In The Frame April '21

Streaming/Online/Tech

As Prime Video turns 10 years old, Amazon has reported its 2021 first-quarter results. Operating income (revenue left after subtracting operating expenses) has increased to $8.9 billion from compared with $4.0 billion last year, and Prime now has more than 175 million subscribers.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has launched Amazon Nimble Studio, a new service that creative studios can use to produce visual effects, animations and interactive content in the cloud with AWS.

YouTube advertising, according to the Q1 results of parent company Alphabet, generated revenues of $6.005 billion, an annual increase of 48.71%.

Revenue at Netflix, which is to open a Nordic office in Stockholm later this year, was up by 24% year-on-year, but the company missed its subscriptions target, finishing the quarter with 208 million, just shy of its forecast of 210 million. Netflix has added a Play Something option, offering viewers a series or film based on what they’ve watched before.

Apple, meanwhile, is reportedly in talks with Sky about putting Apple TV+, which launched in November 2019, on to the Sky Q platform.

The proportion of households with three or more SVOD services continues to rise. Including services which are being paid-for directly, borrowed, bundled in free or trial accounts, the UK has proportionally more such households than each of Spain, Germany, Italy and France.

More than eight million TV sets were sold in the UK in 2020, the sharpest growth in sales in over a generation.

Ofcom has published Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2020/21. It found that children were twice as likely to watch TV programmes on video-on-demand than live TV, and their use of video-sharing platforms (VSPs) was nearly universal, with a majority using VSPs more during the coronavirus pandemic than before.

Fightzone, the new global streaming service dedicated to British and international boxing, has gone live on Red Bee’s OTT platform.

BBC News

The BBC has responded to the more-than 110,000 complaints it received over its coverage of Prince Philip’s funeral. The corporation says its editorial choices reflected the role it plays as the national broadcaster in a moment of national significance. More than 14 million people watched the broadcast.

iPlayer grew 22% in the first quarter of 2021 compared with the same period last year. January was the service’s most successful month, serving 652 million streams. A number of tweaks have been made to the service, with a focus on playback on TVs. The interface has been made ‘cleaner’, and the appearance of certain elements during playback, including subtitles, has been adapted.

Tim Davie, the director general, wants the BBC to become an “apprenticeship training agency”, committed to spending millions of pounds outside of London as part of the Across the UK plan.

And finally...

• ITV, who have announced an ‘on-demand first’ strategy, has warned it could stop being a public service broadcaster (PSB) unless “radical” action and “urgent decisions” around its remit are made. The broadcaster has been named among the top 10 most inclusive employers by the British LGBT Awards.
• Channel 4 has implemented what is believed to be the world’s first dedicated pregnancy loss policy for employees, covering all types of loss including miscarriage, stillbirth, and abortion
• IBC is inviting input on its plans to hold it’s a live event in Amsterdam on 10-13 September, with a fall-back of 3-6 December.
• Comcast has reported results for the year's first quarter, when Sky's subscribers increased by 221,000 to 23.4 million across Europe. While revenue at Sky grrew by more than 10% to $5 billion, profits dropped by a third due to higher sports programming costs.
• BT is considering a sale of its sports broadcasting operation in order to focus on its core broadband and telephony divisions.
• Nine out of 10 TV industry workers do not want a full-time return to the office after the Covid-19 pandemic is over, research has found. More than 80% of respondents also reported a lack of BAME representation in the industry.
• Raise Your Game, a documentary on England manager Gareth Southgate, is to air on YouTube in June.
• Sony Pictures TV has launched a diversity fund for production talent, starting in the UK.
• A group of hire companies have launched the “UK’s first apprenticeship standard for camera technicians”, aimed at helping school leavers get into the industry. The scheme is open for registration and starts on 21 August

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