The scariest media moments of 2023 involved watching Internet-led disruption come for familiar forms of media, like late night TV and cable systems. - WBUR
When Chrome’s cookies are fully removed the open web will have mutated from a place where up to 90% of users were in some way targetable by advertisers, to a vast desert in which most users are essentially invisible to publishers and their clients. - Press-Gazette
Employment in motion pictures and sound recording climbed by 11,400 jobs to 463,000. After months of declines, industry employment began rising again in November. - Deadline
"While recent rumors suggest the pair had a falling out, (Benny) Safdie insists his split with Josh is amicable. 'It’s a natural progression of what we each want to explore,'" says Benny, who has found himself with a healthy acting career. - Variety
"'Most contracts have arbitrary termination clauses and offer paltry fees, especially to newcomers,' says a leader of the Indian equivalent of the Writers Guild of America. … 'They also don't pay writers for reworking drafts and give producers the right to decide whether a writer should be credited for their work.'" - BBC
"This year’s class of teacher movies is more concerned with individuals’ flaws than their knowledge-imparting skills. It could also be a reflection of the post-COVID assaults on scholarship that are roiling culture and politics. Or maybe filmmakers just want to deliver multifaceted characters rather than place them on idealized pedestals." - Los Angeles Times
The venture capitalist firm SignalFire estimates that less than 4% of creators make over $100,000 a year, although YouTube-funded research points to a rising middle class of creators who are able to sustain careers with relatively modest followings. - The Conversation
The analytics firm Gower Street estimates that global sales of movie tickets in 2023 add up to $33.9 billion, an increase of 31% from 2022 but still 15% behind the last three-year average before COVID. - The Hollywood Reporter
The center’s latest report, titled Inclusion in the Director’s Chair, called the entertainment industry’s pledges to promote inclusion “performative acts” and “not real steps towards fostering change”. - The Guardian
Customer defections across premium streaming services rose to 6.3% in November, from 5.1% a year earlier. About one-quarter of U.S. subscribers to major streaming services—a group that includes Apple TV+, Discovery+, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock and Starz—have canceled at least three of them over the past two years. - The Wall Street Journal
The Blu-ray and DVD releases of Oppenheimer, for example, sold out in a week or so. Some of this is the basic fan/collector impulse, but much of it is awareness that corporations can remove individual titles from streaming availability more-or-less at will, but they can't come and take your discs. - BBC
The successor company to a merger between CBS Radio and Entercom, Audacy manages 235 radio stations in 48 US media markets. A decline in advertising revenue has reportedly left the company unable to service $2 billion in debt. - Inside Radio
"These activations offer titles another way to stand out, literally, amid a crowded mediascape. For series, specifically, they offer a way to retain fans between seasons." - The New York Times
Just a year after the expiration of copyright on another extremely cute character was swiftly followed by Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, the passage into the public domain of the oldest version of Disney's cheerful rodent was marked by the trailer for the upcoming horror flick Mickey's Mouse Trap. - BBC
“When you lose half a year of production, 2024 will be a downturn,” O’Leary says. “We have to be realistic. If any industry lost half a year of production, there would be an impact in the following year. - Variety
