☀️The DISNEY 💰 Math That Sunk MLB and What’s Next
Cast moves at HBO’s ‘Industry’ / NETFLIX’s 2 new series orders / Massive deal & casting day
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKEDIN if ya like or email me seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY, February 21, 2025.
Where apparently AI is following human behavior a bit too closely — it’s now cheating!
A new OPENAI bot actually went into the system files of a chess program it was playing against essentially to hack the files and thus tilt the chess match in OPENAI’s favor. All totally unprompted.
A version of China’s DEEPSEEK has also exhibited similar behavior. Eh, I’m sure it’s all fine.
BTW: CHATGPT is up to 400M folks using it at least once a week globally, according to new info from OPENAI. That’s +100M since December.
AND: SPOTIFY CEO Daniel Ek just keeps . . . selling . . . stock. He offloaded another $31M of SPOT this week, making for a grand total of $666M in the past year and a half or so. #realnumber
ALTHOUGH: The joke’s on him, as the day after he sold this latest tranche at $630 a share, the price went up to $648. Sucker!
OH: YOUTUBE is planning to launch a new, lower-priced version of its ad-free YT PREMIUM in the U.S., Australia, Germany and Thailand (it’s $14 a month in the U.S.) according to Bloomberg, although, uh, the music videos would have ads on them so . . . yeah. But for YT creators, it could be a new opportunity for rev share instead of just ad revenue.
BUT: Sorry META employees, sounds like Zuck is cutting about 10% of the employee bonus stock option distributions this year according to the FT. What? How about we cut metaverse R&D spending instead, and stop trying to make “legs” happen there? Don’t be ridiculous. So, we’ll see of course if Zuck gives himself an equal haircut at annual salary reveal time.
PLUS: NY METS fans — you can finally watch METS games without a cable TV subscription via the MLB App this season. $25 a month or $125 for the 6-month series (so if they suck by September, it’s essentially a free month anyway). Be sure to subscribe so the club makes all of their Juan Soto payments. 🤑
The YANKEES are also $25 a month in the YES and GOTHAM SPORTS apps, but $240 for a year (there is no season-only option), although there is a pre-season discount deal going on now.
OH: No UTA pre-Oscars party this year — donations will instead be made to various fire relief causes.
BTW: Americans spent $13.7B on sports wagering in 2024, +25% YoY according to the American Gaming Association. They spent about $9B on going to the movies, although keep in mind that online/app gambling is not legal in the 3 largest U.S. states.
NY led the way in revenue, with IL moving into the 2nd slot above NJ, now in 3rd.
DRAFTKINGS is still unprofitable, losing $507M in 2024 but making $184M in Adj. EBIDTA (internal profitability).
FANDUEL’s parent co. FLUTTER reports on Mar. 4, but had a -$38M net loss for the first 9 months of 2024.
So, uh 🙋♂️ . . . is anyone making money on gambling??
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
No money being exchanged here with The Monkey (Matthew and I need to start working on this), but here’s what y’all think. I’ll go with the majority 40% here.
NEW ANKLER PODCAST EPISODE
Ashley Cullins joins us this week for some #realtalk about movie budgets in 2025, as we break down the new reality for movie 💰 math that is rarely spoken about in the business.
Plus a look at how getting to a greenlight in TV is often a longer slog for many projects in the new era of spending “philosophy” in Hollywood as we hit the mid-2020s. (SPOTIFY here)
IN THIS EDITION
A look at the 💰 numbers around Iger & Pitaro’s decision to end a 2nd sports TV rights deal this month, and the next steps ahead — and don’t forget what’s still on the immediate horizon.
Probably the biggest day of new TV & movie casting, orders and deal news I can recall in some time — get up to speed all in one place.
Plus a look at the new things to watch and stream this weekend and much more.
FINALLY
Connor McDavid will no longer pay for another beer in Canada the rest of his life after last night’s big CANADA OT win. But the Winter Olympics just went up a notch next year, so the real winner here is arguably NBC.
🎥 THE SILVER SCREEN
