☀️NETFLIX Earnings Preview: What to Watch For Today
WB considers spinoff plan / L.A. Reality TV shoots plummet / DIS engages Russo Bros on 'Avengers'
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, July 18, 2024.
Where it’s very . . . comforting (🤷♂️) that NETFLIX is keeping an eye on me outside of my accommodations here in town — 👋 y’all, so thoughtful!
Does that mean I get a copy of the Q2 earnings report delivered to my door later today? Let me know if you need the address. See ya on the earnings stream this afternoon on the YOUTUBE!
KUDOS: To all of those who garnered Emmy nominations yesterday — from the oh, 27 🤷♂️ Deadline alerts that went out, it sounds like everyone is very excited about them.
We’ll see how much of America is equally as excited on Sunday, September 15 on ABC, up against NBC Sunday Night Football (at least CBS’s Sunday night won’t be fully back in action yet).
Luckily the BEARS vs. TEXANS game isn’t exactly a marquee matchup.
AND: Jimmy Kimmel is making a gesture to help out SAG members who are just shy of qualifying for health insurance for the next year (which is $26,740 in earnings for 2023, and goes up 2% each year).
If you’re within $1,401, he’s put out a casting call for roles on JKL — he did this in 2022, where he had them come on the show and read one line to make their qualification, but no details on what’s in this casting notice that was sent out.
HMM: VERIZON’s latest streaming bundle: buy a year of ad-tier PEACOCK (an $80 cost), and get a free year of ad-free NETFLIX Premium (a $275 value) to go with it, as part of the company’s +play content hub. Note the emphasis on annual subscriptions. #churnbabychurn Obviously this is being done as The Olympics kicks off.
ALSO: Here’s your latest Q2 snapshot into L.A. based production from FILMLA:
On location shooting is -12.4% in Q2, and remember the WGA strikes started relatively early in Q2 last year, which doesn’t make these numbers any better.
Along those lines, scripted TV was up significantly (+100%-ish), but the big culprit here: Reality TV, whose shoot days were -56% in Q2 🤯 — granted, perhaps shooting is increasing more elsewhere, but that unscripted pullback is real y’all.
Features and Commercials also had slight dips (-3% and -5% respectively).
THEN: Exhibit 423 in “It’s the phones, stupid” — NY state schools that took away phones from students during the school day have seen some remarkable results:
At KIPP NYC College Prep high school, AP scores improved, grades improved to pre-pandemic levels and attendance at sporting events and other activities jumped by 50%.
Newburgh Free Academy high school saw student engagement in the classroom improve, and the kids now seem pretty happy playing cards at lunch instead of scrolling TIKTOK.
A #goodread here at Bloomberg — and yes, I know phones have benefits, but I think we all know people that we can no longer have actual conversations with because they can’t stop checking their phones. And if you don’t, well . . . I have some bad news for you once you’re able to put down your phone.
OH: Wired reports that several big AI players indeed used data gleaned from subtitles from a large magnitude of YOUTUBE videos to train their bots on the info from the videos from sources like The Khan Academy, the BBC, some late-night TV series and several YT creators.
This is of course in violation of YT’s user policy which has explicit language against harvesting videos without permission, much less the other copyright issues present here. Eh, I’m sure it was an honest mistake.
CORRECTION: Alex Levy is only a producer on the Broadway play Job, not also the writer — that would be Max Wolf Friedlich. My apologies for the oversight!
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
Okay folks, how much Glen Powell stock are you picking up this weekend with Twisters? The forecasting gurus have it around $50M to $55M, where do you gurus have it?
📽 THE SILVER TV SET 📺
