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16.05.2023 / 23:13

Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Try to Rehire Some of the 6,300 Employees He Fired, Defends Comparing Soros to Magneto

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk, after dramatically slashing Twitter’s headcount following his takeover of the social platform, said the company will try to rehire some of them — acknowledging that the job cuts were too deep. Musk has slashed Twitter’s headcount by about 80%, from 7,800 to about 1,500, as he has attempted to cut costs and get the company in the black. “Some people who were let go probably shouldn’t have been,” Musk said during an interview with CNBC anchor David Faber following the 2023 Tesla annual shareholder meeting Tuesday at the car maker’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. “Desperate times call for desperate measures… Unfortunately, if you do it fast, there are some babies who will be thrown out,” Musk said. Twitter now will probably try to rehire some of the Twitter employees that were let go, he said.

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16.05.2023 / 15:07

Peacock Nabs NFL Rights to First Streaming-Exclusive Playoff Game

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor NBCUniversal’s Peacock will have the first-ever exclusive livestreamed NFL playoff game in the U.S. next season — which won’t be available on traditional TV, except in the two teams’ local markets. Peacock will present an NFL Wild Card Playoff game in primetime on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024, starting at 8 p.m. ET under a deal announced by NBCU and the NFL. The Peacock-exclusive Wild Card game will immediately follow a late afternoon NFL Wild Card Playoff game on NBC and Peacock (4:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 13). With the two Saturday NFL Wild Card games and a Sunday primetime NFL Wild Card game (on NBC and Peacock), NBCU will be the first media company to present three NFL playoff games in a single weekend. In addition, Peacock will carry its first-ever exclusive NFL regular season game on Dec. 23, featuring the Bills at Chargers.

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16.05.2023 / 12:29

YouTube’s Viewing on TV Screens Climbed in April as Most Other Streamers Flat or Down: Nielsen

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube, already the most popular streamer on big-screen TVs, last month built on its lead as one of the only major services to see viewing time among U.S. TV households increase, according to new Nielsen data. For the period from March 27-April 30, 2023, TV viewing of YouTube videos (excluding YouTube TV) was up 1.5%. That translated into an increase of 0.3 share points, with YouTube ending the month with 8.1% of total time spent watching television, according to Nielsen measurements. Time spent viewing on most other streaming platforms, including Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video, Peacock and Hulu, was flat or down compared with March 2023, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge report for April. Along with YouTube, two free, ad-supported TV (FAST) services had month-over-month gains: Fox’s Tubi was up 6% from March, adding 0.1 share point to capture 1.1% of overall TV viewing, and Paramount’s Pluto TV viewing increased 3.9% for the month to hold at 0.8% share.

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15.05.2023 / 16:03

Massive New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Game in the Works at Amazon

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amazon Games is taking another shot at Middle-earth. The ecommerce giant announced a deal with Middle-earth Enterprises for Amazon Games to develop and publish a new massively multiplayer online (MMO) game based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy epic “The Lord of the Rings.” The upcoming game, as yet untitled, will be “an open-world MMO adventure in a persistent world set in Middle-earth, featuring the beloved stories of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ literary trilogy,” according to Amazon. The game is in early stages of production, with development led by Amazon Games Orange County, the studio behind Amazon Games’ open-world MMO game “New World.” Amazon Games will publish the game globally for PC and consoles, but it did not announce an expected launch date.

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15.05.2023 / 11:23

Startup Telly Plans to Give Away 500,000 Free 4K TVs This Year. The Catch? The Sets Have a Second Screen That Constantly Shows You Ads

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ilya Pozin made a bunch of money when Viacom bought Pluto TV, the free video-streaming company he co-founded, for $340 million four years ago. Since exiting Pluto about a year after that deal closed, Pozin has been working on another startup venture — one he thinks will be a much bigger deal. On Monday, Pozin’s brainchild, Telly, comes out of stealth after two years in development. Telly wants to ship out thousands (and eventually millions) of free 4K HDTVs, which would cost more than $1,000 at retail, according Pozin. The 55-inch main screen is a regular TV panel, with three HDMI inputs and an over-the-air tuner, plus an integrated soundbar. The Telly TVs don’t actually run any streaming apps that let you access services like Netflix, Prime Video or Disney+; instead, they’re bundled with a free Chromecast with Google TV adapter.

