Marc Hustvedt’s Post

I've recently heard about this in a podcast from Colin and Samir (watch it if the subjects interests you, it's really good - https://lnkd.in/dwJd7--w). MrBeast, the YouTube phenomenon, has struck a deal with Prime Video & Amazon Studios for a TV series called "Beast Games". This marks an important point in digital history, for multiple reasons: 1. The scale of the deal: Reportedly worth around $100 million, the agreement is a significant investment for Amazon, demonstrating their confidence in MrBeast's ability to draw in large audiences and generate revenue. 2. The competition with rival platforms: Amazon won a bidding war against other major streaming platforms, indicating a high level of interest in securing MrBeast's talents and creative vision. 3. The show's ambitious concept: "Beast Games" is set to be the biggest reality competition series in TV history, featuring 1,000 contestants and a $5 million cash prize. This level of ambition sets the show apart from previous YouTuber-led TV projects. I'll be keeping my 👀 on this as it's set to come out in the last part of the year. #TV #mrbeast #youtube

Mr. Beast’s deal with Amazon isn’t the first Youtuber we’ve seen partnering with the big streamers and it won’t be the last. Issa Rae got a deal for Insecure with HBO because of her online series 'Awkward Black Girl.' a comedy loosely based on her life. And following this the success of Insecure led to an even bigger deal for Issa and HBO for a slew of other shows including 'Rap Sh*t', 'Sweet Life,' and others. Attention is king. Storytelling is king. People who can get attention from the masses will keep being rewarded. They will be rewarded by those who want to attract more eyeballs to their platforms, products, and services. And social media is a treasure trove of individuals who have mastered this. Open platforms with limited resources. Creators who often have nothing more than a good idea and the confidence to execute it. Imagine what these individuals could do with resources. That’s how you get 14 Emmy award nominations and a cult fanbase like Issa. That's how you get Mr. Beast and his slew of businesses and products. Give the creators space to create.

I believe it is a hybrid approach with bonuses being based on success. There is going to be a base line cost/remuneration structure PLUS a bonus. The movie biz has had this system in play for a while now and the same factors of marketing, release date etc are in play there too. With diminishing margins, this P&L approach is a reality for talent.

On Friday nights, I remember taking trips to Blockbuster with my friends. It was an event. We’d stroll around the store for half an hour, just taking our time looking through all of the options and eventually choose a couple of movies to rent for the weekend (and buy some snacks). Then, we’d pick up a pizza on the way home and watch the movies we rented. Sometimes the movies were amazing.  Other times not so much. Either way, it was always fun. It was a simple, tangible experience - physically going to the store to rent a movie. One that I miss and find myself feeling nostalgic about from time to time. Don’t get me wrong. These days, I love streaming my favorite movies and shows on-demand like everyone else. But sometimes I reminisce about the days when technology was simpler. Like… Going to FYE to discover new music. Flipping through the book that came with every CD. Taking care of my tamagotchi. T9 texting on flip phones. Using the corded house phone. Actually memorizing my friends phone numbers. The sound of dial-up internet. Being excited when me and my BFF emailed each other at the same time. There was just something so special about those times for me. And while I admire how technology has evolved to simplify our lives and instantly gratify us,  I can’t help but feel like it’s also taken something precious away. P.S. - What’s something you feel nostalgic about? #linkedincommunity

Yesterday I binged watched Netflix. Yep, I needed a day to veg out and clear my mind and relax. But then I picked the movie “Leave the World Behind” and my blood pressure skyrocketed from the opening credits. I spend the entire movie engrossed in everything they said. And then I watched it again. Yep, twice. A lazy day of movies turned into one of the most eye opening movies I’ve seen in a long time. Essentially, it’s about a cyberattack. Think about how all of us are currently hooked on smartphones. It’s all our communication from phone to text to email. It’s our entertainment. It’s our businesses and jobs. So, as the movie depicts, what happens when the satellites go totally down? When we all become isolated without any form of communication? When GPS is down and Tesla self-driving cars become high speed weapons on open roads? (Yes, this is a scene). It really makes you think. Oh, and guess what REALLY got my attention early on? The Executive Producers… Makes me think long and hard.

