The all-new Hollywood Reporter offers unprecedented access to the people, studios, networks and agencies that create the magic in Hollywood. Published weekly, the oversized format includes exceptional photography and rich features.
￪Film Long Overdue The Academy apologizes to Sacheen Littlefeather p. 16 Digital Spotify’s Live Bet The audio giant tests out selling tickets p. 16 Heat Index Michael De Luca/Pam Abdy The Warner Bros. film chiefs ink an international deal with ex-employer MGM, giving the studio a shot at releasing future Bond movies after the next 007 film. Darren Throop As parent company Hasbro turns its focus to becoming a digital gaming power, the president of its eOne production division will step down at the close of the year. Doug McMillon After exploring streaming options, the Walmart CEO adds Paramount+ to sweeten its delivery service. (But Paramount+ subscribers won’t get Walmart+ access.) Rob Manfred Viewership woes for the MLB, led by the commissioner, keep up as its second “Field of Dreams”…
After initially touting its advertising-supported offering as a lower-cost option to bring in subscribers, Disney+ is now concentrated on maximizing profitability. When Disney+’s ad tier launches, in December, it will cost U.S. customers $7.99 a month, the current price of the service’s ad-free tier. The price of the no-ads version will be hiked to $10.99. The increased focus on the bottom line raises questions about how Netflix will price its upcoming ad-based tier and how major rivals could respond with their own price increases. The Bob Chapek-run Hollywood giant revealed the new pricing Aug. 10, just as Disney reported strong third-quarter earnings. The company showed solid momentum and spending at its domestic parks, as well as growing subscriber numbers, overtaking Netflix for the first time with 221million total subscriptions across…
As Wall Street takes a magnifying glass to Hollywood’s streaming businesses — beyond scale and subscriber growth — one metric is gaining favor: average revenue per user (ARPU). Netflix records more revenue for each subscriber than such rivals as Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, with global monthly ARPU of nearly $12, or close to $16 in North America, where consumers traditionally pay higher streaming subscription fees than in international markets. A key reason: Its prices have been above where rivals started off pricing their services, and the streaming titan has repeatedly raised them over the years. Overall, the Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos-run streamer turned a net profit of $5.1 billion in 2021, with management forecasting that its free cash flow loss of $159 million for the latest year will…
QCODE, the audio studio launched by former CAA agent Rob Herting, is getting into unscripted with a slate of five shows, three of which are new series spanning comedy, romance and true crime. Fewer consumers are buying products from podcast-hosted advertisements in the second quarter of this year, analytics firm Podsights found, citing inflation and a slower overall spending pace for the slight decline. A record deal with a robot: Capitol Records has signed the augmented reality rapper FN Meka, which has 10 million TikTok followers, and released a single on the label featuring rapper Gunna and gamer Cody “Clix” Conrad.…
Sacheen Littlefeather’s 1973 Oscars speech was met with hostility at the time for its protest of Native American mistreatment, but the young actor and activist concluded her comments with grace: “I beg at this time that … in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity.” It took 49 years, but those hopeful words have finally become prescient. On Sept. 17, Littlefeather will be honored during an evening of reflection at the Academy Museum, featuring something she never dared to imagine: a formal apology. “I never thought I’d live to see the day,” Littlefeather (Apache/Yaqui/Arizona), now 75, tells THR of receiving the Academy’s statement, first privately presented to her by museum director and president Jacqueline Stewart in June. “When I was at the podium in…
Though Spotify has focused its energy on podcasts in its quest to become the king of all things audio, the company hasn’t entirely abandoned its roots as a music streaming service, as seen with the launch of its latest test: selling tickets directly to fans. While Spotify, run by Daniel Ek, hasn’t signaled it’s ready to take on Live Nation’s ticket-selling business, a direct-to-consumer ticketing platform would be a natural progression for the audio giant. Already, the Stockholm-based company provides listings from sellers like Ticketmaster and Eventbrite on its app and leverages users’ listenership data to inform its Fans First program, an email marketing initiative that allows artists to give their top listeners offers and has generated $300 million in revenue since launching in 2017, according to Charlie Hellman, Spotify’s…
