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| Good morning and thanks for opening your daily Inside Streaming brief. Lots of big stories circulating today, including the strongest indications to date that Disney plans to spin off its Indian streaming business. I'm particularly intrigued by the idea that OnlyFans is continuing to expand its free, safe-for-work streaming platform, OFTV. It's actually becoming not a half-bad destination for original comedy. Whitney Cummings has long been presenting roasts and other original content over there, and now plans to release her next stand-up special exclusively on the platform in November. When OnlyFans first started trying to pivot to non-pornographic content, I think everyone was a bit jaded about their chances. The brand is so strongly associated with NSFW profiles, it seemed a monumental task to get the public to head over there for an entirely different form of content, like say stand-up comedy. Even Vegas took a decade or two to fully rebrand from Sin City to family vacation spot. But who knows? Maybe they can pull it off. Thanks for reading. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Lon
p/lon-harris | |
| 1 | | According to a report from Bloomberg, Disney plans to sell off a majority stake in its Indian operations to Reliance Industries. Reliance apparently values the assets in question at $7-$8 billion, which would price Disney's total Indian business at around $10 billion. More: - Rumors have circulated that Disney hopes to offload its Indian operations for months.
- In addition to the Disney+ Hotstar streaming platform, the company also operates a number of local networks.
- Reliance already co-owns low-cost Indian streaming platform JioCinema, a co-venture with Viacom18.
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| 2 | | An increasing number of streamers are likely to add "pause ads," playing when viewers opt to temporarily halt a program mid-stream. Several streamers -- including Hulu, Peacock, and Max -- have already launched the spots on their ad-supported tiers. More: - Alternate forms of commercials that play outside conventional commercial breaks are known as "out of pod" spots.
- While Peacock launched with some pause ads, and Max started experimenting with them in 2022, Hulu just added the feature in July; according to Variety, more streamers will likely follow suit to boost revenue.
- Max only allows one pause ad "per user per session" to avoid overwhelming viewers; Peacock offers sponsors a "power break" in which pause ads are designed just for a specific segment of the audience.
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24 MILLI VANILLI: 2023 documentary looking back at the late 1980s European R&B duo -- composed of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus -- who sold millions of records internationally, before it was revealed that they had not personally performed their songs. Director Luke Korem's film investigates who actually orchestrated the deception; it debuted at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. [Paramount+] KRISHNAS: GURUS. KARMA. MURDER. Three-part true-crime series tracing the controversial origins of the American Hare Krishna movement in the 1960s and '70s, and examining the investigations into the organization by the West Virginia Sheriff's Department, the LAPD, and the FBI. [Peacock] NO HARD FEELINGS: 2023 sex comedy starring Jennifer Lawrence as Maddie, who's hired by a wealthy couple to romance their introverted teenage son (Andrew Barth Feldman), in hopes of bringing him out of his shell. Laura Benanti, Matthew Broderick, and Natalie Morales co-star; "The Office" vet Gene Stupnitsky co-wrote and directed. [Netflix] GET GOTTI: Limited true-crime docuseries chronicling the FBI's quest to bring infamous 1980s mob boss John Gotti to justice, related by witnesses from both sides of the law. The series comes from the same creative team as 2020's Netflix doc "Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia." [Netflix] PETE HOLMES: I AM NOT FOR EVERYONE: The actor, comedian, and podcaster returns with a new hour-long stand-up special, featuring material about his most recent prostate exam, voicemail glitches, and a "devilish Midwest meeting." [Netflix] THE FAMILY BUSINESS: The full 4-season run of the BET crime drama series -- based on the books by author Carl Weber -- comes to Netflix today in the US. Ernie Hudson stars as L.C. Duncan, the patriarch of a prominent family operating both legitimate and criminal enterprises. [Netflix] ZAINAB JOHNSON: HIJABS OFF: The actor and comedian's debut stand-up special features material about growing up as a Black Muslim, and one of 13 children. She's also a regular on the Prime Video series "Upload," and has appeared on "Ramy," "A Black Lady Sketch Show," and elsewhere. [Amazon] HOT POTATO: THE STORY OF THE WIGGLES: Documentary feature chronicling the history of the iconic Australian children's musical group The Wiggles, initially formed by four friends in the early 1990s as a one-off project. Sally Aitken ("Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth") directed. [Amazon] RESTORATION ROAD WITH CLINT HARP: The Magnolia Network series finds the carpenter and TV personality traveling across the US, looking for unique and noteworthy historic renovations. Season 4 hits both cable and Max this week. [Max] SUPERMARKET STAKEOUT: Cooking competition series from Food Network in which four competitors purchase groceries at a supermarket (with a maximum $500 budget), then prepare three dishes for a panel of judges. "Iron Chef" vet Alex Guarnaschelli hosts. Season 5 aired over the summer on cable and debuts on Max today. [Max] | | | |
| 4 | | The Miami Dolphins will be the next team featured on the "in-season" version of HBO's "Hard Knocks" docuseries. The episodes will stream on Max later this fall. More: - The original "Hard Knocks" show follows teams throughout training camp; the new version shifts focus to the regular NFL season.
- The Dolphins will be the third team featured on the series, after the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals; Miami was previously featured on the original "Hard Knocks" in 2012.
- Coach Mike McDaniel conceded that the team is not appearing on the series by choice, but acknowledged the value of making a more direct and intimate connection with fans.
