There is no doubt that the procedural format has successfully made the transition from its linear origins to the streaming era.  Shows like “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds” have paid dividends for the platforms they are on. Parrot Analytics’ Streaming Economics model calculates that since 2020, the original “NCIS” series itself has brought in nearly $200M in streaming revenue globally for Netflix alone.

Procedurals are known for long tail value because of huge episode libraries.  With more than two decades of back catalog, the financial calculation of “NCIS” is different from a “9-1-1.” A newer franchise with fewer spinoffs like “9-1-1” may be more in growth mode, and looking to bring new audiences to the franchise.  For “NCIS,” the most impactful move may be to draw in proven fans of the franchise to a platform where they will find essentially a bottomless supply of old “NCIS” episodes to stream, an effective asset for retaining them once they are signed on.

We can see how “9-1-1: Lone Star” made inroads with new audiences that were not engaged with the original series.  Of the total audience of the original “9-1-1,” 8% was under age 32. But “Lone Star” was more successful in breaking through with younger audiences, with nearly 55% of the spinoff’s audience younger than 32. “Lone Star” also did a better job bringing in male audiences compared to the original series, where 74% of the audience was female.

Contrast this with the NCIS franchise which has had, consistently across six series, over 70% of its audience over the age of 30. Has doubling down on its core audience hit a ceiling for “NCIS?” Last year’s premiere of “NCIS: Origins” saw some of the highest demand for a new series premiere in the franchise, averaging over 20 times the average series demand globally over the course of its first season. So far, “Tony & Ziva” is significantly lagging that with less than 5x demand globally to date.

But don’t count the latest NCIS entry out yet. Even if it is only engaging a smaller audience of the most devoted NCIS fans, if it can get them to sign up to Paramount+, they will encounter a powerful retention engine there in the extended NCIS franchise, which has the potential to turn them into high lifetime value customers for the platform.  To put a number on it, we calculate that in the first quarter, the NCIS franchise as a whole was responsible for retaining over 1.6M subscribers on Paramount+ globally.  These fans are likely to stick around — the trick is getting them signed up in the first place.

The post The Economics of Network Procedurals: How ‘9-1-1’ and ‘NCIS’ Balance Growth With Feeding the Fanbase | Charts appeared first on TheWrap.

According to an official press release, the partnership was “created to serve fans and communities nationwide through volunteer events, fan activations and online and in-store purchases. BoxLunch continues the momentum in celebration of their milestone anniversary and donation achievement through a 10th anniversary collection directly benefiting local food banks.”

“This milestone underscores our long-standing commitment to giving back and assisting local communities in their work to end hunger,” Steve Vranes, CEO of BoxLunch, said in a statement. “We hope to continue to raise awareness about the important mission of Feeding America and about the incredible work taking place at local food banks across the country.”

What’s more, in honor of Hunger Action Month in September (a campaign led by Feeding America), BoxLunch will host volunteer events at select food banks nationwide. These events, taking place in Los Angeles, Houston and Orlando, support the retailer’s attempt to “emphasize the importance of on-the-ground support, encouraging fans and employees to volunteer within their local communities.”

“Hunger Action Month is a crucial time to raise awareness and take action, and BoxLunch’s national volunteer efforts are a strong example of corporate engagement that truly makes a difference,” Lauren Biedron, senior vice president of corporate and foundation partnerships at Feeding America, added. “We’re honored to have spent the last decade working alongside a partner that is so deeply committed to ending hunger across the country.”

As part of the anniversary celebration, BoxLunch will “unveil a limited-edition, 10th anniversary Soot the Dragon collectible figure in October. Designed in collaboration with Kaleidos Creative, each collectible figure sold will help donate five meals to people facing hunger through Feeding America.”

Also in October, BoxLunch will continue the anniversary celebration with a series of activations. In New York, there will be a special 10th anniversary pop-up activation where guests can customize items and shop exclusive new merchandise. Follow the retailer on Instagram (@BoxLunchGifts) to learn more about the plans for their anniversary.

The store was founded in 2015 and is described as “a specialty retailer offering a curated collection of licensed pop culture apparel, accessories, home goods, gifts and novelty and collectibles.” The name BoxLunch actually came from its partnership with Feeding America. It has more than 280 retail locations across the United States.

