Happy Friday!
Q2 earnings are in, and media companies are keen to share big plans for upcoming streaming service launches, with Discovery, ViacomCBS and Pluto TV all making announcements.
Pluto TV is the most interesting of these, entering a global partnership with LG that will see its ad supported service pre-loaded onto new LG smart TV sets.
Disney is using its streaming platform Disney+ to premiere its 2020 blockbuster Mulan which will cost $30 to purchase, in addition to monthly subscription fees. It will be interesting to see if other streaming services follow suit. No doubt this news will come as a blow to cinema theatres, which are slowly starting to reopen.
As more streaming services enter the market, the differences between them could become less and less clear to consumers. Already, the rights to the Harry Potter franchise have moved from the new HBO Max to the newer Peacock.
This week, TikTok has continued to make headlines. It launched a streaming app announced hundreds of new jobs in Ireland, and was served an executive order by the US government, that will ban it from operating in the US, unless it is no longer owned by a Chinese company. It is rumoured that Microsoft may be a potential buyer.
Until next week!
Grand Theft Solid - Man walks around Shibuya like he's in a video game
If you've ever played a role playing game, every second of this 'real life video game' will resonate with you. Second only to the recent Jumanji movies in capturing the player experience, this guy bounces slightly while he stands still, keeps his arms in a V angle while walking, suddenly runs very fast for short bursts of time, and slides awkwardly against surfaces he would prefer to walk around.
Genius.