Search

"I can't hear you!": New feature set to do away with subtitles

Nothing is more annoying than sitting in front of your TV, eager to watch your favourite show only for the dialogue to be completely wiped because of cars passing by or a plane taking off. Not being able to hear the dialogue in a TV show or movie, especially in an action or crime-driven blockbuster where anything exploding masks all dialogue has been an everlasting problem for viewers. Netflix has revealed that 40 per cent of subscribers have subtitles on at all times while surveys in the US and UK saw anywhere between 60 and 70 per cent of young viewers as frequent users of subtitles. If you’re using subtitles for the purpose of hearing the dialogue rather an accessibility reasons, streaming giant Amazon is introducing a new feature that could eradicate the need to turn them on because of the sound mix. The feature is called ”dialogue boost" and it raises the volume of the dialogue track relative to the score, ambient sound or effects. Although Amazon has so generously offered this solution to subscribers, the dialogue boost feature will only be available on a handful of Amazon Prime Video’s originals, like Beautiful Boy, Being The Ricardos, Jack Ryan and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. A similar feature already appears on some expensive sound systems and TV sets, but Amazon boasts it’s the first streaming platform to roll it out worldwide. To work the feature, select it from the audio and subtitles drop-down menu on an individual title, there will be two options to select from, “English Dialogue Boost: High” or “English Dialogue Boost: Medium”. The title page for a TV series or movie will show whether the dialogue boost is available. According to Variety, the helpful feature was originally designed for hearing-impaired viewers. Rest assured, if you struggle to hear the dialogue due to the sound mix, there's help on the way, granted it's exclusive to Amazon. Image credit: Shutterstock

Streaming service giant pays woman 5 figures to watch content

If you think you spend too much time on Amazon Prime, think again as one lucky lady has snatched up her “dream” job with the streaming service. The woman, Alex Bain, 36, has been dubbed Prime Video’s “Buff”, and her job entails reviewing content for Amazon Prime, which came after the platform searched nationwide to fill the role of watching new content. Here’s the real kicker, the 36-year-old will be paid $40,000 for three months of viewing new content and sharing her opinions. She is not new to the scene of content review as she frequently posts to her Instagram, TikTok and Youtube reviewing various TV shows and movies. Upon seeing the advertisement from Amazon Prime, one of Bain’s friends encouraged her to apply. “Everything on it, it was like seeing a list of what would be my ideal job,” Ms Bain told NCA NewsWire. “I’m 36, so I want to do something I’m passionate about, so I decided to just go for it. “I got a phone call from Amazon saying I’d been short-listed, and I was like, ‘Oh my God!’” She said the time between applying for the role and being told she was successful went “so quickly”. Not long after, she received the news she was the lucky one chosen to fill the role. Image credit: Instagram

4 great movies to stream on Amazon, HBO, Netflix and Disney+

Nothing cures boredom like a great movie! Catch up on new releases and take a dive into the beloved classics. Bored? Let’s what a movie! Here are some of the goodies you can enjoy. Amazon: Smile (2023) <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Stars: Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner, Caitlin Stasey </li> </ul> Premise: After witnessing a strange and traumatic incident with a patient, Dr Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) begins experiencing unexplainable, terrifying occurrences. As terror takes over her life, Rose is on a desperate attempt to escape her new reality. HBO: Gravity (2013) <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller, Drama </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris </li> </ul> Premise: This mind-blowing space thriller one seven Oscars! Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is on her first space shuttle mission. Veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) is commanding his last mission before retirement. Disaster strikes, and the shuttle is destroyed, with all communication with Earth eradicated. Watch them navigate their terrifying situation. Netflix: You People (2023) <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Genre: Comedy, Romance </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Stars: Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus </li> </ul> Get ready for some laughs with this movie, with a stellar cast - how could it NOT be funny? When Ezra (Jonah Hill) and Amira (Lauren London) fall in love, they know they’re not so well-suited, but love is love. An issue arises as they find themselves navigating societal expectations of being an interracial couple. Watch to find out if their love endures the culture clash! Disney +: Disenchanted (2022) <ul> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Genre: Comedy, Family, Fantasy </li> <li dir="ltr" aria-level="1"> Stars: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Maya Rudolph </li> </ul> 15 years after moving to the “real world” and marrying Robert (Patrick Dempsey) in Enchanted, and Giselle (Amy Adams) has grown unattached to the city. As she searches for her fairy tale life, the pair move to the suburbs, however, they soon find there are a completely new set of rules in their new suburb. Malvina Monroe (Maya Rudolph) runs the show in this suburb, and she’s not a massive fan of whimsical Giselle. In hopes of finding her perfect community, Giselle turns to magic, but it doesn’t work out in her favour. It’s then a race against time to figure out what her happy ever after really is! Image credit: Shutterstock

Movies

5 must-see TV shows for 2023

1. Happy Valley A British crime drama, set and filmed in the Calder Valley of West Yorkshire. The show follows a character, Catherine Cawood, a strong-willed police sergeant in West Yorkshire recovering from family trauma. Just as she thinks her life is back together, it takes a turn for the worst. 2. Extraordinary Jen, an 18-year-old, self-aware woman who lives in a world where everybody has a super power except her. This fresh comedy from first-time TV writer Emma Moran, introduces Jen, who remains powerless at the age of 25, desperately on the hunt to discover her gift, no matter what. 3. Pamela, a love story Take a dive into the history of Pamela Anderson with this documentary. From Playboy to the notorious Baywatch actress and tabloid sensation, Anderson’s life is complicated. The intimate documentary follows the trials and tribulations of simply being her. Based on a true story, made with her full permission. 4. Nolly This show follows British Soap star Noele Gordon as she navigates the reign and fall from grace. The three-part drama series follows the actress’ journey on the soap Crossroads, for which she starred in for 17 years. 5. Best Interests The show follows a couple who attempt to keep their daughter alive against medical advice. Be sure to keep tissues handy when you watch this four-part drama series because it is sure to tug on the heart strings. Image credit: Getty

Amazon’s resuscitation of Neighbours: can Aussie TV become good friends with streaming?

Many were shocked by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/17/neighbours-soap-opera-australia-to-return-on-amazon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcement</a> that Australian soap opera Neighbours would return to screens in 2023, courtesy of a new deal between production house Fremantle Australia and multinational digital streamer Amazon. Significantly, this announcement overturns many expectations about television in the age of streaming. When <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-03/neighbours-tv-show-cancelled-after-37-years/100880272" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news of Neighbours’ cancellation</a> broke earlier this year, streamers declined to offer a lifeline, with veteran cast member Stefan Dennis (aka Paul Robinson) lamenting that soaps seemed <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-loss-of-neighbours-is-a-loss-of-career-pathways-for-australias-emerging-screen-professionals-185289" target="_blank" rel="noopener">out-of-kilter</a> with the demands of streaming. Back in February, journalist <a href="https://omny.fm/shows/please-explain-1/everybody-needs-good-neighbours-now-neighbours-nee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Idato noted</a> streamers were focused on “short-order, very high quality” blue-chip programming, with long-running, continuing soaps like Neighbours presenting a less attractive option despite loyal fans and healthy audience numbers. After all, when axed by UK Channel 5, Neighbours was still attracting 1 million daily viewers in the UK alone. So what has changed? Why is Melbourne’s own beige yet beloved (by some) Neighbours positioned at the precipice of a new dawn in streaming’s evolution? <h2>What’s the value of Neighbours to a streamer?</h2> Amazon’s resuscitation of Neighbours is unprecedented in the Australian context, as it represents the first time a multinational streaming service has commissioned a stripped (weeknightly), continuing soap. Yet, in a global context, Neighbours seems to be part of a recent trend. This year, soaps in other significant Anglophone markets shifted from daily broadcast to online streaming: Hollyoaks in the UK and Days of Our Lives in the US. No one knows how this will play out for the US-based streamer and its new ad-supported, free streaming service <a href="https://www.amazon.com/adlp/freevee-about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Amazon Freevee</a>. What we do know is there are very good reasons why a streaming platform could be interested in a show like Neighbours. The value of soaps is entrenched in industry lore. Since their transition from radio to television in the US during the 1950s, continuing soap operas have provided the backbone of many a network, ensuring consistent, returning and ardently loyal audiences. In doing so, soaps have a proven ability to weather the storms of radical technological and industrial change. A similar logic prevailed presumably in 2011, when Network 10 shifted Neighbours onto its new free-to-air channel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Peach" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10 Peach</a>. On the one hand, this move signalled a marginalisation of the prime-time soap. On the other hand, it was a means to lure a valuable audience to the fledgling multichannel. Idato refers to Neighbours as a “<a href="https://omny.fm/shows/please-explain-1/everybody-needs-good-neighbours-now-neighbours-nee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">library series</a>”: one with an extensive back catalogue of content. With 37 seasons and more than 8,000 episodes under its belt, Neighbours puts supposedly mega-series like Game of Thrones, The Simpsons and Supernatural to shame. Library series bring inventory and depth to a streaming service in a way that new content cannot, no matter how heavily promoted or highly produced it might be. Currently, streamers are looking not just to attract new subscribers, but to retain them by keeping them engaged with the platform. Series that come with their own in-built library of content developed over multiple years or decades can benefit streamers precisely by bringing with them their large, loyal audiences while offering countless episodes for fans to explore. The Fremantle/Amazon deal seems to signal something quite the opposite of previous predictions, pointing to the increase of “low-prestige” programming on streaming platforms and the rising tendency for streamers to adopt and adapt pre-existing televisual logics and strategies. We are seeing the resumption and resurrection of patterns of broadcast, free-to-air programming, not its demise. In the context of Amazon, one reason for this shift is likely the Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke’s confirmation last Thursday of <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/streaming-services-will-be-forced-to-meet-local-drama-quotas-burke-20221118-p5bzf5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">government plans to introduce local content quotas for streaming</a> services. At the 55th annual Australian Writers Guild Awards, Burke stated he had already met with streamers to inform them of the forthcoming policy. In light of this development, Amazon’s renewal of Neighbours will help it to meet Australian content requirements. <h2>Has TV streaming reached maturity?</h2> It seems we are moving into a new, more mature phase of streaming television. Initially, streamers sought to loudly distinguish themselves from older forms of television, but they now seem less focused on branded distinction and more concerned with getting down to business. Like the networks that dominated TV in the 20th century, streamers now pursue multiple interests, popular taste communities and tried and tested formulas, alongside edgier-style, prestige programming like Sex Education and this year’s Australian reboot <a href="https://theconversation.com/teenage-misfits-messy-emotions-and-joyous-discussions-on-consent-heartbreak-high-is-a-bright-new-piece-of-television-188733" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heartbreak High</a>. Similarly, streamers are now reverting to old-style revenue models through the <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/culture/tv-and-radio/why-the-future-of-streaming-is-looking-unexpectedly-like-tv-s-past-20221121-p5c00d.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduction of ad-supported subscription tiers</a>. Television is changing, most notably in its separation from the broadcast programming schedule. But the logics of what attracts and retains audiences are far from obsolete – they are merely being updated for digital delivery. Soap operas are widely denigrated, but they can prove to be a guiding light in moments of media transformation. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazons-resuscitation-of-neighbours-can-aussie-tv-become-good-friends-with-streaming-195101" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation.</a> Image: Ten

