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lucasshaw.bsky.social
Oversee business of pop culture coverage at Bloomberg. Views my own. Write a newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/bdh7w838 Host a conference: https://shorturl.at/nuW1F Go Dodgers
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Dr. Phil is trying to invent himself as a newsman. It's not going very well. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Why is a Chinese gaming company with a big hit game cutting staff and closing studios? @cecianasta.bsky.social and Ping investigate. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Wow. Amazon has gained creative control of the James Bond franchise. www.aboutamazon.com/news/company...

Streaming has grown its share of TV time by almost 7% in just one year. (Cable and broadcast both continue to decline.) YouTube's share alone is up about 2%. Netflix growing a lot as well.

Netflix is the cheapest major streaming service by a pretty major metric. How much we pay for how often we watch it. That's according to MoffettNathanson. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

The hottest phrase in the music business is "super fans." Streaming services are building more expensive tiers for them. Record labels are hawking apps & merchandise. I examined these plans -- and whether they will work -- for this week's newsletter. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Captain America: Brave New World did... fine. $88 million opening weekend, $192 global opening over the holiday. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Back when the NFL was struggling with falling ratings & many scandals, the head of ESPN suggested that Disney not renew its deal with the league and spend that $$ on March Madness, the World Series and soccer. Good thing for Disney that Bob Iger said no. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

This week's newsletter is about the most dominant cultural force in US history: the NFL. Hannah Miller and I spoke with some smarty pants to understand how football has overcome cord-cutting, falling ratings and a few scandals to grow its audience. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Ne Zha 2 has grossed more than $1 billion in just 10 days. I believe it is the first movie to gross $1 billion in just 1 country (China). All-time US leader is The Force Awakens at $936 million. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Mini dramas -- web series that run 60 to 90 seconds -- are now a bigger business than movies in China. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Over the past year, OpenAI met with Hollywood studios to show off its new video tool Sora. They talked about Sora's creative and commercial potential for filmmaking. And then... nothing. We looked at why studios have yet to embrace AI in a big way. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

China just posted $1.3 billion in ticket sales during 1 week. That's more than the entire Korean box office in 2024. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Spotify added 73 million customers while posting its first annual profit ($1.2 billion). Investors are happy. The company is worth $120 billion. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Amazon Hollywood boss Mike Hopkins have both joined forces with @RickCarusoLA for a new non-profit to rebuild LA. There are now several different initiatives with the same mission. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Warner Records -- home of Madonna & Fleetwood Mac -- was in decline. To turn things around, its owner hired two executives. One young and unproven. The other a wily veteran. I spoke with the two of them about their turnaround story for this week's newsletter. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Rich Paul knew about the AD-Luka trade 48 hours in advance but didn't tell LeBron? If you believe that, I have a used car to sell you.

Kids are the most dependable moviegoers. deadline.com/2025/02/box-...

Scoop: Carlyle is investing in Entertainment 360, the Hollywood management firm that represents Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig and Blake Lively. It also produced Game of Thrones. Link TK

“I expect that this is going to be the year when a highly intelligent and personalized AI assistant reaches more than 1 billion people." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Scooplet: 3Arts, one of Hollywood's largest management companies, is seeking to raise up to $250 million to expand its business. The company produces hit TV shows such as Sex Lives of College Girls and Welcome to Wrexham. @tgbuckley www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The Hollywood recession is real. The industry has reduced its output of new TV 2 years in a row. But it still releases more than 3 new shows a week.

Wow. Netflix added 18.9 million customers in the final quarter of 2024 -- a new record. Tops even the covid boom of 2020. The company now has more than 300 million subscribers. Link TK.

The CEO, CFO and CFO of Kevin Hart's media company left at the end of the year. That was just weeks after Hartbeat laid off about 20 people. A look at the turmoil at another celebrity-led media co. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

New: Every major streaming service is going to show Fireaid, a fundraising concert set for LA in 2 weeks. They will also likely donate to victims. The lineup is going to roll out over the next couple weeks.

New: Blackstone is looking for $3 billion in its sale of music assets. The hottest music asset right now is a group that collects royalties from radio stations and commercials... www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

“What’s going on in the real estate market is disgusting." www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

For this weeks's newsletter, I tried to capture how I and many other Angelenos are feeling about the state of our city. I also looked at what this disaster means for Hollywood, an industry that is now suffering its fourth crisis in as many years. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

“For ambitious chefs and hospitality professionals, it becomes a trade-off: Either you can afford a root canal or you can have a creatively fulfilling career.” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/28/o...

Didn't take long for Zuckerberg to respond to Trump's win. He's bringing a combat sports king -- and Trump loyalist -- onto his board. And he's ending fact-checking. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Movie ticket sales have declined about 30% over the last two decades. Rising ticket prices have masked a rapid decline in attendance.

Scoop: Disney is merging Hulu’s live TV service with fuboTV. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The 15 highest-grossing movies in the world last year were all sequels, reboots or spinoffs. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

So about 5-7 million people watched Netflix’s Christmas Day NFL games outpace the US.

South Korean entertainment stocks are tanking because the new Squid Game has received good but not great reviews. (Currently #2 show globally on Netflix.) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

New: Netflix’s Christmas Day games drew 24 million viewers in the US — a streaming record, but pretty standard for the NFL. International numbers to come. Link also TK.

A Complete Unknown is a great advertisement for Dylan’s genius — and smoking cigarettes. (Also portrays Dylan as an asshole!)

Netflix has completed the streaming sports cycle in just 1 month: First, you crash because you attract more viewers than expected. Hand-wringing ensues. People wonder if streaming can handle sports. Then, you figure it out and everyone moves one. See: Amazon, Peacock, et al

The final Screentime of 2024: Part 2 of our executive poll. Media executives pick the best and worst CEO, predict the biggest movie of 2025 and decide whether David Ellison’s Paramount deal will work. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...