oppose the mandate as a matter of principle.”

Google wants employees to return to their office on January 10, 2022.

23 November, 2021 0 comment

Business Entertainment Music Tech

Adele gets Spotify to drop shuffle option for ’30’

written by Ruben Jay

Adele wields her power at Spotify.

The singer recently released her record, 30, and has gotten Spotify to drop the shuffle option for that record. CNN is reporting that Adele made the request herself.

“This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry!” Adele wrote on Twitter Sunday. “We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening.”

This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry! We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening 🍷♥️ https://t.co/XWlykhqxAy

— Adele (@Adele) November 21, 2021

“As Adele mentioned, we are excited to share that we have begun rolling out a new Premium feature that has been long requested by both users and artists to make play the default button on all albums,” a Spotify spokesperson told CNN. “For those users still wishing to shuffle an album, they can go to the Now Playing View and select the shuffle toggle. As always, we will continue to iterate our products and features to create the best experiences for both artists and their fans.”

Adele’s record 30 is a journal for the singer as it focuses on her healing process following her divorce from Simon Konecki.

23 November, 2021 0 comment

Business Tech

Rivian and Ford cancel plans to develop electric card

written by Ruben Jay

Electric car maker Rivian and Ford Motor Company have announced cancellation of their plans to develop an electric car together.

In 2019, the two companies announced plans to jointly develop a vehicle after Ford invested $500 million in the start up. Ford later announced the car would fall under the company’s luxury brand, Lincoln.

While the plans were scrapped, Ford owns a 12% stake in the company. Rivian is valued at $10 billion in their IPO last week.

“We respect Rivian and have had extensive exploratory discussions with them, however, both sides have agreed not to pursue any kind of joint vehicle development or platform sharing,” Ford said in an emailed statement.

“As Ford has scaled its own EV strategy and demand for Rivian vehicles has grown, we’ve mutually decided to focus on our own projects and deliveries. Our relationship with Ford is an important part of our journey, and Ford remains an investor and ally on our shared path to an electrified future,” the company said in an emailed statement.

CNBC writes that Ford CEO Jim Farley said they cancelled the plans because Ford had “growing confidence” to “win in the electric space.”

20 November, 2021 0 comment

Business Tech

Netflix begins to report viewership numbers

written by Ruben Jay

Streaming giant Netflix has announced plans to report their viewership numbers for the first time.

Netflix has always been secretive of their internal viewership data but will not release the numbers for their top films and shows. According to the New York Post, Netflix will release that data for their top 10 titles for both English and non-English titles.

The streaming giant has already began to release viewership information. Netflix announced that Dwayne Johnson’s 7 Bucks Production film Red Notice starring Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds, had 149 million hours watched.

According to the Post, Red Notice is the most popular English film on the platform.

Netflix’s decision to release the date is big. Many investors and studios have been frustrated with the lack of information on successful titles.

“Figuring out how best to measure success in streaming is hard, and there’s no one perfect metric,” said Pablo Perez De Rosso, vice-president of content strategy. “Traditional measures like box office or share of audience, which was designed to help advertisers understand success on linear TV, aren’t relevant to most streamers, including Netflix.”

16 November, 2021 0 comment

Business Tech

Uber looking into deploying Yellow Taxi’s

written by Ruben Jay

Uber may be looking to dispatching Yellow Cabs in New York.

According to the New York Post, Uber has lobbied the Taxi & Limousine Commission chief Aloysee Heredia Jarmoszuk on the idea of have New York’s Yellow Taxis respond to Ubers. This news comes from a city lobbying disclosure.

Josh Gold is the Uber executive and a former lobbyist for the Hotel Trades Council. Details of Gold’s conversation with Jarmoszuk were released.

In 2014, New Yokers would take close to 500,000 taxi rides. Uber and Lyft changed that and now they take about 100,000 rides each day. It is possible that riders may be able to request Yellow Taxis soon.

6 November, 2021 0 comment

Business Entertainment Tech

Addison Rae signs with Snapchat after TikTok ban

written by Ruben Jay

Addison Rae has signed on to do more content on Snapchat following a TikTok ban.

The New York Post is reporting that the 21-year-old social media star has signed a deal with Snapchat for an unscripted series, Addison Goes Home. The show will revolve on the star returning to her home state of Louisiana for the first time since moving to LA.

According to the report, Rae will introduce viewers to the Bayou State “quirks” and fans will meet members of her family.

Rae was temporarily banned from TikTok last week due to “multiple Community Guidelines violations” but was reactivated within 24 hours. In addition to the Snapchat deal, Rae also has a multi-film deal with Netflix which included He’s All That, which was a critical failure.

Rae has 16 million Snapchat followers and over 80 million TikTok followers.

19 October, 2021 0 comment

Business Entertainment Music Tech

The Beatles are on TikTok

written by Ruben Jay

Hey Jude, you’re on TikTok.

The Beatles have officially launched a TikTok account and have licensed their music to be used on the video platform. You can follow the band on TikTok by searching @TheBeatles.

With over 180,000 followers since Friday, the Beatles account is growing. The news comes just a few days after Disney+ announced The Beatles: Get Back docuseries.

Variety reports that the creation of the account on TikTok is to be able promote the docuseries on the streaming platform.

Each of the members of the Beatles have their own profiles.

18 October, 2021 0 comment

Business Entertainment Featured Music Tech

[Editorial] Apple Music’s new “Voice Plan” is stupid

written by Ruben Jay

Apple has introduced a new Apple Music plan – The Voice Plan, for $4.99 a month.

According to TechCrunch, Apple unveiled the new plan at their Apple Event in which users can pay $4.99 a month to be able to listen to commercial-free music streaming using their AirPods and HomePods sounds fun. However, users will only be able to access the streaming service via voice activation – hence the name.

Users will have to use voice commands to start, pause, skip, and replay music. They will also be able to create playlists and listen to curated playlists via their Pod devices. The idea is stupid.

Why Apple’s new plan is stupid?

While I like the idea of a cheaper Apple Music plan (The current plans start at $9.99), this limited access service just seems like a bad idea.

Listen, I understand that you need to limit the service for users who are paying less (Spotify has a free and cheap option that are ad supported as does Pandora), but to make it exclusively for voice activation alone is just dumb. I don’t see the service being very popular at all.

I can see this being a really cool idea for those who are visually impaired. Having a voice activated service for those who need the extra help would be a great idea – but across the board for users who either can’t or don’t want to pay $9.99 a month is stupid.

Apple could have easily made this cheaper plan better by allowing users to use it on their phones, tables, etc. without the AirPods and allowing full service access while maybe limiting some features.

Apple could have easily made this service the same price and made the $9.99 plan full service by limiting the amount of skips you get on curated playlists, or limiting the amount of curated playlists you have access to. Apple could have also introduced ads on curated playlists.

What is next for Apple Music?

Apple Music is launching the Voice Plan later this fall. I just hope that they decide against making it only voice activated.

18 October, 2021 0 comment