Streaming
Streaming Wars 2021 Mid-Year Scorecard: How Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, and HBO Max Stack Up
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-10T19:00:25+00:00“>May 10, 2021 | 3:00pm ET Q1 earnings for media and tech companies are now behind us, so it’s a good time to recap how Netflix and its four biggest challengers — Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, and HBO Max — stack up and are trending for the rest of 2021. Just 18 months ago, Netflix largely played alone. What a difference those months make for the reigning champ in these “streaming wars.” Now, Netflix faces giant global competitors seemingly around every turn. Ditto for us consumers, as streaming became our activity of choice (frequently, our only activity!) during the past pandemic year’s global lockdown. While life during the COVID-19 pandemic has been...
Paramount+ Share Trailer for Rugrats CGI Revival: Watch
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-06T02:43:48+00:00“>May 5, 2021 | 10:43pm ET So far, Paramount+‘s lineup is anchored by nostalgic revivals. While we are still awaiting more details on the Fraiser and live-action Fairly Odd Parents reboots, the streamer is ready to unveil its reimagined Rugrat series on May 27th. Watch the newly revealed trailer down below. This beloved cartoon ran for nine seasons from 1991 to 2004, finding immediate success in Nickelodeon’s primetime roster and later birthing three theatrical releases and the sequel series All Grown Up. Thankfully, the new reboot features the same group of babies that audiences grew to love. Voiced by all the original cast members, Tommy (E.G. Daily),...
Spotify & Fellow Streamers Soared in 2020, But Expect Growth to Slow
Don’t put too much stock in how companies’ quarterly earnings compare year-over-year to 2020. The pandemic caused some services’ subscriptions to spike early in the year (Netflix) or build throughout the year (Spotify). Long-term trends have not changed. On-demand streaming will continue to erode linear programming like cable television and broadcast radio. An odd quarter here or there won’t change the course of technology in entertainment. Streaming video on demand (SVOD) is a battle of titans — AT&T, Comcast, Disney, Apple, Amazon, ViacomCBS — that requires big pockets to survive the war of attrition. Music streaming companies get to focus less on original content and more on technologies to create better user experiences. Un...
Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker Honored For Streaming Milestone
“During the recording session,” Parker told APRA AMCOS staff, “I was working myself up to tell him I was going to take it back.” There were no bad feelings from Ronson. The Brit Award-winning producer bestowed the songwriter of the year award to Parker during the annual APRA Awards, via video link. “You think of ‘The Less I Know the Better,’” Ronson explained during his speech, “it’s one of the most iconic basslines of the past 20 years.” Parker wrote, recorded, produced and mixed the song, which appeared on the Grammy-nominated album Currents and went to No. 1 on the triple j station’s Hottest 100 listener’s poll for decade. Currents went to No. 1 in Australia, and Top 5 on both side of the Atlantic. Today, the song is four-times platinum certified in Australia, double-platinum in t...
New Study Reveals Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” As the Most Valuable Song From Sweden
A new study by Australian finance blog S-Money has revealed the most valuable songs on Spotify by country. Some of the usual suspects like Ed Sheeran and Drake are featured of course, taking the cake in the United Kingdom and Canada, respectively. The United States’ most valuable song comes courtesy of Post Malone, whose influential “Rockstar” is the clear-cut winner. Late EDM legend Avicii‘s “Wake Me Up” is Sweden’s most-streamed song worldwide, worth well over $6 million from its staggering 1.25 billion streams to date. Alan Walker‘s “Faded” has become Norway’s most popular export, earning the DJ over $6.5 million off of nearly 1.4 billion streams. According to S-Money, who shared additional data with EDM.com, The Cha...
Spotify Stock Drops Over 12% on Softened Listener Forecast
That adjustment followed Spotify’s reported first-quarter monthly active users (MAU) of 356 million, falling on the bottom end of earlier guidance. There was good news too, though. First-quarter subscriptions were at the high end of guidance, and Spotify did not revise its 2021 guidance for subscribers (172 million to 184 million), suggesting it expects the dip to come from “freemium” listeners. Average revenue per month on those free listeners is 0.35 euros ($0.42), compared to subscribers’ 4.07 euros ($4.94) per month. (Subscribers account for about 90% of the company’s total revenue.) That MAU adjustment could have a larger financial impact in the future, as Spotify uses its freemium business model to acquire new subscribers. So, fewer free listeners this year means there will be fewer ...
