NETFLIX, YOUTUBE make more than VIACOM in Q3
NETFLIX, YOUTUBE make more than VIACOM in Q3
GAL GADOT joins DISNEY Snow White pic / ROKU hits 56 Mil users / FOX & DISCOVERY make same revenue
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY November 4, 2021.
Where I’m writing the following under protest to the CBS Corporation, who announced they’re airing “Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer” BEFORE Thanksgiving this year 🤬. And don’t tell me it’s because of the “supply chain”.
Oh - I’ll mention the day it’s airing (Mon Nov 22) just to show how ridiculous it looks CBS… but I’m not saying what time it’s on. I mean I’m guessing its 8 but I really didn’t bother to do much research here.
ALSO: NYC has a new mayor! Politics aside I just hope he doesn’t use a knife and fork to eat pizza 🤦♂️ . Otherwise I’m happy to report a super smooth voting process here in Queens, maybe 10 mins total.
Although there was a story of a guy voting on the Upper West Side who got upset when:
He was told he couldn’t bring his pet he brought with him inside the voting center
He couldn’t wear his jacket inside because it advertised a candidate… to which he said “Arrest Me!”
Then he jammed a ballot scanner, putting it out for repair. Which is weird because his name was actually on that ballot as the Republican candidate for Mayor. Sadly only… 293,000 New Yorkers voted for him.
AND: Tom Ford is putting out a follow-up to his 2008 autobiography next week called “002”. For $135. But at least the excerpts are only $25.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
DISNEY casts Gal Gadot as “Evil Queen” in live-action “Snow White” movie
Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story”) already set as Ms. White, and Marc Webb is directing (he did the Andrew Garfield “Spider-Man” movies, “500 Days of Summer”). /Deadline
BROKEN LIZARD sets new comedy at SEARCHLIGHT / HULU
Called “Quasi”, a satire on The Hunchback of Notre Dame - hunchback gets involved in a feud between the Pope and King of France, when each orders the hunchback to kill the other one.
LIZARD member Kevin Heffernan is directing, and the group is shooting in LA along with Adrianne Palicki.
BROKEN LIZARD of course got their start at (FOX) SEARCHLIGHT with “Super Troopers”, most recently did the sequel there, and are developing a 3rd one as well. /Variety
ALSO IN MOVIES
PARAMOUNT orders “Paw Patrol” movie sequel that’ll debut exclusively in theaters Oct 2023. Odd for a movie cited by VIACOM’s CEO as a huge Theatrical / PAR+ combo streaming success this Summer but… 🤷♂️ /THR
📺 THE TV SET
FOX reboots “Joe Millionaire”… franchise (?) 19 years later
But this time it’ll feature two dudes. One’s a Millionaire, and the other… is on a TV show with a Millionaire.
20 women with some free time go on dates with them to figure out which one’s the plumber. /THR
40 Million people watched the final episode back in 2002. More than that year’s OSCARS, which in 2002… well nuff said.
Sofia Vergara starring in NETFLIX limited series from “Narcos” showrunner
Called “Griselda”, about a Colombian drug lord in the 80’s known as the “Black Widow”. Also known as “La Madrina”, the “Cocaine Godmother”, and of course “John from Cincinatti”.
6 episodes - and they made sure to specify this has nothing to do with “Narcos”. Outside of the cocaine, the 1980’s and Colombia.
Catherine Zeta-Jones also played the character in a 2017 movie that went with that more click-inducing name of “Cocaine Godmother” (here on IMDB). /THR
ALSO IN TV
APPLE TV+ gets 4 part Magic Johnson docu mini-series from director Rick Famuyiwa (“Dope”, and the Magic Johnson produced “Brown Sugar”).
NETFLIX sets Daniel Dae Kim a main lead in live-action “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series. He’ll play someone called “Fire Lord Ozai” if that means somethin’ to ya. /Variety
TBS renews “Miracle Workers” and TRU TV renews “Tacoma FD” for new seasons. /Variety
STARZ order “Heels” Season 2. /THR
AMAZON PRIME’S “Hanna” ending after upcoming Season 3, which premieres Wed Nov 24. /EW
Talent agency UTA promotes 50 people across TV Lit, eSports, Digital Talent, Audio, and Bus Affairs. Their names are… all in the link. /THR
💻 THE MEDIA BIZ
#MediaNerd🤓 day 2
VIACOM adds 4.3 Million global streaming subscribers in Q3, down from 6.5 Million in Q2
VIACOM now has almost 47 Million total streaming subscribers globally. No breakout for:
PAR+, SHOWTIME, BET+ etc
Avg Revenue Per User for any service
Ad-Supported vs. Ad Free subscribers for PAR+
How many are US vs International
So… this is kinda useless and not a great look for PARAMOUNT+. They said they’ll hold a day in Q1 2022 (presumably around the 1 year anniversary) to go further into details on their streaming business.
This will include a change in quarterly reporting come 2022, separating the Streaming business into its own reporting unit which… should help this situation. Should.
However PAR+ also cuts deal to give T-MOBILE customers a free year of the ad-supported version (27 Million accounts).
BUT DIVING INTO THE #s:
Carriage fee $$ from Cable companies: $2.1 Billion
Linear TV Advertising revenue: $1.85 Billion
Streaming revenue (both advertising, and subscriber fees): $1 Billion
AND:
VIACOM total Q3 Streaming Subscription Revenue: $548 Million
VIACOM CBS total Q3 Revenue: $6.6 Billion
NETFLIX total Q3 Revenue: $7.5 Billion (YOUTUBE was $7.2 Bil)
ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE: PLUTO TV is still the best in the Free Streaming biz, will hit $1 Billion of revenue this year, with 54 Million Monthly Active users (+2.1 Million in Q3). Revenue is up 99% vs this time last year.
