Launch of Roku Originals Drives Record Two-Week Streaming Period for The Roku Channel – In the two weeks following the launch of Roku Originals, May 20 to June 3, a record number of unique accounts streamed The Roku Channel. Furthermore, the top ten most watched programs on The Roku Channel were all Roku Originals in this two-week period.
In late May, Roku added 30 original series to The Roku Channel starring major talent like Kevin Hart, Anna Kendrick, Jennifer Lopez and more. The debut of Roku Originals builds on the significant growth of The Roku Channel, which reached households with an estimated 70 million people in the U.S. as of Q1 2021.
In addition to driving broader discovery of The Roku Channel, Roku Originals saw deep engagement. In the first two weeks, more than one in three users of The Roku Channel streamed a Roku Originals series – with users streaming over nine episodes on average.
SHE Media, Part of Penske Media Corporation (PMC), Chooses Taboola as its Exclusive Content Recommendations Provider – Taboola, a global leader in powering recommendations for the open web, helping people discover things they may like, today announced it has been selected by SHE Media, a digital media company created by and for women with 80 million unique visitors per month, as its exclusive content recommendations provider.
SHE Media is part of Penske Media Corporation (PMC) and owns popular destinations including SheKnows, Soaps and STYLECASTER, which focus on lifestyle content that informs and inspires millions of women.
Under the agreement, SHE Media will leverage Taboola Feed, a seamlessly integrated feed that provides readers with personalised content for a more engaging experience, and video, into its family of websites. The company will also leverage Taboola News, which will feature SHE Media content in front of Taboola’s large scale of readers across mobile devices. With these Taboola offerings, SHE Media aims to grow engagement and audiences across the site, as well as feature innovative new ways to boost monetization across its portfolio of websites.
Redbox Expands Redbox Free Live TV With Crackle Plus’s Popcornflix Channel – Redbox, America’s destination for affordable new-release movies and entertainment, has teamed with Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment to add the Popcornflix Channel to Redbox Free Live TV. Launching later this month, the channel will feature popular programming including Robert the Bruce, The Clearing, King Solomon’s Mines (2004), Jason and the Argonauts (2000), and The Poseidon Adventure (2005) among many other titles.
With nearly 100 channels live including three Redbox branded channels designed and programmed for movie lovers everywhere, Free Live TV features a growing lineup of movies and television, news, lifestyle, and sports entertainment programming available to enjoy for free. Free Live TV is available on Redbox.com, Roku, iOS and Android devices; Apple TV, Android TV, Vizio Smart TVs, LG TVs, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X and Chromecast.
Michael Jackson ONE By Cirque du Soleil Returns To Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Aug. 19, 2021 – Michael Jackson ONE by Cirque du Soleil, in collaboration with the Estate of Michael Jackson, will reopen its exclusive residency at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino on Aug. 19, 2021. The internationally acclaimed production, called “strikingly beautiful and emotional” by the Los Angeles Times and a “virtual parade of ‘wow’ moments” by Rolling Stone, will perform five nights a week at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at cirquedusoleil.com/mjone.
Katy Perry and Her Husband Appear in Dystopian Future For Voting Right Advertisement – “As we saw most recently in Georgia and Texas, politicians are attacking our freedom to vote through passing laws that make it harder for seniors, veterans, communities of color, and rural voters to cast their ballots. Time is running out to stop their efforts. I urge you to call your Senator immediately and tell them to vote in favor of the For the People Act,” said artist Katy Perry.
David Guetta And Warner Music Announce Innovative Career-spanning Partnership – David Guetta, one of the biggest figures in global music, with some 50 million record sales and more than 14 billion streams to his name, has entered into a career-spanning, groundbreaking new agreement with Warner Music. The worldwide pact sees Warner Music acquire Guetta’s legendary recorded music catalogue from the last two decades, as well as ink a new deal for future recordings.