For every $10 spent in-store or online, BoxLunch donates at least one meal through Feeding America®. To learn more about BoxLunch’s philanthropic efforts, please visit boxlunch.com/boxlunch-gives.

The post Pop Culture Merchandise Store BoxLunch Celebrates 10-Year Partnership With Feeding America | Exclusive appeared first on TheWrap.

In an exclusive statement to TheWrap, the Oscar-nominated entertainer and activist shared that the book — meant for readers aged 8-12 and exploring themes of identity, allyship and courage in the face of antisemitism — praised the project as “fierce and necessary.”

“When hatred is dressed up as opinion, we need stories that teach kids the difference,” Cohen said. “‘Don’t Feed the Lion’ is a fierce and necessary reminder that silence is never the answer.”

The book follows three schoolmates in Chicago who confront bullying and bigotry after a swastika appears on a school locker and a soccer star makes an antisemitic remark. Arcadia Children’s Books announced the upcoming release on Tuesday, platforming it as an effort to combat antisemitism and hate through the eyes of middle schoolers.

“When visiting libraries and bookstores in search of books about antisemitism that speak directly to young readers, we were surprised to find very few options available,” Golodryga and Levi said in a joint statement. “With the sharp rise in explicit antisemitism and hate around the world, our goal was to write a book for all readers who want to feel less alone in their identity, and for those who want to stand up against bias and discrimination with empathy and awareness.”

Golodryga is an Emmy-winning journalist and CNN’s senior global affairs analyst. She anchors “One World With Zain Asher and Bianna Golodryga” on CNN International and CNN Max. Levi, meanwhile, has anchored Israel’s primetime news program on Channel 12 for over 20 years and hosts the podcast “Unholy: Two Jews on the News.”

“Don’t Feed the Lion” is available for pre-order ahead of its nationwide release on Nov. 11.

The post Sacha Baron Cohen Praises ‘Don’t Feed the Lion’ Children’s Book on Antisemitism: ‘Fierce and Necessary’ | Exclusive appeared first on TheWrap.

The news was shared by Puck News reporter Julia Alexander, who noted on X, “Fascinating media story. BBC cuts live stream, says VOD will be available (which of course allows for edits). Comes just a couple of days after the UK’s current culture minister suggested she didn’t want to see it, while noting she couldn’t exert control one way or another.”

As Alexander also noted, “That move then leads people to stream on TikTok, picking up hundreds of thousands of views (likely even more).”

The broadcaster also came under fire after musical act Bob Vylan led the crowd, many of whom were waving Palestinian flags, in chants of “death to the IDF,” the Telegraph reported. Bob Vylan performed directly ahead of Kneecap.

“We strongly condemn the threatening comments made by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury,” a spokesperson for Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary for the U.K., said. “The Culture Secretary has spoken to the BBC director-general to seek an urgent explanation about what due diligence it carried out ahead of the Bob Vylan performance, and welcomes the decision not to re-broadcast it on BBC iPlayer.”

The Guardian reported Kneecap kicked off the group’s set by chanting, “F–k Keir Starmer!” after Starmer said June 21 that allowing the band to perform at the festival was “not appropriate.”

In November, the group’s Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who is also known as Mo Chara, was charged with a terror-related offense after holding a Hezbollah flag at a London show.

“We understand colonialism and we understand how important it is to support each other internationally,” Ó hAnnaidh, who was clad in a Palestinian keffiyeh, said. Of the more than 200 Palestinian flags being waved in the crowd, he added, “The BBC editor is going to have some job.”

The post BBC Cuts Live Feed to Irish Trio Kneecap at Glastonbury After Chants of: ‘F— Keir Starmer’ appeared first on TheWrap.

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is the third Marvel Cinematic Universe film of 2025, following “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts*.” Meanwhile on Disney+, Season 1 of “Daredevil: Born Again” wrapped up in April, “Ironheart” streamed in June, and only a few more MCU TV shows are coming before the end of next year.

With this reduced slate, how will “Avengers: Doomsday” not only bring back a ton of characters, but set it all up to work story-wise? Obviously, it’s hard to say, other than knowing “Fantastic Four” set up Doctor Doom, their next major villain.

But, here’s what we know is coming between now and then, and how they may — or may not — factor in.

