Diversity is on the Rise in the Media

On November 20, 2019 By tue65232In Diversity, Uncategorized1 Comment

According to Episodic Television Director Inclusion Report that was recently released by the Directors Guild of America, 50% of TV episodes of 2018-19 were directed by women or someone of color which is the first time in a long time. From the previous year, the number has increased by 42.5% percent and increased by 21% since 2013-14. The Directors Guild of America president, Thomas Schlamme stated “Inclusion has been a priority of our Guild for a very long time as we’ve pushed the studios, networks and producers to do better in their hiring”. DGA has also stated that there has been an increase of directors being hired who have never even directed one episode in their career. This is giving newcomers hope that they can jump start their careers but there are still concerns.

“Producers hold in their hands the power to grant an opportunity that can set up an aspiring TV director for a lifelong career doing what they dreamed of. We still have a lot of concern over the underlying hiring practices that reduce the number of jobs available to budding and experienced directors alike. The heart of the issue is that producers aren’t factoring in that every job given to someone who does not pursue a directing career equals an opportunity withheld.” – Thomas Schlamme, DGA president

Reading this article was truly a breath of fresh air because I recently research how we don’t see a lot of diversity in the media industry. It is showing that we are moving forward in society and we are providing more opportunities for some that may have not had them otherwise.

Spotify’s Discovery Feature Turns to Podcasting

On November 20, 2019 By Jared GiovanIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

podcast

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwirp5On7_flAhVqn-AKHUkSBYIQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=%2Furl%3Fsa%3Di%26source%3Dimages%26cd%3D%26ved%3D%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.onlinemarketinginstitute.org%252Fblog%252F2018%252F09%252Fextend-brand-building-podcast-strategy%252F%26psig%3DAOvVaw1IPXolJJczq9u9cPD6ZfLA%26ust%3D1574307688027123&psig=AOvVaw1IPXolJJczq9u9cPD6ZfLA&ust=1574307688027123

In recent news, Spotify has taken its first steps towards personalizing their user’s podcast recommendations. Spotify’s first step towards personalization was the launch of its “Your Daily Podcast” playlist, which offers users a personalized list of podcasts they could be interested in. After seeing positive results during a testing period, Spotify has decided to roll out the feature to all users in the US, UK, Germany, Sweden, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The playlist, which personalizes user’s podcast recommendations, mixes podcasts that users already follow along with Spotify’s own recommendations. To gather a list of podcasts that users might be interested in, Spotify takes into account listening history and podcasts users currently follow. The playlist is set to feature trailers along with long podcasts and shorter news segments. Emily Rawitsch, Director of Product Design, states that, “Listeners might be shown an episode in a series they already listen to; a show about a similar topic to something they already like; a popular show in a genre they like; or a show with a host they already enjoy.” Spotify plans to stick with listening behavior as a determining factor for podcast recommendations with plans to role out a further developed algorithm in the future.

In my opinion, I think this is an awesome move for Spotify. There really hasn’t been a great place (at least not that I know of) to discover new podcasts and with Spotify’s new feature, this could be the beginning of a better discovery process. Their current music discovery playlists and features are awesome and if they are able to replicate the same thing with podcasts, I think this could be a big hit. I currently only listen to two podcasts, so I am pretty excited to be able to use Spotify’s new discovery feature to find new podcasts.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/19/20971061/spotify-playlist-daily-podcast-update-recommendations-subscribe

Amazon Steps Up The Game: Free Music Streaming Service With Ads Now Available

On November 20, 2019 By William HauserIn Amazon, Music, Streaming1 Comment

Image Source: Amazon

The music streaming industry has long been dominated by the three companies Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Since its creation, Amazon Prime Music was only available for use by the companies Prime members. In a move that many media researchers believe is to step up the game against Spotify and Apple, Amazon is now offering its music streaming service for free to anyone (none-prime members) who download the application on IOS/Android devices, Fire TV, and online.

Of course like its competitors, the free download and use of the music streaming service comes with advertisements in order to continue to listen to music. The service will be available to anyone in the U.S., U.K. and Germany and offers the same 2-million song catalog as Prime Music, with the exception of Prime Music being ad-free for users that are subscription members to the companies services.