- The Dolphins are currently 5-2 this season; on Sunday, the team lost to the Philadelphia Eagles.
- No release date has been set for the new season.
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| 5 | | Sony's anime streaming service Crunchyroll is now available for subscription through Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video subscribers can now sign up for Crunchyroll directly through Amazon in the US, Canada, Sweden, and the UK. More: - Two Crunchyroll tiers, both ad-free, are available through Prime Video Channels; along with a basic package, a Mega Fan tier allows subscribers to download content for offline viewing.
- Crunchyroll's library features around 24,000 hours of content from over 1,300 shows and films.
- The service will expand on Prime Video Channels to more territories next year.
- Sony acquired Crunchyroll from AT&T in 2021 for around $1.2 billion; the company then merged it with its Funimation brand.
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| 6 | | According to Polygon, a number of other activities happening around Las Vegas over the weekend distracted from Twitch's fan conference, TwitchCon. In particular, an event at a nearby casino sponsored by rival livestreaming platform Kick -- along with Meta's Threads and FaZe Clan -- apparently stole some of Twitch's thunder. More: - Though past TwitchCon events have featured all-star headliners such as Travis Scott and Megan Thee Stallion, this year's event was a more muted affair, with smaller artists and DJs performing inside an immersive venue.
- Kick has been peeling off users from Twitch by offering a far more generous profit share; streamers keep 95% of the revenue earned by their channels.
- Just last week, Kick signed former Twitch breakout Nick "Nickmercs" Kolcheff to a non-exclusive one-year deal; according to Forbes, the deal is valued at around $10 million.
- Because these deals are mainly non-exclusive, many personalities appearing at TwitchCon have also signed deals with Kick.
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| 7 | | CBS will air Season 2 of the Western drama series "Yellowstone" after Season 1 completes its run. The Season 1 finale will air on October 22; the Season 2 premiere follows the very next week, on October 29. More: - "Yellowstone" was produced for cable's Paramount Network and streams on NBCUniversal's Peacock.
- CBS started airing the show in primetime in order to pad its schedule, which has been impacted by the Hollywood strikes.
- So far, 21.6 million CBS viewers have tuned in to at least one episode of "Yellowstone"; an estimated 52% of those individuals are new to the series.
- The debut episode alone was seen by around 6.6 million viewers on the night of its CBS premiere; that expanded to 7.5 million after adding VOD, DVR, and other forms of viewing.
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| 8 | | Netflix released a full trailer for the apocalyptic thriller film "Leave the World Behind," based on the novel by Rumaan Alam. Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke star as a couple on a vacation with their kids during a mysterious cyberattack that threatens to bring down human civilization. More: - Mahershala Ali and Myha'la Herrold co-star as a mysterious father and daughter who show up at the vacation home seeking refuge.
- "Mr. Robot" veteran Sam Esmail wrote, directed, and produced the adaptation; Barack and Michelle Obama executive produced through their company, Higher Ground.
- "Leave the World Behind" will premiere at AFI Fest in Los Angeles and get a limited theatrical release before hitting Netflix on December 8.
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| 9 | | The next Whitney Cummings stand-up special, titled "Mouthy," will premiere on OnlyFans' free, safe-for-work streaming service, OFTV. The special, which Cummings recorded at LA's The Comedy Store in September while seven months pregnant, arrives on November 15. More: - Cummings also stars in the OFTV original comedy series "Whitney Cummings Presents," which debuted in April and has featured a number of celebrity guests and roasts.
- An episode of "Whitney Cummings Presents" in which a roster of comedians roasted Bert Kreischer is apparently the most-streamed OFTV program to date.
- OFTV is free to view, features no nudity, and includes no ads; it's designed purely to promote OnlyFans creators and drive additional traffic to their profiles.
- Cummings has a personal OnlyFans profile -- available for a $10 monthly subscription -- but doesn't post content featuring nudity.
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- Peacock dropped a trailer for Season 2 of the reality series "Paris in Love"; the new episodes, debuting on November 30, find Paris Hilton embracing motherhood and family life along with husband Carter Reum and new baby boy, Phoenix.
- A new survey from Antenna and Adobe found that 35% of streaming users who cancel a premium subscription service return within 12 months; on average, around 15% of "churned" users return after a single month.
- "Little Fires Everywhere" and "Tiny Beautiful Things" vet Liz Tigelaar is set to adapt another novel into a series for Hulu; the streamer just secured the rights to Lucy Foley's best-seller "The Guest List."
- According to Deadline, Amazon and BBC are nearing a Season 3 renewal for the fantasy series "Good Omens," but co-showrunner and executive producer Douglas Mackinnon will not return.
- Marco Vega, who appeared as a butler on Season 2 of Bravo and Peacock's "The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip," filed a suit against the network, streamer, production company, and NBCUniversal, alleging that he was sexually harassed by cast members Brandi Glanville and Phaedra Parks.
- Former "Tonight Show" head writer A.D. Miles will return to the role this season; Mason Steinberg, who took over the head writer role last season, will exit the late-night series.
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 | Writer | | Lon Harris is the writer and editor of Inside Streaming and was the very first person to ever write an Inside newsletter. He lives in Los Angeles, California, and also writes about TV and film for Fandom, Screen Junkies, Rotten Tomatoes, Gamma Ray and others. Plus he has a Game of Thrones podcast called "Casterly Talk" and competes on The Movie Trivia Schmoedown as "The Professor." | | This newsletter was edited by Lon Harris | |
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