Meta Shuts Down Facebook Watch Originals Entertainment Group

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube, already the most popular streamer on big-screen TVs, last month built on its lead as one of the only major services to see viewing time among U.S. TV households increase, according to new Nielsen data. For the period from March 27-April 30, 2023, TV viewing of YouTube videos (excluding YouTube TV) was up 1.5%. That translated into an increase of 0.3 share points, with YouTube ending the month with 8.1% of total time spent watching television, according to Nielsen measurements. Time spent viewing on most other streaming platforms, including Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, Prime Video, Peacock and Hulu, was flat or down compared with March 2023, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge report for April. Along with YouTube, two free, ad-supported TV (FAST) services had month-over-month gains: Fox’s Tubi was up 6% from March, adding 0.1 share point to capture 1.1% of overall TV viewing, and Paramount’s Pluto TV viewing increased 3.9% for the month to hold at 0.8% share.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Fans of “The Voice” will soon be able to jump into a new immersive virtual world where they can create music, show off their dancing skills, compete in battles, win digital merch — and even audition to be on an upcoming season of the reality-competition series. “The Voice Studios,” from ITV Studios and metaverse developer Virtual Brand Group, is set to debut May 12. The global launch of the Roblox-style virtual world is timed for the final weeks of Season 23 of “The Voice” on NBC. Free for anyone to access, “The Voice Studios” will be located in Vegas City, the entertainment destination in metaverse platform Decentraland (at this link). Its launch follows a virtual pop-up event for “The Voice” last year at the Decentraland Metaverse Music Festival that also was created by VBG.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor BuzzFeed’s revenue was down substantially in the first three months of 2023, dropping 27% in the period — and the company projected sales would be off as much as 29% for Q2. Given the decline, last month BuzzFeed announced it was shuttering its unprofitable BuzzFeed News division and laying off about 180 people across the organization, about 15% of its employee base. “We have reached an inflection point in digital media. Over the last few months, we have made significant strategic and organizational changes to position the business for long-term growth. Peretti continued, “By leaning into Creators and AI, I believe we can unlock new opportunities across our portfolio of trusted brands — including Tasty, First we Feast, Complex, HuffPost and BuzzFeed,” Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed founder and CEO, said in announcing the Q1 results.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Layoffs will be hitting 25% of employees across the Showtime, MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks groups in the U.S. Tuesday, following months of internal deliberations about integration amid Showtime’s rebranding into Paramount+ With Showtime. Additionally, MTV News — which was significantly affected by layoffs more than five years ago — will be shutting down. Other units, most of which are operations, will be shuttered as well. In a memo to staff, Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks president Chris McCarthy said that, despite Paramount’s “success in streaming, we continue to feel pressure from broader economic headwinds like many of our peers,” and that “senior leaders in coordination with HR have been working together over the past few months to determine the optimal organization for the current and future needs of our business.”

SAG-AFTRA, in partnership with the Motion Picture Association and a host of other industry unions and organizations, has launched the Green Council Initiative to promote eco-responsible entertainment. Founded by SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher, the initiative’s top priority is the reduction of single-use plastic on set, on screen and in audience homes, while normalizing the use and depictions of reusables – much like the “Buckle Up Hollywood!” movement pushed to promote seat belt awareness back in the 1990s.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The FTC alleges Meta failed to comply with a 2020 privacy order — and as such, the agency wants to impose new restrictions on the social giant, including prohibiting Facebook, Instagram and its other services from monetizing data from users under 18. The FTC also is proposing to prohibit Meta from releasing new or modified products, services or features without “written confirmation” from the third-party assessor overseeing its privacy programs. Under the 20-year settlement with the FTC (reached in 2019 and approved the following year) Meta agreed to pay a record-breaking $5 billion fine and to submit to new oversight by the commission. That was to settle claims that the company violated a 2012 FTC order “by deceiving users about their ability to control the privacy of their personal information.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Patrick Harris, after nearly 12 years at Meta and Facebook, has joined Snap as senior VP of partnerships, leading both ad-agency and partnership teams at the company. Harris, who most recently served as Meta’s VP of global channels, is based in New York and reports to COO Jerry Hunter, who previously was Snap’s SVP of engineering. “We are so excited to welcome Patrick to Snap to help us scale our global agency and partnerships businesses. His experiences across both advertising and partnerships made him the perfect candidate to unify and scale Snap’s impact in these areas.” In addition, Snap has hired David Sommer as head of verticals, overseeing the consumer packaged goods (CPG) vertical for the U.S. Also based in New York, Sommer hails from shopping app Fetch, where he was chief commercial officer, following almost 11 years at Meta as head of industry for CPG, retail partnerships and shopper marketing.

Nick Cannon is reacting to the news of the cancellation of Red Table Talk, the show hosted by Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne Banfield-Norris.

with Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Adrienne «Gammy» Banfield-Norris, along with several other Facebook Watch Originals, has officially been canceled, ET can confirm.On Wednesday, reported that Mina Lefevre, who was Head of Development and Programming at Meta, was part of the latest round of layoffs at the Mark Zuckerberg-run company. None of the series launched under Lefevre will return for new seasons as Facebook shifts focus from original programming to creating VR experiences in Meta Horizon Worlds.Along with the  franchise, which included the Gloria Estefan spinoff Facebook's other original series included  with Steve Harvey, with Taraji P.

Meta will no longer pull up a seat at the red table. Jada Pinkett Smith and her daughter Willow Smith’s Red Table Talk has been canceled.

