- The Golden Globe noms are in—see who’s in the running for Best Motion Picture, Animated (Variety)
- Nordic streamer Viaplay’s global expansion continues with a planned US launch (Digital TV Europe)
- HBO Max has been swinging big to gain traction in the streaming wars—and it seems to be working (WIRED)
- Why are people so surprised that Sesame Street has political messages? It’s always been that way (New York Times)
- What does a modern indie production company even look like? (TBI Vision)
- What kids content strategy looks like now at France’s TF1 and Spain’s RTVE (TBI Vision)
- Disney Animation is readying its next movie—Strange World will premiere in 2022 (Variety)
- A lot of toys are being marketed as educational these days, but it turns out the act of play is the real benefit (The Guardian)
- How this year’s biggest animated movies created their sonic landscapes (The Hollywood Reporter)
- Fewer and fewer Hollywood films are being released in China, and South Korea is looking to fill that void (The Hollywood Reporter)
- Every platform wants to be TikTok—Twitter is the latest to jump on the bandwagon (Tech Crunch)
- …Meanwhile, Instagram plans on rolling out stricter safety tools for under-18s (Wall Street Journal)
- Amazon is retiring Alexa…but not the one you think (The Verge)
- TikTok is targeting the UK for its first major push into e-commerce (BBC News)
- The nature of fame has changed, and it’s all about the internet fad now (New York Times)
- Why Sesame Street is still a driving force in educational content (Wall Street Journal)
- Anyone can create an NFT…but the question is, should you? (The Verge)
- UK broadcasters have agreed to stop using the acronym BAME, and will instead be specific about diversity (Deadline)
- Ever wonder how TikTok is so good at reading your mind? (New York Times)
- WildWorks, the maker of popular kids virtual world Animal Jam, is getting into crypto gaming (Tech Crunch)
- Najafi Companies has swooped in to to buy STX Entertainment, ending its merger with Eros (Variety)
- Disney’s Encanto is staying at the top of the box office (Variety)
- Why are YouTube videos that analyze decades-old Nickelodeon shows so popular? (WIRED)
- Netflix makes the most movies in Hollywood…and now it wants to make the best, too (Bloomberg)
- Studio71 is working on NFT tie-ins for a new animated YouTube series (Tubefilter)
- Susan Arnold will replace Bob Iger on the Disney board, but could the move have been more thoughtful? (Reuters)
- …And the House of Mouse has a new formula for its movies—no villains (Polygon)
- The holiday season means more commercials…will kids notice the difference? (National Geographic)
- Spotify Wrapped showcases how data gets sliced and diced online (CNN)
- Toys “R” Us has popped back up with a new brick-and-mortar location just in time for the holidays (CNN)
- Netflix has moved US$100 million to Black-owned financial institutions, making good on a year-old promise (Deadline)
- TikTok opens up new money making opportunities for creators (Tech Crunch)
- China’s iQiyi is reportedly about to cut a lot of jobs (Variety)
- The European Film Awards has cancelled its event amid rising COVID cases (Variety)
- …And the new Omicron variant has everyone in Hollywood on hold (The Hollywood Reporter)
- The Canada Media Fund has changed its funding rule, so kids programming can access cash without a broadcaster (Playback Daily)
- A popular Christmas toy this year is a dancing cactus…that no one noticed is rapping about cocaine in Polish (The Guardian)
- Procedural storytelling is opening up a lot of doors for the future of video games (The Verge)
- Facebook’s parentco Meta has been ordered to sell Giphy by a UK competition authority (Variety)
- It’s time for better TV ratings measurement tools…and yet there’s no real successor to Nielsen (Ad Age)
- In Hong Kong, Disney has removed a Simpsons episode calling out Chinese censorship (New York Times)
- There’s hardly any research on the impact of TikTok, but experts are ready to dig in (The Verge)
December 13, 2021
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