In The Frame August '21

Streaming/Online/Tech

SkyShowtime, a new streaming service launching in more than 20 European territories in 2022, has been announced by Comcast and ViacomCBS. The SVoD partnership will include premium and original content from Sky, NBCUniversal, Universal Pictures, Peacock, Paramount+, Showtime, Paramount Pictures, and Nickelodeon.

YouTube viewers watched more than 200 million hours of Olympic Games content from Tokyo, which represents seven times the number watched on the platform during Rio 2016. Broadcast TV viewing of the Tokyo Games dipped to record lows in the US.

BARB, the organisation responsible for measuring the UK’s TV audience ratings, has released data indicating the number of UK households with a subscription to any SVoD service is now 18.8 million homes (66 per cent), up from 17.4 million in Q3 2020. Due to restrictions on measuring audiences during the pandemic, these are the first quarterly results released since Q3 2020.

Disney+ now has 116 million global subscribers. The Tennis Channel International, meanwhile, has launched in the UK.

Adobe is to acquire Frame.io, the cloud-based video platform. Frame.io’s remote production, post-production, review and approval features are expected to be closely integrated with Adobe’s cloud-based software, including Premiere Pro and After Effects.

BBC News

The BBC and Netflix have struck a five-year partnership designed to increase the representation of disabled talent both on-screen and off-screen.

Eighty-four per cent of the UK’s population watched sport on the BBC this summer. The total television reach during the period was 50.8 million. Key events included the Tokyo Olympics, Euro 2020 and Wimbledon.

Online requests to watch the corporation’s coverage of the Olympics reached a record 104 million. The previous record, 74.4 million, was set during the Rio 2016 Games.

And finally...

• The UK’s TV industry has created The Freelance Charter to support freelance workers. Announced at the Edinburgh TV Festival, it has been signed by major networks, streamers and industry bodies, including Amazon, the BBC, Sky, BAFTA, Channel 4 and ViacomCBS.
• Lord Burns, the former chairman and chief executive of Channel 4 and in charge when it bought the Paralympic TV rights from the BBC, believes its mission to make the Paralympics a prime-time TV fixture could be in doubt if the government sells the broadcaster to the highest bidder.
• The average UK resident watched video content for five hours and 40 minutes per day last year, an increase of an almost an hour on pre-pandemic levels, according to Ofcom research.
• Channel 4 teamed up with the RNIB and six major advertisers to raise awareness of audio description this month.
• July 2021 was ITV Hub’s most successful month on record, with 93.3 million consumption hours viewed (a 221% increase on the previous year).
• Research comparing UK adults’ viewing preferences with those of global audiences suggests drama is their TV genre of most interest, much more than the global average (55% vs 36%). The British are less interested in cartoons and animation compared with international audiences (20% vs 29%).
• The government is extending the five national multiplex licences for Freeview, the DTT platform, until 2034.

From the latest news to the latest positions – click here to see Frame 25’s most recent additions to its list of available TV jobs