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13.05.2023 / 12:19

When Elon Met Linda: NBCU’s Yaccarino Pressed Musk About Twitter’s Advertising and Hate-Speech Policies a Month Before He Hired Her as Twitter CEO

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor In what may have been an highly unconventional job interview, NBCUniversal ad chief Linda Yaccarino hosted a discussion with Elon Musk about Twitter’s content policies and approach to working with marketers at an industry conference one month before Musk announced that he’d hired her as the social network’s CEO. The April 18 keynote conversation was billed as a talk about Musk’s “Twitter 2.0: From Conversations to Partnerships” at MMA Global’s Possible marketing event in Miami. Yaccarino told Musk that marketers want “protection for their ad campaigns,” with content moderation policies ensuring that “provocative speech” is properly labeled. She applauded Twitter’s announcement last month to promote “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach,” under which the company said it will limit the reach of tweets that violate policies concerning hateful conduct and violent speech.

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12.05.2023 / 13:15

Amazon Inks Deal to Stream 15 NBC, Telemundo Local News Channels Free on Fire TV

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor NBCUniversal is swinging its suite of free NBC and Telemundo 24-hour local news channels in major markets to Amazon’s Fire TV. Under the deal, U.S.-based customers with Fire TV and Amazon Echo Show devices can now access local breaking news coverage and original content on the free, ad-supported TV (FAST) channels of NBCU’s 15 NBC- and Telemundo-owned stations in top markets The agreement builds on NBCU’s existing deals to distribute Peacock on Fire TV, as well as Today All Day and Dateline 24/7 FAST channels. In addition, NBCU network apps including NBC, Bravo, E!, Oxygen, Syfy, USA, Universal Kids, MSNBC, NBC News, CNBC, NBC Sports and Telemundo are available on Fire TV.

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12.05.2023 / 11:41

Cord-Cutting Hits All-Time High in Q1, as U.S. Pay-TV Subscriptions Fall to Lowest Levels Since 1992

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor As streaming video continues its ascendancy, cable, satellite and internet TV providers in the U.S. turned in their worst subscriber losses to date in the first quarter of 2023 — collectively shedding 2.3 million customers in the period, according to analyst estimates. “We are watching the sun beginning to set” on the pay-TV business, SVB MoffettNathanson senior analyst Craig Moffett wrote in a report Friday. With the Q1 decline, total pay-TV penetration of occupied U.S. households (including for internet services like YouTube TV and Hulu) dropped to 58.5% — its lowest point since 1992, two years before DirecTV launched as a new rival to cable TV, according to Moffett’s calculations. As of the end of Q1, U.S. pay-TV services had 75.5 million customers, down nearly 7% on an annual basis.

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11.05.2023 / 20:13

Elon Musk Says He’s Hired a Woman as Twitter’s New CEO — but Doesn’t Say Who She Is

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk claims he’s hired someone to replace him as CEO of Twitter. But for now, the tech tycoon isn’t revealing who that is. “Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter,” the mega-billionaire tweeted Thursday. “She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.” Back in December, Musk said he would step aside as Twitter’s chief executive once he found “someone foolish enough” to take over the role. Even then, however, the billionaire will retain control of the social network and remain closely involved in running it. Musk closed a $44 billion deal for Twitter in October 2022, but he’s since said he now values the company at less than half that — at $20 billion.

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11.05.2023 / 19:43

Podcast U.S. Ad Revenue Projected to Hit $2.3 Billion in 2023, up 43%

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Listen up! While podcast advertising revenue remains relatively small, it’s growing quickly — and the sector is poised for a strong double-digit gain this year, despite economic headwinds. In 2023, U.S. podcast ad revenue is expected to total $2.28 billion, up 43% year over year, according to new research conducted by PwC for the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB). Last year, the segment increased 26%, to hit $1.8 billion, per the study. By 2025, podcast advertising revenue in the U.S. is projected to reach about $4 billion. Overall, podcasting continues to be one of the fastest-growing digital channels, growing two times faster than digital advertising overall — although for 2022 it remained less than 1% of the total pie (which PwC pegged at $209.7 billion).

