☀️'Rebel Moon 2' tops NETFLIX globally — but U.S. Not So Much
What sports ratings tell us about Sports HULU's future / Stewart gives a TDS bump / Sony gets Clue
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on WEDNESDAY, April 24, 2024.
Where who said the #BigTech-Hollywood relationship was one way? It looks like the old-school Hollywood ethos of “If you don’t come in on Saturday, don’t bother coming in on Sunday” is just getting rebranded in Silicon Valley as an original idea (shocking, I know) — or at least at GOOGLE.
According to a CNBC report on a recent internal meeting, Sundar’s search boss Prabhakar Raghavan told the troops that “There is something to be learned from that faster-twitch, shorter wavelength execution.” In other words — we expect you to complete your projects on a faster timeline (and is there anything more robotic sounding that working at a “faster twitch”?)
Prabhakar specifically applauded the Gemini team for moving from working 100 hours a week to 120 hours to fix that kinda racist recognition tool problem as fast as possible. Yes, that means 17-hour days, 7 days a week.
I’m sure their families appreciate the effort, or will be sure to tell them whenever they see them again. Google: Where employees come first — and never come home.
Know that yes, the big reason behind all of this new “operational motivation” is AI developments, so rest assured Hollywood — #BigTech is just as concerned and uncertain about the changes it’ll have on their business and revenues as Hollywood is.
ALSO: TSwift broke her own vinyl record (err, not physically — her self-collection is fine I’m sure), as her new effort sold 700k copies in 3 days, beating out last year’s 1989 re-release (693k in 7 days).
COMP: Harry’s House from Mr. Styles moved 372k vinyl copies in its opening week.
PLUS: The MTV VMA’s will be Tuesday, September 10th at the UBS Arena (basically the eastern edge of Queens, on the Belmont Park grounds). Sorry Jersey!
AND: The Senate passed the TIKTOK / Ukraine bill — so onto Biden’s desk it goes. If signed, BYTEDANCE would then have 270 days to divest its U.S. business, although whomever is president in early 2025 could extend that by 90 days, according to CNN.
BYTE DANCE/TT spent roughly $7 Million this year alone on those ads fighting this forced sale/U.S. ban, plus lobbying efforts in D.C.
Obviously the two main winners here would be META (Reels) and GOOGLE (Shorts), so get ready for some more 120-hour work weeks to take advantage folks!
If not sold off (or if this law isn’t struck down in the courts, assuming Biden is signing it), this would mean TIKTOK is now banned in 2 of the world’s biggest markets, as it’s been banned in India for almost 4 years now.
IN THIS EDITION:
Take a dive into the linear TV sports audience sizes (outside of football) to see what Sports HULU’s future could hold, and why Lachlan’s 5M sub projection by 2029 could even be seen as optimistic.
Plus Jon Stewart linear and YT numbers so far, and the latest NETFLIX Films chart where . . . Luc Besson topped Zack Snyder here in America. Huh. And much more.
📺 THE SILVER TV SET 🎥