Eyes of Wakanda

Marvel’s animated series “Eyes of Wakanda” hits Disney+ on Aug. 1, but it seems unlikely that it’ll factor into “Doomsday,” given that it tells the story of Wakandan protectors through history.

Then again, Shuri is set to appear in “Avengers: Doomsday,” so perhaps a piece of this series will set her up. We pretty well doubt it, but you never know.

Marvel Zombies

Similar to “Eyes of Wakanda,” “Marvel Zombies” is an animated series that seems poised to stand on its own, with no bearing on or setup for “Doomsday.” It hits Disney+ on Oct. 1.

Wonder Man

“Wonder Man” seems to be the only project left in 2025 that has some potential to factor into “Avengers: Doomsday.” Coming to Disney+ in December, it stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley, the latter of whom we met in “Iron Man 3.”

Given that it’s live-action, and many of the live-action TV characters have made their way over to the films, this presents an opening for some characters to maybe return. Lest we forget, Kingsley’s Trevor has history now with Shang-Chi (Simu Liu), who is set to return in “Doomsday.”

The Punisher: Special Presentation

We know that Jon Bernthal will return as The Punisher once again in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” but before that, he’s getting his own “Special Presentation” — a stand-alone TV special like “Werewolf by Night” and the “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special.”

The previous Special Presentations were single-serving stories with little impact on the MCU at large — save for the “Guardians” holiday special reveal that Mantis is Peter Quill’s half-sister. But Marvel is clearly establishing The Punisher as an important character in the MCU, so at minimum, we suspect the special will have larger implications.

That said, while there’s no release date yet, the special will debut alongside “Born Again” Season 2. Since that show returns in early March, and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” hits theaters the following July, we suspect te “Punisher” Special Presentation is likelier to connect to those projects than to “Doomsday.

Daredevil: Born Again season 2

Season 2 of “Daredevil: Born Again” hits Disney+ in March of next year. Season one ended with Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) outlawing vigilantes in New York, which, as we know, is full of vigilantes. That said, Marvel head Kevin Feige made it clear that the events of “Thunderbolts*” don’t play a role in Season 2 of “Born Again,” saying, “I think allowing a TV show to be a TV show is what we’re returning to.” So, it seems unlikely that it’ll play into “Doomsday.”

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” featuring the return of Tom Holland’s Spidey, stands as the only Marvel feature film between now and “Avengers: Doomsday.” And the previous two “Spider-Man” Sony-Marvel films were directly tied to other MCU projects perhaps more than any other film since “Avengers: Endgame” — “Far From Home” in 2019 dealt with the aftermath of the billions snapped out of existence by Thanos being brought back, and “No Way Home” in 2021 featured Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange in the lead cast.

Of course, Holland’s name wasn’t among those announced for “Doomsday.” But he was far from the only Marvel MVP apparently left out. Given the popularity of his Spider-Man — “No Way Home” is, along with “Deadpool & Wolverine,” one of just two Marvel films to cross $1 billion at the box office this decade — we’d be a bit surprised if “Brand New Day” doesn’t tie into the big crossover.

Vision series

We still don’t have an official release date for Paul Bettany’s “Vision” series, but it is slated for 2026. And, given that “Avengers: Doomsday” is currently set for late December 2026, we’d be shocked if “Vision” somehow ended up coming out after the film. The series picks up with Vision after the events of “WandaVision.”

The post Here Are All the MCU Movies and Shows Left Between ‘The Fantastic Four’ and ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ appeared first on TheWrap.

“These people that I was trying to call out on Joe’s show, they are doing things like, ‘Hitler wasn’t that much of an anti-Semite, [the] main problem in the 20th century was Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill was the warmonger. Adolf Hitler wanted peace’,” Murray explained. “And I just look, it’s a matter of social hygiene. Don’t feed me this s–t.”

While Murray acknowledged there is “crossover between the people who are just trolls” that “this because they think it’s really fun to do the Jewish question, to do like a bit of Holocaust denial, a bit of Hitler praise, a bit of Churchill degradation.”

“They think it’s kind of funny what they’re watering and what’s going to come up underneath them are going to be people who believe this rot.”

If Churchill can be labeled a warmonger and Hitler a good guy, “you can do things like Christian nationalism,” Murray added as Maher cut in, “You can buy a Kanye album!” (The rapper has launched frequent antisemitic attacks in recent years.)

