Cordkillers 403 - It's Called A Hug, Tom (w/ Willie Scott)
Analysts say streaming has a different target compared to cable. Major Plex updates announced to try to be the only app you use. Plus, dates and info on Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Batman, Severance, and Business Proposal. All that and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Willie Scott ( https://cinemavention.com/ ).
This week on It's Spoilerin' Time: Moon Knight (102), Picard (206), Severance (Season 1)
Next week: Moon Knight (103), Picard (207), Miami Vice (307, "El Viejo")
CordKillers: 403 - It's Called A Hug, Tom
Recorded: April 11 2022
Guest: Willie Scott
Intro Video
Russian Doll season 2
Primary Target
The New TV World Order, Announced at MipTV
- Ampere Analysis' Guy Bisson gave his annual talk on the state of the TV industry at the MIP TV conference last week. Let's step through what he had to say.|
- Success is measured by signups and effect on churn, not eyeballs.
- It's boom time for big independent studios. AS the Netflix's Disneys, Paramounts and NBCUniversals all start reserving their content for their own services, studios like Blumhouse, ITV Studios, BBC Studios, ZDF Studios, Movistar Plus are seeing huge demand for their content and multiple bidders interested.
- Free streaming is booming in the US but not Europe. It's up 17% in the US but only 4% in Europe. Bisson thinks it's because of the dominance of national broadcasters.
- Non-Us titles gaining prominence in Europe - new non-U.S. titles accounting in Europe for 65% of Netflix titles and 54% of Prime Video’s.
- He also said that content creators (show runners and directors) are more highly sought after than actors.
Global streaming is not a three-way race
- I also want to bring in some data from App Annie's State of Media and Entertainment report.
- See if any of these surprise you. Keep in mind they apply only to mobile.
- The most popular streaming app among Gen Z is Crunchyroll, in all countries it surveys except South Korea and Japan.
- The most used app among US millennials is Redbox, followed by Plex.
- For Gen Xers its the TV guide app followed by DirecTV.
- Netflix has the largest footprint with more than 1 million mobile app downloads.
- The overall most used app worldwide is Netflix. But number two is India's MX Player. Others in the top 10 include JioTV and ZEE5.
How to Watch
Plex wants to become the first app you open on your TV every day
- Plex rolled out new features Tuesday to try to get folks to make Plex the main app for TV watching.
- FIRST: Universal Search.
-You can search by title, genre or collection (like Star Wars or Marvel). You can search by people too, but that's limited to your own media collection for now.
-They have more than 450 services in the index.
-Registered users can select the services they subscribe to as defaults. And then, search results will show up with items from your Plex servers first, then from streaming services you set as defaults, then from any other services that offer the show.
- NEXT: Universal Watchlist
- You can add a show to the watchlist and get notified when it becomes available on a service you subscribe to or moves form one service to another. This works across platforms, wherever you have the Plex app installed.
- Items on the watchlist will show in the order you added them.
- It will include Plex's DVR and ad-supported free streaming.
- In both these cases, when you select to watch a show, it will start playing the show in the associated app, using something called Deep Linking. You don't have to go find the app and launch it and search for the show.
- FINALLY: Discover
- This has rows of recommendations of things like trending trailers and top shows from the services in your defaults as well as new stuff available on your defaults or for purchase. It can also highlight rows from single services like Netflix. Eventually it will use social features to add personalization.
- All of these features are available for free. No need to subscribe to Plex pass.
- The key to making this better than the competition is the deep linking. Plex has apps on all major platforms and the linking works on Android mobile, iOS, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV. It's working on getting linking to work on Samsung and LG and in talks with Roku to do it there.
- Plex also plans to open all three features to its API so third parties can build tools Plex wouldn't.
Plex just fixed streaming's biggest problem, and it's free for everyone now
- Plex haș 13 million monthly active users
- Ad revenue outpacing PLex Pass revenue
- Every platform (Roku, Apple, Samsung) has search but they fall short of comprehensive listings leaving folks to rely on 3rd parties like Just Watch.
Huge Plex update adds a universal watchlist, cross-service search and new discovery features
Kiss the Streaming Struggle Goodbye with Plex
What to Watch
‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Debuts Teaser Trailer And Key Art For Season 3 Of Paramount+ Animated Series
‘Star Trek: Picard’: LeVar Burton & Michael Dorn Among 6 ‘Next Generation’ Alums Joining Third & Final Season
- A couple of Star Trek notes. We got a trailer for season 3 of Star Trek: Lower Decks. And the third season of Picard will be its last and feature guest appearances by LeVar Burton and Michael Dorn, along with Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis and Brent Spiner.