Even during the global pandemic, Guetta has had an extraordinarily busy year, with recent hit singles including ‘Bed’ with Joel Corry and Raye, and ‘Heartbreak Anthem’ with Galantis and Little Mix, both of which have been Top 10 hits around the world. He’s also just released ‘Shine Your Light’ with Master KG and Akon.
In total, Guetta has unveiled eight new tracks in the first five months of 2021. There is much more new music to come, including a new single in July. With his team, he also set up some massive live streams. These “United At Home” performances from Dubai, Miami, New York, and Paris were viewed by more than 125 million people across the globe and raised more than US$1.6 million for various charities.
David Guetta says: “I’m super excited about the new music I’m working on. And even more excited that I have started to play all this new music live to my fans again and they are loving it. This is the right time to renew my creative partnership with my trusted team at Warner Music. This deal is about having the best people around me to ensure I can keep innovating with exciting new projects, while also working my extensive catalogue and continuing to build my career.”
Nielsen announces a strategic relationship with IHS Markit, a leading provider of automotive information and insights. – Through this collaboration, Nielsen will integrate comprehensive automotive data from Polk Automotive Solutions by IHS Markit into its audience and outcomes measurement solutions. Leveraging Nielsen offerings, advertisers will have a clearer understanding of today’s auto consumers, empowering them to make more effective, data-driven marketing decisions about engaging with auto audiences. [Nielsen]
Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd star in Apple Original limited series “The Shrink Next Door,” premiering globally Friday, November 12 on Apple TV+ – Apple TV+ today unveiled a first look at the highly anticipated eight-episode limited series, “The Shrink Next Door.” The new dark comedy, featuring a star-studded cast led by Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd, who also serve as executive producers, will make its global debut Friday, November 12, 2021 on Apple TV+ with the first three episodes. New episodes will premiere weekly every Friday.
Inspired by true events, “The Shrink Next Door” details the bizarre relationship between psychiatrist to the stars Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf (played by Rudd) and his longtime patient Martin “Marty” Markowitz (played by Ferrell). Over the course of their relationship, the all-too-charming Ike slowly inserts himself into Marty’s life, even moving into Marty’s Hamptons home and persuading Marty to name him president of the family business. The series explores how a seemingly normal doctor-patient dynamic morphs into an exploitative relationship filled with manipulation, power grabs, and dysfunction at its finest. The series also stars Kathryn Hahn as Phyllis, Marty’s younger sister, and Casey Wilson as Bonnie, the wife of Dr. Herschkopf.
MediaRadar Shares The 2 Biggest Programmatic Trends They’ve Seen in 2021 – Firstly, DTC spending keeps climbing. Direct to consumer brands were positioned to benefit from the pandemic, already having digital storefronts and digital marketing set.
According to our data, DTC companies have spent $879 million on programmatic in 2021 so far (Jan – May), which is up 26% from 2020. In the same period last year they spent $697 million.
Even as foot traffic in brick and mortar stores increases, DTC programmatic spending is not levelling off.
Trend #2 is TV advertisers may use OTT to guide addressable TV campaigns –
Interestingly, we’ve even seen OTT spending decrease. OTT advertisers have spent $55mm in 2021 YTD (Jan – May), which is down 40% from 2020 in which they spent $91.4 over the same period.
Though spending has decreased, it’s worth noting the number of brands increased slightly YoY (2.3k in 2020 vs 2.6k in 2021). This suggests that OTT advertisers may be using programmatic to test the efficacy of their campaigns, and then strategically place spend where their programmatic efforts were successful.
OTT advertising may influence the way TV advertisers run their cross channel campaigns, but it hasn’t become a mainstay for brands yet.
Read more at MediaRadar’s blog post.
HBO Max says an intern mistakenly sent out an empty test email Thursday evening – The Media News Journal newsroom was among the recipients of the now legendary “Integration Test Email #1” to a segment of HBO Max subscribers.
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar had humorous take on the email as he puts the Integration Test Email #1 up with other recent successes like “Mare of Easttown” and the Friends Reunion on HBO Max.
Sasha Calle, the new Supergirl in the upcoming Flash movie, shares a teaser of her suit today –
