Facebook named Alex Schultz, previously VP of product growth, analytics and internationalization, its new chief marketing officer. Schultz, a nearly 13-year veteran of Facebook, takes over the CMO spot from Antonio Lucio, the former HP exec who stepped down last month after two years at the company. Schultz, in addition to serving as chief marketing
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Disney Plus has buddied up to the “watch party” trend: The Mouse House streamer is launching GroupWatch in the U.S. The new feature lets Disney Plus subscribers invite up to six friends and family members to synchronously stream a TV show or movie together, from wherever they happen to be. Unlike other “watch party” implementations,
Roku is launching a redesigned version of its top-of-the-line Ultra player and announced plans to introduce a new standalone app for its free Roku Channel later this year. And here’s an interesting wrinkle: The company plans to add support for Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit for select 4K Roku models in the next few months
On a new episode of his podcast, actor Dax Shepard revealed that he is still struggling with opioid addiction after 16 years of sobriety. Shepard first began to use painkillers like Vicodin after suffering a motorcycle accident in 2012, he discussed in his podcast “Armchair Expert.” However, he said he started to abuse them when
New York Fashion Week: The Shows and Endeavor Impact will launch NYFW: NXT, a free virtual training program to support aspiring artists from underrepresented communities. The online platform will provide the information and tools for young professionals to enter and make change in the fashion industry. Launching on the heels of New York Fashion Week,
Walt Disney Co. hired Diane Jurgens, a senior technology management exec with more than three decades of industry experience, as its new chief information officer. Jurgens will start at Disney on Oct. 5 and report to McCarthy. Jurgens replaces Susan O’Day, who retired as Disney’s CIO and EVP of enterprise technology in January 2020. Jurgens
The best reality show I watched this year unfolded not on my TV but through an app on my computer screen. In April, a month into quarantine with no end in sight, some friends asked if I wanted to play a virtual version of “The Circle,” Netflix’s already lockdown-friendly series in which contestants live in
In an unusual move, Apple has agreed to not collect the App Store’s 30% “tax” on purchases made through Facebook’s app for live paid events — but only through the end of 2020. Moreover, Apple will still take a 30% cut of paid livestreams from creators using the Facebook Gaming app. The ongoing clash of
Amazon announced the new Echo Show 10, a $250 device with a screen that turns to follow you around the room — and which will soon add Netflix support. The company also took the wraps off Luna, a new cloud gaming service running on AWS with about 100 titles at launch (including games from Ubisoft)
You’ll soon be able to join an online simulation of TV reality competition show “Big Brother” — cooped up with gaggle of other virtual housemates all trying to avoid getting kicked out — if you’re into that kind of thing. “Big Brother: The Game” is set to be released Oct. 15 on the Apple App
Video games are fast becoming big new music venues: Roblox, the popular virtual-world game platform, is following in the footsteps of “Fortnite” to tap artists for performances and special events. Pop singer Ava Max is throwing an immersive record-launch party on Roblox on Friday, Sept. 25, where she’ll share behind-the-scenes stories from her just released
There may be 8 million stories in the naked city. But there are 1 billion — and counting — on the user-generated fiction app Wattpad. Wattpad Studios head Aron Levitz and his team comb through the contributions of more than 4 million writers from around the world on the platform. The goal: to find the
Dr. Brené Brown is launching a new podcast exclusively on Spotify, and her existing show will move over to the platform in early 2020 under a multiyear pact. It’s the latest push by Spotify to ramp up its steadily growing podcast biz. Brown, a renowned researcher, bestselling author and speaker whose work explores emotional facets
The seven superstars of BTS will be under the virtual control of their fans (aka BTS Army) in the all-new game interactive game “BTS Universe Story,” which will soon be available for fans to download free. “BTS Universe Story” will officially go live at 11 a.m. KST on Sept. 24 (10 p.m. ET on Wednesday,
Not only are The Game Awards still happening this year — they’re taking place in three different locations. The 2020 ceremony will stream live from Los Angeles, London and Tokyo on Dec. 10, it was announced on Wednesday, airing in 4K UHD from audience-less, in-studio locations. It will stream across 45 global video platforms and,