'Doctor Strange 2' New Trailer Brings Back Wanda's Children
- A new trailer for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of madness is out. It involves dreams and a lot of alternate realities. And a reference to Wanda's kids from Wandavision. The movie comes out May 6th.
‘Dancing With the Stars’ Shocker: Series Moves to Disney+ After Long ABC Run
- This autumn Dancing with the Stars will move to Disney+. The dance competition regularly features celebrities from non-dance worlds competing in the ballroom. It will be the first series streamed live on Disney+ with viewers voting.
Bryan Cranston & Aaron Paul Confirmed To Reprise ‘Breaking Bad’ Roles In Final Season Of ‘Better Call Saul’
- AMC confirmed what Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould told Paleyfest. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul will appear in the final season of Better Call Saul which returns April 18.
Eyes On
Willie: The Mysteries of Laura, Free Guy, Forrest Gump, Moon Knight, Severance
Brian: Ali Spagnola's YouTube channel
Tom: Twenty-five Twenty-one
On the Lookout: Transformers: BotBots
Front Lines
HBO Max Is Rolling Out an Updated Apple TV App That Promises Better Stability, New Features
- Warner Media updated its HBO Max app for Apple TV last week. It doesn't look all that different but they promise it will be more stable. It also adds a skip credits option and a new homepage view. You can also edit and sort your continue watching list.
Discovery Closes Acquisition of AT&T’s WarnerMedia
- Tom can stop hounding people that Discovery doesn't own Warner yet. It's done. As of Friday Discovery and Warner Media are one company called Warner Brothers Discovery, They trade on the Nasdaq under the stock ticker WBD. Jason Kilar officially stepped down as Warner Media CEO shortly before closing.
Time Spent Streaming Has Risen 18% Over The Past Year, Nielsen Says
- A report from Nielsen says time spent streaming in the US rose 18% between February last year and February this year. Up to 169.4 billion minutes. There are more than 817,000 titles to choose from and only 15% of those are exclusive to one platform. Adoption of MPVDs - aka YouTube TV Sling TV etc-- has risen to 12.5% of all TV households.
Netflix actually added a short-ass movie category
Netflix adds a ‘Two Thumbs Up’ button in effort to learn what users love, not just like
- After an SNL sketch about wanting movies to be shorter, Netflix added a "short-ass" movie category full of movies that are 90 minutes or less. Netflix also has added a two thumbs up button next to the regular one thumb up[ and one thumb down buttons. Netflix says the two thumbs won't count for twice as much, but didn't specify how much weight it would be given.
‘Squid Game’ Creator Reveals Return Of Two Key Characters For Season 2 — Contenders TV
‘Winning Time: Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’ Renewed for Season 2 at HBO
‘Business Proposal’ Extends Korean Drama Success on Netflix, Following ‘Squid Game’
‘Orphan Black’ Spinoff Series Greenlighted By AMC
‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Will Return for Season 12, Larry David Confirms
‘The Batman’ Premiere Date Confirmed On HBO Max
MLB's latest streaming deal brings Sunday games to Peacock
‘Severance’ Renewed for Season 2 at Apple
- Squid Game director Hwang Dong-hyuk said the main character of the show, Gi-hun will return for season 2 swill the Front Man.
- HBO approved a second season Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
- Netflix Korean RomCom Business Proposal is the top non-english series making the 10th fo the first 13 weeks of the quarter dominated by Korean TV.
- Deadline says Netflix is in early stage discussions to do a prequel of the Crown, possibly on Queen Victoria.
- AMC approved a spinoff series of Orphan Black for AMC+ in 2023 called Echoes.
- The third season of Lock & Key on Netflix will be its last, concluding the story as planned.
- Curb Your Enthusiasm will get a 12th season on HBO
- The Batman will come to HBO Max Monday April 18th.
- Major League Baseball reached a deal with Peacock to stream games on Sundays during the day, starting May 8.
- And Apple TV's Severance has been approved for a second season.
Dispatches from the Front
I've enjoyed my subscription to MLB.TV for the last few years. This year, however, I'm starting to question the value.
With the number of "national blackouts due to exclusive agreements" seeming to be on the increase I wonder why I am still paying the same price for the subscription.
Here's the list of exclusive agreements from the MLB.TV web site:
https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/national-blackout
I realize the games on AppleTV+ are free. I don't know about Peacock. But I'm not excited about chasing all over several different apps to watch a game.
At least when I clicked on the Houston-LA game (Friday night) the MLB.TV app displayed a dialog box telling me to go the the AppleTV+ app.
Thanks,
- George
Links
patreon.com/cordkillers
doghousesystems.com/v/rogue
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