TheFutureParty
A Community-based Media Company
Comcast’s potential plan to spin off its cable channels into a separate, “well-capitalized” company is sending positive shockwaves to Wall Street that could reshape the business next year. The Big Picture: Streaming killed the cable star as consumers cut the cord and went a la carte with their entertainment offerings. But, economically, cable has been a good business… so media […]
For Halloween, YouTube highlighted the enduring power of an influential subgenre of content on its platform — “analog horror.” The Big Picture: As the creator economy goes mainstream, breaking out on YouTube has become harder than ever — there’s just a lot of content. But creators who have mastered a genre that feels perfectly attuned to the weirder corners […]
NBCUniversal is building a permanent haunted-house destination in Las Vegas’ new AREA 15 entertainment district. The Big Scare: Interactive destinations are all the rage for media companies these days as fans want to deepen their engagement with the IP they love. Considering horror’s cultural dominance and the success of Halloween Horror Nights, NBCUniversal could conjure a reliable revenue stream. Between […]
Amazon invested an undisclosed amount in creator-economy startup Spotter to sink its teeth further into the influencer industry and bolster Prime Video with more content. The Big Insight: Big media brands keep looking for ways to leverage the power of social media stars… but most strategies feel like putting a square peg in a round hole. So, maybe […]
Halloween-themed music is surging in popularity, quickly becoming a tentpole for the industry looking for surefire seasons to launch new singles, albums, and playlists. Why It Hits: Considering the insane popularity of Christmas music for two months of the year, Halloween could precede it as the antithesis of the cheery genre — allowing artists with a darker […]
Instagram has said that it will start to downgrade the quality of videos on the platform that aren’t generating enough views as a cost-saving measure. Why It Hits: As Meta transforms into an AI company, the costs associated with all things data — chips, computation, storage — are skyrocketing. So, Meta hopes lowering the quality of video on […]
Netflix and Amazon are offering unprecedented incentives to either win projects from top talent or keep hit filmmakers with existing projects at the streamers in the fold. The Big Picture: Hollywood has nearly reached a consensus that launching a movie on the big screen is the best way to turn them into events theatrically and on streaming. That’s […]
Meta has been quietly building a search engine to power its Meta AI chatbot, lessening its reliance on those of rivals like Google and Microsoft. Why It Hits: Data is gold in the world of AI — how it’s collected and how it’s controlled. With chinks forming in Google’s search dominance and chatbots generating a new way […]
California is set to double its film and TV tax credits to lure productions back to the entertainment industry capital of the world. The Big Picture: Even though California is home to Hollywood, most movies and shows now shoot in locations with generous tax credits — Georgia, Louisiana, New York, the UK, Australia — as a way to […]
A new startup called Cafeteria is hoping to disrupt the consumer insights and marketing industry with an app that connects brands with the opinions of its most hard-to-pin-down customers — teens. Why It Hits: There’s a growing number of protections around the ability to harvest the data and insights of younger users, which is the sector most prized […]