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10.05.2023 / 21:21

Disney+ to Add Hulu Content in ‘One-App Experience’ Later in 2023

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney is pulling Hulu tighter into the Mouse House. On Disney’s earnings call Wednesday, CEO Bob Iger said the company will soon launch a “one-app experience” in the U.S. that incorporates Hulu content into Disney+. The new combined offering will launch by the end of 2023, he said. “While we will continue to offer Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as standalone options, this is a logical progression of our [direct-to-consumer] offerings that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers while giving bundle subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content, resulting in greater audience engagement and ultimately leading to a more unified streaming experience,” Iger said.

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10.05.2023 / 16:57

‘The Voice’ Free Metaverse Experience Will Let Fans Audition for the Show, Compete in Virtual Music Battles, Win Prizes and More (EXCLUSIVE)

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Fans of “The Voice” will soon be able to jump into a new immersive virtual world where they can create music, show off their dancing skills, compete in battles, win digital merch — and even audition to be on an upcoming season of the reality-competition series. “The Voice Studios,” from ITV Studios and metaverse developer Virtual Brand Group, is set to debut May 12. The global launch of the Roblox-style virtual world is timed for the final weeks of Season 23 of “The Voice” on NBC. Free for anyone to access, “The Voice Studios” will be located in Vegas City, the entertainment destination in metaverse platform Decentraland (at this link). Its launch follows a virtual pop-up event for “The Voice” last year at the Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival that also was created by VBG.

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09.05.2023 / 20:51

BuzzFeed Q1 Revenue Declines 27%, CEO Says Company ‘Leaning Into’ AI and Creators After BuzzFeed News Shutdown

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor BuzzFeed’s revenue was down substantially in the first three months of 2023, dropping 27% in the period — and the company projected sales would be off as much as 29% for Q2. Given the decline, last month BuzzFeed announced it was shuttering its unprofitable BuzzFeed News division and laying off about 180 people across the organization, about 15% of its employee base. “We have reached an inflection point in digital media. Over the last few months, we have made significant strategic and organizational changes to position the business for long-term growth. Peretti continued, “By leaning into Creators and AI, I believe we can unlock new opportunities across our portfolio of trusted brands — including Tasty, First we Feast, Complex, HuffPost and BuzzFeed,” Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed founder and CEO, said in announcing the Q1 results.

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09.05.2023 / 13:37

Mary-Louise Parker Stars in James Patterson Thriller ‘Murder in Bermuda’ at Audible

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor James Patterson’s “Murder in Bermuda” audio original for Audible stars Mary-Louise Parker as a lawyer working for her family’s criminal enterprise who finds herself caught up in a spate of unsolved murders on the Caribbean island. “Murder in Bermuda,” Patterson’s sixth audio project with Audible, stars Parker alongside Ronald Peet and Kimberley Aria Peterson. It’s slated for release on Wednesday, May 24, exclusively on Audible (at this link). The audio thriller from James Patterson Entertainment is co-written by Aaron Tracey (who co-authored Patterson’s Audible original “The Coldest Case”) and Thaddeus McCants (winner of the 2020 BET Project Crea8 writing competition).

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06.05.2023 / 12:05

Yahoo Once Considered Buying Netflix — but Unfortunately Acquired Tumblr Instead, Ex-CEO Says

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Coulda, woulda, shoulda? Ten years ago, Yahoo was looking for a “transformative” acquisition, former CEO Marissa Mayer said in a recent interview with Tech Brew. Among the targets the internet company was looking at: Netflix and Hulu. Yahoo ended up buying blogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion in 2013 — which, to put it mildly, did not pan out as expected. “We looked at a transformative acquisition, and we bought Tumblr,” Mayer said. “At the same time, we were also considering whether it was possible to buy Hulu or, ironically, Netflix. And I think Netflix was $4 billion and Hulu was at $1.3 billion at the time. And either of those, with hindsight being 20/20, would have been a better acquisition.” (Netflix’s market capitalization in May 2013 was $12.7 billion; as of Friday, it was about $143.5 billion.)

