The 11th Hour Dispatch — Tuesday, July 17, 2018
BINGE WATCH
NBCUniversal’s how-to video network Craftsy is rebranding as a lifestyle platform and launching a $14.99 per month or $120 per year subscription service. Bluprint will feature not only craft tutorials, but also original series focused on everything from music, writing, and dance to fitness, home decor, and family. The service will include a reported 3,000 hours of content. The service has some pretty big names leading its instructional videos including Today Show weatherman Al Roker, Top Chef’s Padma Lakshmi, dancer and Ellen Degeneres Show regular Stephen “tWitch” Boss, and Broadway actress Marcy Harriell. “Bluprint is a natural evolution of our subscription model, with our mission to revolutionize the way people engage with lifestyle passions and pursuits,” said John Levisay, CEO of Bluprint (and former Craftsy co-founder and CEO). NBCU hasn’t had the best luck with streaming products yet. The company’s comedy service Seeso (RIP) folded last August, and a 2014 fitness product called Radius quietly nailed its coffin shut without even hitting a one-year mark. However, NBCU plans to integrate Bluprint into the Today Show and the upcoming Amy Poehler/Nick Offerman crafting competition series Making It, so it may have a better chance of survival thanks to some good old fashioned corporate synergy.
YOUNG MONEY
After failing to hit the 6.3 million additional subscribers expected of it, Netflix’s stock tanked 14% in after-hours trading yesterday. Despite this shortcoming and pulling in only $3.91 billion of the $3.94 billion in revenue that was expected of it this quarter, Netflix’s team doesn’t seem too concerned. They argue that the company has still seen “robust” growth, particularly internationally (true), and that it’s still on track to hit considerable benchmarks — even if that’s in a different manner than expected. Netflix’s stock has more than doubled this year due to strong outlook on its subscriber growth, the drop in which was a “near term gut punch” to at least one GBH Insights analyst. For Q3, the streaming giant is now projected to pull in $3.99 billion in revenue ($14 million less than expected), $0.68 per share ($0.04 less than expected), and 5 million subscribers (930,000 less than expected).
BIG BUSINESS
Like seemingly every social platform out there right now, Snapchat has launched an initiative that will likely increase news coverage on its platform. The program will partner with four discovery tool companies — NewsWhip, Storyful, SAM Desk, and TagBoard — to enable news organizations to find photos and videos on the platform during breaking news events. Of the four partners, none will charge for their services, because you will be paying for it with your personal data. That free charge is notable, since customers of these services typically shell out money in “a range of hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands.” The companies will be primarily focused on Snapchat’s geographic location features, which will allow news organizations to be hyperspecific about where content related to a specific story is coming from.
NOTHIN’ BUT ‘NET
Apple changed all of its executive headshots to Memojis and now I guess I have to throw my iPhone away.
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