“Game Of Thrones Spring” Shows The Power Of OG Weekly Release Schedules
Season 8 of Game of Thrones debuted on April 14, 2019, and for the next six weeks, HBO enjoyed what might easily be called “Game Of Thrones Spring.” As in... Read More
Esports is Having a Cultural Breakout Thanks to Overwatch – But It Has a Long Way to Go
Oscar Garza and Zach Oscar each had a similar aha moment. Both ad executives are immersed in the burgeoning esports field—a sector that has been seeking some sort of a... Read More
Podcast: Brian Solis On Embracing Influence 2.0, Better Branding And Rescaling Your Digital Life
Digital Anthropologist Brian Solis visits the Bloom in Tech podcast to talk about “Influence 2.0,” what it means for brands and advertising, and his new book, “Life Scale,” and how we need to rewire our approach to all our digital distractions. ... Read More
One Year On, Sports Networks Laying Bets On On-Screen Gambling Future
One year after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to legalize gambling, media companies Fox, Sinclair and ESPN are all betting that gambling will help their programming. ... Read More
VidCon Names Speakers In Tenth Year Of Gathering Of The Influencer Tribes
Top execs from social-media powers YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitch, Snap and TikTok will be among those speaking at this year’s VidCon, the sprawling influencer gathering that also will feature such... Read More
Sinclair Bets Big On Local Sports Gambling With $10.6B RSN Deal
Sinclair’s $10.6 billion deal to buy 21 regional sports networks is a bet on betting itself, as sports gambling and new technologies enable new viewer experiences, and revenue opportunities. ... Read More
Podcast: Alien’s 40th Birthday And How Tongal Helped It Celebrate
Tongal CEO James DeJulio talks on the latest Bloom in Tech podcast about creating six short films celebrating the 40th anniversary of “Alien.” ... Read More
Brands Wrest Back Control Of Data With ‘In-Housing’ Trend
It’s been a time of great ferment in the advertising business. New marketing approaches, direct consumer relationships, and shifting business models are pushing more companies to exert control over one... Read More
From Managing Mommy Bloggers to Media Mini-Moguls: Q&A With Reesa Lake Of Digital Brand Architects
DBA Partners Reesa Lake, Raina Penchansky & Vanessa Flaherty Digital Brand Architects has been managing influencers since before the term existed, going back to the days of young retail clerks... Read More
Podcast: Amid Facebook’s Fake Privacy Pivot, Social Media Approaches An Inflection Point
Last week, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the blog post that launched a thousand hot takes, promising to pivot Facebook to privacy. As with many things Zuckerberg says publicly, that promise has little... Read More
WarnerMedia’s Zucker Returns To Sports Roots, And Another Chance To Remix An Industry
Well, that didn’t take long. Seemingly hours after a U.S. appeals court killed the Justice Department’s misbegotten (and, possibly, politically motivated) attempt to block the $85 billion AT&T-Time Warner merger,... Read More
Podcast: Netflix Wins Even When It Loses, Oscar Edition
Netflix had a very good Oscar season. Its most celebrated awards contender, Roma, from Alfonso Cuaron, picked up three major Oscars – for best foreign language film, directing and cinematography” – and a... Read More
Podcast: Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi On VR, Esports and the Future of Movie Theaters
With the possible exception of music, perhaps no corner of the entertainment business has faced more intractable challenges from tech-driven changes in our culture, lifestyle and consumption habits than the... Read More
The Joys of Directing, Hollywood’s Gender Issues and Poking Surveillance Culture – Soloway And Magid At Neuehouse
This episode of the Bloom in Tech podcast includes a fascinating discussion between two very different film directors, speaking together at NeueHouse Hollywood last week as part of the huge... Read More
Amateur Sports Highlights The Latest Competition For Audiences And Ads
As big media companies vie for pricey rights to pro sports broadcasts and streams, a smaller but equally hard-fought contest is breaking out for viewers of low-cost online videos about... Read More
How Micro Influencers, In-Person Events And Ephemeral Video Are Transforming Content Marketing
At this year’s Digital Entertainment World conference, I moderated a panel of top entertainment and e-commerce executives talking about the trends and technologies reshaping content marketing. It’s a fast-evolving field,... Read More
Viacom Building Formidable Ad-Supported Alternative For Hollywood’s Digital Future
With its $340 million acquisition of ad-supported streaming service Pluto TV, Viacom has added another important piece to its transformation as a player in the digital world. Importantly, the company... Read More
Netflix Turns Up Heat In Online Video’s Shark Pool As Three More Services Jump In
As if the pool of big fish in on-demand video wasn’t already stuffed full, this past week saw three more sharks dive in, just to make it interesting, along with... Read More
NBCU Building A ‘Bluprint’ For Its Post-Cable TV Future: Q&A With Dave Howe
Among a string of experiments and ventures at NBCUniversal, few are as intriguing as Bluprint, the revamped hobbyist education and e-commerce site formerly known as Craftsy that the media giant... Read More
Netflix’s Merry Holiday Season Sets It Up To Survive Challenging 2019 Competition
There, he said it: “Netflix, Netflix, Netflix.” If that punchline to a joke by host Andy Samberg wasn’t quite the theme of Sunday night’s broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards,... Read More
Q&A With WHOSAY CEO Steve Ellis On Integrating Influencer Marketing For Success
Steve Ellis is founder and CEO of WHOSAY, which after nearly a decade is one of the oldest and largest influencer-marketing agencies in the business. And as of about a... Read More
Immersive Entertainment’s December To Remember Reflects 2018’s Return To Optimism
If 2016 was a year of excess hype for virtual reality, and 2017 was mired in that rugged trough of disillusion, 2018 marked a return to optimism, growing consumer acceptance... Read More