Viacom launches on-demand streaming app for MTV reality shows February 4, 2019 MTV owner Viacom has launched a new streaming app aimed at younger audiences as it joins a growing list of broadcasters offering an on-demand service. MTV Play, which will initially be available only in the UK, will offer a range of catch-up and box set programmes, as well as a live feed of MTV’s broadcast channel. [...]
Fyre Festival, influencers, and the CMA – why are regulators finally getting involved in the world of social media sponsorship? February 4, 2019 Social media influencers are back in the headlines, and as usual, it’s for all the wrong reasons. Late last month, the government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it had told 16 high-profile celebrities – including models Alexa Chung and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, musician Rita Ora, and YouTube star Zoe Sugg (better known as Zoella) [...]
Trump tore down the walls for the Democrats’ socialist superstar February 1, 2019 Half-baked policy ideas that don’t stand up to economic scrutiny but spread like wildfire across social media. The ability to tear up the rulebook to forge a new path to power. A US politician who is almost certainly dramatically under-qualified for the office they hold, but who has captured the imaginations of millions through sheer charisma [...]
Broadcast TV advertising ‘at the tipping point’ as viewers switch to streaming, report finds January 31, 2019 Traditional TV advertising is approaching a tipping point as sliding viewing figures cast doubt on the cost-efficiency of TV campaigns, a new report has found. A report by media consultancy Ebiquity has forecast a decline in TV ad viewing among adults of 15 to 20 per cent by 2022. These figures increase to 30 per [...]
Fyre Festival is a lesson for all event planners about what not to do January 29, 2019 In its new documentary, Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened, released last week, Netflix pulled back the curtains behind one of the most infamous stitch-ups in the event industry. Entrepreneur Billy McFarland had ambitions to create the “most insane festival ever seen” to spread consumer awareness of his talent booking platform. A strategic and [...]
Editor’s Notes: Davos – a festival of irrelevance and hypocrisy January 25, 2019 Davos brings the same delights every year. From the press release about the number of private jet movements to Oxfam’s annual criticism of the global super-rich, there are predictable elements to this week-long event. Another thing you can always be assured of is that some staggering hypocrisy will be on display. I came across a [...]
Netflix leads the way as UK on-demand video subscriptions soar January 24, 2019 The number of UK homes that subscribe to an on-demand TV service has soared in the last year, with Netflix the most popular choice, new figures have revealed. A total of 11.6m UK households had a subscription to at least one of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Now TV in the third quarter of 2018, [...]
Tech giants accused of data protection breaches by Austrian activist January 19, 2019 Tech giants Apple and Amazon have been named in a complaint filed by Noyb, claiming they are still failing to comply with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The company, chaired by data privacy activist and lawyer Max Schrems, filed a complaint in Austria also naming Netflix, Spotify and Youtube after it tested the [...]
Uber, Lyft, Airbnb: Unicorn IPOs are coming in 2019 January 18, 2019 | City Talk 2019 is set to be an exciting year for IPOs. Some of the biggest floats in history are planned over the coming months. But the problem with IPOs is that the excitement wanes quickly, as 2018 proved. Here’s a look at some of the most hotly anticipated stock market debuts planned for 2019 and the [...]
Netflix shares slide as it misses revenue estimates despite profits bump January 17, 2019 Shares in Netflix fell as much as five per cent in after-hours trading last night, after the streaming giant missed analyst estimates on revenue and paid subscriber growth. Netflix reported $4.19bn in revenue for the three months to the end of December last year, narrowly missing the $4.21bn predicted by consensus estimates, as collated by S&P [...]