A behind-the-scenes look at Ariana Grande’s Dangerous Woman Tour and the making of her album “Sweetener” is coming to YouTube. The four-part “Ariana Grande: Dangerous Woman Diaries” documentary series, to be released Thursday (Nov. 29), follows the pop superstar during her 2017 tour and through the creation of her third studio album, “Sweetener.” YouTube bills
Tech
Cinedigm reached a deal to acquire ComicBlitz, a startup billed as a “Netflix of digital comic books,” launching the content-distribution company into a new line of business. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Cinedigm said it expects the acquisition of ComicBlitz to close before the end of the year. According to Cinedigm, ComicBlitz could generate
AMC-backed virtual reality startup Dreamscape Immersive is getting ready to open its first permanent location in Los Angeles. The company’s first VR center will open its doors at the Westfield Century City mall next month, and will follow with 4 additional locations in markets outside of L.A. soon after. The new Westfield location will house 3 experiences
Conviva, which delivers real-time measurement of premium streaming video, is digging into the social scene with the acquisition of Delmondo. Delmondo, founded in 2014, measures video consumption and engagement across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat and Twitch. With the acquisition, Conviva will become the first company to offer a solution that brings together census-level streaming
Bilibili, a specialty Chinese video platform best known for animation and games content, is setting out a stall as a viable and attractive partner for international co-productions. A presentation of so-called bullet comments (real-time audience feedback that overlays on-screen content) drew gasps from an audience of executives at the World Congress of Science & Factual
YouTube has concluded that its investments in original programming are better placed on the free, ad-supported side — not behind a paywall. In a shift in strategy, the Google-owned video platform said that starting next year it will move to make all of its original programming available for free for anyone to watch. With the
November 27, 2018 10:44AM PT YouTube hopes to reel in college students as paying customers with steeply discounted pricing plans for its ad-free streaming services. The video service has launched student plans for YouTube Music Premium priced at $4.99 per month — a 50% discount off the regular $9.99 monthly price — and for YouTube
At a preview Tuesday of “Baby,” its second Italian original scripted series, Netflix was eager to defuse the controversy over the show’s storyline, which involves teen prostitution and takes its cue from a real-life scandal in Rome. Andrea De Sica (“Children of the Night”), one of the show’s two directors, called it “the story of
The Walt Disney Co. is moving all of its digital brands and properties worldwide — including Disney, ABC, ESPN, Freeform, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars — to Google’s advertising platform. Under the multiyear pact, Disney will bring its entire global digital video and display business onto Google Ad Manager, which will serve as its core ad-technology
Lawmakers from nine countries, in London for an extraordinary joint investigation, chastised Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday for failing to appear before them to answer questions on how the platform has been used to spread disinformation and fake news. Instead of Zuckerberg – for whom a conspicuously empty chair was set – the legislators
A group of Google employees is demanding that the company pull the plug on “Project Dragonfly,” its initiative to create a censored search engine for China that would comply with the country’s internet laws. “We are Google employees and we join Amnesty International in calling on Google to cancel project Dragonfly, Google’s effort to create
Facebook is doubling down on “Watch Party,” expanding the social-video feature to all publishers and users worldwide — which Facebook says delivers far higher engagement levels than solo sessions. Since Facebook launched Watch Party to all Groups in July 2018, more than 12 million Watch Parties have been streamed, letting everyone watch the same video
MADRID — Unveiling its highest-profile Spanish original film to date, Netflix announced on Tuesday that Spanish actors Javier Gutiérrez and Mario Casas will star together for the first time in “Hogar.” Shooting in Barcelona, “Hogar” has initiated production and will premiere only on Netflix in 2020. “Hogar” is directed by Spanish brothers Alex and David
November 26, 2018 2:58PM PT Google recently removed 13 driving-themed games from the Play store because they contained malware. They were downloaded more than 560,000 times, according to ESET malware researcher Lukas Stefanko. Stefanko first warned people about the apps on Nov. 19. All of them apparently come from a single developer named Luiz O
WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer streaming video group has a new boss: Brad Bentley, previously head of marketing for AT&T Entertainment Group and DirecTV. Bentley, as GM and executive VP for Direct-to-Consumer Development at WarnerMedia, will oversee all aspects of the company’s forthcoming direct-to-consumer streaming service, which AT&T has said is targeted to launch in the fourth quarter
