issue 155
Hello! So, more big news from me on the personal front that I’ll share next week. There’s still one more line of defense, so I don’t want to jinx it, but I’ll let you know once I make it through customs(!). Professional news should be rearing its head soon, publicly. The ol’ rolling thunder publicity approach. Excited to share when ready.
Keeping this one rather short as I’ve got a lot on my plate in preview of this new life event - I’ve subtly hinted at it the last few months in here with “brb”. The topic of today is pretty much a layup - and I’m sure I’ve written about it before - but here it goes: discovery and search on OTT apps is absolutely garbage. This is the whole “it takes me 20 mins to find what I want to watch” water-cooler conversation. It ain’t fun.
We’re all probably most familiar with our default setting, which is accessed through our set-top-device (dongle) or smart TV. That’s Amazon’s Fire TV for me, and I think they’re top notch even if they do drive me to paywalled content every so often - and if they do, take out your damn wallet and pay $3 to rent a movie, that’s the cost of a coffee. Market research is all across the board, but it looks like Roku commands the US market. They were a nice stock to own when they IPO’d two years back :)
Anyway, Amazon uses X-Ray, which is powered by IMDB (Amazon owns that too). They plug into that data to show you who’s in what scene, and also categorizes content by director and talent in the fields below. (Psst, IMDB has a public API.) Netflix and others generally sort by genre, which only gets you so far. Netflix notoriously has 1000s of codes to “tag” content that their data scientists use for god knows what. I think Criterion is a close second, especially with their fanciful guest curators. Nothing’s more special than the human touch. My pops only watches movies with a score of over a 7.0 IDMB rating - he’s my read on the masses - and it’s absolutely outlandish that you can’t sort by rating (critic or audience - like Rotten Tomatoes also has a public API), by country, by award winner etc. Mubi tries to remove choice paralysis with rolling 30 day licenses, but not too many know about them as their stuff is pretty niche :(
I’ve met a handful of entrepreneurs who are trying to implement a search layer or “re-bundle” on top all the existing OTT (streamer) apps. I don’t think this’ll work. They’re trying to scrape and update a bunch of info to then deep link to it for their users. Touch sell, and back catalogues and output deals are always changing hands (or now downright being embargoed). If the entertainment companies were to play nice, there’d be a giant Dewey Decimal System for all film/tv content. Won’t happen. Walled gardens.
I don’t really have a solution here, but I think the “customers also watched” is a decent associative technique to help people discover content. This at least surfaces films with a similar mood, aesthetic, or feel - generally. Hawk-eyed on this space….
Random asides: I’ve been digging Jeremy O. Harris’ mixtapes with his insta posts (IG), and also Daniel Askill’s insta stories where he shares a photo plus one word on it, which retains my attention like no other (IG). Plenty of fun new ways to tell stories on social media nowadays. They’ll continue to reveal themselves. Like, Bret Easton Ellis reading his upcoming book chapter by chapter on his Patreon podcast*, and the comment threads of his audience trying to figure out the mystery is pretty entertaining. Serialized community. Probably something to do here….
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. See you next week.
Tech
FB reveals more about Aria, wearable AR glasses. FB
Bunch, social app for multiplayer games, raised $20m. BW
IRL, social calendar for meetups, raised $16m. IRLsite
Sentinel, deepfake detection, raised $1.3m. TC
Scopely in talks to raise at $3b val. Bberg
Bayes, big data platform for gaming industry, raised $6m. TEU
FB accused of watching IG users thru cameras. Bberg
TikTok deal approved, Oracle wins cloud biz, min stakeholder w/ Walmart. Info
Air, workplace collab tool for audiovisual ppl, raised $12m. BizJ
Koch Media acq vr game maker Vertigo for $60m. GIB
Osso, medical simulation in VR, raised $14m. TC
Outschool, virtual classrooms, raised $45m. TC
ObserveAI, analyzes call center convos w/ AI, raised $54m. VB
Gravity Sketch, vr based design collaboration, raised $3.7m. TC
Mobile Premier League, Indian gaming platform, raised $90m. TC
Rundown of announcements from the Apple event. CNBC
FB killing the Rift headset, focus only on Quest. TC
IG patents pop up link in captions for quick purchases. Verge
ZenSports, p2p sports betting, raised $1.5m. Cision