Streamers , starting with Apple , is considering paying talents ( actors..producers..directors) fees directly link to the "success" of the series or film they are attached to. Metrics of success are related to number of viewers , new subscribers, and time spent viewing....etc. Is this an attempt for cost cutting or is it a real reward for what is truly premium content and what is not? Ratio of success to failure in Drama series and films could be 1 to 5 or 2 for every 10 ( event seen any reliable stats about that) but in all cases, it cannot be that every series and film are equal in achievement and talents should be treated equally ...or ....is this unfair as there are always other factors such as timing of release, marketing strategy and for sure the quality and strength of scriptwriting!!

An interesting analysis of the audience appeal of the Prime Video & Amazon Studios series "Reacher" that transcends the traditional quadrants. From the article, "...when you...focus on what people actually like to watch, you see that “Reacher” appeals to fans of virtually every television genre. ...Ranker’s psycho-graphic interests platform...look(s) at the other shows that “Reacher” fans are likelier to watch...(and) found that “Reacher” attracts fans of a broad spectrum of titles — and that action shows represent just a fraction of them." Probably intuitive to some extent but evidence-based really counts. https://lnkd.in/eGy7te3V TheWrap Ryan Mach #television #filmindustry #audienceinsights #audiencetargeting #audienceengagement #audienceanalysis

What can this episode still teach us four years later? This is a question I'm asking about every episode as I do a little retrospective on every episode on the way to releasing a couple of lost episodes and then making some entirely new ones. This one is pretty timeless in general but there's actually a new, weirdly salient thing. A topic I'm seeing around more and more among the Black Box Soothsayer community that attempts to divine a bit of what's going on with the most significant pieces of ML in the ad industry (the Google and Meta media optimization algorithms) is "focused ML." Basically, the proposition that many people approached especially the Google stack with, where you could set up a whole lot of different events and give them all different values, and Google's ML would maximize the total value by driving a whole big mix of all those different events, and this was ideal. Now, people are starting to think that actually you shouldn't set a single algorithmic optimization bucket to maximize, say, both Purchases and Email Signups, because Google's ML is better when you separate its effforts into two campaigns each honing in on one of these events, instead of one trying to do the most of both. I actually don't even know if this is true and maybe one day we'll get to test it, but hey, four years ago, someone had a screed about having a single KPI, and so here it is.

Have you read the latest issue of 'On Our Minds' written by Media Group Director Mara Milgrom? In this article, Mara shares the details of Amazon Prime Video's plan to introduce ads during shows and movies in 2024. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gRxYg9C6

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝗳𝗹𝗶𝘅—𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗪𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗢𝗳𝗳? Ever tried driving through Fairfield, Connecticut in the winter in the early 2000s? It’s like a scene from a horror movie. Shops close by 7 PM, which was a shocker for me, coming from Asia where life starts after dark. One of the few escapes was Blockbuster—remember them? I’d drive to Main Street, grab a VHS or DVD, and life was good for a couple of years. Then I moved to Singapore for good. Same deal with Poh Kim Video, renting VCDs or DVDs for a couple of bucks. Simple times. Enter Netflix. Suddenly, Poh Kim starts vanishing. Now, you get perfect digital copies over the net without worrying about scratched discs. Sounds great, right? Well, not so fast. School holidays roll around, and I want my kids to watch classics like Harry Potter and Narnia. Guess what? Not on Netflix. I was told to check Hulu, Discovery, Amazon Prime, Apple TV. Tried Amazon.com as well, but no dice—they can’t rent or sell movies digitally outside the US. Frustrated, I turned to Reddit for advice, where folks suggested illegal streaming sites. Seriously? I’m ready to pay for a movie, but legit platforms leave me hanging. So yeah, Netflix improved distribution into our homes. But did it really improve our lives? Debatable. Can we have a Spotify/Tidal/Apple Music-like service for movies? Where I can find mostly whichever artist I want to listen to on any platform? Imagine having one platform where I can access all the classic and latest movies without jumping through hoops or subscribing to five different services. Now, that would be progress. #TechWoes #DigitalFrustration #StreamFail #progressorregress