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Edition #412
On Disneys zeal for creating too much content, MrBeast & Puck raises $10m.
Our thoughts go out to anyone affected by the fires in Maui.
This week I answered a few questions for Attention Matters, thanks to Matt for pulling it together.
Stories index a bit more towards streaming this week, with the recent earnings. But it is summer so things are a bit quieter for a few more weeks.
The Paramount commentary was good, focused on how can they create the right content to the right segments, to be a lot more precise. Yes they need a full portfolio of content (we all do!) but being more pinpoint, helps with efficiency.
And Bob Eiger said as much about Disney, the rush to create so much content, meant creators were spread too thin. Impacting the efficiency, by pulling back a bit they can create better content. And just elevate it that bit more.
“In our zeal to basically grow our content significantly to serve mostly our streaming offerings, we ended up taxing our people way beyond in terms of their time and their focus way beyond where they had been. Marvel’s a great example of that. They had not been in the TV business at any significant level. Not only did they increase their movie output, but they ended up making a number of television series. And frankly, it diluted focus and attention. And I think you’re seeing that as I think more of the cause than anything else.” –Bob Eiger.
What a succinct summary of the media environment right now.
Notable stories this week
- Why it pays to #ad.
- Not all creator businesses are smooth sailing, MrBeast sues his food delivery partner over ‘inedible’ burgers.
- Moz launches Brand Authority metric at Mozcon.
- How Wedding Giant The Knot pulled the veil over advertisers eyes.
- The Atlantics ad business takes a short-term hit as it focuses on profitability.
- Amid summer of media discontent, try investing in creators and news instead.
- People like ad-supported SVOD.
- Paramount plans to “optimize” content spend around audience segments.
- Semantic search is coming to Twitter. And they continue to refine their ads.
- The Media Rating Council is angling for better clarity in an era of compounding complexity.
- MLS has been in business with Apple for one year. A dive into how its going.
Deals/M&A
- Puck raises $10m.
- Penn gives Barstool Sports back to founder Portnoy to open up deal with ESPN.
- Novacap acquired TV adtech platform Cadent.
- Crayola launches studio business to produce kid-friendly shows.
Campaign of the week
- Why purpose-built hardware is critical to advanced generative AI. AWS with Ars Technica.
- ^ This also links to other great content AWS do, check out their CTO’s site.
View all 2023 best campaigns.
Smartest commentary
- “As Bob pointed out, there’s no question we make great content, but it matters just as much that we do it efficiently” –Naveen Chopra, CFO, Paramount.
Datapoints of note
- Apple hits 1 billion paid subscriptions.
- News is the second most popular type of social media video in the UK.
That’s it for this week.
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