Why is ‘Blonde’ Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe biopic rated NC-17 instead of TV-MA?

The NC-17 rating has <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-xpm-2013-oct-25-la-et-ct-blue-is-the-warmest-color-nc17-20131023-story.html">historically</a> been a film certification that’s bad for business due to its adults-only label and pornographic stigma. Yet Netflix’s Marilyn Monroe biopic, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655389/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Blonde</a>,” will carry the rating – a first for the company. On Sept. 28, 2022, it will debut on its streaming platform, following a Venice Film Festival premiere. Based on Joyce Carol Oates’s <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/joyce-carol-oatess-blonde-is-the-definitive-study-of-american-celebrity">2000 book</a> and starring <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/02/blonde-nc-17-ratings-rumor-untrue-ana-de-armas-1234698562">Ana de Armas</a>, the film reportedly includes a <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/02/blonde-nc-17-ratings-rumor-untrue-ana-de-armas-1234698562/">graphic rape scene</a> and a <a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/marilyn-monroe-movie-blonde-create-controversy-says-ana-de-armas-exclusive">vaginal point-of-view shot</a> in its treatment of the Hollywood icon’s life and career. <a href="https://search.asu.edu/profile/1250151">I study the rating system</a> and am the author of “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Naked-Truth-Hollywood-Doesnt-X-rated/dp/0813540895">The Naked Truth: Why Hollywood Doesn’t Make X-Rated Movies</a>.” Movies carrying the NC-17 rating were often difficult to screen and promote, as they were locked out of some movie theater chains and traditional advertising. The critically acclaimed, sexually graphic “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-xpm-2013-oct-25-la-et-ct-blue-is-the-warmest-color-nc17-20131023-story.html">Blue is the Warmest Color</a>” in 2013 was the last serious film released with the rating. Despite making over $2.2 million on 142 screens, its relative success as an NC-17 film didn’t fuel the production of any more movies like it. So why would Netflix resurrect a rarely used, contentious, and restrictive NC-17 for “Blonde”? Netflix’s 2020 film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9196192/">Cuties</a>,” which caused <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/11/21431174/cancel-netflix-cuties-movie-maimouna-doucoure-backlash-petition">a PR crisis</a> over the perceived hypersexualization of young girls, now has a “TV-MA” rating on the streaming service. Why wouldn’t the company simply use the same rating for “Blonde”? <h2>From ‘X’ to ‘NC-17’</h2> The NC-17 is one of five ratings – the others are G, PG, PG-13 and R – that the <a href="https://www.motionpictures.org/film-ratings/">Classification and Rating Administration</a>, a division of the <a href="https://www.motionpictures.org/">Motion Picture Association</a>, assigns to films submitted for certification. NC-17 means “No one 17 and under admitted.” This classification prevents children from purchasing a ticket or entering a theater, even if accompanied by an adult. It replaced the X rating in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/27/movies/a-no-children-category-to-replace-the-x-rating.html">1990</a>, which had been the adults-only marker since Motion Picture Association of America President <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/movies/27valenti.html">Jack Valenti created the rating system in 1968</a>. <figure class="align-right zoomable"><figcaption>E</figcaption></figure> However, Valenti’s failure to copyright the X made it possible for any film to carry the adults-only rating without its distributor having to officially pay the Classification and Rating Administration for certification. This allowed filmmakers to slap it on pornographic films like “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068468/">Deep Throat</a>” to attract viewers and to gain access to the legitimate marketplace. While the X rating could be also assigned for representations of nudity, violence, language, drug use or overall “tone,” this association with hardcore sexual content stigmatized the category’s use by serious filmmakers for years. Valenti hoped renaming the X rating as NC-17 would spur the adults-only rating’s use by the film industry. For the most part, it didn’t, with a few notable exceptions like “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114436/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Showgirls</a>” (1995), “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275491/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_5">Bad Education</a>” (2004) and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1723811/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Shame</a>” (2011). Instead, practically all distributors whose films were initially awarded an NC-17 by the Classification and Rating Administration chose one of three options: to re-edit their films down to an R rating, to release an R-rated and unrated version for home video or DVD, or simply to surrender the rating altogether and release the film theatrically without one. It was commonly believed that an unrated film would encounter <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1350195#metadata_info_tab_contents">fewer barriers</a> to exhibition in the U.S. marketplace than an NC-17 one. <h2>An eye toward awards season</h2> Netflix, though, is not a movie theater. It is a streaming service that requires no admittance in the traditional sense, has no employees patrolling its screenings for underage viewers, and shifts the responsibility of denying access to its content to subscribers themselves. Netflix offers <a href="https://help.netflix.com/en/node/264">parental controls</a> so users can restrict access to certain content for each profile in their accounts. Significantly, many Netflix films with mature content carry a “TV-MA” rating. The <a href="http://www.tvguidelines.org/">TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board</a> developed the designation, meaning “For mature audiences. May not be suitable for ages 17 and under.” It’s recognizable to viewers of television series like AMC’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3032476/">Better Call Saul</a>,” FX’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15892444/">American Horror Story</a>” or even Netflix’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5071412/">Ozark</a>.” So why wouldn’t Netflix apply a maturity rating from television to “Blonde”? The answer is simple: Netflix likely sees the film as an Oscar contender. Per the <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscars-2023-theatrical-release-other-rule-changes-1235149530/">Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ rules</a>, to qualify for the Academy Awards, “Blonde” must have a theatrical run, even if that run is extremely short. <a href="https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/netflix-mpaa-1203114133/">In 2019</a>, Netflix joined the Motion Picture Association – the first and only streaming service to do so. So if it decides to release its films theatrically, Netflix must do so with a rating, just like the legacy member companies: Disney, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. With its TV-MA-rated “<a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80195049">Ibiza: Love Drunk</a>,” “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9196192/">Cuties</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10886166/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">365 Days</a>,” Netflix never carried a Motion Picture Association rating because these films bypassed theatrical exhibition altogether in the United States. <h2>Making the media rounds</h2> Netflix undoubtedly is also using the NC-17 for “Blonde” as a marketing ploy – what film scholar Justin Wyatt has called “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Contemporary-Hollywood-Cinema/NEALE-Smith/p/book/9780415170109">marketing controversy</a>,” a technique used in the past to sell films that received an X or NC-17. Netflix has remained mum on the subject. Instead, “Blonde” director Andrew Dominik and star de Armas have dropped hints to the media about the film’s provocative and sensationalist aspects, while, at the same time, expressing incredulity at the film’s NC-17 rating. Largely the same in an interview for French fashion magazine <a style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;" href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/ana-de-armas-movies-marilyn-monroe-blonde-netflix">L’Officiel</a>. “I didn’t understand why [the rating] happened.” Nearly in the same proverbial breath, both director and star have also teased the salaciousness of the subject matter. “It’s an NC-17 movie about Marilyn Monroe, it’s kind of what you want, right?” <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2022/05/andrew-dominik-on-blonde-and-filming-nick-caves-grief.html?utm_source=tw&utm_campaign=vulture&utm_medium=s1">Dominik told Screen Daily</a>. “I want to go and see the NC-17 version of the Marilyn Monroe story.” De Armas, meanwhile, supports Dominik’s unfiltered look at Monroe’s life, <a href="https://netflixqueue.com/blonde-first-look">declaring it</a> “the most daring, unapologetic, and feminist take on her story that I had ever seen.” <h2>‘A little steam to keep the stream’</h2> I wonder, though: Is “Blonde’s” NC-17 really much of a selling point, given what viewers are regularly exposed to in their living rooms? In a streaming landscape littered with sexually explicit TV-MA television series like HBO’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8772296/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1">Euphoria</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11198330/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">House of the Dragon</a>,” Hulu’s “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-prosthetic-penises-in-shows-like-hbos-minx-reinforce-existing-stereotypes-and-taboos-179084">Minx</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13659418/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1">Pam & Tommy</a>,” and even Netflix’s own “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10839422/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Sex/Life</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21030224/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">How to Build a Sex Room</a>,” it shouldn’t be. Dominik indirectly, but perhaps correctly, undercut his own film’s luridness, <a href="https://www.screendaily.com/features/andrew-dominik-on-his-new-nick-cave-doc-why-blonde-is-a-masterpiece/5167609.article">telling Screen Daily</a>, “If I look at an episode of ‘Euphoria,’ it’s far more graphic than anything going on in ‘Blonde.’” De Armas echoed the same talking points later <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/ana-de-armas-movies-marilyn-monroe-blonde-netflix">in her L’Officiel interview</a>: “I can tell you a number of shows or movies that are way more explicit with a lot more sexual content than ‘Blonde.’” This new wave of sexually frank and progressive series, <a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/streaming-shows-sex-positive-how-to-build-a-sex-room-1235344021/">according to Variety television writer Joe Otterson</a>, may be one strategy that streaming companies are using to keep subscribers enthralled in an increasingly competitive marketplace. “It might take a little steam to keep the stream,” Otterson writes. “Blonde” – NC-17, TV-MA or unrated – is just another provocative addition to this pot.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185359/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aIsFywuZPoQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe><figcaption>The trailer for ‘Blonde.’</figcaption></figure> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kevin-sandler-762390">Kevin Sandler</a>, Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/arizona-state-university-730">Arizona State University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-blonde-netflixs-marilyn-monroe-biopic-rated-nc-17-instead-of-tv-ma-185359">original article</a>. Image: Getty

