Disney CEO Bob Iger saw his potential pay for the year cut by $13.5 million on Monday. Read More...

Advertisers don't seem to mind the low ratings. These 'pod' advertising spots will be 30 seconds estimated to be worth between $2-$2.6 million each.For example, this year’s Super Bowl boasted a $5.25 million price tag for 30-second ads. Viewers are expected to see advertisements from big business houses like Cadillac, Google, Rolex, Verizon, Walmart, Budweiser, McDonald’s, Paramount and Walt Disney Studios, among others.

On Monday, streaming giant Netflix cancelled its two superhero shows—The Punisher and Jessica Jones—marking an end to the five-year licensing agreement with Disney-owned Marvel. This, however, does not mean that Netflix is getting rid of its superhero content, as confirmed by its recent launch of The Umbrella Academy—a story of estranged siblings with superhuman powers.Millarworld, a comic book company acquired by Netflix in 2017, will be developing its first superhero series for the streaming giant called the Jupiter’s Legacy. But will the end of contract with Disney prove costly for Netflix? Research reveals that licensed content has attracted more customers to Netflix than its original shows.

China will generate more data than the United States by 2025 as it pushes into new technologies such as the so-called Internet of Things, according to a new report.Read more...

But, the entertainment giant expressed caution against a possible dent in profit as the company launches its own streaming service Disney+ and therefore potentially lose some of its licensing revenues. The company’s earnings during the three months ending December came in at $1.84 per share, outpacing analysts’ expected $1.55 a share.They were, however, -3% lower compared to the year-ago quarter. Revenue at $15.303 billion was higher than analysts’ estimate of $15.1 billion. In April, Disney will launch its streaming platform Disney+ which will show movies and its original content.

Disney’s latest fiscal quarter report confirms forecast-beating earnings per share ($1.84 per share versus an estimate of $1.55 per share) and revenue ($15.30 billion versus $15.14 billion expected).Revenue in Disney's media networks business, which includes ESPN, rose 7% to $5.92 billion in the first quarter, compared to the year-earlier period, while its parks business was up 5% to $6.82 billion. This impressive outcome may be attributed to Disney’s increased sales in media networks like the ESPN+, which has doubled its subscriber count in the last five months to stand at 2 million paid subscribers, as well as its theme parks businesses. The company’s CEO reiterated that Disney’s foray into online streaming services amid growing competition from streaming giants like Netflix (NFLX) remains their top priority, as they will continue to strengthen their direct-to-customers offerings. The number of consumers preferring streaming services at a cheap cost to traditional cable packa

Media firm Discovery (Nasdaq: DISCA) has seen its post-Christmas rally stall earlier than most other stocks.Past predictions on Discovery have been accurate 73% of the time.

With global paying customers increasing by 26% y-o-y to more than 139 million -- coupled with a forecast-beating addition of 8.84 million subscribers during the quarter -- there is little room for doubt that the streaming giant is an ongoing success. Reasons for this booming number of subscribers? Netflix is known for the abundance and quality of content, and since its inception, the company has worked hard to analyze and interpret viewers’ demand patterns.To reach this spot, the company used data from review aggregation sites like the Rotten Tomatoes to understand people’s choices, and now Netflix boasts of 596 ‘certified fresh’ movies that give its content a richness unmatched by other streaming sites.  

Disney isn't launching its new streaming service until later this year, but investors are already learning the economic challenges of the business.Read More...

This brought total paid members by the end of the year to 139 million, up 26% on a y-o-y basis. Out of the total 29 million new members Netflix added in 2018, 8.84 million joined during the company's fourth quarter.The company's decline in EPS came as Netflix's operating margin narrowed from 7.5% in the year-ago quarter to 5.2%, reflecting significant content investments during the quarter. Further, the company added that its cash burn is expected to in 2019 and then likely to drop off in years ahead.

