IBC reports: “AMC Networks has acquired full control of BBC America, its joint venture with BBC Studios. The US media company has owned a 49.9% stake in the channel since 2014, which it purchased for $200m in a deal with BBC Worldwide. AMC Networks has assumed control of the remaining 50.1% of BBC America in exchange for $42m in cash.”
Broadband TV News reports: “Max subscriptions added to Prime Video in Sweden and the Netherlands. As of today (Monday) it’s now possible to purchase Warner Bros Discovery’s Max on Amazon Prime Video in Sweden and the Netherlands. Max’s Basic with Ads and Standard plans are available to customers as add-on subscriptions through Prime Video. There’s also a sports add on that includes access.”
Yahoo! Finance reports: “TikTok parent ByteDance is adding video-generation ability to its ChatGPT alternative Doubao, as the short-video giant doubles down on a potential blockbuster in China’s fast-growing generative artificial intelligence (AI) market. The Doubao chatbot – powered by its namesake large language model (LLM), the same underlying technology behind ChatGPT – has started testing a new video function that is able to convert text or images into lifelike video clips, thanks to its “outstanding semantic understanding capability”, according to the app’s introduction.”
GamesBeat reports: “Neon has raised $14 million in funding to build its direct-to-consumer digital store platform to help make game companies more independent. The investors include Thrive Capital, Renegade Partners, Griffin Gaming Partners, a16z Games, Max Levchin’s SciFi VC and Ribbit Capital. San Francisco-based Neon will be doubling its team over the months to come while accelerating investment in its product and go-to-market efforts.”
Music Business Worldwide reports: “Virgin Music Group has teamed up with Tokyo-based Bushiroad Music to distribute anime music globally. Under the terms of the partnership announced on Tuesday (November 12), Virgin Music, a division of Universal Music Group, will provide digital distribution services for Bushiroad Music‘s content across 35 countries.”
The Hollywood Reporter reports: “Netflix says that users of its advertising tier have surged in the past six months, and that the ad tier now has 70 million monthly active users globally. That is up from only 40 million just six months ago, and up from 15 million a year ago. The company also reiterated that more than half of new users are subscribing to an ad tier, helping to drive that growth.”
VGC reports: “The company said last month that it planned to do more to protect children in the massively popular online platform, saying it would share more information in November. That information has now been shared on the Roblox Creator Hub site, listing a number of features that will soon be blocked off from younger players.”
CNBC reports: “Warner Bros. Discovery said Thursday its streaming platform Max added 7.2 million global subscribers in the third quarter. It marked the biggest quarterly growth for the streaming platform since its inception. Max now had 110.5 million subscribers as of Sept. 30. Warner Bros. Discovery’s flagship streaming service has been growing its subscriber base at a fast clip this year since expanding internationally during the first half.”
Broadband TV News reports: “Paramount+ has confirmed it will introduce its Premium and Advertising Tiers on 20 November. The two new tiers will join the existing Standard tier in the UK and Ireland. Marco Nobili, Executive Vice President and International General Manager, Paramount+, said: “Building on the success of our multi-tier strategy in Canada and Australia – where nearly half of our Direct-To-Consumer sign-ups come from a non-Standard plan – we are excited to bring our Premium and ad-supported tiers to the UK and Ireland.”
Social Media Today reports: “YouTube’s looking to give Shorts creators another pathway to monetization, while it’s also adding new Data Story cards that aim to provide more insight into initial video performance. The main update is a new process that’ll enable Shorts creators to prompt brands for potential partnerships, essentially sponsoring their Shorts clips.”