Movies

Ads are coming to Netflix soon – here’s what we can expect and what that means for the streaming industry

Ads are coming to Netflix, perhaps even sooner than anticipated. The Wall Street Journal has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/netflix-seeking-top-dollar-for-brands-to-advertise-on-its-service-11661980078" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Netflix has moved up the launch of their ad-supported subscription tier to November. The Sydney Morning Herald, meanwhile, is <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/netflix-with-ads-is-coming-this-year-here-s-what-we-know-20220902-p5bezy.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reporting</a> that Australia is amongst the first countries likely to experience ads on Netflix later this year. Netflix first announced they would introduce a new, lower-priced, subscription tier to be supported by advertising in April. This was an about-face from a company that had built an advertising free, on-demand television empire. Indeed, it was only in 2020 <a href="https://bgr.com/entertainment/netflix-ads-why-no-commercials-cheap-tier/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings ruled out advertising</a> on the platform, saying “you know, advertising looks easy until you get in it.” The change of heart followed Netflix’s 2022 first quarter earnings report which saw a <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-market-swamped-with-streaming-services-netflixs-massive-loss-of-subscribers-is-a-big-deal-181780" target="_blank" rel="noopener">subscriber loss</a> for the first time in over a decade. The addition of ads to the platform is a clear sign of the emerging period of experimentation across the streaming landscape. <h2>How will it work?</h2> It’s important to note that not every Netflix subscription tier will carry advertising. The current plan is there will be one newly introduced and cheaper subscription tier supported by advertising, targeting in the US market around USD $7-9 a month as the price point. This will represent a discount from the current cheapest plan of US $9.99 (AUD $10.99) a month. These prices will be adapted to the different currency markets Netflix operate across and the existing price points in those markets. By bringing a hybrid advertising/subscription tier, Netflix is adopting a business model already present on other streamers like Hulu. Netflix is keeping this a hybrid tier, meaning while the new tier will be cheaper, it will not be free, like ad-supported streaming available on Peacock. Advertising presents complex new technological and business challenges for Netflix, which has not worked in this market before. To enter this new market, Netflix announced advertising would be <a href="https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-partners-with-microsoft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">delivered through a partnership with Microsoft</a>. Partnering with Microsoft allayed some fears around Netflix entering a new media market and gives Netflix access to Microsoft’s extensive advertising delivery infrastructure. Netflix has announced that original movie programming may stay free of ads for a limited period upon release, and that both original and some licensed childrens’ content will remain free of ads. As well as staying away from children’s advertising, which in Australia is highly regulated by government and industry codes, Netflix is also avoiding any advertising buyers in cryptocurrency, political advertising, and gambling. Advertising will run around 4 minutes per hour of content - for context Australian commercial free-to-air TV networks are limited on their primary channels to 13 minutes per hour and 15 minutes per hour on multi-channels between 6am and midnight. Netflix will also have limits on the number of times a single ad can appear for a user and there is expectation that ads for movie content will be delivered in a pre-roll format, not interrupting the feature. <h2>Advertising in the streaming sector</h2> Netflix is not the only subscription service to announce advertising as part of new pricing strategies. Earlier this year <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/disney-raises-streaming-prices-services-post-big-operating-loss-rcna42600" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Disney announced a highly successful quarter</a> from a subscriber uptake perspective, growing by 15 million subscribers, however streaming-induced losses were $300 million greater than estimated. Disney also announced that an ad-supported Disney+ subscription option will become available in December. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-price-increase-shows-limits-of-subscriber-growth-push-11660256118" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal reported that</a> the December timeline given by Disney is what drove Netflix to bring forward their ad plans. TV consumers are historically well accustomed to advertising in television - in Australia, commercial free-to-air networks Seven, Nine, and Ten carry advertising, public broadcaster SBS carries a limited amount of advertising, and even pay-TV provider Foxtel is supported by both subscription fees and advertising. Advertising itself is not new to audiences, but it has not been present on a number of premium streaming platforms like Netflix before. Streaming platforms like Netflix and Disney+ are seeking ways to both reach new audiences and to maximise their revenues from each user. There is a belief amongst top executives that providing a cheaper ad-supported tier will tap into the market of audiences who both do not mind advertising and see current subscription prices as too high. There is also evidence from other streaming platforms, such as Hulu and Discovery+, that have offered ad-supported subscription tiers, that these tiers can generate greater average revenue per user <a href="https://baremetrics.com/academy/average-revenue-per-user-arpu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">(ARPU)</a> than higher priced subscription-only tiers. The ARPU is a metric used in the streaming industry that looks at how much money a company makes from each subscriber after deducting business costs. Having higher revenues from a subscriber can be driven by increasing subscription prices, driving subscribers to more expensive subscription tiers, reducing business costs, or by adding additional revenue streams like advertising. In 2021, <a href="https://www.nexttv.com/news/david-zaslav-says-discovery-gets-more-revenue-per-sub-dtc-than-with-cable" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Discovery CEO David Zaslav noted</a> that Discovery+ was generating more revenue per subscriber from their cheaper ad-supported tier than their more expensive subscription-only tier thanks to the advertising revenue. Zaslav commented that advertisers were keen to reach an audience that was largely not accessible through other television means. With this in mind, Netflix and Disney are betting that their ad-supported tiers can perform similarly and increase the revenue they can generate per subscriber. <h2>Experimentation across the streaming sector</h2> Experimentation around established business strategies is ruling the current streaming landscape. HBO Max, under newly merged corporate parent Warner Bros. Discovery, is now switching to licensing content in select markets rather than streaming on its own platform. With the airing of The Lord of the Rings prequel <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-new-lord-of-the-rings-prequel-the-rings-of-power-is-set-in-the-second-age-of-middle-earth-heres-what-that-means-175333" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Rings of Power</a>, Amazon Prime Video is discovering whether its experiment with the most expensive television production ever at US $715 million (AUD $1.05 billion) will pay off with audiences. There is experimentation across the streaming industry in licensing strategies, spectacle television, pricing models and beyond. The results of this experimentation will take time. But what the arrival of advertising on Netflix signals is that established strategy no longer rules the streaming landscape. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/ads-are-coming-to-netflix-soon-heres-what-we-can-expect-and-what-that-means-for-the-streaming-industry-190236" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Metallica see major streaming boost after unlikely feature

Just weeks after Kate Bush’s hit song Running Up That Hill <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/entertainment/music/kate-bush-reflects-on-hit-song-revival">featured in the charts</a> after its placement in the new season of the hit Netflix show Stranger Things, another band is experiencing the same resurgence. Heavy metal band Metallica’s song Master of Puppets featured in the show’s epic season finale, which aired worldwide on July 1st, and has seen a sharp increase in online listeners ever since. The 40-year-old track featured in the form of an epic guitar solo, which prompted the band to share the dramatic scene on their Instagram and thank the fans for their love and support of the song after all these years. The post reads, “The way The Duffer Brothers have incorporated music into Stranger Things has always been next level, so we were beyond psyched for them to not only include Master of Puppets in the show, but to have such a pivotal scene built around it.” <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cfom8d8twqG/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cfom8d8twqG/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Metallica (@metallica)</a> </div> </blockquote> “We were all stoked to see the final result and when we did we were totally blown away... it’s so extremely well done, so much so, that some folks were able to guess the song just by seeing a few seconds of Joseph Quinn’s hands in the trailer!! How crazy cool is that?” Since the Stranger Things season finale premiere, Metallica has 21.1 million monthly listeners on Spotify as well as 430.88 million streams for Master of Puppets. Image credits: Getty Images

