Big Data and the Storage Challenges in Media Companies

Article | March 19, 2020

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, movie theaters shuttered, Hollywood delayed some of its biggest films indefinitely, numerous productions across movies and TV halted, and virtually every major pop culture event planned for the next couple months either shut down or picked a new date. One might imagine that videogames would be the least affected branch of the entertainment world. Self-isolating in front of the TV screen does pair well with quarantines. While the industry remains one of the few not completely stunted during these uncertain times, the coronavirus has indeed affected players, developers, and studios, both for better and worse.

Article | March 19, 2020

The top-grossing movie (Avengers: Endgame) and the top-grossing video game (World of Warcraft) of all time are both part of franchises -- long-running media properties with multiple iterations and derivative works spawned from a core creative concept, like superheroes saving the world, or an orc invasion. Their massive successes were built over years of careful audience cultivation. But Marvel's cinematic universe, and the world of Warcraft, are more outliers than inevitabilities. Sequels are rarely sure things, and many franchise attempts have failed, sometimes even taking entire companies down with them.

Article | March 19, 2020

Redbox has entered the ad-supported streaming market with the launch of Redbox Free Live TV. The company, best known for its DVD rental kiosks, has been dabbling with streaming for years as consumer demand for DVD rentals has simultaneously declined. But despite its name, Redbox’s new streaming service isn’t offering “live TV” similar to what you’d get on a TV streaming service like YouTube TV or Hulu with Live TV. Instead, the new service offers a curated set of ad-supported movies and TV shows, similar to The Roku Channel, IMDb TV or TiVo Plus, for example.

Article | March 19, 2020

The virtual reality market has been hailed as the "next big thing" for decades, but VR has repeatedly disappointed consumers with mediocre hardware products and software experiences. But in recent years, a wave of refined devices narrowed the gap between consumer expectations and reality. The VR market's future has yet to be written, but investors who believe in this budding market should consider buying these four tech stocks. Sony's PlayStation VR is the best-selling VR headset in the world with over 5 million shipments since its launch in October 2016. That only represents a sliver of Sony's installed base of 110 million PS4s, but that foothold has encouraged developers to produce more stand-alone VR games and add-on experiences for PS4 games.