Mike Truesdale

MARTIN GROVE'S HOLLYWOOD REPORT FOR 5/31/26: Horror fans kept the boxoffice bubbling this weekend, spending nearly $108M on tickets to BACKROOMS and OBSESSION.    The R rated sci-fi thriller BACKROOMS, from A24/Blumhouse-Atomic Monster/Chernin Entertainment, opened #1 to $81.5M at 3,442 theatres ($23,665), per Comscore. BUDGET BUZZ: $10M to produce. Its boxoffice succe$$ is one more reminder that people want to see horror movies in dark theatres with screaming strangers, not streaming alone at home.   Directed by Kane Parsons, director of the popular original YouTube series of shorts called THE BACKROOMS, it stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve & Mark Duplass. It's tracking best for first choice with under-25 men (eight points over norm). Rotten Tomatoes critics are liking it at 89%, but audiences are a quieter 74%.   Horror was also in focus with Focus Features/Blumhouse-Atomic Monster's R rated horror thriller OBSESSION finishing #2 in weekend three, per Comscore, with $26.4M -- up an enviable 10.17% -- at 2,781 theatres ($9,493). It's done $104.8M domestic and $148M worldwide. BUDGET BUZZ: $1M or less to produce & $14M to acquire.   OBSE$$ION's unique week-to-week boxoffice growth reflects first class marketing by Focus, Universal’s specialty distribution label. Directed by Curly Barker (THE CHAIR), it stars Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette & Cooper Tomlinson. Rotten Tomatoes critics are thumbs way up at 96% and audiences are cheering loudly at 95%.   Domestic ticket sales this weekend were $178.9M, according to Comscore Head of Marketplace Trends Paul Dergarabedian. That's up 0.8% from the prior weekend and up 20% vs. this time last year. Comscore's year to date tally has 2026 at $3.69B, up 11.37% from $3.31B in 2025. The prior weekend had 2026 up 14.0% vs. 2025.   Meanwhile, back at the multiplexes: Disney/Lucasfilm's STAR WARS: THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU slid to #3 in weekend two with $25M (-69.4%) at 4,300 theatres ($5,814). It's done $137.4M domestic and $246.6M worldwide. BUDGET BUZZ: $165M to produce. Its origins in Disney+'s hit MANDALORIAN series have fizzled at the boxoffice, but the merchandising sales for Grogu toys are said to be very impressive.   Lionsgate/Universal/GK Films PG-13 bio-drama MICHAEL was fourth in weekend six with $11.7M (-43%) at 3,118 theatres ($3,752). It's done $339.9M domestic and $851.3M worldwide. BUDGET BUZZ: $155M to produce.   Disney/20th Century Studios' PG-13 dramedy THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 fell to #6 in weekend five with $5.9M (-54%) at 2,650 theatres ($2,226). It's done $209.4M domestic. BUDGET BUZZ: $100M to produce.   Next weekend (6/5/26) 🐝🐝🐝🐝: Amazon MGM Studios/Escape Artists/ Mattel's PG-13 action adventure fantasy MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE is opening at about 3,500 theatres.   Directed by Travis Knight (KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS), it stars Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes & Alison Brie.   (See more at www.ZAMM.com)   #movies #martingrove #boxoffice #backrooms #obsession

2

An Executive Director of Linear Television oversees the strategy and operations of traditional broadcast TV content. Key responsibilities include: - Developing and executing TV programming strategy - Managing TV content acquisition and production - Overseeing TV scheduling and distribution - Analyzing audience metrics and performance - Collaborating with sales, marketing, and creative teams - Ensuring brand consistency across TV platforms An Executive Director of Linear Television is a senior role that oversees the strategy and operations of traditional broadcast TV content. Here are some more specific details: - *Programming Strategy*: Develop and execute TV programming strategy, including content acquisition, production, and scheduling - *Content Management*: Oversee TV content creation, editing, and approval processes - *Audience Development*: Analyze audience metrics and performance, identifying opportunities to grow viewership - *Distribution*: Manage TV distribution partnerships and negotiate deals with platforms and networks - *Budget Management*: Oversee TV budget, ensuring efficient allocation of resources - *Team Leadership*: Lead a team of TV professionals, including producers, editors, and analysts Some specific skills and qualifications for this role include: - 5+ years of experience in TV production or programming - Strong understanding of TV industry trends and audience behavior - Excellent leadership and project management skills - Experience with TV production software and analytics tools Some challenges an Executive Director of Linear Television might face include: - *Declining Linear TV Viewership*: Adapting to changing viewer habits and shifting audiences to digital platforms - *Content Competition*: Competing with streaming services and digital content providers for audience attention - *Digital Transformation*: Integrating linear TV with digital strategies for cohesive audience reach - *Data-Driven Decisions*: Leveraging audience data to inform programming and content decisions - *Budget Constraints*: Managing TV budgets effectively amidst changing industry dynamics Here are some potential solutions to the challenges faced by an Executive Director of Linear Television: - *Multi-Platform Content Distribution*: Distribute content across linear TV, streaming services, and social media to reach broader audiences - *Data-Driven Programming*: Leverage audience data to inform content creation, scheduling, and marketing decisions - *Hybrid Programming Models*: Blend linear TV with digital content, like live streaming or interactive experiences - *Partnerships and Collaborations*: Partner with streaming services, social media, or brands to expand reach and create new content opportunities - *Audience Engagement Strategies*: Focus on creating engaging experiences, like live events or social media interactions, to build loyalty

