The 11th Hour Dispatch — Thursday, September 6, 2018

BINGE WATCH
Digital superstars and founders of VidCon John and Hank Green have signed a podcast deal with WNYC. The deal will see the brothers remastering and relaunching two of their podcasts — the advice series Dear Hank & John and John’s The Anthropocene Reviewed, where he critiques various aspects of his life — as well as the launch of a new series called SciShow Tangents. The new podcast is a spinoff of Hank’s YouTube channel SciShow, which explores peculiar scientific subjects. WNYC joins a slew of companies taking advantage of influencers in podcast form. Recently, digital company Studio71, as well as the talent agency UTA in partnership with media company Cadence13, launched influencer-focused podcast divisions to rake in some of that sweet, sweet green from rabid and massive followings of their influencer partners.
YOUNG MONEY
MasterClass, the education platform that allows you to learn skills from celebrity masters, has picked up $80 million in Series D funding. This round, which MasterClass plans to use to boost streaming service subscriptions and expand its course offerings to other topics like business and politics, brings its funding total to $130 million. Since launching with only three courses in 2015, MasterClass’s library has expanded to 39 classes, a number it hopes to expand to 50 by the end of this year. Right now, you can learn everything from cooking with the terrifying Gordon Ramsey, photography with Annie Leibovitz, and comedy from banjo master Steve Martin. Similar education companies have become more popular in the age of the streaming service, but MasterClass’s starstudded teachers have allowed it to differentiate itself from more technical competitors like Udemy, Coursera, and Udacity.
BIG BUSINESS

Independent film theater chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema will break ground on its first Manhattan location next month. The theater will take over the second and third basement levels of 28 Liberty in the Financial District. This brings the number of Alamo locations in the Greater NYC area to three, with one in downtown Brooklyn and another in Yonkers. The Manhattan theater, along with an upcoming LA location, will include a Video Vortex branch, which is half bar/half video store curated by Alamo staff and the American Genre Film Archive. Patrons to Video Vortex can rent DVDs, Blu-rays, and even VHS tapes (for the über hipster) for free, as well as purchase board games, apparel, and collectibles. The doors of the shiny new NYC location filled with beer and films that are better than you are set to open in Q3 2019.
NOTHIN’ BUT ‘NET
I just saw my future, and it’s this woman. Joanne the Scammer who?
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