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đŸ”„ Paramount looking for its 'Plus' side

Plus: BBC Ventures invests in virtual streaming

Author

Oli Thomas
July 02, 2024

đŸ“œïž YouTube’s Culture & Trends report 2024 is here

🌋 Paramount looking for its ‘Plus’ side 

đŸ“ș Channel 4 VOD viewing outpaces Netflix & Amazon

💰 BBC Ventures makes its first investment

🚀 Featured Startup: Talk Twenties

If you believe that no news is good news, then you’re in for a treat. Here is a snapshot from this week:

YouTube is still doing well.

TV viewing is still in decline.

Paramount is still in the toilet.

Amazon’s share price is still climbing. 

England are still woefully uninspiring at football.

Donald Trump is still worryingly close to a second term.

But in amongst the ‘same old’ were some green shoots of optimism:

Channel 4 grew its VOD viewing by more than Netflix & Amazon. BBC Ventures made its first investment since being set up 2 years ago. All3Media is back in the M&A market.

So yes, this wasn’t a week for earth-shattering announcements, but some signs of life in the old UK media scene.

Vamos 👍

YouTube Culture & Trends report 2024

YouTube just released its Culture & Trends Report for 2024. The good news (for YouTube) is that apparently everyone is consuming sh*t loads of YouTube.

The big takeaway for the rest of us is that 65% of Gen Z now self-identify as ‘content creators’, up 25% on last year’s report.

Whilst this is on a pretty small sample (c.350 people out of YouTube’s 2 billion users), the trend is real and the point stands - young people today don’t just want to consume video, they want to create around it. And this derivative content leads to the finding that the majority “spend more time watching content that discusses or unpacks something than the thing itself”.

Read more here

Another bad week for Paramount


Paramount was in the news for all the wrong reasons this week - with shareholders and customers alike taking a dim view:

  1. Share price - dropping to $9.88, just above its all-time low of $9.61 and down 36% over the last 12 months

  2. Increasing the price of P+ by 33% - US only right now, but inevitably these price rises will be crossing the Atlantic soon

  3. Cutting a load of its old content - archive shows and footage on Comedy Central and MTV are being deleted on mass as part of the ongoing cost-cutting initiative

The 3 co-CEOs, facing the mountainous task (pun intended) of getting Paramount out of this hole, held a meeting in the week where they announced their plan. No surprises here: it includes cost-cutting, sell-offs and ‘optimisation’.

On the plus side, apparently talks are still progressing over a potential merger with Sony.

Read more here

Best of the Rest

FASHION: Zellerfeld launched the ‘YouTube of Shoes’ - a platform for creating your own trainer (sorry, ‘sneaker’) designs for 3D printing.

CONTENT: All3Media was acquired last month for £1.15Bn. A Unicorn no less. The new owner, Redbird IMI, says its going to “awaken All3Media in the M&A market”.

CREATORS: James Watts, of Brewdog fame, launched his new venture Social Tip - a platform to reward everyday individuals for promoting brands on social media.

GAMING: DAZN and WBD are broadcasting the Esports World Cup, which runs throughout July and August.

STREAMING: Another streaming service bites the dust, as sports service Caffeine announced it is closing down as it is “still not quite profitable” after 8 years and $300M in funding.

CONTENT: Cirque de Soleil has launched an Entertainment Studio, with the first production being developed in partnership with Ridley Scott

Channel 4’s strong start to 2024

Viewing data showed Channel 4 hit a record high 164 billion minutes of combined viewing across linear and streaming in the first half of 2024, up 2.5% YoY.

The other major broadcasters (BBC, ITV, C4, C5, Sky and UKTV) had an average drop of -3% YoY.

C4’s VOD viewing was even more impressive, up +32%, ahead of Netflix, Amazon and Disney+.

Read more here

BBC Ventures invests in virtual streaming

BBC Ventures was set up in 2022 to invest in tech start-ups and act as a (risky) hedge against declining licence fee revenues.

It has now made its first investment (its only taken 2 years), in virtual streaming platform Condense.

This will support the BBC’s development of content for immersive, virtual environments. Think artists performing concerts in Fortnite, Roblox, VR spaces, etc.

Source: BBC

Read more here