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04.05.2023 / 13:41

Star Wars Day: Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, Uses the Force in Google Search Easter Egg

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Grogu, better known to his legion of fans as Baby Yoda from Disney+’s “The Mandalorian,” has infiltrated the Googleplex. Type “Grogu” or “Baby Yoda” into the Google Search bar — and the diminutive creature appears in the lower right-hand section of the screen. When you click or tap on Grogu, he commences to use The Force… and knocks out the top section of the search results. If you keep clicking on him, he continues to dismantle the Google Search page. Grogu stars alongside Pedro Pascal in Disney+ original series “The Mandalorian,” which just finished its Season 3 run on the streamer, and the toddler also appears in “The Book of Boba Fett.” (Before he was identified by name, Grogu was simply called “The Child.”)

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03.05.2023 / 19:47

FTC Seeks to Ban Meta From Monetizing Data of Kids Under 18; Company Slams Move as ‘Political Stunt’

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The FTC alleges Meta failed to comply with a 2020 privacy order — and as such, the agency wants to impose new restrictions on the social giant, including prohibiting Facebook, Instagram and its other services from monetizing data from users under 18. The FTC also is proposing to prohibit Meta from releasing new or modified products, services or features without “written confirmation” from the third-party assessor overseeing its privacy programs. Under the 20-year settlement with the FTC (reached in 2019 and approved the following year) Meta agreed to pay a record-breaking $5 billion fine and to submit to new oversight by the commission. That was to settle claims that the company violated a 2012 FTC order “by deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal information.”

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03.05.2023 / 12:01

Digital Advertising Slowed in 2022 but Was Still Up 10.8%

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After record-breaking growth in 2021, U.S. internet ad revenue slowed last year — but continued to show double-digit growth. That’s according to the 2022 annual ad revenue report from the Internet Advertising Bureau trade group, conducted by PwC. Between 2021-22, U.S. internet advertising revenue grew 10.8% year-over-year to a total of $209.7 billion, compared with 35.4% surge the previous year, per the study. In 2022, digital ad spending saw the highest growth in Q2 (21.1%) followed by Q2 at 11.8% before slowing in Q3 (8.4%) and Q4 (4.4%). By comparison, U.S. TV advertising revenue in 2022 grew 2%, to $71 billion, according to estimates from PwC’s Entertainment and Media Outlook 2022-2026 report.

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02.05.2023 / 22:41

Roku Leans Into Unscripted Amid Writers Strike: Renews ‘Great American Baking Show,’ Orders Charlie Puth Comedy

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Roku is reinvesting in — and bulking up — its originals lineup, announcing a new season of “The Great American Baking Show” and an unscripted comedy featuring singer-songwriter Charlie Puth among the shows coming to the Roku Channel. Notably, the content announcements at Roku’s 2023 NewFronts presentation — coming on Day One of the WGA writers strike — were unscripted/reality formats. Also at the event in New York Tuesday, the streaming platform unveiled a suite of new ad solutions, including sponsorships for its popular Roku City screensaver. The company announced that it has renewed reality competition series “The Great American Baking Show” for Season 2. The news came ahead of the premiere Friday, May 5, of the new six-episode run of the show featuring Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Ellie Kemper and Zach Cherry (pictured above, left) on the Roku Channel. “The Great American Baking Show,” produced by Love Productions USA, ran for five seasons on ABC as a spinoff of original hit “The Great British Baking Show” before it was picked up last year by Roku. The streaming company previously acquired U.S. rights to dozens of episodes in the “Great Baking Show” franchise for a FAST channel. Roku will also bring back the holiday special of “The Great American Baking Show,” which will feature all-new celebrity bakers and debut this upcoming holiday season.

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02.05.2023 / 13:01

Conan O’Brien Is Launching His First Free Streaming Channel Exclusively on Samsung TV Plus

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor It’s all Conan — all the time. Samsung Electronics America and Conan O’Brien announced a partnership that will bring highlights of his original Emmy Award-winning show “Conan” exclusively to Samsung TV Plus, the consumer electronics giant’s free, ad-supported TV service, starting next month. Conan O’Brien TV — the comedian and host’s first FAST channel — is a free, 24-hour linear streaming channel delivering programming curated as 30-minute compilations of clips featuring the best of his late-night archives, including sketch comedy and celebrity guest appearances.

