Netflix Introduces ‘My Netflix’ Tab on Mobile Apps, Which Consolidates Downloads, Watch List, Reminders and More

Real Sociedad have 'ruled out' the prospect of signing Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek, according to reports in Spain.

Adam Sandler has been an ultra famous comedian and actor for more than 30 years — and for much of that time, he’s also been a committed family man behind the scenes.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney, trying to swing its streaming business into the black, has set substantial price hikes for Disney+ and Hulu standalone premium plans in the U.S. — while also rolling out a heavily discounted Disney+/Hulu ad-free combo bundle. As of Oct.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A3 Artists Agency signed Smosh, the long-running YouTube comedy brand, for representation across the board. Smosh was founded in 2005 by childhood friends Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. After drifting apart in recent years, in June 2023 the duo bought back majority ownership of Smosh and debuted their first original comedy video together since reuniting as business partners.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amazon CEO Andy Jassy enthused about the potential of generative AI technology to cut costs and create brand-new user experiences — saying every team in the company is working on multiple projects in the area, including in its entertainment business. On the tech giant’s second-quarter earnings call Thursday, Jassy said, “Inside Amazon, every one of our teams is working on building generative AI applications that reinvent and enhance their customers’ experience.” That includes multiple projects in its entertainment business, AWS, its advertising business and in Amazon’s devices business: “You can just imagine what we’re working on with respect to Alexa there.” Generative AI refers to a type of artificial-intelligence technology that can create new text, images, videos or synthetic data based on massive data sets.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Jeff Daniels’ musical, audio-only memoir “Alive and Well Enough” — blending spoken word, storytelling, original music and performance — is coming exclusively to Audible. All episodes of the 12-episode first season will drop Sept. 7, 2023, exclusively on Audible at this link.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor CAA has signed Meredith Duxbury, a leading beauty and fashion content creator who’s been dubbed “the complexion queen of TikTok,” for representation. Duxbury has a global audience of more than 20 million followers across social media, including 18.5 million on the TikTok short-form video platform. Her videos feature makeup tutorials, product reviews, and “get ready with me” content that includes fashion and her personal style.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Speidi is still a thing, according to Spotify. Spotify’s Ringer Podcast Network announced “Speidi’s 16th Minute,” a video podcast hosted by Heidi and Spencer Pratt, the reality TV couple from MTV’s “The Hills,” which originally aired from 2006-2010.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube’s second-quarter 2023 ad sales had a modest year-over-year uptick, rising 4.4% to $7.67 billion, a reversal after three consecutive quarters of declines at the video platform. Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube, came in above analyst earnings expectations, with top-line growth of 7%. Alphabet reported $74.60 billion in revenue and net income of $18.37 billion, or $1.44 per share.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify, the world’s biggest music and audio streaming service, delivered strong numbers for the second quarter of 2023 — beating forecast user growth on paid subscribers and total listeners, while Q2 revenue was in-line with expectations. But with newly announced price increases for Spotify Premium in dozens of markets including the U.S., the company is forecasting a smaller gain in paid subscribers for Q3. The company netted 10 million new Premium customers in the quarter (over its expectations of 7 million), to stand at 220 million. Overall, Spotify had 551 million monthly active users for the period, a pickup of 36 million sequentially — an all-time high for the company.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Over the weekend, Elon Musk issued the unexpected fiat via late-night/early-morning tweetstorm (x-storm?) that Twitter would now be known as X — complete with a new X logo that has replaced the bonny blue birdie on the service’s website. Per Musk, you won’t be posting tweets on his social platform, you will be throwing up… “x’s.” Musk’s hand-picked new CEO Linda Yaccarino, late of NBCUniversal, tried to explain the situation. “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity — centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking — creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services and opportunities,” she, uh, x’d on Sunday. “Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Dave Coulier on Friday launched a new rewatch podcast for “Full House,” the beloved sitcom he appeared on opposite the late Bob Saget. In the premiere episode of “Full House Rewind,” Coulier speaks with series creator Jeff Franklin as they reminisce about working with Saget (who died last year) and talk about the pilot episode of the show that premiered in September 1987. They also discuss the fact that Saget wasn’t actually the first actor to play Danny Tanner (that was John Posey, but Posey appeared as the character only in an unaired pilot). But there’s been some question about whether such TV rewatch podcasts are allowed under the rules of SAG-AFTRA’s strike against studios and streaming providers.