Recent stories about Entertainment

Loann Kaji, Ryan Kaji and Shion Kaji. Photo by Getty.

Creator Economy

startups entertainment

Pocket.watch’s Streaming Expansion

By Isabelle Sarraf · May 22, 2023 2:09 PM PDT

Pocket.watch, a TI 50 startup and entertainment company that helps young YouTube stars such as 11-year-old Ryan Kaji develop original shows, games and toys, is bringing its ad-free streaming service to Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Stream platforms this summer. The move will bring kid creator content to Comcast’s 16 million customers.Ryan and... Pocket.watch, a TI 50 startup and entertainment company that helps young YouTube stars such...

Art by Clark Miller.

Scene and Heard

entertainment ai

While Hollywood Writers Fret About AI, Visual Effects Workers Welcome It

By Scott Alan Lucas · May 20, 2023 6:00 AM PDT · 7 comments

Is there anybody here who is afraid of AI taking their job?” Visual effects veteran James Blevins, whose credits include “The Mandalorian,” “Icarus,” “Air Force One” and “Space Jam,” was speaking last Wednesday to a crowd of several hundred people at the Hollywood offices of FYI, the... Is there anybody here who is afraid of AI taking their job?” Visual effects veteran James...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

YouTube Undercuts Amazon on Streaming Push

By Sahil Patel · May 19, 2023 6:00 AM PDT

YouTube and Netflix are the most-watched streaming services in America. But it is Amazon that has come closest to building a streaming version of cable TV with its Prime Video Channels service, which lets Prime subscribers easily sign up for a wide range of streaming services run by other companies. It’s an enormously profitable business,... YouTube and Netflix are the most-watched streaming services in America. But it is Amazon that has...

Linda Yaccarino. Photo by Bloomberg.

Musk Installs NBCU’s Linda Yaccarino to Be His Adult in the Room

By Sahil Patel, Erin Woo and Becky Peterson · May 12, 2023 1:00 PM PDT · 8 comments

Linda Yaccarino. Photo by Bloomberg.

Musk Installs NBCU’s Linda Yaccarino to Be His Adult in the Room

By Sahil Patel, Erin Woo and Becky Peterson · May 12, 2023 1:00 PM PDT · 8 comments

At SpaceX, Elon Musk’s top lieutenant Gwynne Shotwell has won a reputation as the adult in the room, able to turn Musk’s visionary ideas into commercial reality. Ad executives are hoping that former NBCUniversal ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino will play the same role at Twitter, where she was named Friday as CEO. People who know Musk... At SpaceX, Elon Musk’s top lieutenant Gwynne Shotwell has won a reputation as the adult in...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

TikTok Tests Exclusive Deals With Music Artists, Edging Into Labels’ Turf

By Erin Woo and Kalley Huang · May 12, 2023 6:00 AM PDT

Over the past few years, TikTok has become a viral hitmaker, sending musical artists like Lil Nas X to the top of the record charts and propelling the careers of Olivia Rodrigo and Megan Thee Stallion. Now TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, is angling to play a bigger role in these artists’ careers, which could reduce the increasingly steep... Over the past few years, TikTok has become a viral hitmaker, sending musical artists like Lil Nas...

Table: Shane Burke

Creator Economy

startups entertainment

What’s Left After the Great Social Audio Experiment

By Isabelle Sarraf · May 10, 2023 3:08 PM PDT · 1 comment

Social audio’s heyday has definitively come and gone. After Clubhouse became an overnight sensation, other tech companies were quick to launch their own products that invited people to chat in live virtual rooms. But as the chart above shows, some such as Reddit and Spotify have recently shut down their Clubhouse rivals. And even Clubhouse,... Social audio’s heyday has definitively come and gone. After Clubhouse became an overnight...

Photo by Getty.

As Hollywood Writers Strike, Momentum Grows for Creator Labor Movement

By Kaya Yurieff · May 9, 2023 4:00 AM PDT · 3 comments

Creator economy workers are taking a fresh stab at labor organizing. A group of digital influencers and professionals who work with them has started an effort to push tech companies to increase creators’ compensation and take action on other issues, including unexplained removals of creators’ accounts from apps, according... Creator economy workers are taking a fresh stab at labor organizing. A group of digital...