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01.05.2023 / 21:07

Twitter Technical Glitch Is Logging Users Out of the Website

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor It’s not just you: Thousands of Twitter users on Monday reported problems with the web version of Elon Musk’s social media service — as it was spontaneously logging people out. The source of the error was unknown as press time. According to uptime-monitoring service Downdetector, user problem reports began to spike at around 3:30 p.m. ET. About 96% of the error reports were related to Twitter’s website or not being able to log in. In some cases, even after a Twitter user was able to successfully log back in, the website was kicking them out shortly afterward. It appeared that the Twitter app for iOS and Android was not affected by the technical problem. In addition, users of Twitter’s TweetDeck application reported that they were also not experiencing issues in accessing the service.

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01.05.2023 / 19:33

Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary’s Sound Ventures Launches $240 Million AI Investment Fund

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Sound Ventures, the venture-capital firm co-founded by Ashton Kutcher and music manager Guy Oseary, is looking to back “category-defining” artificial intelligence businesses. The VC firm announced that it has closed Sound Ventures AI Fund, oversubscribed at nearly $240 million. The fund seeks to invest in AI businesses at the foundation model layer. Currently, the fund’s portfolio of companies includes OpenAI, Anthropic and StabilityAI. Kutcher, Oseary and Effie Epstein lead Sound Ventures as general partners. According to the partners, AI technology has “reached a stage of usability across enterprises and consumers that is driving significant growth,” and that the Sound Ventures team has experience in two industries at the heart of generative AI: technology and entertainment.

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01.05.2023 / 18:19

Snap Hires Meta Veteran Patrick Harris as Senior VP of Partnerships

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Patrick Harris, after nearly 12 years at Meta and Facebook, has joined Snap as senior VP of partnerships, leading both ad-agency and partnership teams at the company. Harris, who most recently served as Meta’s VP of global channels, is based in New York and reports to COO Jerry Hunter, who previously was Snap’s SVP of engineering. “We are so excited to welcome Patrick to Snap to help us scale our global agency and partnerships businesses. His experiences across both advertising and partnerships made him the perfect candidate to unify and scale Snap’s impact in these areas.” In addition, Snap has hired David Sommer as head of verticals, overseeing the consumer packaged goods (CPG) vertical for the U.S. Also based in New York, Sommer hails from shopping app Fetch, where he was chief commercial officer, following almost 11 years at Meta as head of industry for CPG, retail partnerships and shopper marketing.

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28.04.2023 / 16:15

Ousted NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell Lost $43.3 Million in Stock After He Was Fired

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Jeff Shell, the former chief executive of NBCUniversal, forfeited stock grants and options worth $43.3 million after he was fired for cause earlier this week, according to a Comcast regulatory filing. Shell was terminated as CEO of NBCU over the past weekend after an internal investigation into his relationship with Hadley Gamble, an international correspondent for CNBC. “As previously disclosed, Mr. Shell’s employment was terminated with cause on April 23, 2023. As a result, he did not receive any supplemental payments or benefits in connection with his termination,” Comcast said in its 2023 proxy statement. “He will receive only his accrued but unpaid base salary and vacation time, vested employee benefits and reimbursement for any unreimbursed business expenses in accordance with his employment agreement.”

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28.04.2023 / 15:01

Triller Agrees to Pay Sony Music $4.57 Million to Settle Breach of Contract Lawsuit: Filing

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Triller reached an agreement with Sony Music Entertainment to pay $4.57 million to settle the music label’s breach of agreement lawsuit against the TikTok-style video sharing app, according to a court fling. Triller has admitted liability in the dispute, according to the filing, submitted by Sony Music’s lawyers April 26 to the federal district court judge in the case. Reps for Triller did not respond to a request for comment Friday. A Sony Music spokesman declined to comment. “Prompt entry of judgment is needed to protect against any further dissipation of Triller’s assets or, worse still, a bankruptcy filing,” Sony Music said in the request for the court to rule on the consent agreement. “Triller is more than a year late on some of those contract payments and Sony Music should not have to wait longer to enforce a judgment to collect.”

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27.04.2023 / 21:23

Charlie Collier’s Pay Package at Roku Topped $53 Million in 2022

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Charlie Collier, who joined Roku last fall as president of its newly created media division, had a compensation package worth $53.3 million last year — more than twice as much as his boss, CEO Anthony Wood, took home. Collier left his post as CEO of Fox Entertainment to head up Roku Media, where he now oversees content and ad sales for the Roku Channel. Roku’s recruitment of the high-profile TV exec — who brought such hits as “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead” to AMC — signaled that the company plans to spend more on original content. That said, Roku has been taking steps to cut costs, including laying off about 400 employees, after its revenue growth slowed dramatically in the last two quarters.