Music

"Excited" Rove reveals new TV gig

Aussie TV presenter Rove McManus has announced he will be hosting the first Australian series to debut on Disney Plus. McManus took to Instagram to reveal that he will be the host of a new reality competition where teams of adults and kids are tasked with bringing their own toy stories to life. “I’m very excited to announce that my new show ‘What’s Your Toy Story?’ is coming to Disney Plus - it will be a celebration of imagination and the creative joy that comes from playing with toys (like I need a reason),” he shared with fans. Just an hour prior, McManus teased fans with a snap of the Disney logo with the Sydney Harbour Bridge pictured in the background and the caption: “Exciting day today…”. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CdpRRmZvDiH/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CdpRRmZvDiH/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Rove McManus (@rovemcmanus)</a> </div> </blockquote> Colleagues and fellow comedians quickly congratulated McManus, with Project co-host Peter Helliar writing: “This will have all the feels!! Congrats mate.” “Fantastic news mate .. I have a toy story but it’s not very ‘Disney’ x,” Morning Show host Larry Emdur joked. The comedian’s latest gig comes two years after his show Saturday Night Live was dropped by Network Ten after just two episodes due to disappointing ratings. His new show is one of several announced by the streaming giant, with Mirando Otto, Guy Pearce, Teresa Palmer and Deborah Hay among the high-profile Australian talent signing on to a variety of shows about Australian cults, Christmas, and space history. Disney also announced new documentaries that will follow the likes of the Matildas and the AFLW. The company has also hinted that more titles are in development, including opportunities in young adult, rom-com and comedy genres. The investment in new programming comes as the pressure ramps up to impose a government-mandated quota for international streaming services to spend a percentage of Australian revenue on local productions. Previously, industry advocates including Simon Baker, Screen Producers Australia and Bryan Brown have argued for a 20 percent quota. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CdpJMFbPXrJ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CdpJMFbPXrJ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Rove McManus (@rovemcmanus)</a> </div> </blockquote> In 2021, Baker advocated for a “richer, stronger, more potent Australian voice” during an appearance at federal parliament amid the influx of Hollywood productions using local actors and sets but telling stories set elsewhere. “It’s very good that foreign companies are coming in and studios are spending a lot of money here,” Baker said. “It’s great for our crews, it’s great for our economy. But it’s a sugar hit.” Meanwhile, Kylie Watson-Wheeler, Disney’s senior vice president and managing director of the Walt Disney Company in Australia and New Zealand, specifically said the upcoming titles were a reason why a quota isn’t needed. “The commitment we’re showing through our local commissioning underpins the strong foundation of a long-term relationship we’re building with Australian and New Zealand content creators and the industry as a whole, without the need for quotas or other regulatory intervention,” she said during a showcase event in Sydney. Image: @rovemcmanus (Instagram)

Netflix's massive loss of subscribers is a big deal

Netflix’s recently released first quarter earnings for 2022 reported <a href="https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc_financials/2022/q1/FINAL-Q1-22-Shareholder-Letter.pdf">a shocking loss of 200,000 subscribers</a> – a worrying shift for a business that had previously only seen sustained growth since 2011. The New York Times headline: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/business/netflix-earnings-q1.html">Netflix loses subscribers for the first time in a decade</a> was catchy – however, a little bit of nuance is required. The company’s withdrawal from Russia as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions saw a loss of 700,000 subscribers attributed to the quarter. The net result, taking into account the Russian loss, was a growth of 500,000 subscribers – a number still short of the <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/19/netflix-shares-down-more-than-20-after-losing-200000-subscribers-in-first-quarter/">expected growth of 2.5 million subscribers</a>. Far worse in the report was Netflix’s estimation of a further 2 million subscribers to be lost by the second quarter. As a result, Netflix signalled cutbacks in content expenditure, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/streaming/netflix-cancels-inproduction-titles-after-subscriber-loss-and-stock-price-plunge/news-story/6cdebf691e2c64f9366f311ab3fd4695">cancelling the Bright sequel and comic adaptation Bone</a>, and flagged potential cuts to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-04-24/netflix-losing-subscribers-may-also-cost-it-star-employees">employee numbers and discretionary spending</a>. So what has caused this loss and where does Netflix go next? <h2>Platform proliferation</h2> Netflix is increasingly challenged by a streaming landscape populated with a growing number of platforms – a fact the company recognised in their letter to shareholders. Referring to the robust competition from other players, the company <a href="https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc_financials/2022/q1/FINAL-Q1-22-Shareholder-Letter.pdf">noted</a>: <blockquote> over the last three years, as traditional entertainment companies realized streaming is the future, many new streaming services have also launched. </blockquote> The launches of Disney+ in 2019, HBO Max in 2020, and Paramount+ in 2021 has seen these US-based entertainment companies step into streaming. There are a growing number of players in the market. Every major studio that launches a platform means less content Netflix can distribute – when the major studios launch they remove their content from Netflix. The Netflix license for Friends – <a href="https://people.com/tv/the-office-beats-friends-most-watched-licensed-show-netflix/">once one of Netflix’s top watched shows</a> – was not renewed by rights holder Warner Brothers Television in 2020. As a result, Friends is disappearing from Netflix markets around the world, instead streaming on Warner Brothers’ Discovery platform, HBO Max. Global streaming platforms have also made inroads with popular originals. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/feb/18/severance-review-ben-stillers-workplace-fantasy-might-make-your-mind-explode">Severance</a> on Apple TV+, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/mar/24/halo-review-hit-sci-fi-game-tv-series">Halo</a> on Paramount+, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/17/arts/television/raised-by-wolves-hbo-max.html">Raised by Wolves</a> on HBO Max have all been popular with audiences. This success is no doubt forcing a more savvy approach from consumers increasingly hit with the reality of high monthly bills when paying for all services. Netflix and others are also competing for attention with local Subscription Video-on-Demand (SVOD) services, like <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1749602018798158">Stan in Australia and Blim in Mexico</a>, and regional services, like Viaplay in Northern Europe and VIU in Asia. These services hold unique value propositions in their markets and often trade upon pre-existing relationships in local media ecosystems. Viaplay has a long history as a satellite television network in Sweden while Stan is a venture of local Australian free-to-air broadcaster Nine Network. It is becoming increasingly difficult for global streaming companies like Netflix to compete against not just other global media companies, but also compete with local and regional services as well that have deeper ingrained relationships with audiences. <h2>Why Netflix needs subscriptions</h2> How can a drop of only 200,000 subscribers from a total of 220 million subscribers <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/netflix-stock-price-plunges-premarket-after-subscriber-loss-11650449002?mod=hp_lead_pos1">crash a share price by 35%</a> and instil fear across the broader streaming sector? Netflix is a <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pureplay.asp">pureplay</a> SVOD service and they are relatively unique in the marketplace. They focus on a single product and delivery method – subscription television. <a href="https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc_financials/2021/q4/da27d24b-9358-4b5c-a424-6da061d91836.pdf">In their 2021 annual report</a>, Netflix said 99.4% of all revenues came from subscription fees (a paltry 0.6% came from the dying DVD business). Given the uniqueness in the market of this pureplay focus, streaming scholar Amanda D Lotz termed Netflix <a href="https://research.qut.edu.au/dmrc/2020/09/14/media-release-netflix-a-zebra-among-horses-qut-researcher/">“a zebra amongst horses”</a> to describe the company’s relationship to other SVOD services. Almost every competitor of Netflix has another aspect to their business. <a href="https://www.amandalotz.com/netflix-and-streaming-video-the-business-of-subscriberfunded-video-on-demand">In her 2022 book</a> Netflix and Streaming Video, Lotz refers to the SVOD component of Disney for example as a “corporate extension” of the underlying media business and of Apple TV+ as a “corporate complement” to their technology business. For companies like Disney, the SVOD service can leverage and cross-subsidise the broader business. Apple TV+ itself is under little to no pressure to turn a profit, as Apple’s major growth driver is the iPhone. But for Netflix, all of the eggs are in the same basket. Even small changes to subscriber numbers, and certainly a negative growth outlook, forces a conceptualisation of their future, without other business areas that can offset these losses. Indeed, that is partly why Netflix has been making inroads into other businesses, through the acquisitions of <a href="https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/netflix-acquires-scanline-vfx-stranger-things-1235116974/">Scanline VFX</a>, a visual effects company in 2021, and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/24/22995286/netflix-games-boss-fight-entertainment-acquisition">Boss Fight Entertainment</a>, a gaming company in 2022. We can expect some greater urgency across these acquisitions. <h2>What’s next for Netflix?</h2> <a href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/streaming/what-netflix-advertising-and-password-sharing-crackdown-means-for-customers/news-story/67ea3f314f0ceb417912b0a8bc02ea0a">Netflix is proposing two key measures</a> to alter the negative subscriber trajectory – a lower cost, ad-supported subscription tier and a crackdown on password sharing between households. Neither of these suggestions does anything to offer a reason to stay subscribed. There is no promise enjoyable original series won’t be cancelled too soon, like Sense8, Altered Carbon, or The OA for example. Rather than adding new features or content, the Netflix answer is removing key cornerstones of the service. For Netflix, its recent subscriber loss could warn of a less promising future. This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-market-swamped-with-streaming-services-netflixs-massive-loss-of-subscribers-is-a-big-deal-181780" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. Image: Getty

David Byrne believes Spotify is making musicians “uncomfortable”