Red Table Talk” got the boot after Meta unplugged Facebook Watch’s original programming.The daytime Emmy award-winning show — hosted by Jada Pinkett-Smith, her daughter Willow Smith and mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris — tackled conversations about social issues with an inter-generational perspective, which led to Pinkett-Smith exposing the dark side of her marriage with Academy Award winner Will Smith.In 2020, the couple revealed to their 11 million Facebook followers that the “Girls Trip” actor had an “entanglement” — a relationship outside her marriage — with 30-year-old R&B singer August Alsina.She admitted her marriage was on a downfall, and the couple briefly separated, so “I got into a different kind of entanglement with August … it was a relationship, absolutely,” she revealed to her husband in the 12-minute video.After Alsina ended the entanglement with the 51-year-old actor, she began to repair her marriage to 54-year-old Smith, “We have gotten to that new place of unconditional love.”The Facebook series started in 2018 and ran for five seasons before being canceled.Each episode featured a notable guest, such as Hayden Panettiere, Jennette McCurdy, Jordyn Woods, Bobby Brown and the cast of “A Different World.”The talk show was one of the last to get unplugged after Mina Lefevre, head of development and programming at Meta, along with more than 20,000 employees were laid off, according to Deadline.Facebook Watch began scrapping its original scripted programming in 2020 after canceling “Sorry For Your Loss,” starring Elizabeth Olsen and Jessica Biel. In more recent years, the platform started to focus on unscripted programming such as “Tom vs.

Meta is shutting down the Facebook Watch originals group, including Jada Pinkett Smith‘s show Red Table Talk.

EXCLUSIVE: Mina Lefevre, who was Head of Development and Programming at Meta, is departing Facebook’s parent company.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, turned in better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter of 2023 — even as net income dropped sharply on a year-over-year basis. Overall, the company reported revenue of $28.65 billion, up 3% from the year prior, and net income of $5.7 billion (or $2.20 per share), down 24%. Analysts on average expected Meta to post revenue of $27.65 billion and EPS of $2.03, according to Refinitiv. Click here to sign up for Variety’s free Strictly Business newsletter covering earnings, financial news and more. In announcing Q1 results, the company said Facebook averaged 2.04 billion daily active users in March, up from 2.0 billion the prior quarter. Across all its apps, Meta reported daily active users of 3.02 billion on average for March 2023, an increase of 5% year-over-year.

After country music star Morgan Wallen suddenly canceled his Sunday night performance at the Ole Miss stadium in Oxford, Mississippi, his music label is debunking rumors behind the cancelation.  Leaving thousands of fans disappointed, Wallen shared a statement to his fans through his Instagram story that he could not perform due to his strained voice.  However, a viral TikTok video suggested otherwise. A security guard at the venue claimed Wallen was too drunk for his performance and said his reason for losing his voice was "bull crap." He added that an ambulance picked up the "Last Night" singer.

Pep Guardiola said he had no excitement for a potential Treble as he refused to discuss the prospect of Manchester City winning everything.

Thania Garcia Mandolin, a live-stream concert platform that thrived after COVID-19 put a pause on in-person experiences, quietly closed its doors on Monday amid the resurgence of live touring and concerts. Mandolin launched on June 1, 2020, months into the pandemic, and less than a year later was named the best streaming platform at the 2021 Pollstar Awards (they were nominated with other platforms including Veeps, LiveXLive and Nugs.net). Around this same time last year, Mandolin was testing different ways to keep the concert streaming boom going by launching a variety of initiatives aimed at maximizing the in-person concert experience with a wide range of digital services. Among them were ticket sales to meet-and-greet or after-party add-ons to shows, ordering food and merch online without waiting in line, and replays of shows that were filmed live. The mobile app experience was employed for numerous live concerts including the 2021 Telluride Bluegrass Festival and Lil Wayne’s Uproar Hip-Hop Festival.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor BuzzFeed is shutting down BuzzFeed News because it is not able to turn a profit, according to a memo CEO Jonah Peretti sent to company staff Thursday. The digital publisher is laying off 15% of its employees, or about 180 people, across BuzzFeed News and other divisions. Going forward, BuzzFeed will concentrate its news efforts in a single profitable news organization — HuffPost, which it acquired from Verizon in 2020, per Peretti’s memo. The company’s flagship BuzzFeed.com site will remain in place. “While layoffs are occurring across nearly every division, we’ve determined that the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization,” Peretti wrote.

Will Smith has shared footage from his emotional experience from watching his daughter WILLOW’s set at Coachella.Having spent recent years becoming popular in the rock sphere off the back of her 2021 Travis Barker-assisted pop-punk album ‘lately i feel EVERYTHING’ and her 2022 boundary-pushing fifth album ‘COPINGMECHANISM‘, the 22-year-old WILLOW took to the desert to make her Coachella debut where her father, the actor and rapper Will Smith was in the audience.Posting to his Instagram feed, he showed off his pride in her performance with two posts.A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)He captioned one “WILLOWCHELLA!” and, in another post, he confessed he “can’t stop crying!”A post shared by Will Smith (@willsmith)All of WILLOW’s family have embarked on musical careers: the Oscar-winning actor Smith was a Grammy award-winning rapper prior to his breakthrough role in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, mother Jada Pinkett Smith was once in nu-metal band Wicked Wisdom, and her brother Jaden Smith has followed suit has released acclaimed albums such as 2017’s ‘Syre’ and 2020’s ‘CTV3: Cool Tape Vol.3’.Coachella also saw Jaden accompanied WILLOW on stage to perform the siblings’ collaboration, ‘Summertime In Paris’.Got to witness a really special moment at Coachella — Willow Smith, Jaden Smith, and a proud father.

Latto has denied rumours that she photoshopped a bigger crowd into an image from Coachella set this year, sharing photos and videos as proof.The ‘Big Energy’ rapper performed at the festival for the second consecutive year on the closing Sunday (April 16) of weekend one.