Interestingly enough, Spotify’s stock price dropped almost 5% following Amazon’s announcement of their free music streaming service intended to take in more users to compete against Spotify’s astonishing 140 million users a month.

“Expansion of the free-with-ads Amazon service will expose more consumers to Amazon’s music, who can then be promoted to join Prime to get the ad-free Amazon Music free — or to upgrade to Amazon’s more premium music services” (Lukovitz).

With the addition of the add-supported Amazon Music service to its lineup, the company now offers four different versions of music streaming with Prime Music, Amazon Music Unlimited (50 million song catalog) and Amazon Music HD which features its largest catalog and quality music streaming.

Many believe this expansion of the free-with-ads service will expose more people to Amazon, which in turn will lead to the promotion of these consumers to become a prime member for ad-free music or maybe even taking it a step further to the Unlimited or HD service.

I believe that the music streaming service is only becoming more popular with many of these media giants targeting their members with subscription based services in order to gain revenue and customer loyalty which is essential in today’s digital world. All three of these leading music streaming services constantly are looking for an upper hand to their competitors, and Amazon appears to have just moved towards leveling the playing field.

Sources:

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/343552/amazon-opens-up-availability-of-free-music-streami.html

https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/19/amazon-makes-its-music-streaming-service-free-with-ads/

Sony Acquires Game Show Network

On November 20, 2019 By dylanmajerusIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Image result for game show network

Sony Acquires AT&T’s 42% Game Show Network Stake In Deal Worth $500M

In recent news, Sony has acquired AT&T’s 42% stake in the Game Show Network. AT&T is reported to make $380 million from the stake sale as well as selling dividends of about $130 million, coming to a grand total of a $500 million evaluation. The entertainment company is said to completely own 100% of the company and will continue to be carried on AT&T’s DirecTV.

AT&T is still recovering from its $81 billion acquisition of Time Warner and by selling the GSN, this gives the company a chance to pay down debt and generate cash from non-strategic assets.

Sony’s Entertainment chairman stated how the the acquisition will allow the brand to advance the ever-growing gameshow business, aligning towards their strategy of developing targeted direct-to-consumer offerings. GSN’s programming portfolio includes notable shows such as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, but also airs syndicated titles such as America Says, The Chase, Common Knowledge and Catch 21, and Family Feud.

One important facet to the deal on both sides is how AT&T will continue to air GSN shows on DirectTV and that Sony has full creative control. Sony has certainly had a good year in terms of striking these massive deals. They held firm in not giving in to Disney’s oppressive negations and now they own a major stake in a very popular television network. Already in the video game, film, and now gameshow industry, it’s interesting to see the vast array of content Sony now has at their disposable. The variety infers just how Sony may be looking down the line when potentially growing the company.

Paging Dr. Google

On November 19, 2019 By Maura GallagherIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Google now has access to millions of medical records thanks to a new partnership with the Ascension hospital network, and even though the companies intentions are unknown, there are already privacy concerns. The program, named Nightingale, is currently under investigation by federal regulators from the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure it doesn’t violate HIPPA. Both parties involved insist they want to have better care and resources for their patients.

On the podcast, Reset, Christina Farr, a tech and health reporter for CNBC, spoke on how this isn’t new for Google’s habits. She observes that how Google likes to gather as much data as they can and then try and figure out how they can use their engineering powerhouse of a company to suggest products and tools built off the data.

While we may be sharing our health status to Google through our searches, it feels very different to them having information like, whether you have HIV or are at risk for diabetes. There is speculation on what what Google is trying to do, but nothing is certain. One theory is that they want to create a database that could help detect diseases earlier, by using the their large-scale database.

This is not the first time Google has showed interested in the Health care industry. They has Google Health from 2008-2012, which actually allowed users to upload their health records. They also launched Google Cloud Healthcare API in 2018, which is a platform that is supposed to allowed healthcare providers to easily, securely, and instantaneously collaborate while taking care of you.

I personally think it is troubling that Google could have my medical history, while it supposedly anonymous and general information, signs have pointed to names being attached to records. They already have so much information on us, but to gather and have access to data as personal and important as health records could have serious concerns. I think there could even be conflicts of interest in whatever Google decides to do with the data.

