Tech

Roku is adding a new annex to its original content strategy: The streaming platform has acquired This Old House Ventures, the company behind the 42-year-old home-improvement television brand. With the pact, current seasons of “This Old House” (Season 42) and “Ask This Old House” (Season 19) will be available for free on the Roku Channel

UPDATED, 2:40 p.m. ET: Thousands of Instagram users reported issues accessing the video and photo-sharing app Friday, with the bulk of the issues involving problems accessing the news feed. The problems extended beyond Instagram to other Facebook services, including WhatsApp. According to Facebook, the problems were resolved after a brief disruption. “Earlier today, a technical

Roku has recruited another former employee from Quibi, the now-defunct mobile streaming subscription startup that closed its doors in 2020 just six months after launching. Lisa Flores, previously marketing lead at Quibi, is now overseeing social media for The Roku Channel, the company’s streaming service that aggregates free, ad-supported and subscription content. She came on

MrBeast, master YouTube showman, cash-giveaway artist and philanthropist, is launching “Finger on the App 2” on Saturday, March 20 — a digital endurance content that will award $100,000 to whichever committed fan can keep their digit glued to their smartphone the longest. “Finger on the App 2” will start at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT

The burgeoning Asian webtoon market is set to expand further with the April launch of Graphic India’s Toonsutra, a comics platform for mobile devices. Toonsutra is differentiated, in that, in addition to standalone comics, it will offer exclusive original web comics based on hit Indian film and TV properties including S.S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali film franchise,

Facebook wants to get younger kids using Instagram via a restricted, special-purpose version of the social app that would be managed by parents. The company is forming a new team to build a version of Instagram intended for children under 13, as announced internally at Facebook on Thursday. According to Instagram’s terms of use, you

“The Crown” was already among Netflix’s most-viewed originals — and the recent palace intrigue involving Meghan Markle and Prince Harry helped drive interest in the show about the British royal family even higher among American audiences. Another big factor fueling the recent bump for “The Crown” was its win for best drama television series at

One week before Alexi McCammond was to start as editor-in-chief of Condé Nast’s Teen Vogue, she has agreed to “part ways” with the company over racist tweets she had posted as a teenager a decade ago. Condé Nast announced the appointment of McCammond, formerly a political reporter at Axios, to the EIC spot at the

Former production accountant Rumala Sheikhani was working on the TV show “State of Affairs,” paying the background cast, when one day the stacks of paperwork seemed to mock the sustainability Hollywood strives for. “There had to be a better way of doing it,” she says. The key was finding a way to streamline the system

Facebook has a team of engineers working on next-generation computing devices and interfaces. The group on Thursday provided a first look at its latest prototype: a wrist-based controller that uses a combination of artificial intelligence and input from a wearer’s nervous system to interact with VR and AR environments. Initially, the prototype of Facebook’s AR

After a year in which most people were stuck indoors, it should come as little surprise that streaming platforms skyrocketed in popularity over the past 12 months. For the first time ever, subscriptions to streaming services surpassed one billion, reaching 1.1 billion globally. At the same time, box office receipts plummeted because movie theaters across

As more and more artists have learned in the nearly 15 years since Spotify first launched, the way that it pays out streaming royalties is very, very complex, based on a dizzying number of factors that add up differently for each artist. On Thursday morning, the company made a welcome step toward demystifying that process

YouTube Shorts, YouTube’s answer to popular short-form video app TikTok, is now available to a small group of U.S. users in a beta — slated to come to everyone in the next few weeks. For now, YouTube Shorts doesn’t include any ads or offer other monetization features for creators, but YouTube will begin experimenting with

The NewFronts are returning this spring with marketing pitches from more than 30 digital media companies — and, like last year’s event, the four-day series will be entirely online. The 2021 NewFronts will run May 3-6, 2021, with presentations to held from 12-4 p.m. ET each day. Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the trade group that

At the Triller Fight Club next month, Justin Bieber, The Black Keys, Doja Cat, Saweetie, Diplo, Major Lazer and the first-ever performance of a supergroup called Mr. Westmore including Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Too $hort and E-40 will all take the virtual stage. The four-hour pay-per-view event takes place on April 17 and will be directed