The comment drew laughter that Murray played off of. “That’s the last stage. And that’s the ultimate … they want … after they’ve absolved Adolf Hitler, they want to absolve Kanye, and then they’re going to get to the point of hell,” he fired back.

Murray appeared on Rogan’s show on Thursday, April 10, and used his time to confront the host for frequently entertaining guests who hold “counter-historical” views.

“I just feel we should get it out straight away,” Murray told Rogan. “I feel you’ve opened the door to quite a lot of people who have now got a big platform who have been throwing out counter-historical stuff of a very dangerous kind.”

“If you throw a lot of s—t out there, there’s some point at which ‘I’m just raising questions’ is not a valid thing anymore,” Murray also said. “You’re not asking questions. You’re telling people something.”

Rogan insisted he chooses guests based on who he’d like to speak to, not because of what they believe.

The post Douglas Murray Doubles Down on Joe Rogan Slam for Twisting History: ‘Don’t Feed Me This S—‘ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

After 83 days of competitions and living under 24/7 surveillance streaming live for America to watch, the final three houseguests battled it out for the $750,000 prize, leading to Ashley Hollis walking away with the money.

Hollis was among three finalists who competed in the final round, joined by runner-up Vince Panaro and Morgan Pope. The trio played in three competitions during Sunday’s Season 27 finale to decide the final two, before a jury of their fellow players voted to crown the winner. Hollis won the season with a 6-1 vote, Panaro received $75,000 for landing in second place.

The series also revealed the new titleholder of America’s favorite houseguest, Keanu Soto, which rewarded him $50,000 with 65% of the vote. The finale also revealed the identity of The Mastermind, a masked featured player this season who wreaked havoc on the game. He unmasked himself to be three past players, Jessie Godderz, Frankie Grande and Eric Stein, which no one in the game identified.

Host Julie Chen Moonves moderated over the proceedings during the live eviction episode Sunday. It culminates an eventful season of the CBS competition series, which featured Reilly’s return as a surprise player. Reilly’s game was celebrated throughout the season, until she became the first player to join the jury after losing a competition.

The twists kept audiences hooked, with CBS reporting that viewers spent 8.4 billion minutes watching “Big Brother” Season 27, a 27% increase from 6.6 billion minutes the previous season. The figure spans across full episodes on CBS as well as the live feeds on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.

The series also boasted its most-streamed summer ever for full episodes on Paramount+.

The series averaged 5.1 million viewers per episode after the first 35 days, a 23% increase from Season 26. Live feed streaming also boasted a 35% increase year over year. It also ranked as the No. 2 most-watched title on Paramount+ based on total minutes since its July premiere, including live feeds.

On social media, “Big Brother” gathered 10.76 billion potential social impressions and 2.95 million mentions, up 52% and 19% respectively from 2024.

“Big Brother” Season 27 is now streaming on Paramount+.

The post ‘Big Brother’ Season 27 Winner Revealed: Who Won the $750,000 Prize? appeared first on TheWrap.

“We are on the verge of another industry-shaping moment,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro told reporters during a Tuesday media briefing. “Our mission is to serve this sports fan anytime, anywhere and this service and the enhanced ESPN app will deliver on that promise.”

The ESPN streaming service will offer thousands of live events, studio shows and more under two plans: a $29.99 per month Unlimited plan and $11.99 per month Select plan. Users can also bundle the offerings with Disney+ and Hulu, Fox One and NFL+ Premium.

ESPN DTC is also available at no additional cost to existing pay TV subscribers who have DirecTV, Charter Communications’ Spectrum, Hulu + Live TV and Fubo, among others. Pitaro noted that conversations with potential partners around bundling and pay TV distribution remain ongoing.

“Ultimately, we are going to judge ourselves based on the totality of people subscribing to ESPN. That’s across the traditional pay TV ecosystem and direct to consumer and the various bundles,” he added. “And really, we’re going to be paying a lot of attention to engagement within the ESPN app, because whether you subscribe through an MVPD or digital MVPD, or make a direct to consumer purchase, we want you to experience ESPN through the ESPN app.”

Below is a roundup of all the interactive features and viewing options that will be available to ESPN DTC subscribers at launch. Additional features are expected to roll out over the coming weeks and months.