4

This is a conversation we’re having more often with enterprise teams. Building an internal production staff sounds straightforward. In practice, the challenge usually isn’t hiring. It’s managing scale, consistency, and coverage over time. Staffing live production is not just about filling roles. It’s about systems, workflows, and having the right expertise available when demand spikes. That’s the shift this post gets at.

11

3 Comments

Disney on Friday sent a cease-and-desist letter to ByteDance, alleging the Chinese tech giant has been infringing on its works to train and develop an AI video generation model without compensation. https://lnkd.in/gsy4MXyb

8

1 Comment

Pretend for a moment that you are looking to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery—but you’re a little cash broke. Your AI spending bender has kept you busy, and the underlying numbers aren’t exactly in your favor. So ideally, you would need the bankers advising on WBD’s side to tell the shareholders your offer is the best yet, so they check “yes” to approving your merger. How do you get that kind of leverage without cash? Maybe you could acquire a small media company. Ideally one that favors the administration (you were going to overhaul the newsroom anyway). Let’s say you decide on The Free Press; structuring the deal so that a large portion of the payment comes in your own stock (PSKY). As a little bonus for this compliant newsroom, you offer to let a grossly under-qualified (and frankly unremarkable) journalist run one of the biggest newsrooms in the country, cbs. By the way, the stock you paid out to The Free Press’s investors is locked up for 180 days. Would you look at that. As it turns out, one of those Free Press investors just so happens to be Allen & Co., one of the banks advising on the WBD merger. What are the odds that the bank’s partner, Paul Gould (who has been sitting on WBD’s board since 2008), is now holding a large share of your PSKY stock. Stock that only goes up if you grow. Stock they cannot sell for six months. And +6 mos after your acquisition just so happens to expire the week of the WBD shareholder vote. The Universe works in mysterious ways✨ But hey, now you can rest easy knowing exactly whose pocket your bid was landing in. You have a seat inside the boardroom when shareholders are discussing whether to sell, at what price, and whether they will accept Saudi money. Anyway. The drawing nearly made me crash out. Thursday is the vote. #WBD #BlockTheMerger #Media #Monopoly

32

5 Comments

An interesting footnote in the history of Streaming Wars. What remains to be seen is what Netflix will do to scale distribution. Streaming is nice but the theater experience has undeniable charm. #streamingwars #netflix #warnerbrothers #apple

2

WMG Announces $1.2B Catalog Acquisition Venture With Bain Capital https://lnkd.in/geUf8taQ Warner Music Group and Bain Capital have launched a joint venture with a $1.2 billion investment capacity to acquire music catalogs. This partnership will focus on acquiring both recorded music and music publishing catalogs. Warner Music will manage marketing, distribution, and administration for the acquired catalogs. The joint venture combines Warner Music's expertise and infrastructure with Bain Capital's financial resources. Key Details: Investment Amount: $1.2 billion. Partners: Warner Music Group and Bain Capital. Focus: Acquisition of music catalogs, including both recorded music and music publishing. Management: Warner Music will handle marketing, distribution, and administration. Equity: The venture is formed through equal equity commitments from both parties.