David Byrne has spoken out against Spotify, saying the platform is making artists feel “uncomfortable”. The former Talking Heads performer, who removed most of his music catalogue from the streaming service in 2013, claims the publishing of “questionable or controversial content” and “misinformation” is making musicians look for other ways to showcase their music. He said, "There’s been all these things about platforms having … let’s say questionable or controversial content [and] putting out misinformation or outright lies or … not exactly hate speech, but things that are making a lot of artists uncomfortable.” “And it’s pretty tough to do anything to help ameliorate that unless you’re a Drake or Taylor Swift, or those kinds of artists. It’s pretty hard for the rest of us to have influence." He told The Guardian newspaper, "A handful of mega, mega artists are doing really well, and many of the others – especially emerging artists – are having a tough time with it. There was definitely a period where I thought, ‘Oh, this is going to be tough for a lot of artists’, especially with Spotify’s ‘freemium’ layer.” Byrne went on to cite when Taylor Swift withheld one of her albums from Apple Music over their decision to not pay artists, and noted that only a "handful" of stars are "doing really well" out of putting the music on Spotify, which is thought to pay artists an average of $0.004 per stream. He said, “I watched as Taylor Swift went to Apple and said, ‘You can’t do this; you can’t have a freemium layer that will last forever.’ And she – I mean, bless her heart – she managed to get them to [change their policy]. Which I think was brave for her and good for a lot of the rest of us." Byrne’s comments come after several artists, including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, decided to pull their music from Spotify due to the platform continuing to post controversial material from podcaster Joe Rogan. Image credits: Getty Images

Music

Neil Young’s ultimatum to Spotify shows streaming platforms are now a battleground where artists can leverage power

Neil Young has given Spotify an ultimatum: remove the Joe Rogan Experience podcast or Neil Young walks. In a letter to his management team and label, the 79-year-old rocker lambasted Spotify for spreading Rogan’s misinformation about COVID vaccinations. “I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform,” <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-young-demands-spotify-remove-music-vaccine-disinformation-1290020/">said Young to his management team</a> and record label. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.” Young is the first high-profile artist to condemn Spotify for its handling of COVID misinformation, but far from the first person to single out Rogan’s podcast on the platform. The Joe Rogan Experience podcast has the highest amount of subscribers on Spotify. In 2020 the podcast became a Spotify exclusive through a deal <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/19/21263927/joe-rogan-spotify-experience-exclusive-content-episodes-youtube">estimated at $100m</a>. Despite its massive popularity, the Joe Rogan Experience has been frequently criticised for promoting conspiracy theories, misinformation and other problematic content. In January 2022, 270 medical health practitioners and researchers submitted <a href="https://spotifyopenletter.wordpress.com/2022/01/10/an-open-letter-to-spotify/">an open letter</a> calling on Spotify to moderate misinformation on its platform. The letter was prompted by an episode that featured a controversial physician who openly promoted conspiracy theories and baseless claims about COVID vaccinations. “This is not only a scientific or medical concern; it is a sociological issue of devastating proportions and Spotify is responsible for allowing this activity to thrive on its platform,” the letter read. Two days later, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/spotify-neil-young-joe-rogan-1235081916/">Spotify has reportedly removed Young’s music from its platform</a>. This isn’t the first time Young has removed his songs from Spotify, citing poor sound quality as the reason when he temporarily <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-young-interview-archives-crazy-horse-upcoming-albums-784773/">pulled his entire catalogue</a> from Spotify in 2015. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442842/original/file-20220126-14-1914439.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442842/original/file-20220126-14-1914439.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> Joe Rogan on his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. A few weeks ago, 270 doctors, scientists, healthcare professionals and professors wrote an open letter to Spotify, expressing concern about medical misinformation on Rogan’s podcast. YouTube <h2>Stream of conscience</h2> Neil Young is not the first musical artist demanding change from the streaming giant. Spotify and other music streaming platforms have become a battleground where artists can leverage their power, notably over disputes concerning artists’ revenues and the value of music in an era of streaming. In 2015, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/9/15767986/taylor-swift-apple-music-spotify-statements-timeline">Taylor Swift briefly removed her album 1989</a> from Apple Music due to the platform offering a three month free trial that would not generate royalties for artists. In 2021, the artist payout debate was reignited after the publication of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/10/music-streaming-debate-what-songwriter-artist-and-industry-insider-say-publication-parliamentary-report">Parliamentary report in the UK</a> calling attention to Spotify’s handling of artists’ rights management, revenue rates, and commercial fairness. Recently, following the release of her latest album 30, <a href="https://theconversation.com/adele-has-successfully-asked-spotify-to-remove-shuffle-from-albums-heres-why-thats-important-for-musicians-172301">Adele took aim at Spotify</a> demanding the shuffle feature be removed from albums encouraging users to listen to the tracks in their intended order. <h2>Self-regulation</h2> Spotify has taken action to regulate harmful content on its service in the past. In 2017, Spotify <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/8/17/16162146/spotify-removing-white-supremacist-neo-nazi-bands">announced it would remove content</a> from bands connected to white supremacist and neo-Nazi movements. Spotify also joined several other social media and streaming platforms including Facebook, Apple Music and podcast platform Stitcher to remove the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/8/6/17655516/infowars-ban-apple-youtube-facebook-spotify">polemical right wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones</a> and his podcast InfoWars for spreading misinformation and lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. In 2018, Spotify added <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/spotify-is-officially-policing-the-music-it-hosts-627638/">a new hate conduct policy</a> to its terms of use that included guidelines for removing music that “promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence.” Spotify developed the policy in partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. The platform faced immediate backlash when it <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/10/arts/music/rkelly-spotify-accusations-xxxtentacion.html">cited the policy to defend</a> removing American artists R. Kelly and XXXTentacion from its editorial and algorithmically curated playlists. The two artists’ catalogues were not removed from Spotify’s streaming library, but would be far less visible to listeners. Critics viewed Spotify’s use of the policy an attempt to censor music. With such a sweeping definition of hate conduct, some observers wondered, why were R. Kelly and XXXTentacion removed and not the dozens, if not hundreds, of other artists with controversial pasts or criminal convictions? The move prompted other prominent artists, most notably Kendrick Lamar, to threaten <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/kendrick-label-head-confirms-he-threatened-to-pull-music-from-spotify/">withdrawing their music from Spotify</a> entirely. Shortly afterwards, Spotify rolled back the policy. In a <a href="https://newsroom.spotify.com/2018-06-01/spotify-policy-update/">corporate statement</a> announcing the shift, Spotify also minimised its responsibility in political matters or public controversies: “That’s not what Spotify is about. We don’t aim to play judge and jury.” Digital platforms have taken steps to moderate misinformation. For example, in the lead up to the 2020 US election, Twitter began <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/twitter-adds-fact-check-warning-trump-tweets/">adding fact-check labels</a> to tweets shared by former president Donald Trump. Later that year, Facebook’s Oversight Board <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/22/tech/facebook-oversight-board/index.html">began hearing cases</a> to oversee key decisions related to content moderation. Throughout the COVID pandemic, academics and public health officials <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-a-virus-goes-viral-pros-and-cons-to-the-coronavirus-spread-on-social-media-133525">have called on social media platforms</a> to help fight the spread of dangerous health-related misinformation. <h2>Policing platforms</h2> Reliance on platforms to moderate podcast content is a tenuous proposition. As commercial entities operating internationally, platforms simultaneously seek to serve their corporate interests and comply with regulations and laws in multiple jurisdictions. Significant change can be achieved when platforms act in unison, such as in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/12/28/792078881/spotify-becomes-latest-tech-company-to-hit-on-pause-political-ads">the decision to ban political advertising</a> implemented by several major digital platforms including Spotify after facing significant public pressure. Still, users and advocates should not hold their breath waiting for platforms to do the right thing. Failures to moderate harmful content are harder to ignore when they involve bigger name artists. Neil Young has never shied away from political action in a musical career spanning nearly six decades. The singer’s demands were bolstered by a credible threat: he’s removed his music before and now he’s done it again. Ideally, the pressure from Young’s fans and other prominent artists will push Spotify to take effective action against misinformation so users can spend time rockin’ in the free world instead of listening to COVID conspiracy theories.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175732/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/d-bondy-valdovinos-kaye-1046676">D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye</a>, Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/queensland-university-of-technology-847">Queensland University of Technology</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/neil-youngs-ultimatum-to-spotify-shows-streaming-platforms-are-now-a-battleground-where-artists-can-leverage-power-175732">original article</a>.

Music

Spotify teams up with Netflix for new music streaming service

A new partnership between Spotify and Netflix has created a streaming service to help TV and movie fans find original musical content. Netflix Hub is now available from the Spotify app, and is the centralised place for original soundtracks, playlists and podcasts for top TV shows and movies from Netflix. The service is currently offering musical content from hit shows such as Stranger Things, Narcos: Mexico, Squid Game, Bridgeton and many more Netflix original content. As well as soundtracks, podcasts such as Netflix Is A Daily Joke, 10/10 Would Recommend and You Can’t Make This Up are also available for listeners to enjoy. The service also includes original behind the scenes content from the making of certain Netflix shows, as well as character matching experiences and quizzes to engage with. The partnership has built on the existing relationship between Netflix and Spotify, as the two companies have long worked together to bring users the best multimedia experience. The overlap in the streaming services will see a boost in users who engage with Netflix’s original content, and those who have a passion for music. This partnership also further boosts Spotify as the main competitor in the music streaming service market, rivalling Apple Music. Spotify recently announced that they plan to roll out more exclusive content to the Netflix Hub in the months ahead. Netflix Hub is available to all Spotify users, both Free and Premium, by simply typing “Netflix” into the search bar on the Spotify app. Image credits: Spotify / Netflix

Music

Do algorithms erode our ability to think?