Key Plays, Stats, Fantasy and Bets

Users will be able to get quick-turn highlights for their favorite sports and teams through Key Plays. They’ll also be able to keep up with live stats and info for games in real time, which will be synced with live stream viewing and varied based on the sport and event.

For viewers participating in fantasy sports, they can check on their teams, leagues scores and stats all alongside their viewership. And in markets where sports betting is legal, users with a linked ESPN BET account can see and follow live, settled and upcoming bets, while those with an unlinked account will see relevant odds information.

While users will need separate login credentials for ESPN BET, Pitaro said the ultimate goal is for users to eventually be able to place bets directly in the ESPN app.

Shopping

In addition to tech features around stats, fantasy sports and sports betting, users will also be able to shop on connected TV for the latest merchandise and gear from their favorite players and teams through ESPN’s partnership with Fanatics – all while watching their favorite sports.

“We’re trying to replicate that feeling of your team winning when you’re leaving the stadium or the arena and you go out and then you buy a jersey as you’re leaving. I think that’s the spirit of what we’re doing here,” Pitaro said. “Just like fantasy and betting, being able to buy your gear is part of the fandom experience.”

StreamCenter, SportsCenter for You and Verts

ESPN will also offer several new mobile features, including StreamCenter, a second-screen experience that will allow fans to sync between the ESPN app and their television.

While watching a live event, users can see stats and automated alerts on their mobile device, as well as fantasy and ESPN Bet updates. They can also control the ESPN app live stream on their TV from their mobile device.

Also launching on mobile, as well as ESPN.com and select connected TV devices, is the beta for a personalized daily version of SportsCenter, which will use artificial intelligence overseen by ESPN employees to deliver highlights, news and must-see videos tailored to a fan’s favorite teams, leagues and sports. The feature will leverage AI-generated commentary derived from the voices of SportsCenter anchors Hannah Storm, Gary Striewski and Christine Williamson, as well as ESPN digital and social commentator Omar Raja.

Lastly, ESPN will launch a swipe-able, personalized, short-form vertical video feed, known as Verts, that will allow fans to watch ESPN app content on mobile.

Multiview, Catch Up to Live and ESPN on Disney+

As for the viewing experience, Fans will be able to watch up to four games simultaneously on the ESPN app on connected TV devices. At launch, users who watch via Apple TV will be able to control the four games that they watch, while ESPN’s programming team will select the games for the multi-view experience on other platforms and devices in the near-term.

They can also get quick-turn highlights for their favorite sports with Catch Up to Live, which will recap all the key moments they may have missed for a live game already in progress. Users can also jump straight into the action with the “Go Live” feature.

Additionally, Disney+’s ESPN tile, which first launched back in December, will now offer the network’s full content lineup for bundle subscribers, giving them access to the media giant’s entire portfolio all in one place with personalized recommendations, browsing sections and an ESPN branded hub.

The post ESPN’s New App Looks to Score With Cord-Nevers Through Personalized SportsCenter, Fantasy and Betting appeared first on TheWrap.

The company, which was founded in 2006 and rose to prominence because of quizzes, personality tests and listicles, has gone through a number of phases (remember when it was investing in hard-charging news?) and now, with BuzzFeed Studios, has been producing a staggering amount of long- and short-form content – everything from YouTube videos to feature-length motion pictures.

It’s latest really-for-real movie is “F Marry Kill,” which is in select theaters and on demand this week, thanks to a partnership with Lionsgate. It’s a romantic horror comedy starring Lucy Hale, who recently partnered with BuzzFeed on another feature project, the dog-centered rom-com “Puppy Love.”

TheWrap spoke to Richard Alan Reid, producer of the film and president of BuzzFeed Studios, who told us how AI is informing not only the kinds of content they are investing in but also actual content, how Purina-sponsored branded content turned into a movie and how they aim to make projects that capture the zeitgeist while also remaining timeless.

What is Buzzfeed Studios in 2025?
BuzzFeed Studios is all things from distributed content right down to TikToks – short form right up to theatrical feature films. And everything in between being YouTube channels and YouTube content to documentary series to podcasts to licensing of content to license products, etc. Our aim across the whole stack is to make entertaining content, primarily for young audiences, and distribute that content to the platforms that people are choosing to watch. The way that we approach our digital series on YouTube isn’t dramatically dissimilar from the way that we’re approaching feature films.

