10 Stories You Should Know
You won't be surprised to learn everyone thinks their streaming business is doing just great.
Here are the media stories you should know about this morning:
Amazon Prime Video India Chief Gaurav Gandhi Breaks Down Growth Strategy: ‘See Early Signs and Double Down’ (Variety)
“When we started programming in 10 languages we saw early signs before most others how content travels across languages,” says Gandhi, who spoke on the sidelines of the APOS conference in Singapore. “Today, 50% of our audience base is watching content in four plus languages, which was not the case three or four years back. And a big reason for that is the fact that as you program multiple languages across the board, we realize that you truly transcend linguistic boundaries and barriers and expand the linguistic palette.”
In Streaming, Original Films And Series Alone Aren’t The Draws They Once Were, Survey Finds; Games, Sports, News & Audio Should Also Be In The Mix (Deadline)
Asked which categories of offerings they would be most inclined to pay for, 39% of respondents cited movies and scripted TV, the biggest piece of the pie by far. Sports (12%), music/podcasts (11%) and gaming (7%) are other notable categories. Among 18-to-34-year-olds, gaming jumps to 15% and music/podcasts spikes to 16%.
Malala Yousafzai Calls Out Hollywood: Muslim Actors Only Make Up 1% Of Popular TV Series Leads (Outlook India)
"I learned that Asian people like me make up less than 4 per cent of leads in Hollywood films. Muslims are 25 per cent of the population, but only 1 per cent of characters in popular TV series," Yousafzai underscored at the Power of Women dinner.
Netflix Unveils Cast of ‘Money Heist’ Spinoff ‘Berlin’ (The Hollywood Reporter)
Netflix on Wednesday unveiled the new cast of Berlin, the Spanish spinoff series to the streamer’s global hit Money Heist. Pedro Alonso, who plays the hedonistic, intelligent jewel thief Andrés de Fonollosa, aka Berlin, in the original series, will reprise his role in the new prequel series.
Streamer Aha To Launch In Singapore, Middle East, Add Malayalam Service (Variety)
Aha is available in more than 100 territories, including the U.S. The streamer’s first U.S. original “American Dreams” bowed last year and two more shows are being planned. Aha’s promise to subscribers is a new show a week in each language. Of the 52 Telugu and 52 Tamil shows every year, 50% are commissioned and the other half acquired.
Netflix EMEA Series Boss Larry Tanz Says Streamer Is Defying Subscriber Teething Problems By Continuing To Grow Investment In The Region As He Gets Set For Six New Dramas Including ‘1899’ (Deadline)
Since taking on the brief in 2019, he said “authenticity and variety” have been the key driving force and we are now seeing the fruits of his approach, with subs able to watch “[reality format] Too Hot to Handle one night and [hit French drama] Lupin the next.”
“When we started with the local content strategy we really didn’t have the relationship with creative communities,” he added. “Our audiences weren’t as big and we didn’t have such a sense of what they wanted. The approach was very much ‘Hollywood content comes to you’ but that has changed.”
Buckingham Palace Bans TV Broadcasters From Ever Showing Moments From Queen's Funeral Again (LADBible)
BBC, ITV News and Sky News were messaged by members of royal staff on the day of the Queen's funeral and were asked to exclude specific timestamps of coverage from the Queen's funeral services at Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle from being shown in the future.
A total of five sections of video - of members of the royal family - subsequently won't be allowed to feature in any future news broadcasts or social media clips.
The BBC Will Cut Almost 400 Posts In Its International Service (Le Monde)
This project will result in the closure of radio stations in Arabic, Persian and Chinese, as well as the cessation of certain TV programs in Africa or Asia, said in a press release the British public audiovisual group, which is preparing to celebrate its centenary. The BBC assures that none of the 41 foreign language services will be completely closed but almost half of them will only be available online.
Banijay Format “The Bridge” Slated For Four Nordic Adaptations (Real Screen)
Banijay has revealed that its competition format The Bridge has been localized for Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, with all four versions set to be available to Nordic audiences via Prime Video beginning November 4.