There’s a new sign the Chinese government is leaning toward spiking the deal to transfer control of TikTok from ByteDance to U.S. owners, including Oracle and Walmart. An editorial Wednesday in China Daily, the state-run newspaper of the Beijing regime, called the agreement to form TikTok Global — which was forced by an executive order by
The ongoing effects of recent lockdowns coupled with an anticipated surge in consumer VR headset sales have made industry eyes look to online distribution pathways with more interest than ever before. While on-site exhibition spaces remain hard-hit in this germ-averse age, the consumer headset market is expected to reach new heights, with market analyst firm
Disney Plus subscribers can now stream TV shows and movies on Google Assistant-enabled smart displays like the Nest Hub and Nest Hub Max in 13 countries — letting them launch “The Mandalorian” and other content using voice commands. Google also called out a couple of Disney extras: There’s a Mickey Mouse ears accessory available for
Starz Play Arabia was launched in 2015 as the first Starz-branded SVOD outside the U.S. Now available in 20 countries across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, the service until recently had been growing at a steady rate. After COVID-19 struck, much like other streamers around the world, Starz Arabia has seen a major
Social video platform TikTok has written to the heads of major platforms including Facebook and Twitter, asking them to regulate content causing distress, after clips of a man committing suicide on Facebook Live were circulated widely on TikTok in recent weeks. Appearing before a U.K. Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) subcommittee on
Hillary Clinton wants to get in front of listeners with her new podcast covering topics ranging from politics to the pandemic and from food to friendship, which is set to debut five weeks before the November U.S. election. The 24-episode “You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton,” produced by iHeartMedia, will premiere Sept. 29, available
Snapchat has helped over 750,000 U.S. users register to vote to date — and Snap has prepped a slate of programming and initiatives aimed at driving Americans to cast their ballots. The social messaging and media app company’s election-season efforts include partnering with popular Snapchat creators including Snoop Dogg and Arnold Schwarzenegger to encourage voter
YouTube will debut “KCON:TACT All-Access,” the first docuseries taking fans behind the scenes of a KCON K-pop festival, next month. The YouTube Originals docuseries follows the production of KCON:TACT 2020 Summer, the virtual K-pop festival that took place in June after KCON canceled its in-person events this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 14
Epic Games is getting an epic exclusive from K-pop superstars BTS. BTS are coming to battle game “Fortnite” this Friday — with a brand-new music video promising never-before-seen choreography. Epic Games partnered with the BTS on the exclusive music-video premiere, set for Friday, Sept. 25, in “Fortnite” at the Party Royale island’s Main Stage. “Dynamite,”
Roku today is launching Peacock, nearly 10 weeks after the NBCUniversal streamer made its U.S. debut. The availability of the Peacock app on Roku devices and Roku-enabled TVs comes after NBCU and the platform company buried the hatchet last Friday, in a broad deal that included renewing the deal to keep NBC’s TV Everywhere channels
Microsoft is massively expanding Xbox’s original games portfolio: The software giant announced plans to acquire ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks — one of the biggest privately held game developers and publishers in the world — for $7.5 billion in cash. The deal will give Microsoft’s Xbox games division ownership of top-selling games
Following Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday night, Democratic voters broke records for the most money donated in the history of ActBlue, the party’s online fundraising platform. From 9-10 p.m. ET, more than $6.2 million was donated, breaking records in ActBlue’s 16-year history. Then again, from 10-11 p.m. ET, $6.3 million was
President Trump said he approved in principle the deal under which Oracle and Walmart would receive ownership stakes in Chinese-owned app TikTok. His remarks come a day before his administration’s ban on TikTok app downloads in the U.S. is set to go into effect — which TikTok filed a last-minute suit seeking to stop. “I
On Friday night, Selena Gomez asked Facebook executives to take action against the spread of misinformation and racism on its social media platforms. “It’s been a while since we sat down. We have a serious problem. Facebook and Instagram are being used to spread hate, misinformation, racism and bigotry,” the singer wrote in a private
The Black Effect Podcast Network, a joint venture between Charlamagne tha God and iHeartMedia, has made its first executive hire: Dollie S. Bishop, who joins as president of production and creative development. Announced earlier this month and set to launch this fall, the Black Effect Podcast Network is touted as the industry’s biggest podcast publisher