| Thanks for opening today's Inside Streaming brief! And look, I don't want to suggest that Hollywood writers are maybe a bit SPOILED... but hearing them complain about the arrival of limited ads on streaming platforms like Prime Video does kind of make me roll my eyes a bit. Ads are a fact of life for almost everyone making internet content, in one way or the other, and the idea that some kinds of shows or videos are TOO SPECIAL to accompany ads or find themselves interrupted even briefly is a bit hard to swallow. Of course, all creative people and artists would LOVE to have monthly subscribers subsidize everything they do. The Renaissance didn't happen because of ads, that was all patronage. But it's 2024 and Medici families are hard to come by, so ads are just one of those facts of life for most creators. I'd suggest that showrunners re-adjust to the new reality, cause it's increasingly clear that it's just not sustainable to make these kinds of high-profile, $200 million-per-season event series without help from everyone's favorite brands and multinational conglomerates. Lon
p/lon-harris | |
| 1 | | Wall Street Journal reports that media mogul Byron Allen's company, Allen Media Group, made a $14.3 billion offer to purchase Paramount Global. That amounts to $28.58 per voting share, and $21.53 for non-voting shares; factoring in equity and debt, the offer totals around $30 billion. More: - According to WSJ, the offer was sent on Tuesday to Paramount's controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, along with CEO Bob Bakish.
- Other potential buyers for Paramount include Skydance Media, owned by billionaire Larry Ellison's son David, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
- Last year, Allen offered $3 billion specifically for Paramount's BET Media Group, which includes the BET and VH1 cable networks and the BET+ streaming service.
- Allen's current assets include Weather Channel, TheGrio streaming app, and a number of network TV affiliate stations.
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| 2 | | As part of Alphabet's Q4 earnings report this week, the company revealed that YouTube ad revenue has significantly rebounded. YouTube revenue shot up by 15.5% in Q4, hitting $9.2 billion; the change was in line with Wall Street's expectations. More: - YouTube ad sales had dipped by 8% in Q4 of 2022.
- Alphabet does not report subscription revenue from YouTube TV or YouTube Premium as part of its earnings updates; in a call with investors, CEO Sundar Pichai referred to the company's suite of subscription services as a $15 billion annual business.
- Alphabet -- which owns both YouTube and Google -- posted total Q4 revenue of $86.31 billion, up 13.5% year over year.
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| 3 | | DAILY CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31 CHOIR: Six-part docuseries following young members of the Detroit Youth Choir and its director, Anthony White, as they balance personal, school, and career obligations while pursuing a love of music and song. The group memorably performed on "America's Got Talent" back in 2019. [Disney+] ASSEMBLED: THE MAKING OF ECHO: The "Assembled" docuseries takes a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the Marvel Studios' original shows and films. The latest episode centers on the Disney+ series "Echo," and features insights from cast members Alaqua Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, and others. [Disney+] THE UNBREAKABLE TATIANA SUAREZ: Inspirational HBO documentary profile of mixed martial artist Tatiana Suarez, who fought her way back into the ring after suffering from both cancer and a broken neck, and went on to become a UFC champion. Cassius Corrigan ("Huracán") directs. [Max] GUY'S GROCERY GAMES: On the Food Network game show, chefs prepare meals inside a grocery store for a shot at a $20,000 prize. Guy Fieri hosts. Season 34 debuts this week on both Max and cable. [Max] ALEXANDER: THE MAKING OF A GOD: Six-part historical docuseries about the ancient Macedonian king and his conquest of much of the Western world, from present-day Greece to India, featuring a combination of expert commentary, archaeological examinations, and scripted re-enactments. Buck Braithwaite stars as Alexander. [Netflix] THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS: FOUR KNIGHTS OF THE APOCALYPSE: Debut anime series, based on the manga by Nakaba Suzuki, and following up on his previous series, "The Seven Deadly Sins." The new series focuses on Percival, a boy who learns that he's destined to join a group of knights who are prophesied to destroy the world. [Netflix] BABY BANDITO: Spanish-language crime drama series from Chile, inspired by actual events. Nicolás Contreras stars as Kevin Tapia, a skater from a rough Santiago neighborhood who plots a massive heist -- among the largest in Chilean history -- to win the heart of a rich girl (Francisca Armstrong). [Netflix] WIL: Dutch-language historical drama feature from Belgium, based on a novel by Flemish author Jeroen Olyslaegers, starring Stef Aerts as an auxiliary policeman working in Antwerp during the Nazi occupation. [Netflix] | | | |
| 4 | | The Hollywood Reporter spoke with a number of high-profile TV creators and showrunners who are unhappy about the addition of ads to major streaming platforms. A number of Amazon showrunners specifically -- including Lulu Wang of "Expats" and Francesca Sloane of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" -- said they weren't told about ads coming to Prime Video until after their seasons were produced, preventing them from placing natural ad breaks into the episodes. More: - "Tokyo Vice" executive producer Alan Poul (which streams on Max) and "Nine Perfect Strangers" creator David E. Kelley (which streams on Hulu) also complained about streaming ads in the piece.