ROKU adds 1.3 Million users from July thru Sept, now at 56.4 Million
ROKU had been adding users at about a 2 to 5 Million clip each quarter since 2019, except for Q2 which was also well under 2 million so… user growth is slowing.
Granted ROKU did cite the ol “supply chain” issues this time out, esp with ROKU TV’s from CHINA.
User base grew 23% from this time last year. But at that point in 2020, user growth rate was at 43% vs 2019.
ROKU users are back to streaming more on ROKU devices though, at 18 Billion hours in the quarter - up from 17.4 Billion in Q2… however that’s still below Q1’s 18.3 Billion Covid Winter viewing.
So - usage is healthy, although no word on streaming #s for any QUIBI content, but Revenue & Profit keep going in the right direction:
Q3 REVENUE: $680 Million
85% comes from ad revenue basically
15% from device sales - but those are loss leaders, as ROKU actually lost $14 Million on device sales this quarter. Increased shipping costs not helping
Q3 PROFIT: $69 Million
That’s about 5X growth from this time last year
Q3 #ARPU: $13.33 a month
This metric keeps growing, sign of healthy ad revenue growth.
This is higher Avg Revenue Per User than any major streaming service except NETFLIX
Stock fell 8.5% after hours on the “supply chain” problem continuing into Q4 and 2022, and revenue missing expectations by… $3 Million. Ah come on Wall Street 🙄.
FOX CORP Q3 Revenue hits $3 Billion, about the same as DISCOVERY
FOX CORP is truly a company resting on the cable bundle: 37% of revenue comes from Advertising, but 56% comes from just Cable Company carriage fees.
Case in point - FOX Cable Networks specifically (primarily FOX NEWS & FX networks) make 3X as much $$ from Cable Company carriage payments as they do from Advertising.
So even if/when an advertiser “boycots” FOX NEWS… it’s really not a primary revenue source. By far.
The FOX Network + TUBI at least make 56% of Revenue from Advertising (the other 44% comes from Cable company carriage payments).
FOX was pretty silent on TUBI info though - no Monthly Active Users or specific Revenue numbers given.
FOX CABLE NETWORKS and FOX NETWORK revenue is about even ($1.4 Billion to $1.6 Billion). DISCOVERY and FOX CORP made about the same amount of 💰💰
The company that FOX NEWS built made $2.2 Billion in Profit in its last fiscal year: about $60 Million of which went to pay the owner and his son. 🤜🤛 /THR
ALSO IN MEDIA
MORGAN WALLEN’s WME agent just booked his 2022 tour… despite WME having dropped Morgan as a client after the n-word incident early this year. Agent says he was just doing it “as a friend”. But uh… Friends still pay each other commission right? /Rolling Stone via Billboard (same company)
“Cocomelon” production company MOONBUG ENTERTAINMENT in talks to sell to Kevin Mayer / Tom Staggs SPAC for almost $3 Billion. Deal still in negotiations however. /The Information
Greg Kinnear replacing Jeff Daniels in “To Kill A Mockingbird” on Broadway in January. /Deadline
DISH keeps susbscriber count about even in Q3 - loses 130k Satellite TV subscribers, gains 117k SLING streaming subscribers. /THR
DISH SATELLITE TV subs: 8.4 Million
SLING STREAMING TV subs: 2.5 Million
🏦 STOCK NOTES:
DISCOVERY up 4% on earnings news
NY TIMES -9%… I guess because costs increased? Maybe Q4 guidance wasn’t ideal? Either way no long term trouble here.
ENDEAVOR -6%
👩💻 NEW TO WATCH:
FOX Thursday Night Football: JETS at COLTS, 8p
HBOMAX “Aida Rodriguez: Fighting Words” comedy special - Stream or Add to Your List here
HULU “Taste the Nation” Holiday Edition - Padma Lakshmi returns for a 4 part… “mini season” (?) focusing on Holiday food traditions. Stream or Add to Your List here
HBOMAX “Head of the Class” reboot, 10 episodes total - Stream or Add to Your List here
If you were sent this newsletter or… just kinda found it:
🎥 TRAILER HOUSE
PEACOCK “SBTB” Season 2 trailer - All 10 episodes drop Wed Nov 24
HULU “Pen15” Season 2, part 2. Love this show - Premieres Fri Dec 3
NETFLIX “Money Heist” Season 5, part 2 trailer. Premieres Fri Dec 3
AMAZON PRIME“Harlem” series trailer - Centers on the dating and professional lives of 4 friends in, well Harlem - from the writer of “Girls Trip”, Tracy Oliver. Premieres Fri Dec 3.
D’OH!
“X-Men” franchise leader Simon Kinberg actually made his directorial debut on the last movie in that franchise, “Dark Phoenix”. His upcoming international female spy collective movie “The 355” will be his 2nd. Thanks to the very talented reader who sent me that from the set of new “Game of Thrones” series. Nope, that still doesn’t make the error sound better.
🎧 PLAYING ME OFF
U2 “Your Song Saved My Life” - From the upcoming “Sing 2” movie where Bono plays a lead role. The Edge also has a role but he doesn’t say anything.
Listen to the song here on SPOTIFY or:
If you need new tunes:
Email me anytime - just reply to this email, or connect here on LINKED IN.
-Sean McNulty
@theseanmac on TWITTER
@TheWakeupNews on INSTAGRAM