Has england won a world cup

With advertising trends front and center for Wall Street and industry players in the current crop of media earnings , Comcast’s NBC Universal was one of the first to weigh in. NBCU CEO Jeff Shell said the market steadily  worsened over the course of last year but “it kind of feels like it bottomed out around late November, early December, and really since then it hasn’t gotten worse, and maybe even a little better.” He said he’d describe it as a “shallow” market with areas “that are better, actually really doing well, like pharma, entertainment, travel is on fire” and other that “feel uncertain” like weak tech, auto and financial services. Speaking on a post-earnings conference call, he said it feels like the weakness is due more to macroeconomic uncertainty than to businesses not doing well. “None of us know where the economy is headed, so advertisers are holding back, and when they do advertise, they are coming in later than usual. He predicted the market “is … [Read more...] about NBCU’s Jeff Shell Says Ad Market May Have “Bottomed Out”

Streaming service Peacock closed 2022 with more than 20 million paid subscribers, helping Comcast slip past Wall Street estimates during a challenging fourth quarter in the media business. Total revenue came in at $30.55 billion in the period, less than 1% ahead of the prior-year quarter but just above analysts’ consensus. Earnings per share of 70 cents fell short of estimates, but exceeded them on a non-GAAP basis. Along with Peacock, a strong return for theme parks helped NBCUniversal post solid numbers on the top line, with revenue up 6% to $9.9 billion. Advertising revenue increased 4%, which the company credited to Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup by Telemundo and rising Peacock ad revenue. The profit story was less encouraging, with adjusted EBITDA falling 36% to $817 Theatrical revenue at the film studio soared 47% over the prior year, with Ticket to Paradise , Puss , Violent Night and Halloween Ends closing the year on a high note. … [Read more...] about Peacock Clears 20M Subscribers, Helping Comcast Nip Wall Street Q4 Estimates

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said execs at the company and parent Comcast are “more confident” than they were a year or two ago that investments in streaming service Peacock will soon yield profits. How soon remains a bit unclear, however. “We’ve been clear from the start that we’re going to see a return on that investment — I think we feel better about that now based on where we are,” Shell said during Comcast’s fourth-quarter earnings call. The company said Peacock had passed 20 million subscribers by the end of 2022, more than double its size at the start of the year. It added 5 million subscribers in the quarter thanks to Spanish-language World Cup coverage as well as original programming, other live sports and the addition of first-window movie titles and NBC and Bravo series that used to go to Hulu. Over the rest of the year, CEO Brian Roberts said, “subscriber cadence will follow content launches, which will fall more heavily in the second half of 2023” than … [Read more...] about NBCUniversal And Comcast Execs “More Confident” Than They Were A Year Ago In Peacock Profit Outlook, Jeff Shell Says

UPDATED with final winners: The Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul , Bo Burnham’s Emmy-winning musical comedy special Inside , Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad and Raoul Peck’s Exterminate All the Brutes are among the final list of winners of 2022 Peabody Awards . The Peabodys, in their 82nd year, honor the year’s most powerful content across the fields of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth, and public service programming. The organization based at the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia wrapped up a a weeklong rollout of all 30 winners Thursday. This year’s awards were presented by the likes of Melissa McCarthy, Morgan Freeman, John Legend, Kevin Bacon, H.E.R., Ethan Hawke, Jon Stewart, Hasan Minhaj, Riz Ahmed, LeVar Burton, Jenny Slate, Malcolm Gladwell and Adam Scott. Newsman Dan Rather and Fresh Air ‘s Terry Gross have already won this year’s Career Achievement Award and … [Read more...] about Peabody Awards: The Complete List Of 2022 Winners

SPOILER ALERT! This story contains details from the Season 2 finale of HBO Max’s Gossip Girl . It was never supposed to end this way. HBO Max ‘s Gossip Girl took its final bow on Thursday as the Season 2 finale hit the streamer. Since news of the show’s cancellation broke last week, the episode now also serves as a series finale. Showrunner Josh Safran told Deadline that he’s holding on to a glimmer of hope that the series might land at a new home, but he’s had an inkling for months that this might happen, considering the growing number of streaming cancellations and Gossip Girl ‘s hefty price tag. “I asked HBO Max if I actually could go back in [to the episode]. I had the idea to take some of the cliffhangers out, because there were a lot of cliffhangers,” Safran said. “We got the editorial team back together. I went in and I lifted a bunch of stuff, I changed as much as I could. I couldn’t do as much as I wanted, because I couldn’t re-shoot anything, … [Read more...] about ‘Gossip Girl’ Boss Josh Safran Explains How He Re-Shaped The Season 2 Closer As A Series Finale & What He Had Planned For Season 3

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has entered the race for U.S. Senate in what looks to be a hotly contested intra-party battle in California in anticipation that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) won’t run for another term. “Our democracy is at great risk. Because GOP leaders care more about power than anything else,” Schiff said in a Twitter post. “And because our economy isn’t working for millions of hard working Americans.” Schiff joins Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) in the race, with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) also planning to run. Feinstein has not said what her plans are, but there is expectation that she will not be in the race. All the candidates are expected to heavily court Hollywood donors, tapping longtime connections from their congressional campaigns. Schiff, whose district covers areas of Burbank, Hollywood and West Hollywood, has gained a national platform for his role on the January 6th Committee and on the House Intelligence Committee during investigations of Donald … [Read more...] about Adam Schiff Enters Race For U.S. Senate

The Oscar nominations this week set off a new round of speculation about corporate image: Does it matter that Netflix ’s potential Oscar take had dropped to 16 from 36 in 2020? “I don’t give a f*ck about my corporate image and companies shouldn’t waste their time worrying about their’s.” Those were the words of Martin Davis, the only press agent ever to become CEO of a major media company. Davis’ behavior in the ‘90s reflected his views: During his decade-long tenure at Paramount, the company endured a succession of public brawls and setbacks. The Davis Doctrine is worth pondering today given the stalwart efforts of entities like Netflix, Disney and Warner Bros Discovery on image enhancement. Under Bob Chapek, Disney spent $8.3 million to reward its newly recruited PR chief, Geoff Morrell, for his stint on improving the company’s corporate image. Morrell’s four-month tenure culminated in his firing and, later, that of his boss prior to the re-anointment of Bob … [Read more...] about Peter Bart: Big Media Honchos Hunt For Ways To Accentuate The Positive In Turbulent Moment