Here’s the latest chapter in the saga of Clevver, the entertainment/lifestyle YouTube network marooned by the shuttering of former parent Defy Media and subsequently snapped up by Hearst Magazines. Two of the principal creatives behind Clevver — Joslyn Davis and Lily Marston — together with Clevver Media co-founder Jorge Maldonado have launched Shared Media, their
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Refinery29 has been bitten by the “Bandersnatch” bug. The millennial-female-focused digital media and entertainment company inked a pact with Eko, an interactive-video platform developer whose backers include Walmart, to produce several “choose-your-own-adventure”-style series based on Refinery29 content properties. The companies have started development on their first project: an interactive scripted adaptation of Refinery29’s popular “Money
It’s Pride Month, and popular YouTube vlogger Dan Howell had a message for fans that he’d been working on for a year: “Basically, I’m Gay,” he shared in a video Thursday. In the 45-minute video, Howell discussed coming to terms with his sexual orientation and his thoughts on labels that people use to define themselves
Global streaming giant, Netflix is expanding its involvement in the Korean film and TV industries by greenlighting several new shows and renewing others. “When we started three years ago, we had a high degree of confidence that Korean drama would work well in Asia, but we had no internal metrics of our own,” Korean content
June 13, 2019 3:04PM PT Instagram faced another major outage Thursday afternoon, with users from around the world reporting that they weren’t able to access Facebook’s photo sharing service via its app and website. Facebook didn’t immediately respond to questions about the cause of the outage, but Instagram acknowledged the outage with a post on
June 13, 2019 10:11AM PT Google has quietly removed the Google Play Movies & TV app from its Daydream VR platform. The app allowed users to rent, buy and watch movies and TV show episodes from the Play Store in a virtual living room. A Google spokesperson confirmed the removal of the app when contacted
Disney could have more than 130 million subscribers across its online video services worldwide by 2024, Morgan Stanley analyst Benjamin Swinburne projected in a note to investors Thursday. The forecast resulted in Disney shares trading up 3%, while Netflix shares were down 1%. In the near term, Swinburne expects Disney to sign up 13 million
Singer-songwriter and actor Anthony Ramos, known for his roles in “Hamilton” and “A Star Is Born,” has signed with Republic Records, the company announced today. Ramos will release his forthcoming debut album later this year, with new music expected this summer. Footage from the signing will air on his YouTube series later today. “Anthony is
Attention, Clone Club: “Orphan Black” is getting a post-TV afterlife. Temple Street Productions, the production company behind the sci-fi thriller, inked a deal with premium digital fiction startup Serial Box to create a brand-new installment, “Orphan Black: The Next Chapter” — continuing the story of the clone sisterhood and their allies (and enemies) after the
Pluto TV just swung into a wider orbit: The free, ad-supported linear TV and movie service is now available on Comcast’s Xfinity X1 set-top platform nationwide. The deal with America’s largest cable operator — coming just a few months after Viacom plunked down $340 million for the startup — brings Pluto TV to set-top boxes
“When They See Us,” Ava DuVernay’s dramatization of the wrongful arrest and conviction of five black teenagers in New York City after the rape of a Central Park jogger 20 years ago, has been the most-viewed series on Netflix for the past 13 days. “‘When They See Us’ has been the most-watched series on Netflix
Netflix shareholders aren’t okay with the amount of money the company is spending on its senior executives: A slim majority of shareholders voted down the company’s executive officer compensation plan at its most recent shareholder meeting last week, Netflix revealed in a regulatory filing Wednesday. “The Board will consider the results and act in what
Bustle Digital Group, about six months after buying distressed digital-media company Mic, has set plans to relaunch the millennial news brand with the hire of former Complex Media editor Shanté Cosme as executive editor. BDG bought Mic — which had raised $60 million in funding — for a reported $5 million, after Mic laid off
June 12, 2019 1:43PM PT Fox News said Wednesday that it “resolved” a complaint levied against Tyrus, a comedian who appears on its streaming Fox Nation service, by Britt McHenry, who had been co-hosting a program with him. The Fox Corporation-owned news company issued a statement a day after a report in “The Daily Beast”
SoundCloud announced today the promotion of Michael Weissman to president. He had previously served at chief operating officer. Weissman will continue to drive SoundCloud’s business growth and strategy, overseeing the company’s subscription and advertising businesses, as well as its marketing and content licensing, according to the announcement. He will also continue to manage SoundCloud’s legal,