4

1 Comment

TV is only 70yrs old (1950 only 9% of households had one). Sports broadcast rights only became a thing in 1960 with the CBS - NFL deal. Distribution is everything. These social platforms are intricate webs of different creator communities/fanbases with loyal viewers. It would be interesting to see if broadcast rights deals will start to include creator-led co-streams of those broadcasts to help increase viewership and boost their numbers. OR some of your larger creator media companies look at this opportunity to launch their own live channels and capture some of these broadcast opportunities for themselves. They have the fans, they have clipping networks, and they have brand partners who have spent 10s - 100s of millions of dollars with them over the past decade. It would be like if NBC, ABC, or FOX, had a loyal fanbase and a sense of community… #creatoreconomy #sports #broadcast #TV #contentcreators #gseworldwide #gsedigital

17

1 Comment

WB Games Alert: Strategic Review Initiated at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)! Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has begun a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives aimed at maximizing shareholder value. This review was triggered by unsolicited interest received from multiple parties for both the entire company and specifically for the Warner Bros. segment (the home of WB Games). The WBD Board will evaluate a broad range of options, including continuing the previously planned separation into Warner Bros. and Discovery Global, a transaction for the entire company, or separate transactions for its Warner Bros. and/or Discovery Global businesses. An alternative structure, like a merger of Warner Bros. with a spin-off of Discovery Global, is also on the table. All eyes on WB Games, major shifts could be coming soon. #wbgames #gamesindustry #gamedev #goalreify

7

You 📺 If a Pay TV Provider reached 13% of US TV HHs, every Big Media TV publisher would be CLAMORING for distribution. 📺 In April YouTube garnered 12.4% of US TV viewing. Yet America’s BIGGEST TV CHANNEL — the planet’s biggest video platform — is STILL very much Creator-dominated. 📺 46 of the Top 50 Global YouTube channels are #Creators or YouTube natives. 📺 34 of the US Top 50 are Creators. MrBeast has 3 in the Top 50. Vevo has 4. Disney, Disco Bros, NBCU & Rockstar Games all have channels in the Top 50 — but they’re simply promo channels, with significant paid traffic. 📺 6 are advertising Brands flat-out buying traffic. ⁉️ HOW MUCH bigger would these channels be if Big Media programmed them as content-first rather than ads-only? 📺 BBC Studios with Bluey + BBC Earth; Hasbro’s Peppa Pig; and Liberty Media’s Formula 1 are notable corporate exceptions. They “get” YouTube better than most Big Media, programming their channels as next-gen TV — with YouTube native content alongside long-form content designed for the television. IF Big Media like NBCUniversal, PBS, The Walt Disney Company, Nickelodeon & Warner Bros. Discovery used #YouTube the way #Creators and native YouTubers do — content first, promo last — they COULD BE the world’s biggest Creators. “Could be.” Yet, traditional Media continues to utilize YouTube primarily for promotion — ceding the platform to the natives. Last year, I told you 2025 would be the year of “YouTube On TV.” Since, YouTube has consistently been TV’s #1 Distributor. My YOUTUBE LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS has more on what’s happening now and what’s next. https://lnkd.in/eyjp7hAJ #CreatorEconomy

62

14 Comments

Warner Bros Discovery reported a 6% drop in quarterly revenue to about $9.5 billion, weighed down by declines in its traditional TV networks and studio businesses. Is the revenue drop a temporary setback — or a sign of deeper trouble in Warner Bros Discovery’s traditional TV and studio business? #warnerbrosdiscovery #TVnetworks #studiobusiness #govcondigest

Everyone is talking about who will win the Warner Bros. Entertainment sale, but we should be talking about who will LOSE. Spoiler: it’s likely you and me. 😮 On last weeks episode of “The Town” podcast hosted by Matthew Belloni, he had veteran Jeff Sagansky on who had a spot on analysis on why the incentives for creatives is now broken, and with that - so goes Hollywood. And he’s right. But there is a solution- support indie creatives and platforms. ❤️ Watch the video for the full analysis. 🎤 #Netflix #Paramount #WB DOCUMENTARY+ :: Dropout :: Free Live Sports

39

15 Comments

The Real Scaling Problem The hardest thing to scale in entertainment isn’t talent. It’s trust. Allocators don’t need better stories — they need repeatability, comparability, and downside visibility. Most independent productions reset the clock every time: New entity New controls New reporting New risk profile That’s not entrepreneurship. That’s reinvention. Real scale comes from systems that remember, not teams that improvise. #ScaleProblems, #InvestorTrust, #RiskDiscipline, #EntertainmentInvesting, #InstitutionalThinking, #OperationalExcellence