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Amid deep concerns about the risks posed by artificial intelligence, the Biden administration has lined up commitments from seven tech companies — including OpenAI, Google and Meta — to abide by safety, security and trust principles in developing AI. Reps from seven “leading AI companies” — Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI — are scheduled to attend an event Friday at the White House to announce that the Biden-Harris administration has secured voluntary commitments from the companies to “help move toward safe, secure, and transparent development of AI technology,” according to the White House.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix is “more than a year out” from any price increases in its major markets like the U.S. as it looks to spur revenue growth from its password-sharing crackdown, CFO Spence Neumann said. The streamer has “largely paused” price hikes after it began rolling out the paid-sharing program starting in May 2023, Neumann said on the Q2 earnings interview. “Most of our revenue growth this year is from growth in volume, through new paid memberships. And that’s largely driven by our paid-sharing rollout,” he said. “It is our primary revenue accelerator in the year.” Netflix most recently raised prices in the U.S. and other major markets in the first half of 2022, under which its Standard plan — its most popular tier, which provides two simultaneous HD streams — increased by $1.50, to $15.49 per month.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix touted strong momentum for its push into advertising, claiming subscribers on its ad-supported tier nearly doubled in the second quarter of 2023. However, the streamer said, advertising revenue in Q2 was still not material in the context of its overall business. The company announced Q2 earnings Wednesday. Overall, Netflix netted 5.9 million new paid subscribers, amid its broader crackdown on password-sharing violators. On the ad front, “While we continue to grow our reach — ads plan membership has nearly doubled since Q1 — it’s still off a small membership base, so current ad revenue isn’t material for Netflix,” the company said in its quarterly letter to shareholders. “Building an ads business from scratch isn’t easy and we have lots of hard work ahead, but we’re confident that over time we can develop advertising into a multibillion-dollar incremental revenue stream.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Netflix is no longer offering its cheapest streaming plan without ads in the U.S. and the U.K., with the company aiming to push value-conscious consumers to sign up for its advertising-supported package. The Basic plan, which provided a single stream for $9.99/month in the U.S. and £6.99/month in the U.K., is no longer available “for new or rejoining members” in the respective countries. According to Netflix, existing Basic members can “remain on this plan until you change plans or cancel your account.” The elimination of Netflix’s Basic plan is designed to boost customers on the ad-supported Standard With Ads, which the company first launched last November. In May, Netflix said it had signed up more than 5 million members for its ad-supported plans, with 25% of new subs taking the package.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA and the major studios remain at odds on a dizzying array of issues, as film and TV actors hit the picket lines Friday for the first time since 1980. According to sources on both sides, the biggest sticking point is the union’s demand for 2% of the revenue generated by streaming shows. The two sides also remain far apart on basic increases in minimum rates, with the studios offering 5%, 4% and 3.5% across the three years of the contract, while the union is demanding 11%, 4% and 4%. But that only scratches the surface. The parties are at odds on dozens of issues, only a handful of which have been publicly reported.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The FTC is looking into whether OpenAI, the developer of the artificial-intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, “engaged in unfair or deceptive privacy or data security practices or engaged in unfair or deceptive practices relating to risks of harm to consumers, including reputational harm,” according to a letter the regulatory body sent to the company. The agency’s probe into OpenAI was first reported by the Washington Post, which shared a redacted copy of the letter to the company (at this link). The time period for the FTC’s information requests to San Francisco-based OpenAI date from June 1, 2020, “until the date of full and complete compliance” with the investigation, which is technically called a “civil investigative demand” (CID).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk’s Twitter has been accused of failing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in severance to laid-off workers. Now, under a new ad-revenue sharing program, the company just doled out millions to high-profile Twitter users, including controversial right-wing figure Andrew Tate and left-leaning twin brothers Ed and Brian Krassenstein. Twitter announced the ad-revenue sharing program for creators, initially on an invitation-only basis, on Thursday. The company said eligible creators will be paid a share of ad revenue starting in the replies to their posts. “This is part of our effort to help people earn a living directly on Twitter,” the company said in a blog post about the program.

Riley Keough and more 2023 Emmy nominees are speaking out after being recognized for their outstanding performances on the small screen.