- Poul said that initially dropping ads on streaming platforms "was one of the biggest steps in bringing the worlds of TV and film closer together," while Kelley argues that poorly-placed advertising "sometimes... upends the piece."
- Not all creators who spoke with THR were entirely negative about the addition of commercials; "Wednesday" creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar said that, even though no pauses for ads were specifically written into the show, "it's pretty obvious" where to put them regardless.
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| 6 | | Media streaming app Plex raised $40 million in growth capital, which the company plans to use as part of an overall push into profitability. Plex CEO Keith Valory told TechCrunch the company hopes to reach profitability by the end of 2024 or soon after. More: - Though Plex confirmed to TechCrunch that it had closed the round, the company declined to disclose its most recent valuation; more details will come following securities filings.
- The new round was led by Intercap and Kleiner Perkins.
- While Plex originally launched as a software solution, helping customers organize their digital medial libraries, it has grown into a full-blown streaming platform, including not just access to a home media collection, but an original roster of free ad-supported shows, films, live TV channels, and music.
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| 7 | | Variety reports that HBO is developing a limited series adaptation of the Gillian Flynn novel "Dark Places." Flynn co-created the series, and will write the adaptation and serve as showrunner alongside Brett Johnson and Guerrin Gardner. More: - "Dark Places" was originally published in 2009; it centers on the survivor of a 1985 Kansas massacre who finds herself pursued by a new threat, as a mother-daughter pair of amateur sleuths reopen the original investigation.
- The novel was previously adapted into a 2015 film starring Charlize Theron.
- Flynn's work has also inspired the HBO limited series "Sharp Objects" and the David Fincher film "Gone Girl."
- Co-creators Johnson and Gardner are a married couple who previously collaborated on the Showtime limited series "Escape at Dannemora."
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- Apple renewed the Idris Elba thriller series "Hijack" for a second season.
- ABC's hit sitcom "Abbott Elementary" returns to TV for a third season on February 7; Josh Segarra, Kimia Behpoornia, and Benjamin Norris join the show in recurring roles this year.
- The survival thriller "Leave the World Behind" now ranks #8 on Netflix's official list of its top English-language films of all time; it's possible the Julia Roberts/Ethan Hawke thriller could overtake Jennifer Lopez's "The Mother" -- currently at #7 on the list -- before its 91-day premiere window expires.
- Disney+ Hotstar announced a new slate of content for Indian audiences, including multiple animated projects geared specifically toward adults.
- According to Variety, Netflix is closing a deal to acquire the documentary "Daughters," about young women who get a chance to attend a dance along with their incarcerated fathers; the film won the Audience Award in the Documentary Competition at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
- The European thriller series "The Kollective" -- from "Gomorrah" vets Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli -- will stream on Hulu in the US; the series was inspired by the real investigative journalist group Bellingcat, which looks into corruption within rogue governments.
- ASCII Theater, the latest project from Brooklyn's MSCHF art collective, uses the text format ASCII in a computer's Command Prompt to illegally stream Hollywood movies, including Warner Bros' "Barbie."
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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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