But if I was to focus on feature films, we’ve been making them now for four years and we’ve produced about 14 or 15, movies in that time, “F Marry Kill” being the latest one to release. The mission is to make commercial movies that we believe our audience is really going to enjoy. Our audience is vast and varied, and so quite a lot can fit in. But we use our data to help inform that from development of screenplays and materials to casting decisions. We produce things at a very smart budget, and then we ensure people see the content that we make. We commit big and innovative marketing campaigns to the content that we make, to drive audiences to them.

With so many platforms, can an idea go through the process of finding a home? Do you say, “Oh this would be a great YouTube series over a movie” or vice versa? And how are you making sure the channel is fitting the content from the get-go?
It’s a little bit of both. We have different teams laser-focused on each of these categories. Our feature film group is always looking for the content that we want to make – romantic comedies, comedies, smart thrillers, action films. They’re laser focused there. I’m not having that staff also think about digital video on YouTube. But having said that, “F Marry Kill” came from a video producer. They moonlit and wrote this feature script. The feature team loved it, and we developed it a little bit more, and now it was made into a feature film. You can see exceptions to the rule.

Tell me about the data that is helping you make some of these decisions. Is it an algorithmic, machine-learning type thing? And how are you actually figuring out what to lean into and what to back away from?
We’re always looking at, effectively, a heat map of what is trending on the internet at all times. The brand of BuzzFeed is known as a curator of the bits of the internet you need to know about, or should know about, or these are the things that are trending. We have bots that are capturing what’s trending for us and telling us what’s trending. We also have humans in house, a fantastic staff, who have this sixth sense, and are deep in Reddit channels and deep in X and know what’s trending. It’s a nice blend of the two. With the premium entertainment side – across docs, TV and feature film – we’re looking at those trends, but on the digital video side, we can spot a trend and be reactionary to it within the same day and publish content and iterate off it and really latch on to the zeitgeist, or the thing that’s happening that day, or the trend that’s happening that day.

On the feature film side, it’s going to take us probably a year to get that piece of content out, if not longer. We’re not looking for flash-in-the-pan stuff. We’re looking more for longer term trends of this topic is really seeming to become a thing, or this community is really growing, or we’re spotting more and more that Gen Z are really enjoying kind of campy content, and maybe there’s an opportunity to do a bit of genre-bending and a campy thing based around some of these communities we can see forming on social media. It’s a longer term monitoring of the information.

But yeah, we have algorithms helping us with that. We have in-house tools that we’ve built, machine-led tools that are telling us some of these trends. Another way that we’re using it is our casting decisions. We’ve built in-house AI-led machines where, basically they’re taking key elements that we perceive as value with talent, and they’re stack-ranking actors based on that information. Typically you have a studio looking at, let’s say foreign value or what talent did in the last box office run or whatever. We’re obviously taking that key information, which is vital to distributors, but we’re baking in other things, like franchises they’ve been involved in that have a long staying power, or not just the size of their social following, but how engaged their audience is – would they show up if this person was in theaters in a movie, or do they really just follow them for other reasons? All that data and learning that we’ve packed in, that’s been really valuable for us.

How else is AI helping?
I mean, there’s the obvious in development and production efficiencies that we’re finding, but then we’re also embracing it from a content creation point of view. Simple things, when I say like efficiencies of automatic subbing and dubbing or quick creation of mood boards and decks or coverage on screenplays. There’s those things that will never replace the human touch but are helpful in us moving quickly, which we like to do. But now we’re moving forward and are really embracing AI for content creation again, without looking to replace human talent, instead having human talent lead the way and then let AI maximize output or provide creativity that we may be finding ourselves more limited around. An example of that, there’s a movie on our slate that we will shoot entirely on a volume stage, and that’s all through AI created assets. That’s one example. And then on the digital video side of things, we have a few shows that are in early stages of production, that are AI-created content.