Art of Sport, men’s grooming co founded by Kobe, raised $6m. Gloss
Cooling data centers by having them underwater works, per Msft. Verge
Boosted Commerce, 3rd party brands on Amazon, raised $87m and bought warehouses from Amzn. Dot
First Round created product to try to help portcos get customers. FR
Wisdom Gaming, esports events and content, raised $3m. Fins
Bytedance rival Kauishou seeks $50b val in IPO. Info
Infopop, new spatial computing AR co, raised from Roam and JMJ. Kaitwtr
Tencent plans to move HQ to Singapore over geopolitical strife. Bberg
Brand Total, brand marketing analytics, raised $12m. Fins
Trump to review TikTok deal (this is all absurd). NYT
How the TikTok deal could maybe work. Axios
First recipients of Amazon’s climate change pledge. Verge
Tencent game investments draw interest from US Security. Bberg
Media
Microsoft acq game publisher ZeniMax Media (Bethesda) for $7.5b cash. Var
Apple bundles its entertainment offerings in last week’s event. Prot
Quibi exploring its options, a potential sale (lololol). Dead
CBS All Access to be rebranded Paramount+. Dead
Amazon Music unveils slate of podcasts. AmznBlog
Kobalt, music publisher, explores potential sale. Bberg
Playboy considering going public via reverse merger. Reut
NYT and FB launch multi-year AR reporting partnership. Axios
Unity went public last week. CNBC
NBCU content will now be on Roku. THR
Bloomberg Media launching a re-fashioned OTT app (anotha one). THR
Outfront sold its sports marketing operation, Playfly. Cision
Uhm, Kayne West shared his contracts on Twitter, then someone downloaded and organized them all. YEtwtrGDrive
Peacock over 15m sign ups. THR
Israel and Abu Dhabi to start film festival together, co-operation pact. THR
DC Universe film/tv to merge into HBO Max, old offering just for comics. Slash
Steve Cohen 95% of Mets for $2.4b. NBC
Celebs “froze” IG accounts for a day, Stop Hate for Profit (problem, solved.). Verge
Sports Ent SPAC raising $350m. SEC
Tidal partners with Oculus VR for livestreaming concerts. MBW
Art19, pod distrib, launches dev/prod arm. AA
Siriux XM enters into 5 yr deal w/ GM. Cision
TV shows are getting shorter for more ads. QZ
MultiTerra stole $1m/mo in digital ad fraud scheme. Axios
Hollywood con queen scam first podcast ordered from Sony Music. Dead
AMC and Twitch launch Walking Dead universe channel. Dead
Medallia, experience mgmt, acq Sense360 for real-time intel on brands. BW
Warner Music acq HipHopDX. MBW
Spotify joins Epic in Apple fight. Engadget
400k ppl registered to vote thru Snap. Axios
Chainsmokers (the band) raised a vc fund of $35m (hmm). TC
Vinyl sales surpassed CD sales first time in 35 years. COS
Buzztime sells social ent and adtech assets to eGames for $2m. Cision
Entertainment
Emmy winners. Var
Creative Arts Emmy winners. THR
Godfather series in the works at Paramount+. THR
Nomadland wins people’s choice at TIFF (tends to be an Oscar signal). Var
Imagine Impact raises Series A from Benchmark (well done II team). Var
Space Hero is a new reality to send contestants to ISS (uhm, applying). Dead
Hulu acq 100 hours of Vice TV content. Dead
Imax partners with leading camera companies to share format more widely. THR
Solstice takes WW rights to Good Joe Ball for $20m. Dead
Bleeker Street takes US rights to The World to Come. Var
Norman Reedus launches prod co with AMC, publishing unit as well. Dead
Lionsgate acq NA rights to Wander Darkly. Dead
Madonna to co-write and direct her own biopic. THR
Amzn acq rights to thriller All the Old Knives, Chris Pine Thandie Newton. Dead
Range adds 20 “non-exclusive” clients to roster (they’ll play nice now…). Dead
Bleeker Street takes US rights to animated doc, The Klarsfelds. Dead
Dinklage to star in and EP Keiths for Searchlight. Dead
YRG is a new books publishing agency. Dead
Stampede Ventures Intl signs first look w/ CBS Studios Intl. Dead
Ethan Hawke to direct doc on Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Dead
Gyllenhaal and Fuqua team on The Guilty based on 2018 Danish film. Dead
IFC takes NA rights on MLK/FBI docu about civil rights. Dead
Legendary lands spec script Bring Me Back for low 7 figs. Dead
Netflix orders animated Good Times series from Steph Curry, MacFarlane. Var
Paramount Animation adds Yeoh and Sandra Oh to Tiger’s Apprentice. THR
Sister to producer GQ article Fleishman is in Trouble. Dead
Vertical and Red Box take NA rights to Shadow in the Cloud. Dead
Amzn picks up book My Policeman with Harry Styles, Berlanti and more. Dead
Annapurna TV developing food memoir Burn the Place. Dead
Ayesha Curry launches Sweet July, first look eOne. Dead
Netflix acq Hunt for Atlantis for potential franchise. Dead
Taika to direct Our Flag Means Death for HBO Max. THR