Amazon still believes that children deserve their own smart speaker: The e-commerce giant released a revamped version of its Echo Dot Kids Edition speaker Wednesday, while also announcing tweaks to its Freetime Unlimited subscription service for children’s content. The new Echo Dot Kids Edition features a new fabric case, similar to the revamped version of
Megan Amram disrupted the Emmy race last year with “An Emmy for Megan,” her meta short form series that chronicled her attempts to, yes, disrupt the Emmy race. She almost got there: “An Emmy for Megan” was nominated for outstanding short form comedy or drama series but ultimately lost to “James Corden’s Next James Corden.” However, Amram
Megan Amram disrupted the Emmy race last year with “An Emmy for Megan,” her meta short form series that chronicled her attempts to, yes, disrupt the Emmy race. She almost got there: “An Emmy for Megan” was nominated for outstanding short form comedy or drama series but ultimately lost to “James Corden’s Next James Corden.” However, Amram
Doug Kezirian is surrounded by numbers on his new ESPN program. They aren’t sports scores. If you want home runs, touchdowns or three-pointers, you’ll have to go somewhere else. Each weekday afternoon, Kezirian talks to people like Preston Johnson, a Las Vegas sports handicapper with a master’s in sports psychology and a beard so big
Social video chat app Houseparty has been acquired by Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, it announced with a blog post Wednesday morning. Financial details of the deal haven’t bee announced. “Houseparty brings people together, creating positive social interactions in real time,” said Epic CEO Tim Sweeney in a statement. “By teaming up, we can
June 12, 2019 8:43AM PT Facebook and ProSiebenSat.1 have inked a content pact that will see the German broadcast and media giant place short episodes and clips of its content on the tech company’s Watch platform. The German version of Fox hit “The Masked Singer” will be one of the first properties covered by the
After a year on Facebook Watch, CNN’s “Anderson Cooper Full Circle” daily news program will leave the social platform next month — and instead will run on the cable news network’s own digital properties starting in September. At the same time, CNN has set a new show for Facebook Watch slated to debut this summer:
Row8, a fledgling digital movie service, is looking to take on transactional VOD players like Apple and Amazon with a focus on movies — and a few pricing twists. The L.A.-based startup has inked licensing deals with four major studios — Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. — for rights to
Pocket.watch, the studio and digital network behind Nickelodeon hit show “Ryan’s Mystery Playdate,” has tapped media veteran Kerry Tucker as its first chief marketing officer. Tucker was previously CEO of Hello Sunshine, Reese Witherspoon’s media company set up as a joint venture with WarnerMedia’s Otter Media. Prior to that, she was chief operating officer of
June 12, 2019 4:01AM PT The BBC’s contentious plan to extend the catchup window on its iPlayer service to a year or more has been given a provisional green light by British media regulator Ofcom. The pubcaster, worried about the rise of global streamers Netflix and Amazon, has set out plans to extend the period
Facebook says its video strategy — to encourage its 2 billion-plus users to watch, share and discuss episodic content — is working. The company claims it’s seeing big momentum for Facebook Watch, with original shows like Jada Pinkett Smith’s “Red Table Talk” and “Sorry for Your Loss” starring Elizabeth Olsen. But it’s not doling out
Amazon has moved further into live sports in Britain with the acquisition of rights to show women’s tennis. The e-commerce giant’s Prime Video unit already has rights to stream the major men’s tournaments and the U.S. and Australian Opens in the U.K. and Ireland. In a four-year deal with the Women’s Tennis Assn. starting in
June 11, 2019 9:51PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by TV ad measurement and attribution company iSpot.tv, Universal Pictures claims the top spot in spending for the fourth week in a row with “The Secret Life of Pets 2.” Ads placed for the animated film had an estimated
Early indicators suggest that Facebook’s new Oculus Quest VR headset is seeing solid sales, but it doesn’t seem to be a blockbuster. Still, some estimate that Facebook could sell more than 1 million units in 2019. Facebook has yet to release any official sales numbers for the Quest, which was officially released last month. The
Ellen DeGeneres’ latest project: She’s reverting to her childhood. In animated show “Little Ellen,” the talk-show host and comedian will be portrayed as a 7-year-old — who is, of course, “hilarious and unpredictable,” according to her company. The project is in development at Ellen Digital Ventures and Warner Bros. Animation. In the 2D animated series,