<div class="copy"> Have you ever watched a video or movie because YouTube or Netflix recommended it to you? Or added a friend on Facebook from the list of “people you may know”? And how does Twitter decide which tweets to show you at the top of your feed? These platforms are driven by algorithms, which rank and recommend content for us based on our data. As Woodrow Hartzog, a professor of law and computer science at Northeastern University, Boston, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-04-30/how-the-internet-tricks-you-out-of-privacy-deceptive-design/9676708" target="_blank">explains</a>: “If you want to know when social media companies are trying to manipulate you into disclosing information or engaging more, the answer is always.” So if we are making decisions based on what’s shown to us by these algorithms, what does that mean for our ability to make decisions freely? <h3>What we see is tailored for us</h3> An algorithm is a digital recipe: a list of rules for achieving an outcome, using a set of ingredients. Usually, for tech companies, that outcome is to make money by convincing us to buy something or keeping us scrolling in order to show us more advertisements. The ingredients used are the data we provide through our actions online – knowingly or otherwise. Every time you like a post, watch a video, or buy something, you provide data that can be used to make predictions about your next move. These algorithms can influence us, even if we’re not aware of it. As the New York Times’ <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/podcasts/rabbit-hole-prologue.html" target="_blank">Rabbit Hole podcast</a> explores, YouTube’s recommendation algorithms can drive viewers to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/02/how-youtubes-algorithm-distorts-truth" target="_blank">increasingly extreme content</a>, potentially leading to online radicalisation. Facebook’s News Feed algorithm ranks content to keep us engaged on the platform. It can produce a phenomenon called “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8788/tab-article-info" target="_blank">emotional contagion</a>”, in which seeing positive posts leads us to write positive posts ourselves, and seeing negative posts means we’re more likely to craft negative posts — though this study was <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.pnas.org/content/111/29/10779.1" target="_blank">controversial</a> partially because the effect sizes were small. Also, so-called “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-04-30/how-the-internet-tricks-you-out-of-privacy-deceptive-design/9676708" target="_blank">dark patterns</a>” are designed to trick us into sharing more, or <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://econsultancy.com/three-dark-patterns-ux-big-brands-and-why-they-should-be-avoided/" target="_blank">spending more</a> on websites like Amazon. These are tricks of website design such as hiding the unsubscribe button, or showing how many people are buying the product you’re looking at right now. They subconsciously nudge you towards actions the site would like you to take. <h3>You are being profiled</h3> Cambridge Analytica, the company involved in the largest known Facebook data leak to date, claimed to be able to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/cambridge-analytica-and-the-perils-of-psychographics" target="_blank">profile your psychology</a> based on your “likes”. These profiles could then be used to target you with political advertising. “Cookies” are small pieces of data which track us across websites. They are records of actions you’ve taken online (such as links clicked and pages visited) that are stored in the browser. When they are combined with data from multiple sources including from large-scale hacks, this is known as “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-12-03/data-enrichment-industry-privacy-breach-people-data-labs/11751786" target="_blank">data enrichment</a>”. It can link our personal data like email addresses to other information such as our education level. These data are regularly used by tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, and others to build profiles of us and predict our future behaviour. <h3>You are being predicted</h3> So, how much of your behaviour can be predicted by algorithms based on your data? Our research, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0510-5">published in </a><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0510-5" target="_blank">Nature Human Behaviou</a><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0510-5">r last year</a>, explored this question by looking at how much information about you is contained in the posts your friends make on social media. Using data from Twitter, we estimated how predictable peoples’ tweets were, using only the data from their friends. We found data from eight or nine friends was enough to be able to predict someone’s tweets just as well as if we had downloaded them directly (well over 50% accuracy, see graph below). Indeed, 95% of the potential predictive accuracy that a machine learning algorithm might achieve is obtainable just from friends’ data. Our results mean that even if you #DeleteFacebook (which trended after the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/deletefacebook-calls-grow-after-cambridge-analytica-data-scandal" target="_blank">Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018</a>), you may still be able to be profiled, due to the social ties that remain. And that’s before we consider the things about Facebook that make it so <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-so-hard-to-deletefacebook-constant-psychological-boosts-keep-you-hooked-92976" target="_blank">difficult to delete</a> anyway. We also found it’s possible to build profiles of non-users — so-called “<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0513-2" target="_blank">shadow profiles</a>” — based on their contacts who are on the platform. Even if you have never used Facebook, if your friends do, there is the possibility a shadow profile could be built of you. On social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, privacy is no longer tied to the individual, but to the network as a whole. <h3>No more free will? Not quite</h3> But all hope is not lost. If you do delete your account, the information contained in your social ties with friends grows stale over time. We found predictability gradually declines to a low level, so your privacy and anonymity will eventually return. While it may seem like algorithms are eroding our ability to think for ourselves, it’s not necessarily the case. The evidence on the effectiveness of psychological profiling to influence voters <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/us/politics/cambridge-analytica.html" target="_blank">is thin</a>. Most importantly, when it comes to the role of people versus algorithms in things like spreading (mis)information, people are just as important. On Facebook, the extent of your exposure to diverse points of view is more closely related <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/348/6239/1130" target="_blank">to your social groupings</a> than to the way News Feed presents you with content. And on Twitter, while “fake news” may spread faster than facts, it is <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6380/1146" target="_blank">primarily people who spread it</a>, rather than bots. Of course, content creators exploit social media platforms’ algorithms to promote content, on <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/dont-just-blame-youtubes-algorithms-for-radicalisation-humans-also-play-a-part-125494" target="_blank">YouTube</a>, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/dont-just-blame-echo-chambers-conspiracy-theorists-actively-seek-out-their-online-communities-127119" target="_blank">Reddit</a> and other platforms, not just the other way round. Image credit: Shutterstock This article was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/behaviour/are-algorithms-eroding-our-ability-to-think/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by The Conversation. </div>

Technology

Jungle Cruise is now streaming with Emily Blunt and The Rock

All ages will enjoy the new movie called Jungle Cruise which is now streaming on Disney+. It’s bursting with laughs and surprises - starring Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson – known as The Rock. If cinemas are open near you, Jungle Cruise will be showing. Otherwise, it’s streaming early on Disney+ but if you’re signed up for the platform, you will need to pay an extra amount of $35 to watch the movie. Inspired by the famous Disneyland theme park ride, Jungle Cruise is an adventure-filled, rollicking thrill-ride down the Amazon with wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff (played by Johnson) and intrepid researcher Dr Lily Houghton (played by Blunt.) Lily travels from London to the Amazon jungle and enlists Frank’s questionable services to guide her downriver on La Quila—his ramshackle-but-charming boat. Lily is determined to uncover an ancient tree with unparalleled healing abilities—possessing the power to change the future of medicine. Thrust on this epic quest together, the unlikely duo encounter many dangers and supernatural forces, all lurking in the deceptive beauty of the lush rainforest. But as the secrets of the lost tree unfold, the stakes reach even higher for Lily and Frank and their fate—and mankind’s—hangs in the balance. Jaume Collet-Serra directs the film, which also stars Edgar Ramírez, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons and Paul Giamatti. The film’s producers are John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment; Dwayne Johnson, Hiram Garcia and Dany Garcia of Seven Bucks Productions; and Beau Flynn of Flynn Picture Co., with Scott Sheldon and Doug Merrifield serving as executive producers. The story is by John Norville & Josh Goldstein and Glenn Ficarra & John Requa, and the screenplay is by Michael Green and Glenn Ficarra & John Requa. You can watch Jungle Cruise on the <a href="mailto:https://www.disneyplus.com/en-au">Disney+ platform here.</a> Photo: Courtesy of Disney

Movies

Queen Elizabeth’s subtle tribute to Prince Philip over live video stream

The Queen has long been a fan of making subtle but succinct statements with her jewelry, and as her husband remains in hospital, she has paid tribute to him in the best way she knows how. While on a live video call, the 94-year-old monarch donned a sentimental brooch which she first wore in her official 1947 engagement photos. The stunning Diamond Clematis Brooch has been featured several times throughout the years and has six distinctive diamond petals. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7840056/queen-elizabeth-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/35cc5caddc9f47b49e7626d7624f5c2c" /> Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, 1947. It comes as Philip recovers in a London hospital after he admitted himself over two weeks ago with complaints of an infection. The Queen and Philip received their COVID vaccines in early January, and the monarch is urging Britons to get the jab, claiming it “didn’t hurt at all”. She was joined by people overseeing the vaccine rollout, including Dr Emily Lawson, chief commercial officer of NHS England and Derek Grieve from the Scottish Government’s vaccinations division. “Once you’ve had the vaccine you have a feeling of, you know, you’re protected, which is I think very important,” the Queen said. “And the other thing is that it is obviously difficult for people if they’ve never had a vaccine or they’ve had to um, but they ought to think about other people rather than themselves.” The Queen and her husband have been staying at Windsor Castle while seeing through England’s current coronavirus lockdown.

Caring

Facebook blocks terminally ill man from live streaming his death

Facebook said it would block the livestream of a Frenchman suffering from an incurable condition who wanted to broadcast his death on the social media platform. Alain Cocq recently announced that he was refusing all food, drink and medicine after President Emmanuel Macron declined his request for euthanasia. The 57-year-old suffers from a rare medical condition which causes the walls of his arteries to stick together. Cocq believed he had less than a week to live and said he would broadcast his death from Saturday morning. "The road to deliverance begins and believe me, I am happy," he wrote on Facebook shortly after midnight in a post announcing he had "finished his last meal". "I know the days ahead are going to be difficult but I have made my decision and I am calm," he added. Facebook has been heavily criticised over the way it monitors content and said it was against their rules to portray suicide. "Although we respect (Cocq's) decision to want to draw attention to this complex question, following expert advice we have taken measures to prevent the live broadcast on Alain's account," a Facebook spokesman told AFP. "Our rules do not allow us to show suicide attempts." Cocq is trying to gather supporters saying: "Facebook is blocking my video broadcast until September 8." "It is up to you now," he said in a message to supporters before giving out Facebook's French address "so you can let them know what you think about their methods of restricting free speech". "There will be a back-up within 24 hours" to run the video, he added. Cocq had asked Macron for permission after he wanted to die in peace by taking a substance, but the president refused, saying it was not allowed under French law. Cocq has used his plight to draw attention to the situation of terminally ill patients in France who are unable to be allowed to die in line with their wishes. "Because I am not above the law, I am not able to comply with your request," Macron said in a letter to Cocq, which the patient published on his Facebook page. "I cannot ask anyone to go beyond our current legal framework... Your wish is to request active assistance in dying which is not currently permitted in our country."

