- Netflix earmarks US$100-million to build a talent pipeline of underrepresented creators (Deadline)
- Disney and Bill Nye are in a legal battle that could determine the future of streaming deals (Variety)
- Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away is headed to the stage (The Hollywood Reporter)
- Pokémon keeps getting stronger, and it’s not just because of Pikachu (Engadget)
- Paramount Pictures is entering the streaming world in a big way, overhauling its entire release strategy (Variety)
- Netflix plans to spend US$500 million on Korean content this year (The Hollywood Reporter)
- The new Punky Brewster isn’t great, making critics wonder if kids deserve better than ’80s and ’90s reboots (TIME)
- Tech firms are finally taking the time to teach voice assistants atypical speech (Wall Street Journal)
- Black and female TV directors are making gains, but Latinx and Asian American women are being left behind (Variety)
- Why is Barbie selling so well in the pandemic? Her success was years in the making (Bloomberg)
- Adults are obsessed with the idea of happiness, and it’s making children miserable (Washington Post)
- YouTube has a new “supervised experience” to help parents ease older kids from the walled garden to the wild west online (The Verge)
- Nickelodeon wants kids to tune into its upfront this year (Variety)
- Pandemic screen time isn’t all bad for kids…it might actually be boosting their emotional IQ (National Geographic)
- Disney+ could change the toy licensing business forever (Toy News)
- How do you give a 25-year-old property new life? Maybe by adding a bit of sci-fi (The Hollywood Reporter)
- The US box office continues to be non-existent—a kids movie released in November was number one this weekend (Variety)
- The streaming audience keeps growing—Discovery already has 11 million subscribers (Deadline)
- Typically it’s monsters and superheroes that make up a franchise, but for Netflix it’s all about YA emotions (The Hollywood Reporter)
- …And the SVOD has rolled out a new feature to automatically download content you might like (Tech Crunch)
- Fresh off a Golden Globe nomination, the directors of Wolfwalkers break down the themes driving their movie (Vulture)
- Still struggling with moderation, YouTube pulled a PewDiePie video for cyberbullying Cocomelon—its biggest kids channel (The Verge)
- SAG-AFTRA has created a new union contract for influencers (Deadline)
- The LEGO and IKEA collab is so sought-after that resellers and scalpers are trying to cash in (Brick Fanatics)
- TikTok is getting in the ring with UFC and plans to produce a knock-out amount of content (Variety)
- Facebook has reportedly been inflating its ad audience for years to boost revenue (Engadget)
- Peacock is leaning into comedy and reality to draw audiences (Adweek)
- The pandemic is helping edtech startups graduate quickly…but will the market get too crowded? (TechCrunch)
- Disney’s plans for Star include tight parental controls so that Disney+ can remain kid-friendly (Variety)
- Clubhouse is the hot new social app…but the invite-only, moderator-free environment might be a recipe for disaster (New York Times)
- YouTube is still trying to compete with TikTok with a new Shorts beta-launch next month (The Verge)
- As online learning drags on, more parents are seeking out ADHD diagnosis and treatment for their kids (NBC News)
- Disney+ is lining up new European content for its older-skewing Star brand (Variety)
- …Meanwhile, the streamer is predicted to exceed Netflix’s subscriber base by 2026 (Digital TV Europe)
- Why HBO Max thinks adult animation will bring in subscribers (The Hollywood Reporter)
- The current toy sales boom could be nearing the end of its shelf life (RetailWire)
- Vue boss Tim Richards is taking charge of the BFI at a critical moment for the media org (Variety)
- A budding startup is looking to make film and TV editing a whole lot faster (TechCrunch)
- Duolingo is reaching out to US officials to encourage fun language learning (Adweek)
- Ending Friday with some fun: How Stan Lee’s plan to make a new company went south (Vulture)
February 26, 2021
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