In late 2016 Boston-based startup Neurable, the brainchild of neuroscientist Ramses Alcaide and a collective of fellow alumni from the University of Michigan, received a $2 million investment to develop software that will make it possible for users to control virtual and augmented reality with their mind. In other words, a “brain mouse” connecting your
On the heels of Spotify’s recent announcement that it’s launching in 13 new markets in the Middle East and North Africa, bringing its service to 78 markets in total, Variety has learned that a launch in India is expected as soon as the next six months and will offer an extended free trial period — longer
November 24, 2018 4:06PM PT Turner will issue refunds to some customers who shelled out $20 for Friday’s pay per view golf match featuring Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson after a technical problem forced the company to make the event available free via a live stream. The need to issue refunds adds to the embarrassment
In the beginning there was the doll house. When Bay Area-based virtual reality (VR) startup Nomadic began to work on adapting the VR zombie shooter “Arizona Sunshine” for location-based entertainment, it first built a doll house-scale model of the stage that players would eventually be able to enter. On a wooden peg board, the Nomadic
November 23, 2018 9:13AM PT Black Friday isn’t just for buying physical goods anymore. A number of online media services are also peddling special Black Friday deals, including Hulu and Tidal. Hulu’s first-ever Black Friday deal is hard to beat, as the video service is offering 12 months of its limited commercials plan for just
November 22, 2018 6:17PM PT Global streaming giant, Netflix has picked up 3-part Korean tragedy “Hymn of Death.” It will begin screening from next month. The well-known story depicts Korea’s first soprano Yun Sim-deok and her genius playwright boyfriend Kim Woo-jin. The tragic romance has previously been presented in formats including films, plays, and musicals.
Are you looking to give someone a VR headset this holiday season? Or maybe you finally want to make the jump into virtual worlds yourself? The good news is that there are now many more VR headset choices available than just a year ago. The bad news is that choosing one that fits your needs
Universal Pictures Intl. has teamed with Universal 1440 Entertainment to create a new 10-episode series of Woody Woodpecker, directed by Alex Zamm. The series, comprised of five-minute episodes, will play next month on the Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish and English-language YouTube channels dedicated to Woody Woodpecker. The channels launched a year ago. In addition, a 13-minute
November 22, 2018 12:05AM PT Filmmakers, Shanker Raman and Pawan Kumar have joined Deepa Mehta (“Fire,” “Earth”) as co-directors of upcoming Netflix series “Leila.” Mehta is also the show’s creative director. Netflix announced the show in February this year. The 6-episode series is now in production, with Urmi Juvekar (“Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!,” “Detective Byomkesh
November 21, 2018 2:21PM PT Apple has been considering to launch a low-cost TV dongle similar to devices from Roku, Amazon and Google, The Information reported Wednesday. Such a cheaper device could help the company find a wider audience for its still-unannounced streaming service, which is expected to launch next year. Apple didn’t immediately respond
YouTube has long been considered by many to be the big bad wolf of the music industry, largely because of the comparatively low royalties it pays on music streamed on its free platform, and because of the “safe harbor” laws that exempt it from policing unlicensed music on its site. In its annual and mid-year
For fans of “The Lego Movie,” everything is awesome this Friday, Nov. 22, when YouTube will be streaming the animated Warner Bros. hit for free. YouTube is streaming the movie under a pact with Warner Bros. Pictures to promote the franchise leading up to the theatrical release of “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part,”
November 21, 2018 10:18AM PT Matthew McConaughey wants you to fall asleep while listening to his soothing voice: McConaughey has partnered with Calm, an app promoting meditation, mindfulness and restful sleep, contributing a so-called “sleep story” to the app. “Wonder,” as the story read by McConaughey is called, has been written by Chris Advasun, and lasts
November 21, 2018 8:42AM PT Google Play’s Black Friday promos for 2018 include a special one-day-only offer: Users can rent any of the thousands of movies on the service for 99 cents on Thursday, Nov. 22. Rentals on the Google Play store ordinarily range from $3.99-$5.99 for new movie releases; rentals are accessible for 72
November 21, 2018 7:46AM PT Amazon.com informed customers that their names and email addresses were “inadvertently disclosed” on its website, just days before the Black Friday unofficial kickoff to the holiday-shopping season. In a statement Wednesday, Amazon said, “We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted.” The ecommerce giant did not