☀️NETFLIX, AMAZON Line Up More A-List Pics
IMAX scores new record / SEARCHLIGHT casts up McDonagh pic / APPLE TV+ goes K-Pop
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY, February 6, 2024.
Where OPENAI will be joining you at the Super Bowl on Sunday! At least in the ad breaks as the WSJ reports that the home of CHATGPT has laid out the $7.5M/8M for a spot.
Its CMO was previously at COINBASE which did that, uh, memorable 🤷♂️ SB ad a couple years back which was just a bouncing QR code on a black screen, so I can’t wait to see the creative AI imagines for Sunday.
THEN: This was an interesting WSJ read on how Trump’s tariff threats would not only hurt sales of the items affected like cars and . . . well, whatever it is you people buy on TEMU — but also the ad spends around those things.
China’s TEMU spent $2B on META platform ad buys alone in 2023. Wonder if that’ll come up in Zuck’s next visit east.
AH: If you have STATE FARM insurance in CA, the company just asked state regulators to approve a 22% average rate increase in the state, after getting more than 8,700 claims from the L.A. fires this year.
ALSO: NETFLIX and the studio streamers (and others) have teamed up to form a new lobbying trade group called the STREAMING INNOVATION ALLIANCE. No AMAZON, APPLE or GOOGLE/YT allowed (or uh, they just chose not to join). So don’t get any “streamer taxes” ideas there, D.C.
PLUS: Say what you will about banks, but they’re no dummies — well, eventually. Some of them which gave Elon billions to buy TWITTER are (finally) offloading $5.5B of that debt elsewhere at 97 cents on the dollar according to the WSJ. Not sure we can call this “selling high” per se in a financial sense . . . but perhaps in a cultural sense.
TWITTER 2022 NUMBERS: $5B revenue, $682M EBITDA (operating profitability)
TWITTER 2024 NUMBERS: $2.7B revenue, $1.3B EBITDA . . . but given the interest on the debt the company took on, it puts the company at break-even at best.
AND: Some additional SXSW pics include SPC’s On Swift Horses with Jacob Elordi and Will Poulter, whose U.S. premiere will close the fest, and Jillian Bell’s directorial debut, Summer of 69, which she also stars in.
YUP: SPOTIFY has renewed its WARNER MUSIC licensing deal (this is in addition to UNIVERSAL MUSIC a few days ago), as it embarks upon its “superfan” era — so those new bougier pricing tiers and offerings may be closer than we think.
OH: Alix Earle is the new Paris Hilton, at least for CARL’S JR., which is trashing the whole “food quality” approach to marketing and going back to good ol’ blondes in revealing tops eating hamburgers in slow motion approach. Gonna be a fun 4 years, folks.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
SONY’s Heart Eyes 😍 and UNI’s Love Hurts 💔 are both tracking broadly around $8M, and more importantly — are clearly also in an emoji battle.
Dog Man will win the weekend by far, so let’s just do a straight up pick ’em for 2nd place.
CORRECTION FROM YESTERDAY: Ms. Rachel was #5 on the Global NETFLIX TV English-language TV chart last week, not #6. My apologies for the error, although it only further supports the analysis!
RECOMMENDED LISTEN 🎧: Peter Kafka’s latest Channels pod with Michael Lewis diving into the business of sports gambling, some shady practices and where it’s going was really great — and an excellent listen especially if you have a high school or college-aged son. (APPLE, SPOTIFY).
BTW: Stock trading platform ROBINHOOD withdrew its plans to offer betting contracts on the Super Bowl after
realizing it was a pretty shady idea for an app not licensed for gamblinggetting pushback from the CFTC on the endeavor.BUT: Don’t worry, good ol’ KALSHI has ya covered.
IN TODAY’S EDITION
NETFLIX sets two movies about young sons getting kidnapped, although I’m more curious about what kind of viewer data report from the algo inspired the move.
AMAZON MGM picks up yet another A-List project (not sure where those reports were coming from that the company is ‘slowing down’ on original productions), as SEARCHLIGHT casts up on a new one, IMAX sets a new record and more.
FINALLY: A special “Mornin’!” to The Ankler’s Ladder members! Thanks for a fun AMA last night (which I think is what us Gen Xers called a Q&A) — if you’re part of Hollywood’s next generation of folks in the industry, you can apply to join here.
The Ladder’s next IRL event is also coming up soon in L.A. this month centered on the state of the comedy business, in partnership with Cramer Comedy Newsletter. Exact details will be sent to members very shortly.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