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27.04.2023 / 20:21

Amazon Q1 Earnings Top Wall Street Expectations, Tech Giant Swings to $3.2 Billion Profit Amid Layoffs

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amazon, in the midst of paring back its workforce, topped Wall Street forecasts with better-than-expected revenue growth for the first quarter of 2023. The company reported Q1 revenue of $127.4 billion, up 9% year over year, improving over a 7% rise in the year-earlier quarter but still off its historical pace of top-line growth. Net income was $3.2 billion, or 31 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $3.8 billion in Q1 2022 (which included a $7.8 billion loss on its stake in electric-vehicle maker Rivian). The results come as the ecommerce colossus is in the middle of laying off 9,000 workers, on top of the 18,000 job cuts announced in January. On Thursday, the company laid off about 100 employees at Amazon Studios and Prime Video.

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27.04.2023 / 16:05

Marvel’s ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ Sets Disney+ Premiere Date

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney+ subscribers will be able to jump into the Quantum Realm next month when “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” hits the streaming service. The film, starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Jonathan Majors, will come to Disney+ worldwide on May 17. That’s 89 days after “Quantuamania” opened wide in the U.S. on Feb. 17. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” has been one of the worst-reviewed Marvel movies to date. It hauled in $213 million at the domestic box office during its theatrical run and grossed $261.6 million worldwide; the movie had an estimated production budget of $200 million.

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27.04.2023 / 15:39

Barack Obama Featured in ‘Working: What We Do All Day’ Docuseries for Netflix

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Former President Barack Obama narrates and is featured in “Working: What We Do All Day,” a new docuseries from Higher Ground Productions coming to Netflix. In the four-part series, Obama visits everyday people in their homes and places of work as part of exploring questions like, What brings you joy in work — and what gives you purpose? The series follows individuals at all levels of the workforce, from service jobs all the way up to the C-suite, in home care, tech and hospitality industries. “Working: What We Do All Day” premieres May 17 on Netflix globally. Obama posted the trailer for the show on social media (watch below).

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27.04.2023 / 01:29

Meta Shuts Down Facebook Watch Originals Entertainment Group

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amid broad cost-cutting moves, Meta is shuttering the Facebook Watch originals group, whose small slate of shows included the hit “Red Table Talk” hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, Variety has confirmed. A Meta representative confirmed that the company is shuttering its originals group but declined to provide further comment. The news was first reported by Deadline. With the shutdown of Facebook Watch originals, Mina Lefevre, head of development and programing for the group, is leaving the company. Lefevre joined Meta (then called Facebook) in 2017, after serving as MTV’s head of scripted development. At Meta, Lefevre reported to Ricky Van Veen, VP of creative strategy.

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26.04.2023 / 20:41

Roku Ekes Out Revenue Gain of 1% in Q1, Streaming Accounts Grow to 71.6 Million

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Roku came in above analyst estimates on the top line for the first quarter of 2023, as it gained 1.6 million active streaming accounts in the period. But the company told investors that the macroeconomic environment was still “challenged” in the quarter. The company posted Q1 sales of $741 million, up 1%, and a net loss of $193.6 million, or $1.38 per share. On average, Wall Street analysts were expecting Roku to post Q1 of $708.49 million and a net loss of $1.37 per share. Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news and more.

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26.04.2023 / 20:41

Meta Q1 Sales Up 3% as Social Giant Beats Wall Street Estimates

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, turned in better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of 2023 — even as net income dropped sharply on a year-over-year basis. Overall, the company reported revenue of $28.65 billion, up 3% from the year prior, and net income of $5.7 billion (or $2.20 per share), down 24%. Analysts on average expected Meta to post revenue of $27.65 billion and EPS of $2.03, according to Refinitiv. Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news and more. In announcing Q1 results, the company said Facebook averaged 2.04 billion daily active users in March, up from 2.0 billion the prior quarter. Across all its apps, Meta reported daily active users of 3.02 billion on average for March 2023, an increase of 5% year-over-year.

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