Legal

Bingeing Netflix under lockdown? Here’s why streaming comes at a cost to the environment

Coronavirus lockdowns have led to a <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2020/COVID-19-puts-brakes-on-global-emissions">massive reduction</a> in global emissions, but there’s one area where energy usage is up – way up – during the pandemic: <a href="https://which-50.com/an-extraordinary-period-in-internet-history-akamai-data-shows-30-per-cent-surge-in-internet-traffic/">internet traffic</a>. Data-intensive <a href="https://www.streamingmediablog.com/2020/04/cdn-traffic-update.html">video streaming</a>, <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gaming-usage-up-75-percent-coronavirus-outbreak-verizon-reports-1285140">gaming</a> and <a href="https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/04/01/a-message-to-our-users/">livestreaming</a> for business, university and school classes, is <a href="https://theshiftproject.org/en/lean-ict-2/">chewing up energy</a>. Estimates can be <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-what-is-the-carbon-footprint-of-streaming-video-on-netflix">notoriously difficult</a> and depend on the electricity source, but six hours of streaming video may be the equivalent of burning one litre of petrol, due to emissions from the electricity used to power the <a href="https://theconversation.com/wheres-your-data-its-not-actually-in-the-cloud-its-sitting-in-a-data-centre-64168">data centres</a> which deliver the video. In fact, the energy associated with the global IT sector – from powering internet servers to charging smartphones – is estimated to have the <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160811090046.htm">same carbon footprint</a> as the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06610-y">aviation industry’s fuel emissions</a> (before planes were grounded). But Australia is a global leader in research to lower the energy used in IT, which is vital for meeting the streaming demand without the environmental cost. Where does the data come from? Video requires huge amounts of data, and accounts for around <a href="https://theshiftproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019-02.pdf">80% of the data</a> transmitted on the internet. Much of the energy needed for streaming services is consumed by data centres, which deliver data to your computer or device. Increasingly housed in vast factory-sized buildings, these servers store, process and distribute internet traffic. Research in 2015 found data centres may consume as much as <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/6/1/117">13% of the world’s electricity by 2030</a>, accounting for about 6% of global carbon dioxide emissions. And the European Commission-funded Eureca project <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/major-milestone-driving-energy-efficiency-data-rabih-bashroush/">found</a> data centres in EU countries consumed 25% more energy in 2017 compared with 2014. Imagine what those figures will look like at the end of this year of home-bound internet use. Meeting demands with Moore’s law The growth in IT is often taken for granted. In contrast to the old days of dial-up internet, we now demand a three-hour movie, in high definition, to download immediately. We want phones that can take video like a pro. None of this is free. Nor is it sustainable. Every year the number of computations, or transmission of information through space, done globally, <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/332/6025/60">increases by 60%</a>, according to 2011 research. All this computation uses “transistors”. These are tiny switches that amplify electrical signals, and are made using silicon-based technology. For the past 40 years, our ever-increasing need for more computing was largely satisfied by incremental improvements in silicon-based computing technology – ever-smaller, ever-faster, ever-more efficient chips. We refer to this constant shrinking of silicon components as “Moore’s law”. For example, since the late 1970s the length of transistors reduces by about 30%, and the area by about 50%, every two years. This shrinks the energy used in switching on and off each transistor by about 50%, which is better for the environment. While each transistor uses only a tiny amount of energy, there are billions of transistors in a typical computer chip, each switching billions of time per second. This can add up to a vast amount of energy. We need better chips Recently it has become much <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/when-the-chips-are-down/">harder</a> (and much more <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/2013/11/18/no-moore">expensive</a>) to pursue such trends, and the number of companies pursuing smaller components is dropping off rapidly. Globally, four companies manufactured chips with 14 nanometre (nm) transistors in 2014, but in recent years they’ve struggled to continue shrinking the size of silicon transistors. Global Foundries dropped out of this race altogether in <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/13277/globalfoundries-stops-all-7nm-development">2018</a>, and Intel experienced enormous <a href="https://www.anandtech.com/show/15580/intel-cfo-our-10nm-will-be-less-profitable-than-22nm">problems</a> with manufacturing at 10 nm. That leaves only two companies (Samsung and TSMC) making 7 nm transistors today. So the answer isn’t to switch off Netflix. The answer is to create <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/24/905789/were-not-prepared-for-the-end-of-moores-law/">better computer chips</a>. But we’ve got everything we can out of silicon, so we need to use something else. If we want computing to continue to grow, we need new, energy-efficient computers. Australia is a leader in low-energy solutions Australia is leading the world in this new field to replace conventional electronics. The ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (<a href="http://www.fleet.org.au/">FLEET</a>) was established in 2017 to address exactly this challenge. Michael Fuhrer explains topological materials and why they might change the world. Last year scientists at FLEET published research in Nature <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0788-5">revealing</a> the discovery that the “topological” material sodium-bismuthide could be the key to achieving ultra-low energy electronics. These so-called topological insulators, which led to a <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2016/summary/">2016 Nobel Prize in Physics</a>, conduct electricity only along their edges, and in one direction, without loss of energy due to resistance. This discovery is a first step towards the development of a low-energy replacement for conventional silicon-based electronics. Other top research centres in Australia are addressing different parts of this challenge. For example, <a href="https://tmos.org.au/">one centre</a> is working to reduce the energy used in ubiquitous communication of digital data. Another two are taking a different tack, developing an entirely new <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/01/29/66141/what-is-quantum-computing/">quantum technology for computing</a> which promises to enormously speed up, and improve the efficiency of, certain difficult computing tasks. Quantum computing expert Michelle Simmons explains why this research is so important. Other countries are equally focused on developing alternatives to the unsustainable need for better and faster electronics, since we cannot sustain the energy needed for these existing and future technologies. All of these technologies are still confined to specialised laboratories and are probably at least a decade away from finding their way into everyday devices. But we don’t expect the demand for computing to go away, and the energy problem in IT will only become more urgent. Written by Michael Fuhrer and Errol Hunt. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/bingeing-netflix-under-lockdown-heres-why-streaming-comes-at-a-cost-to-the-environment-143190">The Conversation.</a>

Movies

International film archives are streaming up a storm during lockdown: Australia’s movie trove isn’t even online

<a href="https://www.cinetecamilano.it/">Cineteca Milano</a> is renowned for its silent film holdings. With a collection of more than 35,000 Italian and international films dating back to the 1890s, it was both coincidental and fortuitous that, in December 2019, the archive began digitalisation. Part of a national <a href="http://www.cinema.beniculturali.it/Notizie/5188/66/contributi-per-il-piano-di-digitalizzazione-anno-2018/">digitalisation program</a>, the Cineteca decided rather than merely deposit their digitised materials into the holdings of the Cineteca Nazionale in Rome, they would release films online. Matteo Pavesi, the director of the Cineteca Italiana, tells me they wanted to “make our oldest archival materials visible; we wanted to publish these holdings for everyone to enjoy”. Since the Cineteca was shut in February, Cineteca’s staff of six have been releasing 20 films a week on their free streaming service. Pre-coronavirus, Cineteca Milano attracted around 300 users to its site each day. In March, the online archive attracted more than 4 million users. Saving history Film archives began to <a href="https://www.fiafnet.org/pages/History/FIAF-Timeline.html">be established in 1933</a> as archivists realised films needed to be safeguarded for their own sake, rather than for military or religious purposes. Nitrate film used from the early 1890s through the mid-1950s, and magnetic tape used from the mid-1940s to the early 2000s, cannot survive the test of time. So, in addition to managing storage environments, archives <a href="https://www.nfsa.gov.au/corporate-information/publications/deadline-2025">preserve films digitally</a>. Commercial streaming services offer access to films, but they do not ensure this content is stored, saved and contextualised. They are not custodians of history or culture. Archives ensure recordings of the past remain meaningfully embedded in our contemporary life. In a time when the audiovisual is our primary mode of communication, the archive as an institution protecting and championing our shared history is more important than ever. Making history Since the <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/">British Film Institute</a> (BFI) shut its London doors on March 17, Bryony Dixon, their curator of silent film, tells me they have seen a 200% increase in online traffic. Short, punchy films are popular, and Dixon says these early silent films are like TikTok: “designed to just go ‘Here I am, I look at this’”. The BFI is also working to document the period of the COVID-19 crisis. <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/archive-collections/archive-projects/britain-on-lockdown">Britain on Lockdown</a> asks the public to send in videos to chart the national development of the coronavirus crisis. <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/these-hands-michael-rosen-poem-nhs">These Are The Hands</a> is a short and emotive found-footage film using archival public health movies and contemporary footage of NHS staff. We see hands touching the newborn, the young, the aged, the disabled, and the sick. At every stage of our lives, the film reminds us health-care workers are essential. These Are The Hands was released the day I spoke with Dixon. “There won’t be a dry eye in the house,” she says. “It is very powerful.” A quiet archive While use of these archives in Milan and London has increased under lockdown, Australia’s <a href="https://www.nfsa.gov.au/">National Film and Sound Archive</a> (NFSA) has not seen a significant change. Meg Labrum, general manager of collections, tells me in Europe people “appreciate, celebrate, use, know about their archive”. In Australia, she says the film archive is “a kind of interesting, slightly odd, cultural provider”. Although the NFSA has a significant collection in Canberra, it does not release 20 films a week like the Milan archive, nor does it boast a dedicated streaming service like the BFI. The NFSA’s online presence is focused on curation, rather than the delivery of streaming material. It frames small samples of screen content into topical themes and exhibitions. With rare exception, users cannot watch films, but they can (for example) listen to producers Jocelyn Moorhouse and Lynda House speak about <a href="https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/muriels-wedding">the making</a> of Muriel’s Wedding. Australia was once the <a href="https://apnews.com/e8187ca922bbc63541581ace1535a769">end-of-the-line</a> for global film distribution. Films sent around the globe for viewing would often remain in Australia – it made no financial sense to return bulky film reels to their country of origin. This means the NFSA has an internationally important collection, including items such as the most complete version of the French actress <a href="https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/sarah-bernhardt/">Sarah Bernhardt</a>’s Camille (1911). As a film historian, I am frustrated by <a href="https://online.ucpress.edu/fmh/article/2/1/135/106359/Interview-in-Melbourne-with-Meg-Labrum-National">licensing issues</a> in Australia blocking our access to film heritage. Local copyright laws and an aversion to copyright risks have meant these <a href="http://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/article/digital-access-the-impact-of-copyright-on-digitisation-practices-in-australian-museums-galleries-libraries-and-archives/">legal issues</a> seem to haunt the NFSA far more than they do in comparable institutions abroad. With staff working from home, Labrum sees the COVID-19 crisis consolidating the NFSA’s drive towards the digital: “an experiment […] testing just how far we can keep the collection open in a purely existing digital content context.” While not streaming films, the NFSA has nevertheless focused on digital preservation, continuing the digitisation of magnetic tapes during shutdown. Films to the people Two days after our interview, Dixon was put on furlough, her pay reduced by 20% and unsure about her future employment. For now, her team “split work. […] We’ll cover a skeleton service”. But she remains optimistic about the impact of COVID-19 on the BFI and its operations. The pandemic has “proved the worth of digitising material and putting it online in a massive way,” she says. “If it means that the people don’t go to the films, we need to take the films to the people.” The increased traffic to the BFI and Cineteca Milano shows there is a want to engage with our film histories – coronavirus makes obvious how hampered Australians are in the access to ours. Written by Victoria Duckett. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/international-film-archives-are-streaming-up-a-storm-during-lockdown-australias-movie-trove-isnt-even-online-137169">The Conversation.</a>