Hi-Res Streaming Service Qobuz Launches In Australia, NZ
Australia’s recorded music is thriving right now, largely due to streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music. Streaming powered the market to a sixth consecutive year of growth in 2020, according trade data published by ARIA in March. Subscription platforms, a category that includes Spotify and Apple Music, generated A$362 million in the calendar year 2020, up 14% from the previous year. The market is far from saturated at the high-res end, notes Fornay. Qobuz is “offering something uniquely different to the other platforms out there,” he enthuses, namely the ability to download or stream at CD quality or Hi-Res “studio quality” audio (24-Bit up to 192 kHz). In addition to its catalog of 70 million tracks, Qobuz also offers album reviews, artist biographies, music...
Boris Announce “Tour in Your Head” 360 Degree Streaming Performance
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-26T19:51:24+00:00“>April 26, 2021 | 3:51pm ET Boris have announced a stream of their NO private release party performance, which was shot with a 360-degree camera. The “World Tour in Your Head” stream premieres on May 1st at 11 a.m. ET and will be available for viewing through the 10th. Following the physical vinyl/CD release of their album NO, which landed on our list of the top heavy albums of 2020, the Japanese experimental band performed the record in its entirety behind closed doors at the Tokyo venue Fever in November of last year. A 360-degree camera captured the performance, which will finally be unveiled on May 1st. Similar to virtual reality, viewers will be able to adj...
Spotify Begins Raising Prices With Family Plans in US, UK
Meanwhile, in the U.K., Student, Duo and Family Plan subscriptions will also see a price hike, up one pound apiece for Student and Duo plans to £5.99/month and £13.99/month, respectively, with Family Plan subscriptions rising £2 to £16.99/month. The raises were first reported by The Verge, which also reported that some other countries in Europe will see Student and Duo plans rise by one euro/month and Family Plans by three euros/month, with increases in Asia and South America as well. “With more than 70 million tracks and 2.2 million podcasts, Spotify continues to innovate and invest in providing our listeners with greater value than ever before, including the best audio content and user experience,” a spokesperson told Billboard in a statement. “We offer a variety of subs...
Spotify Stock Soars 8% Ahead of First-Quarter Earnings
This vote of confidence helps buttress Spotify’s share price, which has lost 26.7% since hitting $387.44 on Feb. 22, valuing the company at $73 billion. That fall was perhaps a sign that investors were too enthusiastic about exclusive podcast deals and that spoken word will help improve Spotify’s margins. Analysts tend to agree that Spotify is the leader in the streaming market, a sentiment CEO Daniel Ek communicated during Spotify’s Feb. 3rd earnings call, calling the shift from linear (one-way) to on-demand (interactive) music a “massive multi-billion user opportunity” accelerated by COVID-19 and that was reachable by “only a handful of companies” in audio. Spotify’s first-quarter numbers probably won’t disappoint, although they might not impress, either. Universal Music Group’s first-qu...
The Sluggish Stowaway Still Delivers Thrills and Chills in Space: Review
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-22T21:55:56+00:00“>April 22, 2021 | 5:55pm ET The Pitch: A trio of astronauts: Commander Marina (Toni Collette), Doctor Zoe (Anna Kendrick), and Biologist David (Daniel Dae Kim) find their plans for a two-year research mission to Mars derailed when they discover an unwitting stowaway named Michael (Shamier Anderson). Things go from bad to worse when the trio realize there isn’t enough oxygen on the ship to sustain four people: either one person has to die, or all of them do. In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream: The second Netflix space film in five months, Stowaway is also the second film of its kind (and overall) from director Joe Penna, who also penned the chilly survival film...
Hilary Duff to Star in Hulu’s How I Met Your Father
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-21T19:14:34+00:00“>April 21, 2021 | 3:14pm ET Well, this should be legen — wait for it! — dary. Hulu has picked up How I Met Your Father, a sequel series to CBS’ How I Met Your Mother starring Hilary Duff, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This Is Us and Love, Victor showrunners Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger will oversee the spinoff, with HIMYM creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas executive producing alongside Aptaker and Berger. Duff, who will play a character named Sophie, will also receive a producer credit. Here’s the official description: “In the near future, Sophie (Duff) is telling her son the story of how she met his father: a story that catapults us back to the ...