As for Netflix, this increase won’t be small: prices across all three of its streaming plans are now 13% to 18% higher for new users as of Wednesday morning. Besides Netflix, Disney increased Disneyland ticket and pass prices by 7% to 10% last week.Earlier this month, AMC also boosted its monthly rates by 10% to 20% across some of the country’s most populous states. But aren’t they afraid of losing customers because of increased subscription rates? The answer is no. Reason being, when you're the world's leading premium streaming service provider, theme park operator or multiplex ticket taker, you'll stretch your pricing elasticity to explore your customers’ limits. Increased prices haven’t deterred Disney’s attendance levels through most of its gated parks.

The company projected a negative free cash flow of $3 billion in 2018, and has similar expectations for this year. Increase in subscription prices could potentially be a way to ease cash outflow pressures, especially as the company seems  gung-ho on bulking up programming. The company reported last quarter that it had more than 58 million subscribers in the US, and 137 million globally.Piper Jaffray's Michael Olson mentioned in a report last week that the streamer will add more subscribers in the U.S. than Wall Street analysts are expecting. Netflix’s price hike and plans of beefing up content come at a time when competition looks to get hotter in the online streaming space.

Netflix, Hulu and Roku Inc. all recently declared strong subscriber and ad revenue growth in 2018 -- proving that streaming and digital media is not only here to stay, but also remains on a strong growth path. Hulu, a joint venture with Walt Disney Co., Twenty-First Century Fox Inc., and Comcast Corporation, announced its largest annual increase in history in 2018: adding 8 million live TV and on-demand subscribers, putting it over the 25 million subscriber mark for the first time.The company also reported its ad revenue at just under $1.5 billion, up more than 45% over 2017. Hulu’s announcement is followed by Roku’s, which reported that its fourth quarter active accounts went over 27 million -- up about 40% on a y-o-y basis -- and that its streaming hours were over 70% from the same quarter last year. According to analysts, these reports underscore steaming digital viewing on the rise, which is also good news for advertisers.

Roku Inc. gains on people’s peaking streaming habit. The digital media player maker reported its preliminary fourth-quarter data, revealing a  +40% year-over-year surge in active accounts to top 27 million in the quarter.The number of streaming hours spent by viewers using Roku’s devices/services increased +68% year-over-year to 7.3 billion hours.  "Strong active account growth and accelerating streaming hours point to consumers' growing enthusiasm for streaming, making Roku America's largest and fastest growing TV streaming distribution platform," said Roku CEO Anthony Wood. Roku shares jumped +20.6% on Monday.  

After a sell-off cut its value by a third, Netflix represents one of the most compelling investments available in the internet space, according to Goldman Sachs. READ MORE...

for 2018  “Black Panthers” grossed around $700 million, while "Avengers: Infinity War" and “Incredibles 2” raked in roughly $678 million and $608 million respectively in the U.S. (based on data from Box Office Mojo).Within that, Disney's "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Black Panther were the top two contributors. In 2018, Disney announced one of its biggest acquisitions – that of the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox for more than $71 billion.

What's the price of censoring one episode of a Netflix show in Saudi Arabia? Though Netflix has not released specifics on the number of subscribers in the country, the recent controversy over its removal of an episode of comedian Hasan Minhaj's show "Patriot Act" is throwing a sharp spotlight on how media and tech companies balance artistic freedom against local laws, and their business.READ MORE...

Netfix's executives are getting big raises after a banner year. CEO Reed Hastings will get as much as $31.5 million in salary and stock options next year, the company disclosed Friday.READ MORE...

Netflix launched an interactive feature the allows viewers to choose how a story develops. The streaming giant used an extended 90-minute episode of the British TV series "Black Mirror" to unveil the new technology on Friday.Viewers get to click on either "Yes" or "No" for the choices available. This would be Netflix’s first major attempt at interactive storytelling – something that the company is probably hoping to bolster user engagement with, amidst the apparently heated competition in the online video streaming industry.

That would include overseeing deals with longtime collaborators Shonda Rhimes and Kenya Barris who created hit shows for ABC. Dungey is joining Netflix at a time when competition among online video streamers seems to be heating up, with some traditional broadcast players also expanding their own digital content.Netflix announced last year of its plans to spend as much as $8 billion on content for 2018. "Channing is a creative force whose taste and talent have earned her the admiration of her peers across the industry.