Movies

Music collectors are seeking out rare albums that you can't stream

As of the third quarter <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/244995/number-of-paying-spotify-subscribers/">of 2019, music streaming giant Spotify had 113 million paid subscribers worldwide</a> — but it’s still missing some famous albums that many listeners feel they can’t live without. And in today’s digital world, it can be expensive and difficult to get a physical copy of those missing albums. Music streaming dominates paid music consumption in the <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/10185/music-consumption-in-the-us/">United States</a> and <a href="https://musiccanada.com/resources/statistics/">Canada</a>. But services like Spotify and Apple Music can’t just upload whatever music they’d like. Legal disputes, sample clearance issues — when permission can’t be obtained for the use of part of a song in a new song — and rights-holders withholding music can all get in the way of music being available on your streaming platform of choice. And that can make the music even more difficult and more expensive to get your hands on physically. Legal disputes between <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/musicians-v-record-labels-famous-feuds/">artists and their record labels have been happening for decades</a>. Disputes can keep music from ever coming out at all, in which case consumers don’t know what they’re missing — but they can also take music that consumers already love out of circulation. Rare $130 cassette If you’re a fan of the hip-hop group De La Soul, you might have noticed that its 1989 album 3 Feet High and Rising is missing from paid subscription streaming services. This is due to <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2019/03/de-la-soul-3-feet-high-and-rising-streaming-spotify-tidal.html">disputes between the group and its label, Tommy Boy Records.</a> <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304142/original/file-20191127-112526-uxlosu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" alt="" /> If your ‘90s dubbed De La Soul tape has broken down, a new cassette today may cost $130. Mike B in Colorado/Flickr De La Soul said in an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/wearedelasoul/photos/a.631626713540839/2309714252398735/?type=3&theater">August Facebook post</a> that it that was unable to reach a streaming agreement “and earn Tommy Boy’s respect for our music/legacy.” The dispute has led to Tommy Boy delaying the release of that album on streaming services. The album is not being widely reissued, so few copies are available in any physical format for fans who can’t stream one of their favourite albums on their favourite streaming service. There is a copy of <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/3-Feet-High-Rising-Vinyl/dp/B00CJF9SZC/ref=tmm_vnl_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=">the vinyl LP of 3 Feet High and Rising selling online for nearly $300</a>. A cassette is available for more than $130. Even the CD is selling for more than $100. Taylor Swift delays release of album Rights-holders, whether they are the artist or not, can also choose to withhold music from streaming services. Taylor Swift has famously done this, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/9/15767986/taylor-swift-apple-music-spotify-statements-timeline">first to fight for music’s value, then to fight for better streaming royalty rates</a> and then delaying the release of <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-to-withhold-reputation-from-streaming-services-197389/#:%7E:targetText=Taylor%20Swift's%20new%20album,the%20specifics%20with%20various%20platforms.">her 2017 album Reputation on streaming services</a>. She made Reputation available only for digital download and on CD at first. But rights-holders withholding music can sometimes get more complicated. Blackground Records — owned by Aaliyah’s uncle Barry Hankerson — controls the masters of most of the late singer’s music and has <a href="https://www.complex.com/music/2016/12/aaliyahs-music-isnt-online-and-her-uncle-barry-hankerson-is-the-reason-why">not made it available on streaming services</a>. Aaliyah <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/aaliyah-1979-2001-192667/">died in a plane crash in 2001 at the age of 22</a>, not long after the release of her platinum-certified self-titled album. Michael Greaves, who manages royalties for a music company based in Toronto, said in a September interview that he thinks Hankerson is “trying to look for the best deal … building up the value,” as Taylor Swift did. But others, including Greaves, who is also a former DJ, have argued that there is an emotional component to Hankerson withholding the Blackground music. Rock band Tool also famously <a href="https://www.techradar.com/news/after-years-of-resisting-rock-band-tool-is-finally-entering-the-streaming-age">didn’t put all of its music up on streaming services until Aug. 2, 2019,</a> just before the Aug. 30 release of its newest album, Fear Inoculum. Whether these rights-holders are using profiteering tactics, the music is increasing in value because it’s not available on paid streaming services and there are limited physical copies. On Amazon.ca, the CD of <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/One-Million-Aaliyah/dp/B000002JWP">Aaliyah’s One In A Million is selling for as much as $189</a>. “I have those albums, I got them when they came out. I’m lucky that way,” says Greaves. Blackground also controls the rights to the master recordings of singer Jojo’s first two albums, which it has not released on streaming services. Jojo wound up <a href="https://www.wmagazine.com/story/jojo-re-release-albums-new-music-interview">suing Blackground, re-recording those albums and releasing them on streaming services herself</a>. Unfortunately, Aaliyah is not alive to do the same. Download delays are ongoing Despite advances in music technology and administration, sample clearances can still be an issue, keeping music from being released or forcing it to be removed from streaming services. It’s common for rappers and hip-hop artists to release “<a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/rmx446/the-real-difference-between-a-mixtape-and-an-album">mixtapes</a>” — free releases which were once distributed on cassettes but are now commonly distributed on Soundcloud. Mixtapes often contain samples whose permissions haven’t been legally granted, which keep them from being available on streaming services such as Spotify, where rules around sample clearances are more stringent than on Soundcloud. The artist known as Chance the Rapper, for instance, went through the process of clearing all of the samples on his 2013 mixtape Acid Rap, which went live on streaming services last summer — <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8518032/chance-the-rapper-juice-acid-rap-streaming-services">but he couldn’t get the sample on his track Juice cleared</a>. According to the artist’s website, <a href="https://www.chanceraps.com/shop/acid-rap-vinyl-pre-order">the vinyl pre-order of the mixtape is sold out and the website says it is shipping this fall</a> — however, it’s unclear if it has already shipped. It’s also unclear if the sample on Juice will be cleared for the vinyl release — but if it’s not, there’s no doubt that the not-so-legal cassette with the original track listing will be worth much more. Music administration has come a long way, but it’s also become more complicated. As <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8297506/drake-nice-for-what-lauryn-hill-ex-factor-samples-kehlani-cardi-b">artists sample samples of samples</a>, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/watch-dj-khaled-explain-how-infant-son-executive-produced-new-lp-116467/">babies are given producer credits</a> and <a href="https://www.thefader.com/2019/10/07/lil-nas-x-cardi-b-sued-copyright-infringement-rodeo-2019">copyright infringement lawsuits over popular songs</a> seem to be frequently in the news, it’s unlikely that every album under the sun will be available to us at the press of a button any time soon. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/marina-eckersley-857932">Marina Eckersley</a>, Dalla Lana Fellow in Global Journalism, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-toronto-1281">University of Toronto</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/music-collectors-seek-out-rare-albums-not-available-on-streaming-126488">original article</a>.

Music

Our Partners

Over 60

News

Shop

Catalogues

Contests

Entertainment

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Property

Games

Information

Keep up to date

Search

"I can't hear you!": New feature set to do away with subtitles

Streaming service giant pays woman 5 figures to watch content