Article

Justice Department to abolish anti-trust laws from the 1940’s

On November 19, 2019 By William StroughIn Distribution, Movie, Technology2 Comments

With the new release of Apple Tv + and Disney + the world has entered the streaming age. More and more movies and shows are turning to streaming platforms today and leaving the old ways of movie theaters behind. The cinematic landscape is changing and old antitrust laws over movie distribution are becoming obsolete and now hurting the industry they were designed to protect. In 1949 Congress passed the Paramount act that limited the eight largest movie studios from buying and owning movie theaters which stops them from controlling the entire movie distribution system. The Paramount act also made it illegal for studios to limit the number of theaters in one area that could play a movie. The Act also made it illegal for theaters to use “block booking” which was a practice that movie studios used. “Block booking” was when movie studios forced theaters to show their bad movies before they showed the good movies.

These laws were very important during the time when cities and towns had one theater with one screen and showing one bad movie would waste everyone’s time and money all so the movie studios would not lose any money. Today however most cities and towns have multiple movie theaters and those theaters now have multiple screens which show many movies at the same time. With the changing landscape in today’s film industry and increases in technology these antitrust laws are now becoming obsolete mostly because now there are 3 movie theater companies who control more than half of all screens in the US.

Removing the Paramount Act would not hurt these giant companies because they are too big now. Smaller, independent, theaters are the ones that are going to be hurt by the removal of this act. If movie distributors are allowed to block book again movie theaters would be crowded with just movies that would bring in a crowd. By removing this Act you are hurting not just small indie movie theaters but also the entire film industry by giving these companies the ability to control the distribution.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/18/business/media/movie-distribution-rules.html

From Streaming Competition to Mobile Application Competition

On November 19, 2019November 19, 2019 By KendelIn SnapchatLeave a comment

In the midst of the “streaming war” there is also a “mobile application war” occurring across the globe as major media companies scramble for the next big thing. But, who’s to be the next winner? Analysts say, the recent explosion of the app Tik-Tok may be the next mobile application trend and could even wipe out Snapchat and Twitter in the future. In 2018 Tik-Tok was rated the number one most downloaded app on IOS and the fourth most downloaded app on Google Play. Not only that but, 40% of its users were outside of the company’s birthplace in China and expanding tremendously in the United States.

So what do other companies do in order to avoid such a crisis? Well, of course, they begin to make replicas of the already existing concept. Snapchat has launched its own version of lip-syncing music to videos by using their new filters and Facebook also launched the app “Lasso” just last year, which uses the same concept as well. However, Tik-Tok is still dominating this lip-syncing market, it has even won my attention, even after I said, “It’s for little kids”; I was wrong. The application has a unique feature that allows users to share “life hacks,” popular trends, pranks, and so much more. Media companies are going to have to develop a more complex and dual service in order to steal viewers from Tik-Tok.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/01/tiktok-climbs-the-download-charts-challenging-snapchat-and-twitter.html

The Difficulty of Animated Costume Design

On November 18, 2019 By aalesanIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Frozen’s animated artists discuss how hard it was to create Frozen 2’s costume designs due to a more in-depth set of details in the movie.

The Story of Frozen: Making a Disney Animated Classic

Griselda S. Lemay and Brittney Lee are members of the visual development team at the Disney corporation, which means that they are the animators of the film. This includes the environment of the movie, props, characters and especially their costumes.

Lemay mentions that the creation of Frozen 2 was a very complicated process and probably the most complex of any other animated movie. She states that it is due to the advancement of computer generated imagery and 3D technology. Although it was a difficult process for both Lee and Lemay, they found the challenge very exciting and educational. Examples of detailed animations included: bead work, sequins, enhancing fabric on the characters and the C.G.I. behind each kind of textures. There is emphasis on how important the movement of the characters are within the movie. They explain that if Elsa or Anna were wearing velvet, that it should have the movement of cotton wear. They also talk about the importance of their wardrobes and how they didn’t want to update their wardrobes too much and take away from their already- built-in personalities. The animators also talk on behalf of their adventures in the movie and considered how their wardrobes would work in regards to their adventures. This included adding pants to their wardrobes, they were underneath their dresses but were added to help them function.