Lee Isaac Chung to direct live action Your Name for Bad Robot and Paramount. Dead
Disney+ developing drama on LA’s inner city youth orchestra. Dead
Harley Quinn animated show renewed at HBO Max, DC universe changeup. Var
Paramount+ dev serial killer pod Happy Face. Dead
AMC orders stop motion animated series Mega City Smiths. Dead
Stacey Abrams voting doc to stream for free on Amzn Prime. Var
David Kopple bails on CAA for M360. Dead
Paradigm lays off 180 employees. Var
Student academy award noms. IW
Critics pick fave films from TIFF and Venice. THR
Collaborative
Emrata wants to buy back unapproved risqué photos, tears down fashion industry (long overdue). TheCut
A star studded table read (Pitt, Aniston, Freeman, etc) of Fast Times (Shia killed me). YT
RBG passed away. NYT
How dirty money flows into big banks and finances terror. BF
Blood deliverymen riding motorcycles in Nigeria. NewYorker
Avatars based on famous people. Ringer
Interview w/ Strauss Zelnick. Prot
The many faces of Ethan Hawke. NewYorker
White paper on restoring old photos with ML. PDF
Moodys analyst critiques the streaming wars. Dead
*Bret Easton Ellis narrating his next book, true crime autobio about serial killer in 80s, in episodes on his podcast first (watch this space). BEEpat
White paper on neural light and time interpolation with demo (this is magic). PDF
Rex Woodbury on the evolution of the influencer and OnlyFans. RW
Tyler Cowen in the trends of the theatrical-going experience. Bberg
AI seeks to make the game of chess popular again. Wired
White paper on “hardware lottery” for AI compute. PDF
Roger Deakins interviews Jake Gyllenhaal. Apple
Interview with UTA’s Jeremy Zimmer on surviving the pandemic. Bberg
John August on writing loglines. JAblog
Marvel’s WandaVision trailer. YT
Inside look at managing video game streamers. Wired
Industry teaser trailer from HBO. YT
Anastasia Devana makes Airpods respond to facial movements with Unity (woah). Atwtr
Paper on university patents easier to understand than companies who fear competitors. NBER
Airbnb Will Smith’s Fresh Prince house. ABB
Your Honor Showtime series trailer. YT
Compound Ventures on the future of game engines and infrastructure. Med
Scientists explain how to levitate objects with sound (vid). Wired
GPS collars on polar bears show ice melt trends. SciAm
Livestreaming, a future of shoppable commerce. Bberg
Profile on billionaire Chuck Feeney who wanted to give it all to charity before he kicked the bucket. Forbes
Naomi Fry on how Cameo blew up during quar. NewYorker
Interview with Benchmark’s Peter Fenton. TC
How Rooftop Films and NYFF worked together. IW
Interview with M.G. Siegler. OZ
Reforge on entertainment value chain, a look at Quibi and TikTok. Ref
Javier Grillo shares his sci-fi tv show materials Skyborn that keep getting shelved at networks. JGtwtr
Possible alien life on Venus (please, take us away). MIT
Market map of the most popular Youtubers by country. VisCap
White paper on retiming people and their movements in video. PDF
How Tesa Aragones, Discord’s new CMO, plans to market the co. Forbes
FB employee turns whistleblower after finding foreign gov manipulating politics. BF
Pat O and Selema talk race in competitive surfing and more. WSL
Zuck talks tech, holograms and stuff w/ Marques Brownlee. YT
Slowthai song Feel Away ft James Blake (this guy’s nuts). YT
Lil Nas X is dropping a children’s book. Mash
Interview with Soundcloud and Gravity execs on their fashion partnership. HighS
Chuck E Cheese to spend $2m destroying $9m worth of prize tickets (lol). Penn
British students break the recruiting algo (h/t Brian at the balance). CAMS
Sci American endorsed Biden, first time involved in politics (ever). SA
A deep dive on tele-existence (VR and robotics). Nana
Jacinda Arden promises 100% renewable energy generation in NZ by 2030 (brb moving). Axios
Scientists are monitoring dreams for therapy. WSJ
CA Forest Observatory is mapping every tree in the wild fire. FastCo
Synchronic trailer. YT
Deep dive on Red Ventures, rolls up digital media cos. FaF
Researchers made a Qanon bot with AI (great…). Gizm
Brie Larson and more talk about empathy and VR (didn’t that ship pass?). Wired
Interactive video made w/ Stornaway tech and Tyrell Williams. Encout
Sarah Fischer on the rise of digital media and sports betting partnerships. Axios
Collison’s (& more) Fast Grants for Covid minted a bunch of scholar papers. PCtwtr
Dave Chan, Jonah Nolan & Lisa Joy talk parenting in the pandemic. Ringer
The 20 year hunt for the man behind the internet classic Love Bug virus. Wired
Profile on Ntwrk and how they’re trying to be QVC for millennials. Digiday
NASA wants to buy moonrocks from private companies. Verge