Happy Friday!
The glitz and glam of the royal wedding might be over, but many networks are still in honeymoon mode as it was reported that over 29 million people in the US woke up early on Saturday morning to watch it.
Let the scrolling commence!
Top Pick
How Netflix should improve recommendations
This week on our new design blog, The Fourth Wall, we're talking about recommendation engines. Specifically, three ways Netflix can improve their user experience in this area. We imagined how a mobile companion app might work to reduce ambiguity, allow contextual feedback, and add transparency.
Features
Our golden age of TV: amid collapse, a new family emerges
For many of us, our first and fondest experience watching TV is with our families. The tube is an ever present fixture in most family dens and provides an easy focal point around which we commune.
In a thought-provoking long read over at aeon, Martin Shuster develops another angle on the relationship between recent trends in television and the family unit.
Shuster elucidates how the New Television, in shows such as The Wire and Breaking Bad, makes us aware of the helplessness of contemporary institutions and authority in meeting the needs of the communities they serve.
For the New Television, suggests Shuster, the family is the last remaining site of political possibility.
Most new TV presents and responds to the increasing atomisation and the breakdown in our world by withdrawing into and idolising the institution most representative of it.
It's an insightful read, providing the kind of insights that show us why TV is a medium worthy of our attention. So grab your Saturday morning coffee & donuts and dive in!
Pear Video has all the basic tenets of journalism in place — without the journalists.
With around 500 million daily views and a growing network of 30,000 videographers, Pear Video has become China's leading short news video platform. Hundreds of its news videos are distributed through Weibo, Tencent and Baidu every day.
In this interview with The Splice Newsroom, Pear Video founder Wei Xing explains how the business works and survives in China's tightly controlled media industry.
"Half an hour after last year’s earthquake, which happened around 9.30pm, we had the first video about it because we had the videographer there. Three or four hours later, we had more than one hundred videos about the earthquake. I don’t think traditional media could do it." - Wei Xing
Future of TV
Here’s who owns everything in Big Media today
At Rerun, we've been watching the unfolding story of the mouse chasing the fox since Disney made its first move back in December last year. Since then, Comcast has jumped into the fray and the whole vastly complicated thing makes for some very entertaining reading. As if creating a graphic to help make sense of a sporting event, Recode has created this fascinating diagram that puts all of the players in perspective.
Our main takeaways from this are "ZOMG Netflix is the size of Disney and Comcast now !?!!" (and since this diagram was created, is now larger than both). That, and how all of the other players in the media game are dwarfed by Apple, Amazon, Google and FB.
Popcorn at the ready, this story is shaping up to be quite the summer blockbuster.
UFC is about to get a huge boost with casual sports fans thanks to $1.5 billion deal with ESPN
ESPN and UFC agreed to a five-year deal worth a reported $1.5 billion which will bring the world of MMA to possibly its biggest audience ever. Beginning in early 2019, thirty UFC Fight Night events will appear on ESPN platforms each year with ten main cards on the network and the other 20 available on ESPN+.
The deal with ESPN should bring further stability to UFC's profits, which up to now relied heavily on a pay-per-view model. That model is risky, due to the possibility their bigger stars getting injured, retiring, among other factors.
Storytelling
Coming to Netflix: The Obamas sign deal to produce shows
Former President Barack Obama announced the news of a multi-year production with Netflix. The deal will give him and former first lady, Michelle Obama, an international television platform to reach millions of people in the United States and across the globe. The couple will produce “scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries and features” all through their own production company called "Higher Ground Productions".
It is believed that the former president will not use to platform to wage a public campaign against his successor in the White House or to fight against conservative voices in the media.
“One of the simple joys of our time in public service was getting to meet so many fascinating people from all walks of life, and to help them share their experiences with a wider audience,” Mr. Obama said in a statement.
Esports
Fortnite gets $100 million from Epic for esports push
The creators of Fortnite are investing $100m in establishing it as an esport. That much money going into one game for this purpose is completely unheard of.
That's more money than the top 10 games combined gave out in 2017.
The team behind Fortnite is so in touch with its players around the world that I can see this elevating esports to completely new heights. It has all the ingredients to become the one that starts winning over a new audience of gamers.
“We’re getting behind competitive play in a big way, but our approach will be different. We plan to be more inclusive and focused on the joy of playing and watching the game.” - The Fortnite Team
Last-minute frenzy of GDPR emails unleashes 'torrent' of spam – and memes
The deadline for Europe's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws are upon us. Our inboxes are on fire with companies trying to get permission to keep in contact. The Guardian has compiled some of the internet's best GDPR inspired memes.
That's all from us, enjoy your weekend!