Personal finance expert Ramit Sethi. Photo: Chris Newhard

The Personal Finance Blogger With His Own Netflix Show

By Kaya Yurieff · May 8, 2023 2:00 PM PDT

Personal finance expert Ramit Sethi. Photo: Chris Newhard

Creator Economy

culture entertainment

The Personal Finance Blogger With His Own Netflix Show

By Kaya Yurieff · May 8, 2023 2:00 PM PDT

Ramit Sethi started a website called “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” from his dorm room at Stanford University in 2004 to help teach his college friends about money. Now 40, he has a best-selling book of the same name, a podcast, 500,000 Instagram followers, and most recently, a new show on Netflix, which began streaming last month. In the... Ramit Sethi started a website called “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” from his dorm room at Stanford...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

google entertainment

Nearly Half of YouTube’s U.S. Viewership Is Now on TVs, Helping Drive Ad Shift

By Sahil Patel · May 4, 2023 7:00 AM PDT · 8 comments

For years, Google’s YouTube couldn’t get any respect from the TV industry. TV marketers wouldn’t go near it out of fear that their ads would be tainted by running alongside YouTube’s amateur content. And analysts and research firms treated the streaming service as separate from the rest of television when analyzing TV... For years, Google’s YouTube couldn’t get any respect from the TV industry. TV...

Art by Clark Miller.

entertainment media/telecom

The Writers’ Strike, DVDs and the Death of Free Money

By Andrew A. Rosen · May 2, 2023 9:00 AM PDT · 4 comments

Sign up for Rosen’s newsletter, Parqor, part of The Information’s newsletter network. As of midnight last night, Hollywood’s writers are on strike. Their demands for better pay and better job security seem like the beginning of the end of this digital chapter in our entertainment industry. I would argue, however, that the... Sign up for Rosen’s newsletter, Parqor, part of The Information’s newsletter...

Photo by Shutterstock

Creator Economy

google entertainment

Downbeat YouTube, Upbeat Spotify

By Isabelle Sarraf · April 25, 2023 3:49 PM PDT · 1 comment

Anyone looking for relief from the pall hanging over the advertising business didn’t find it in YouTube results Tuesday. The Alphabet-owned video sharing site, something of a bellwether for the creator economy, said YouTube’s ad revenue fell 2.6% to $6.7 billion during the first quarter compared with the same period a year ago. That was the... Anyone looking for relief from the pall hanging over the advertising business didn’t find it in ...

Amanda Diaz, Samir Chaudry and Jon Youshaei at a Creator Economy Summit panel. Photo by Erin Beach.

TikTok’s 150 Million Potential Shoppers

By Isabelle Sarraf · April 20, 2023 4:07 PM PDT

Amanda Diaz, Samir Chaudry and Jon Youshaei at a Creator Economy Summit panel. Photo by Erin Beach.

Creator Economy

TikTok’s 150 Million Potential Shoppers

By Isabelle Sarraf · April 20, 2023 4:07 PM PDT

The Information’s Creator Economy Summit was hopping Thursday, with more than 400 attendees in Los Angeles in attendance. Among the topics: TikTok, live shopping, the future of creator economy startups and generative AI. We’ll go more into some of the sessions’ in next week’s newsletters, but here are some of the early highlights:• TikTok is... The Information’s Creator Economy Summit was hopping Thursday, with more than 400 attendees in...

Brooke Berry, Head of Talent Development, speaks at the Snap Partner Summit. Photo via Snap Partner Summit livestream.

Creator Economy

entertainment media/telecom

Snapchat Is Doubling Down on Stories Revenue Sharing

By Erin Woo · April 19, 2023 1:58 PM PDT

Erin Woo here, reporting from Snap’s Partner Summit in sunny Santa Monica, Calif. The big news for creators from the one-day developer conference: Snapchat is doubling down on sharing revenue from ads inserted into creators’ disappearing Stories to incentivize them to keep posting on the app. Snapchatters with at least 50,000 followers and... Erin Woo here, reporting from Snap’s Partner Summit in sunny Santa Monica, Calif. The big news...

From left to right: Kim Larson of YouTube, Marc and Heidi D'Amelio of "The D’Amelio Show," and creator Jon Youshaei. Photos: Getty and Jon Youshaei.

