Cordkillers 415 - The Granny Nomination
Netflix picks Microsoft to build their ad tech. Amazon unveiled a redesign for Prime Video with sports and live TV options. Rumors say Apple's got NFL Sunday Ticket in the bag. Then again, they also said Netflix would pick Comcast or Google for ads... All that and more on Cordkillers!
This week on It's Spoilerin' Time: Better Call Saul (608), What We Do in the Shadows (401-402), Westworld (404)
Next week: Better Call Saul (609), What We Do in the Shadows (403), Westworld (405)
CordKillers: 415 - The Granny Nomination
Recorded: July 18 2022
Guest: None
Intro Video
Netflix's upcoming food series, Street Food: USA
Primary Target
Microsoft wins deal to serve ads on Netflix, edging out Comcast and Google
With Netflix Ad Deal, Microsoft Makes a Splash on Madison Avenue
- Everybody thought Netflix was narrowing down its choices between NBCUniversal and Google to handle ads for its ad-supported version of Netflix. So Netflix picked Microsoft.
- You may or may not realize that Microsoft has a decent-sized advertising business centered around its Bing search engine which powers search for lots of other providers including Yahoo etc. Microsoft also owns a few other ad properties like PromoteIQ and the Microsoft Audience Network. And Microsoft recently acquired AT&T's programmatic ad system called Xandr. So it not only has the sales but the tech chops as well.
- Netflix said it chose Microsoft because it "offered the flexibility to innovate over time" as well as "strong privacy protections" for users.
- Another notable point is that Microsoft doesn't operate a competing streaming service to Netflix. Netflix plans to launch ad-supported options in 10 markets by the end of the year.
Netflix is bringing back its Tudum event in September
How Netflix plans to find its inner ‘Star Wars’
- A couple of other Netflix pieces of news: It's global fan event "Tudum" will return September 24th on YouTube, covering more than 100 movies and series. This is part of Netflix's plan to build franchises. Netflix's Matthew Thunell told Reuters, "We want to have our version of ‘Star Wars’ or our version of ‘Harry Potter. Stranger Things is its leading example followed by Money Heist, Bridgerton, Squid Game and Witcher. Netflix also hopes "Three-body problem" "Manga-based "One piece" and live action "Avatar: The Last Airbender" will also become franchises for it. And of course despite the disappointment of Jupiter's Legacy there are still plans to mine Millarworld for material.
- On the film side there's "Enola Holmes," "Knives Out," 'Old Guard" "extraction" and "Army of the Dead" And the Russo Brothers "The Gray Man" debuts this weekend as well.
An Update to Paid Sharing
- Oh and one last thing, Netflix is expanding its test of detecting and asking people to pay more for out of home users.
- In Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic users will be prompted to "Add a home" and pay $2.99 a month extra if Netflix detects a user from outside the house using the service for more than two weeks. Users can add one extra home to a basic account, two to Standard account and three to a premium account.
- This is different than the test in Costa Rica, Peru and Colombia where users are asked to add up to two extra sub-accounts if users outside a home are detected.
How to Watch
Amazon refreshes Prime Video design with icon-based navigation and a dedicated sports tab
- Amazon launched a new interface for its Prime Video service. The text based tabs on top have been replaced by icon-based navigation on the left side. So like a magnifying glass for search, a little house for Home, as well as icons for Store, Live TV, Free with Ads and My Stuff. A carousel to highlight Amazon originals is at the top and larger as well. Under that are sub-categories All, Movies, TV Shows and Sports. The Sports section is new and collects live sports as well as replays, highlights and documentaries. Live TV shows a grid of what's playing on any live services you get like Paramount Plus or Showtime, as well as live sports from Amazon. And the Home page also now includes a top 10 chart for your region and a place to show your current add-on subscriptions.
You might be able to bundle HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video again soon
- Bloomberg's sources say Warner Brothers Discovery is in talks with Amazon to offer HBO Max as a bundle on Prime Video again. Warner wants Amazon to agree to some new terms, including sharing viewing metrics.
What to Watch
‘Succession’ Tops Emmy Nominations With 25 Nods, Breaks Record for Most Acting NominationsHulu Earns Record 58 Emmy Nominations, Including 17 For ‘Only Murders In the Building’
Roku Originals Score First Official Emmy Nominations, for ‘Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas’ and Bill Burr Comedy
- The Emmy Nomination list is no longer a time to test whether streaming is gaining acceptance. It has. Now it's just a chance to see who's doing well. HBO's Succession cleaned up with 25 nominations, the most nominated show of the year. It broke the record for the most acting-related nominations in a single year with 14. The previous record was West Wing's 12 for a series and roots 13 for a miniseries.
- Hulu cleaned up as a platform with 58 Emmy nominations including 17 for Only Murders in the Building and 14 for Dopesick.
- And Roku picked up its first Emmy nominations with two for “Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas” and one for Bill Burr's role in Quibi original "Immoral Compass."
Watch the latest epic trailer for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV show
- Amazon released another trailer for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power coming September 2nd. This one has more Galadriel and to be honest more of a coherent pitch.Amazon released another trailer for Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power coming September 2nd. This one has more Galadriel and to be honest more of a coherent pitch.
Watch the trailer for a new HBO show from the Weeknd and the creator of Euphoria
- Euphoria creator Sam Levinson has teamed up with The Weeknd (aka Abel Tesfaye) on an HBO show called The Idol. It stars Lily-rose Depp as a rising pop idol in “the sleaziest love story in all of Hollywood.” Levinson directs each of the six episodes. There's a trailer but no premiere date yet.
