🔥 TV goes back to the future

📺 Streaming TV takes lessons from the past

🎮 Call of Duty maker launches new Gaming studio

🕺 YouTube CEO wants creators recognised with awards

🍔 Gordon Ramsay’s new digital brand

🎶 Drake removes copyright to new tracks

TV goes back to the future

The streaming upfronts and recent announcements have generated a wave of commentary about how the sexy streaming businesses are beginning to resemble their older, wrinkled-up linear ancestors.

Here are a few cases in point:

1) The return of advertising (first Netflix, then Amazon, now Disney+),

2) Bundled packages (eg. Discovery bundling Disney+, Hulu and Max; Comcast bundling Peacock, Netflix and Apple TV+), and

3) Programming formats - live events, long running series, etc

Basically, after billions of dollars in funding, the new business models are finding out the old business models had some merit in them.

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Activision launches new gaming studio

The mission is to “to explore and collaborate creatively to craft a franchise with an enduring legacy that resonates far beyond games.”

This is all about creating new IP that can pop across all the big media verticals.

Activision knows a thing or two about this. They created Call of Duty - the #1 gaming franchise every year since 2009 - and this has helped them grow to a global player and multi-billion $ acquisition by Microsoft.

We also saw this week how valuable CoD could be to Microsoft - as they’ve announced plans to roll it into their Game Pass. Subscription gaming is on the rise, and the inclusion of CoD means (1) players can now pay £13 a month rather than £70 to buy it, (2) the Microsoft pass becomes significantly more attractive.

Although rumours are already swirling that the Game Pass will now have a more expensive tier to access CoD.

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YouTube looks to the red carpet

Firstly, worth acknowledging that there is a lot of self-interest in this: YouTube currently accounts for 10% of TV watch time in the US and they want to get more recognition from the TV world.

But equally, there is a point here. YouTube was and is a jumping off point for talent to go mainstream - think Ed Sheeran and Bieber in the music world, or Lilly Singh in the TV world.

But what happens now YouTube is the mainstream? If creators don’t need to move to TV networks and music labels? And if audiences are spending a significant amount of their entertainment time on the platform?

Then perhaps the content deserves mainstream recognition within the mainstream awards...

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Fox pairs up with Ramsay for new digital brand

The new venture - Bite - will include original digital content, live events, consumer products and other food-based offerings.

Kudos to Fox. Unclear if they have equity interest or just commercial rights to the inventory and sponsorship opportunities. Either way the ingredients are all here for how to create new IP: talent + digital channels + live events + consumer products.

Expect to see more old media building new media like this

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Drake and Kendrick Lamar waive copyright on tracks

The attention economy relies increasingly on tapping into influencers and creators to generate viral moments. Watchalongs and memes created off the back of these moments can be important viral loops.

But often these creators can fall foul of copyright laws.

So when Drake and Kendrick Lamar agreed to waive these rights to their recent tracks, the response from various creators was very positive - after all, they can make a lot of money if their cut downs go big on social, and now that money is legit. And whats more, it gets more attention for Drake and Lamar.

So it makes a lot of sense.

The question is whether more artists (and the labels) will follow suit in the interest of gaining attention…?

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