For the volume stage I imagine the assets you will be creating are backdrops and things, but what about the AI-created content. And when you talk about a show that is completely created by AI – is that what’s going to air or what was developed or a combination of both?
A combination of both. And, I guess yes, the way to put it was animated characters, let’s say, but I want to be careful saying that, because we have our own in-house animation team that are all hand drawn animators who are doing incredible work for “Chikn Nuggit” and “The Land of Boggs,” our two main properties. It’s not animation in your typical way of seeing more classic animation. But an example would be, we have highly popular articles that come from buzzfeed.com that might be a list or roundups of things. How can AI generate a more immersive video experience of that list? It’s something that’s human-created but wasn’t intended for video. Can we use characters that AI creates? Or can we effectively load in stock imagery but AI created imagery that then creates an immersive video experience of that?

It seems like a lot to juggle something that is very hip and now while also creating something that is hopefully somewhat timeless and that people will revisit in 10 or 20 years. How do you juggle those two goals?
That’s our mission with our feature films. We’re doing things that for us feel very commercial but fresh and classic all at the same time, which I know I’m contradicting myself. If you take a movie like “Puppy Love,” that originally came from a bit of digital video content we made that was a fresh look at dog ownership. It was actually branded content we made for Purina on YouTube. It’s still there, still available, and, I would say, still pretty timeless. It’s a very cute video about a guy who adopts a dog, and there was a very passionate fan base for what was a piece of branded content that at its time, felt quite fresh, just because of the interactions and the tone and the way that the human was interacting with the dog.

It wasn’t a dog that’s able to speak. The dog did not speak. It acted like a dog. But it was relatable, the way that this guy chatted to his dog, just like it was a roommate or something. That became signal for us to maybe think about expanding that IP and doing more with it. And so that’s why we made the feature film of “Puppy Love.” And I think even though within “Puppy Love,” there are some modern day references, I think it’s a pretty timeless film. It’s a love story centered around dog ownership, and even though it probably feels fresh and you look at all the other romantic comedies that came out in 2023, when “Puppy Love” came out, it probably does feel more unique than the others because of that angle. It doesn’t suddenly age because it felt so sort of reactionary to an internet trend or something like that.

And I think “F Marry Kill” is the same – it’s centered around online dating, which is obviously a massive part of life these days, but it’s posing the real world question of, you don’t know who these people are, you know nothing about them. There’s potentially a threat there. And so it was us taking the common and very modern world thing of online dating, as well as this kind of surge of true crime podcasting and true crime fandom, and putting those worlds together in a bit of a campy, genre-bending vibe. Because we know our Gen Z audience particularly enjoys content that’s presented in that way. It’s all quite on-trend, but hopefully we’ve created a movie that’s quite timeless as well, one that doesn’t age quickly.

The post With BuzzFeed Studios, President Richard Alan Reid Has Embraced AI and Turned Branded Content Into Actual Movies appeared first on TheWrap.

Channels will initially appear on Max’s homepage for a small subset of adult profile users on the Ad-Free and Ultimate Ad-Free subscription tiers in the U.S. Subscribers will be able to restart, rewind, and fast-forward, as well as navigate between channels directly from within the player on select devices.

“While Max continues to provide personalized content recommendations for every user, the addition of live channels offers the element of serendipity and another route for content discovery,” the company said in a statement. “This launch provides the infrastructure for future iterations and ongoing innovation of channels including curated collections specifically programmed for Max, featuring themed content from our iconic original programming and robust library.”

Channels available at launch include:

HBO: The flagship channel home to current HBO Original premieres and replays, blockbuster theatrical premieres, and must-see library movies.

HBO 2: Caters to the ultimate fans of HBO Original programming, featuring binge-worthy marathons of current HBO Original series in addition to top theatrical movies.

HBO Signature: Delivers all things prestige drama, featuring iconic HBO Original series and films as well as blockbuster drama movies.

HBO Comedy: Features laugh-out-loud comedy, including award-winning HBO Original series, specials headlined by top and emerging comedic talent, documentaries about legendary comedians, and box-office comedy hits.

HBO Zone: Showcase for classic HBO series, documentaries, docuseries, and movies.

Max is the latest to introduce simulcasts of live programming into its service, following the launch of Disney+’s “Streams” feature in September.

The Disney+ Playtime and ABC News streams have drawn over 10 million hours of streaming since the feature launched and the company has seen “early signs of overall engagement lift amongst subscribers who watch them.”

The launch comes as Max is also preparing to begin sending out early messaging for its password sharing crackdown next week, with an add an extra member feature slated to launch in the first quarter of 2025.

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