5

1 Comment

Reclaiming the "discovery loop" is the next big battleground for premium streamers and sports rights holders.   In my recent sit-down with Brandon Costa at Sports Video Group (SVG), we discussed why industry leaders are moving the verticalized swipe experience inside their own apps. As we’ve known for a while, verticalized shorts are not a trend; they are a strategic move to reclaim the discovery loop and drive long-form retention. This is exactly what we’re seeing with the recent news of Disney+ ESPN’s Verts launch. By rolling out a dedicated vertical feed, they are meeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha where they already live.   As I discussed with Brandon, here are the operational keys to making this work: ➡️ Bridge the Retention Gap: Short-form is the new "front door." By bringing vertical feeds directly into the O&O environment, broadcasters keep fans within their own ecosystem, using snackable discovery to lead them back to the live game. ➡️ The 60-Second Rule: In a real-time world, velocity is a moat. We’ve leveraged Generative AI and LLM-driven orchestration to shrink the window from "live signal" to "vertical asset" to under 60 seconds. ➡️ Architect for Agility: Don’t get locked into a static AI stack. A Model-Agnostic Orchestration Layer allows you to swap in best-of-breed AI tools as they evolve, ensuring your library remains "liquid" and future-proof.   The future of streaming belongs to those who use AI to make the 6-inch screen the ultimate engine for discovery and monetization.   #StreamingMedia #AIOrchestration #GenerativeAI

26

4 Comments

The steady drumbeat of improved streaming profitability continues. Netflix, YouTube, Spotify—and now Peacock joins the Q2 profit (or in their case lower losses) parade. UPDATE: Paramount also reported improved profits. PEACOCK Q2 NUMBERS: → Revenue: $1.2B (up 18% Y/Y) → Adjusted OIBDA loss: $101M (down from -$348M last year—less than a third) → Subscribers: 41M (held steady when they typically lose subs post-NFL) → Premium price hike: 38% to $10.99 (Premium Plus up 21% to $16.99) Rich Greenfield asked Daniel Ek during Spotify's earnings call: "If Peacock can raise prices by 38%, why can't you?" It's a fair question. Peacock—still losing money—just pushed through a price increase that would make Netflix blush. Meanwhile Spotify, finally profitable, treads carefully on pricing, "obsessed with price-value", and determined to keep their industry-best churn rate. There are other differences too: Peacock's entry tier was priced at the lowest level among its competitive set; Spotify, as the highest, effectively sets the market. Most encouragingly for Peacock: they maintained all 41M subs in Q2 (They typically lose subscribers when NFL season ends in Q1; not this time.) They had an undeniable cultural hit in Love Island USA, likely reducing churn in Q2 and early Q3. At this burn rate improvement, Peacock will turn profitable within quarters. The chart tells the story: streaming is now a profit machine across the board. Different scales, different models, but the direction is clear. PARAMOUNT+ Q2 NUMBERS (incl Pluto): → Revenue: $2.2B (up 15% Y/Y; subscription revenue up 22%, partially offset by ad decline -4%) → Adjusted OIBDA: $157M (up from $26M in Q1'24) → Subs: 77.7M (up 13% Y/Y but down sequentially) Management talked up engagement growth per-sub of 14%, churn reduction, and their success in launching the most SVOD originals of any streamer whose name doesn't start with an "N". We're at $6.1B in aggregated streaming profits so far, with Disney and WBD still to report next week. (In Q1, we saw $6B for those streamers combined) What stood out to you from this earnings season?

58

4 Comments

If Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount end up under the same umbrella with a big debt load, this stops being a scripted vs. unscripted conversation pretty quickly. It turns into a finance one. Unscripted becomes the easiest lever to pull to keep the portfolio breathing. Look at what this combined footprint could include: MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Paramount Network, plus the Discovery side like TLC, HGTV, Food Network, ID, and more. That’s a lot of brands that need a steady flow of programming across linear, streaming, and FAST. In a consolidation moment, cheap hours suddenly becomes a strategy. There are two ways this can play out, and producers have lived both. One path is straightforward, unscripted becomes the margin engine. Debt pressure creates urgency. Reality and factual deliver the best cost per hour, move through production faster, and give networks more flexibility on financing and packaging. Add FAST and AVOD into the mix, and the incentive to commission volume grows even more. The other path is messier, integration slows everything down. Every merger comes with a foggy window, leadership shifts, org charts change, budget authority moves around, and decision making gets weird. Calls go unanswered while sign offs migrate from one person to another. Producers feel it immediately, even when the press release sounds synergistic. The takeaway is simple. In a debt driven era, content strategy turns into balance sheet strategy. Unscripted is not only a creative choice. It’s a financial gain. The people who understand that are going to have an edge in the next cycle.

72

19 Comments

Spotify subscriber base grew by 5m to 281m in Q3; company posted $680m operating profit for the quarter - Music Business Worldwide #WeAreAEG https://dy.si/DTjyW

2