Not only were perfecting animations an important aspect to making Frozen 2 but the fact that audiences and children will want to wear these kinds of costumes came into play when making the animations and alterations. The animators curated their illustrations based on the audience and the feel of the film.

The process of making a movie is already a difficult concept. I can only image how hard it is to animate each section and scene of a children’s movie. Animation is all about the perfection of the drawing, which all handmade or expertly controlled by technology. There is so much time to put into perfecting one image, which I think is insane talent. From the establishment to animation to what it is now, I believe that there is less appreciation in the animation world and I feel like there should be more praise about it.

Source:

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/11/18/20970465/frozen-2-costumes-design-animate-anna-elsa

Google Buys Fitbit and its Data

On November 17, 2019 By marlaynebIn Consumer behavior, Google, TechnologyLeave a comment

google-fitbit

Article: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/17/people-getting-rid-of-fitbits-after-google.html

Image: https://www.gadgetbytenepal.com/google-fitbit-acquisition-privacy-at-risk/

Fitbit is one of the biggest smartwatch companies in the US with their main competitor being Apple and their line of watches. On November first, Fitbit was acquired by Google which means all the health data that Fitbit recorded, will belong to Google. Many users are uncomfortable with this merger because they fear Google will sell their health data to insurance companies or other companies. Jennifer Elias of CNBC wrote an article about Fitbit users getting rid of their devices in lieu of this merger. She wrote about how Fitbit was bought for $2.1 billion and backlash from users and privacy advocates, the concerns may possibly stop the acquisition. Elias wrote about how users were fine with Google buying Nest Labs and integrating Google to home assistants and security. Their concerns are now that Google has access to all the data from the cameras in people’s homes and whatever data is collected from Google Home and health data. Elias quoted from a Fitbit user, “I like your product and have enjoyed it many years, but I value my privacy much, much more. The aggregation of data possible makes me extremely uncomfortable” (Elias, 2019). Elias used multiple tweets from users about the discomfort they feel having their data moved to Google. Many users are now considering using Apple’s watches because they feel more comfortable that Apple won’t sell their data or send it to insurance companies.

I found this article interesting because of the rise of privacy. More and more people are becoming concerned about where their data is going and who has access to it. Facebook has been dealing with a lot of backlash from users demanding better privacy and various lawsuits. Google has also been paying violation fees for Europe when the EU changed their privacy policies. It could be dangerous for Google to have people’s health information because these large companies don’t always keep their promises on privacy and data use. If I had a Fitbit, I would probably get rid of my device as well. I’ve been weary about the smart watches because I never wanted a company to have the ability to track my movement throughout the day and track how I sleep. It made me uncomfortable because these companies aren’t always transparent about what they plan to do with my data and I wouldn’t want an insurer to be able to up-charge me because they somehow have access to my health records from my phone. I also found it interesting that users from this article are completely fine with Google being in their home and recording their property, but health data is where they draw the line. I agree that one company having all that data is dangerous because they can build a profile on you that knows more about you than you do. I wonder if this merger will go through or if users and privacy advocates can stop it.

Twitter Launches New Option to Follow Specific Topics, in Addition to User Accounts

On November 15, 2019November 15, 2019 By Alexa SouthardIn Technology, Twitter, UncategorizedLeave a comment

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/twitter-launches-new-option-to-follow-specific-topics-in-addition-to-user/566772/

Twitter is now beginning to feature an additional option to follow topics, allowing for more user engagement and tweet discovery across the platform. Once a user follows a topic, the tweets will appear on timelines like those of the people they follow. The new feature also may match you with other topics you may like based on those you follow and engage with.

Over 300 topics will be released and available for users to consume, the subjects varying. One thing that Twitter topics will not cover yet is politics. The platform is staying away from the subject considering how sensitive the unintended consequences could be.

The topics will be curated from machine learning algorithms and human editors. The platform is not relying on algorithms alone, which is a smart move considering they are not always reliable in determining what content is relevant to users or topics. Another helpful addition to the new feature could include being able to share tweets to the people involved in the topics, rather than with all of their followers.

The only way to tell if the new option for topics on Twitter will succeed is to wait and see the reaction of the users, and to see if it falls flat like previous introductions of new features to the platform.