Cordkillers 601: YouTube Is TV Now?

YouTube is leaning harder into TV-style programming, ad sales, and creator sponsorships, while Netflix keeps adding live sports that make streaming look more like old-school television. Meanwhile, Doctor Who moves to AMC+, Plex shocks lifetime users, Hulu folds deeper into Disney+, and YouTube-native shows keep pushing toward theatrical releases.

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YouTube: https://youtu.be/IxgyCJrhzZ0

Supply Run

YouTube promoted creator-made shows at its upfronts, not as traditional YouTube Originals, but as programs distributed through YouTube where the platform sells ads and sponsorships around individual creators. The shift has creators like Kareem Rahma arguing that the line between “web series” and “TV show” is basically gone.
variety.com

Lucas Shaw argues that YouTube and Netflix are both starting to sound a lot like normal TV, as streaming platforms embrace ads, live sports, creator-led programming, and old-fashioned audience packaging.
bloomberg.com

Search Party

Thirteen seasons and 176 episodes of Doctor Who, including specials, will be available in the U.S. on AMC+ beginning June 11.
deadline.com

Netflix picked up rights to three more NFL games, including Rams vs. 49ers in Melbourne on September 10, a Thanksgiving Eve Rams-Packers game, and a final-week Saturday matchup to be named later.
latimes.com

Even though Apple is the primary home for Formula 1, Netflix will stream select races, starting with the Canadian Grand Prix.
engadget.com

Hope, a genre film starring Michael Fassbender as alien royalty during an invasion of a rural community, is getting attention at Cannes despite sounding more like popcorn sci-fi than Palme d’Or bait.
deadline.com

HBO Max’s Harry Potter series will recast Ginny Weasley in Season 2, while the Korean superhero family series Moving will recast Bong-seok.
deadline.com

Perfect Crown has become the latest Korean title to break through globally, driving more than 43 million hours viewed across Disney+ and Hulu.
deadline.com

Season 29 of South Park premieres September 16 on Comedy Central, with episodes streaming the next day on Paramount+ in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
variety.com

Adventure Time: Side Quests premieres June 29 on Disney+ and Hulu, following young Finn and Jake on new adventures in the Land of Ooo.
variety.com

ABC has greenlit a Grey’s Anatomy spinoff set at a West Texas rural medical center, with Shonda Rhimes and Meg Marinis attached as co-creators and executive producers.
variety.com

Buried Treasure

Brian recommends the F.03 Livestream, which has been running for more than 144 consecutive hours and tracking 179,000 packages.
youtube.com

Tom recommends Mark Rober’s Crunch Labs.

Got something we should be on the lookout for? Email cordkillers@gmail.com

Scanning the Horizon

Starting July 1, Plex will raise the price of its lifetime Plex Pass from $250 to $750 after considering eliminating the lifetime option entirely.
9to5mac.com

Disney+ and Hulu bundle subscribers can now sync Hulu profiles, watch history, watchlists, and recommendations into Disney+, while Hulu-only subscribers can sign into Disney+ for Hulu content and a small sampling of Disney+ and ESPN programming.
variety.com

Versant revenue slipped 1.1% and ad revenue fell 5%, though direct-to-consumer revenue rose 9.5% through businesses including GolfNow and Fandango. The company is also developing an MSNBC-based subscription app and recently acquired StockStory for CNBC’s DTC operations.
variety.com

Netflix will expand its ad-supported plan to 15 new countries across Europe, South America, and Asia Pacific starting in 2027.
thurrott.com

Cristo Fernández, best known as Dani Rojas on Ted Lasso, has signed to play for the El Paso Locomotive USL team.

Fox One has been marketed toward sports fans, but Fox says more than half of viewership on the service has come from people watching news.
variety.com

Steven Soderbergh used AI in a documentary about John Lennon, and he wants to talk about what that means.
apnews.com

Chatter

Ryan asks why event screenings are not being used more often for older concert films, noting that something like Queen Rock Montréal on a big screen with premium sound and a theater full of fans would be worth paying for. Ryan also corrects the record that Westworld was not based on an original source novel; Michael Crichton wrote the film as a script and directed it.

Kory writes in to say mortgage payments forced some belt tightening and he had to drop Patreon support, but he is looking for a new desktop machine because of Microsoft’s policies and asks whether Cordkillers still has a computer sponsor or code he could use.

Joe points to The Amazing Digital Circus premiering its final episodes in theaters through Fathom Events and breaking internal presale records, asking whether YouTube and independent online productions may have a bigger theatrical path as theaters look for new ways to fill seats.
indiewire.com