Anthony and Joe Russo are huge fans of “Fortnite” — and the filmmakers, known for their blockbuster Marvel movies, teamed with Epic Games to direct the cinematic opener for the popular battle royale game’s latest installment. Epic on Tuesday launched “Fortnite” Chapter 2 Season 6: Primal, which the company says is the most story-driven event

Snap wants to get Snapchat’s young-skewing user base to buy more stuff through the social app. As part of that strategy, Snap has acquired Fit Analytics, a German apparel size-recommendation engine that helps online shoppers virtually find the right clothing size. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2010, Berlin-based Fit Analytics

Madison Avenue is paying more money to podcasting. Now a group of people focused on the industry wants advertisers to pay more attention. The Media Roundtable, a group of organizations that aims to promote civility and stronger dialogue in media, is launching a chart of what it considers to be the podcasts that display the

Minnie Driver, in her first-ever podcast, will plumb the psyches of celebrity guests with the same stock list of questions — seven existential queries aimed at finding common human truths. The actor and singer-songwriter’s “Minnie Questions With Minnie Driver,” an iHeartRadio original podcast, will premiere March 24 with new episodes airing every Wednesday. The podcast’s

PCCW’s Hong Kong-based free-to-air channel ViuTV saw a 29% increase in advertising revenue in 2020 despite a gloomy times and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The channel is now looking at boosting its visibility outside of the territory, as it celebrates its fifth anniversary in April. Success of variety shows such as three seasons

Activision Blizzard is pink-slipping about 50 staffers across its esports operations, which include the Overwatch League, Call of Duty League and other tournaments. The company cited the shift away from live in-person events during COVID-19 for the layoffs. The video-game company confirmed the layoffs but didn’t say what percentage of the esports employee base that

China appears to have blocked the encrypted messaging app Signal, which was frequently used by journalists, activists and dissidents as an alternative to heavily surveilled local social media channels. Although the app used to be accessible to anyone, it now can only be used with a virtual private network (VPN), according to users in the

Facebook says it wants to “empower” independent writers and journalists by letting them make money from their work. The social giant on Tuesday confirmed plans to launch a new platform for writers to self-publish their content, grow their audience and make money through monetization tools starting with subscriptions. Facebook said the platform will roll out

Legendary golfer Tiger Woods is stepping back on the virtual links. Woods inked an exclusive, multiyear deal with Take-Two Interactive’s 2K to appear in the company’s PGA Tour golf video games and also serve as a consultant. It marks Woods’ return to the video game world after an eight-year absence. News of the pact comes

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. says it has reached a three-year agreement with Facebook under which the publisher will provide news and information to the social media giant’s Facebook News product. The move follows Australia’s recent historic move to approve a law that would force social media and tech giants to pay publishers for news on

Two of the Hong Kong entertainment industry’s biggest names, Media Asia and One Cool Pictures Group have joined forces to launch a new company that will tap into fast-growing social media content production. The move reflects how social media and social commerce have gained while traditional forms of entertainment and retail have struggled during the

YouTube is getting another round of at-bats with America’s pastime. Major League Baseball and YouTube announced a renewal of their global pact for live baseball broadcasts, with the internet video giant set to stream 21 games — for free — over the course of the 2021 regular season. It’s the third season of YouTube’s deal

Facebook is officially in the running for an Academy Award. The social giant’s Oculus virtual-reality group, together with EA’s Respawn Entertainment, co-produced “Colette,” a documentary short created as part of VR video game “Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.” On Monday, the film received an Oscar nomination for documentary short subject. The 24-minute film from

Hasbro promises to reveal a slate of new toys and products — including with partner brands Marvel, Star Wars and Fortnite — at a new collector-focused virtual event next month. The Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest will feature “never-before-seen content and product reveals,” the company says. The virtual event will take place April 9 at 11

Facebook Watch is to expand Paid Online Events into 24 markets, including Hong Kong, in the coming weeks following an exponential growth in viewership amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Saurabh Doshi, Facebook’s head of entertainment partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region, announced the social media giant’s plans at Hong Kong FilMart on Monday. Paid Online