Digital

For the first time, A.I.-generated personas, often used for corporate trainings, were detected in a state-aligned information campaign — opening a new chapter in online manipulation.

The head of the CBC says it is preparing to end traditional TV and radio broadcasts and move completely digital, as audiences shift to streaming, but the move is unlikely to happen over the next decade. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Catherine Tait, president and CEO of the CBC, said the broadcaster is eventually preparing to shift all its content to online-only “in order to remain relevant.”

This latest year-over-year growth, reported by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), comes after domestic SVOD spending expanded by nearly 20% in 2021 and 37% in 2020. Where does $30 billion plus rank a sector in terms of the overall domestic entertainment business pie? Consider that North American theatrical releasing generated $7.36 billion last year, according to Box Office Mojo.

President Joe Biden plans to call for stringent curbs on targeted advertising data collection in Tuesday evening’s State of the Union address. “Big Tech companies collect huge amounts of data on the things we buy, the websites we visit, and the places we go,” the White House stated in a fact sheet outlining Biden’s speech. “There should be clear and strict limits on the ability to collect, use, transfer, and maintain our personal data, especially for sensitive data such as geolocation and health information, and the burden must fall on companies — not consumers — to minimize how much information they collect.”

Kevin Costner, Kelsey Grammer, Dan Aykroyd and a bevy of other notables are set to appear in a promo for Fox Nation, suggesting that the subscription-based streaming service is one of the more important business initiatives for Fox Corp., the parent company of the Fox broadcast network, which will televise Super Bowl this Sunday, and Fox News Media, which operates the broadband outlet.

CNN and PBS took home two prizes apiece, headlining Monday’s duPont-Columbia Awards handed out by Columbia Journalism School. CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and co-anchor of PBS NewsHour Amna Nawaz hosted the award ceremony, which returned to an in-person event for the first time in three years. Local TV honors went to KXAS Dallas-Fort Worth, WXIA Atlanta, WTVF Nashville, KARE Minneapolis and WBRZ Baton Rouge, La.

Amazon poured significant investment into content enhancements last year, disclosing last week it spent a total of $16.6 billion on digital video and music content in 2022 — up from $13 billion in 2021. Approximately $7 billion went toward Amazon originals, live sports and licensed third-party video content

The former New York Times digital journalist takes over at the nonprofit beginning March 31.

The company reports quarterly earnings on Wednesday, and Wall Street is expecting it to lay out a new streaming strategy and operating structure.

The premium cable network overhauls its slate around franchises after its merger with streamer Paramount+.

The Federal Trade Commission is preparing a potential antitrust lawsuit against Amazon Inc. that in the coming months could challenge an array of the tech giant’s business practices as anticompetitive, according to people familiar with the matter. The timing of any case remains in flux, some of the people said. The commission also could opt not to proceed, and doesn’t always bring cases even when it is making preparations to do so.

Season 1 of the That ’70s Show spinoff premiered on Jan. 19, and immediately reached Netflix’s Top 10 English TV list in 35 countries, with more than 41 million hours viewed, according to the streamer.

Creator Taylor Sheridan needs another season to finish telling the origin story of the Dutton family he made famous in Yellowstone. And there’s always the chance Season 2 could attract the same number of people who first tuned into the premiere of 1923 in December: The prequel that stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren was the most watched Paramount+ premiere ever in the U.S. and drew in 7.4 million total viewers across Paramount+ and linear previews.

The past year of rising interest rates and falling stock prices has shaken Big Tech, along with the San Francisco Bay region it dominates. Now, tens of thousands of layoffs from Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and dozens of other companies have made it clear: The golden age is over. Speeches about austerity have replaced the free-flowing stock grants and free sushi lunches.

Amazon said it earned $300 million, or 3 cents per share, in the October-December quarter. Industry analysts were expecting the Seattle-based company to earn 17 cents a share. Amazon’s 4Q profits represent a significant drop from the $14.3 billion it posted during the same period in 2021, when the company had a nearly $12 billion gain from its investment in Rivian Automotive. Shares in Amazon.com Inc. fell 4% in after-hours trading.

The most streamed title across all streaming services in the first week of the year was Ginny & Georgia, according to Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings. The teen comedy-drama series was watched for 2.5 billion minutes from Jan. 2 to Jan. 8, during which its second season on Netflix was available for four days.

The $15.7 million sale follows a big runnup in BuzzFeed’s shares following the announcement it will use AI to produce content

Recently Google struck a deal to offer NFL Sunday Ticket starting this fall. Google reportedly spend $2 billion for NFL Sunday Ticket, and they have big plans. Now, during Google’s 4th quarter 2022 earning call, we learned some of the new features NFL Sunday Ticket will offer.

While overall revenue grew at Google’s parent, advertising revenue fell by nearly 4% and revenue at YouTube declined 8% year-over-year. That appeared to spook investors, who sent the company’s stock lower in after-hours trading. The company said it earned $13.62 billion, or $1.05 per share, in the October-December quarter. That’s down 34% from $20.64 billion, or $1.53 per share, in the same period a year earlier.