‘The Munsters’ Trailer: Watch Lily & Herman Fall In Love In Rob Zombie Film
- And there's a trailer for Rob Zombie's adaptation of the Munsters. Jeff Daniel Phillips as Herman Munster, Zombie’s wife, Sheri Moon Zombie as Lily Munster and Dan Roebuck as Grandpa Munster. The movie comes to theaters in September.
Eyes On:
Brian: The Bear
Tom: Only Murders in the Building
On the Lookout: Netflix's Resident Evil
Front Lines
Is Apple’s Eddy Cue About to Get NFL’s Sunday Ticket?
- Puck News reports that based on meetings between Apple CEO Tim Cook and its head of services Eddy Cue with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at the Sun Valley Conference, it believes Apple is the "most likely winner" of a bid for streaming rights for NFL games. DirecTV previously held these rights, but the deal ends this year. The report also said Apple and Amazon may bid to acquire domestic broadcast rights to the UEFA Champions League.
YouTube TV Now Has More Than 5 Million Users, Topping Hulu’s Live TV Service
- Google announced that YouTube TV now has more than 5 million subscribers as of June. That puts it ahead of Hulu Live TV which reported 4.1 million in April. And it makes YouTube TV the 5th biggest pay TV service in the US overall, behind Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, DirecTV and Dish.
Paying for Channels You Don’t Watch
- Cordcutting.com did a survey of 507 representative cable TV subscribers in the US. The average cable bill is now around $147. The average subscriber watches about 15 channels regularly. That averages out to paying about $9.47 a channel. If you estimate how much the cable companies pay the channels themselves about $12 of that monthly bill goes to the channels people watch and $135 to channels they don't watch. And yet the number of people who says hey waste money on their TV bill has declined from 82% in 2019 to 62% in 2022.
ESPN+ is getting a big price hike
- Disney announced that starting August 23rd, the standalone price for ESPN+ will rise from $6.99 a month to $9.99 a month. However the bundle, which combines Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ together will remain $13.99 a month.
BTS Lines Up Docuseries & Concert Film With Disney
Esther isn’t fooling anyone in Orphan: First Kill’s new trailer
Amazon Freevee Hands Straight-To-Series Order To U.S. Remake Of British Comedy ‘Friday Night Dinner’
- Here are a few other bits of content coming to streaming services.
- Disney+ announced it will bring a recording of the BTS concert in LA from November to the service as well as a documentary series abotu the group. Disney+ is also getting a travel reality show starring BTS's V alongside Parasite's Choi Wooshik, Itaewon Class’ Seo-jun Park, Hyung-sik Park, and Peakboy.
- Paramount Plus released a trailer for Orphan: First Kill, a prequel to Warner Brothers Orphan from 2009. It comes to Paramount Plus August 19th.
- And Amazon's Freevee has ordered a US version of British comedy Friday Night Dinners, which will be called Dinner with the Parents in the US.
Dispatches from the Front
What is the Patreon tier required to access ""Bryce Describes Movie Trailers""?
- Ander
Greetings, Cord Killers! I wanted to add my voice to the massive chorus of comments that you're sure to receive about Sony removing content from customers' libraries that they had purchased, specifically the comparison to previous generations where we all bought the Beatles' "White Album" again when it came out on CD. An important difference here is that Apple Records never came to my home and took away my LP; listening to the "inferior" copy I already had was still an option. I agree that this is not quite a "sky is falling" moment, hopefully other companies will use this opportunity to make sure that their skies are properly supported.
Love listening to the show, keep up the great work!
- Dave
P.S. - Please increase the tally of Plex-users-who-told-you-so by 1.
Tom, Brian & Bryce:
I really enjoyed your conversation about spatial audio last week. In 2020 I installed a Dolby Atmos 7.1 system in our TV room, since we knew we weren't going to be able to get to the theater any time soon. I was surprised just how much difference it made from the 2.1 channel 2000s era "home-theater-in-a-box" system we had before. It might not have the deep booming sound you get in a movie theater, but it has all of the richness and fidelity of theater sound, if not more.
I've found that spatial audio done right can be very immersive. I think it's best when applied to background sounds- unless you listen for it you probably won't notice that you can hear the cars behind you moving back and forth, because you're paying attention to the dialogue and there's also music. It just makes the soundscape richer and you can feel as if you're sitting in the street side cafe with the characters. Where spatial audio can get tacky is when it's applied to foreground noises- the bullet that ricochets, the truck pulling up, the monster roaring off-screen. Most of the time these "audio stunts" (the equivalent of the pie thrown out of the screen in a 3D movie) will take me out a scene, and I just find it cheesy. But for some reason whenever I hear a spaceship roar past my couch in a Disney+ Star Wars show, it makes me smile.
I think as more audio designers get more familiar with spatial audio techniques, which are currently somewhat experimental, there will be more standardization of when and how to use 3D sound and we'll get used to it. But as you discussed last week, to some degree how much you like it will always be a matter of personal preference.
Your boss,
- Jim
It's interesting hearing y'all discuss spatial audio, especially Brian's comment about them audio person just placing sounds in a spot and the speakers figuring it out. Because afaik, this is exactly how Atmos works.
- Bai
"If you entirely stop worrying about it, then aren't you just the brain addled old person I like it when they hit the ball" said Brian 'I don't care about sportsballs' Brushwood.
"I disagree" Tom 'brain addled old person' Merritt How is Eileen going to enjoy pitchers' duels if they only show it when they only hit the ball?
Also Matt was right about HBOmax children's profile. My 7 year old daughter has been able to recognize the Netflix shortcut button, and then navigate to the kids profile since she was 3. If the Roku remote is within reach, kids will be able to watch it.
- Sean
Links
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