Creator Economy

What to Expect at Our Creator Economy Summit

By Kaya Yurieff · April 17, 2023 2:24 PM PDT

I’m en route to Los Angeles today ahead of The Information’s third annual Creator Economy Summit on Thursday. This is the first time we’re hosting this event in person, and we are so excited to bring together more than 500 registered attendees, including creators, investors and entrepreneurs shaping the creator economy. (We are at full capacity,... I’m en route to Los Angeles today ahead of The Information’s third annual Creator Economy Summit...

HBO & Max Content CEO Casey Bloys at today's event. Photo by Getty

Warner’s New Max Service Is a Decade Overdue

By Martin Peers · April 12, 2023 5:00 PM PDT

Better late than never. That could be the motto of Warner Bros. Discovery, which today put on a glitzy presentation to promote its overhauled streaming service, to be renamed Max (dropping HBO from the name) on May 23. The new service, combining shows from the company’s Discovery portfolio of reality shows with HBO Max’s lineup, is a worthy... Better late than never. That could be the motto of Warner Bros. Discovery, which today put on a...

Art by Shane Burke

How Creators Are Making Money From ByteDance-owned CapCut

By Isabelle Sarraf · April 6, 2023 4:46 PM PDT

Art by Shane Burke

Creator Economy

culture entertainment

How Creators Are Making Money From ByteDance-owned CapCut

By Isabelle Sarraf · April 6, 2023 4:46 PM PDT

So many TikTok videos on my For You Page the last few weeks have featured a CapCut overlay of “The Last of Us” actor Pedro Pascal eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The template, made on the app owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has been used more than 1.15 million times on TikTok and other apps, according to metrics from... So many TikTok videos on my For You Page the last few weeks have featured a CapCut overlay of “...

Photo by AP.

The Information's 411

Special 411 Podcast: Jessica Lessin interviews Kara Swisher

By Jessica E. Lessin · April 6, 2023 2:15 PM PDT · 1 comment

A few weeks ago, at the SXSW conference, I sat down with journalist and the host of “Pivot” and “On with Kara Swisher,” Kara Swisher. With Silicon Valley Bank imploding around us, and technology companies on edge about all sorts of issues, it felt like a good time to check with Swisher on not just the state of tech, but... A few weeks ago, at the SXSW conference, I sat down with journalist and the host of...

Comcast's Brian Roberts and Disney's Bob Iger. Photos by Getty

Comcast’s Roberts Has Upper Hand Over Iger as Hulu Battle Looms

By Sahil Patel · April 6, 2023 8:33 AM PDT · 4 comments

The last time Disney CEO Bob Iger and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts tangled, in a battle for control of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment business, Roberts came off second best. But as they prepare for their next contest, over ownership of streaming service Hulu, it’s the Comcast CEO who appears to have all the leverage. Next January,... The last time Disney CEO Bob Iger and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts tangled, in a battle for control...

Priyanka Naik, a self-taught vegan chef. Photo: Courtesy of Priyanka Naik.

Creator Economy

culture entertainment

The Ex-Twitter Employee Going Viral With Vegan Food

By Isabelle Sarraf · April 5, 2023 3:11 PM PDT

Until November, Priyanka Naik’s career as a food blogger took place around the sidelines of her main job at Twitter, where she most recently led the social network’s North American and Latin American partnerships with large companies developing products with its API, or backend to its tweet data. But after she lost that position in layoffs that... Until November, Priyanka Naik’s career as a food blogger took place around the sidelines of her...

Photo: Mike Sullivan via Shutterstock

Burning Questions About Instagram, LinkedIn and Creator Marketplaces

By Kaya Yurieff · April 4, 2023 2:38 PM PDT

Photo: Mike Sullivan via Shutterstock

Creator Economy

entertainment facebook

Burning Questions About Instagram, LinkedIn and Creator Marketplaces

By Kaya Yurieff · April 4, 2023 2:38 PM PDT

A few weeks ago, I asked readers to submit their questions about the creator economy. Let’s dive into a few of them today, and please keep the questions coming!1. Is Instagram dead? What should they do to stay relevant? —Anonymous subscriberAny eulogies for Instagram are premature. While the app has had plenty of stumbles in its fight against ... A few weeks ago, I asked readers to submit their questions about the creator economy. Let’s dive...

Join now to read full stories