Digital Disruption and the Digital Media Supply Chain

Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry go back a long way. From tapes that went burst with the onset of MP3s two decades ago, to the emergence of cord-cutters who never intend to own a television or buy a cable subscription, massive changes have been a constant theme for your business. Today, we are in the middle of another such transformation. The unprecedented growth in the demand for content across the globe presents you with wide-ranging opportunities to grow revenues and strengthen brand loyalty.

Spotlight

Dalet Digital Media Systems

Dalet solutions and services enable media organisations to create, manage and distribute content faster and more efficiently, fully maximising the value of assets. Based on an agile foundation, Dalet offers rich collaborative tools empowering end-to-end workflows for news, sports, program preparation, post-production, archives and enterprise content management, radio, education, governments and institutions.

OTHER ARTICLES
Technologies, Business

3 Applications of AI in the Entertainment Industry

Article | August 3, 2022

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) in the entertainment industry has automated time-consuming mundane tasks and increased proficiency in delivering winning content to drive engagement. Production businesses can make informed decisions on marketing and advertising because AI can examine critical data and provide important insights into consumer behavior. Let us look at three other important applications of AI in the entertainment industry: Content Personalization Made Easy Streaming websites like Spotify and Netflix contribute content that attracts a diverse audience with different tastes and choices. They are adopting AI and machine learning algorithms to analyze individual user performance and demographics to promote content that users are interested in. Such personalized content recommendations create audience engagement. AI also helps optimize video quality based on how fast the internet is in a certain place so that streaming works without buffering. Streamlined Movie Production Processes The movie production process is time-consuming and complex. Using AI can help automate processes like sound production, storyboarding, scheduling, and pre-production tasks. It can also automatically sync and group filmed clips. Machine learning has graphics and visual effects that can be used to make fictional characters look better. Subtitle Generation for International Communications Content publishing businesses need to cater to an audience from various regions. Multilingual subtitles make this interaction easier. Manual transcription is time-consuming and requires expensive human resources that businesses cannot afford. Also, human error and variable efficiency are issues that can tamper with customer experience. Any kind of delay in presenting subtitles can put the audio-video-subtitles out of sync. AI prevents such mishaps through speech and vocabulary integration in conversations using neural interfaces. Last Words Apart from the implementation of AI in entertainment, the development of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) apps will make the customer experience immersive and captivating. Moreover, AI-based chatbots can be used for promotional operations for books, films, artists, and TV shows. Platforms in the entertainment sector involve AI to efficiently enhance user engagement and production rates.

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Business

FILM PRODUCERS FLIP BARGAINING TABLE WITH UNIONIZING EFFORT

Article | July 11, 2022

Movie producers often find themselves negotiating with talent and crew members, and/or their production union representatives, over pay and benefits. But a group of 108 producers flipped the script Thursday in announcing they were looking to form a union of their own.Higher minimum pay and health benefits were cited as the two major reasons. While the group, called the Producers Union, boasts some heavy hitters such as Chris Moore (Manchester by the Sea) and Rebecca Green (It Follows), they made it clear that the traditional image of a Hollywood producer is misleading. Many are just getting by, project to project, looking for a breakout hit to up their quote. According to a survey released this year, 41% of producers made less than $25,000 in the pre-pandemic boom times of 2019. The Producers Union has developed a constitution with provisions for dues and diversity initiatives, with the aim of eventually negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with distributors and other film financiers. Previous efforts by producers to unionize have been thwarted by the courts and the National Labor Relations Board, according to Variety, as the NLRB saw them as supervisors and employers – which creates a high barrier to organizing.

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Virtualization

How blockchain is transforming online gaming for players

Article | June 21, 2021

For online gamers, in-game purchases made to buy special swords, guns, or other add-ons to play their adventure, warfare, and other games are one-time, non-transferable investments that lock them into their pretend worlds. That's something companies like Polyient Games want to change by registering those purchases using blockchain and transforming the previously one-way transactions into liquid assets which are transferable for cash.

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Media and Broadcasting

The productisation of music rights

Article | June 4, 2021

News that New York-based Pershing Square Tontine Holdings is planning to acquire 10% of UMGis the latest in a wave of financial transactions in the music rights space. Alongside this, Believe’s impending IPO has the potential to be one of the biggest things to happen to the independent music sector in some time, and comes as part of a wave of IPOs (e.g.WMG,UMG), SPACs (e.g.Anghami,Reservoir) and no end of catalogue funds and acquisition vehicles. This trend, with good cause, has been referred to as the ‘financialisation of music’ but that only captures part of what is at play here. This is more than simply an influx of capital and debt; financial institutions are now becoming part of the plumbing of the music business, and in turn they are changing the definition of what constitutes success. This shift in objectives and desired outcomes has the potential to rebalance how the music industry operates.

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Spotlight

Dalet Digital Media Systems

Dalet solutions and services enable media organisations to create, manage and distribute content faster and more efficiently, fully maximising the value of assets. Based on an agile foundation, Dalet offers rich collaborative tools empowering end-to-end workflows for news, sports, program preparation, post-production, archives and enterprise content management, radio, education, governments and institutions.

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Applications

ComingSoon Expands Entertainment News Coverage

PR Newswire | October 05, 2023

Evolve Media LLC, a passion-based publisher of some of the most influential internet brands since 1996, announced that its marquee entertainment site ComingSoon is continuing to grow and expand its coverage areas. ComingSoon will expand to new coverage areas, including Bollywood With traffic up 79 percent since April 2023, ComingSoon is expanding in order to continue its rapid growth since a redesign was launched in December 2022. The site is now broadening its entertainment coverage into new areas, including Indian films and television, Korean dramas, reality television, documentaries, and true crime. All of these new verticals will be easily accessible in the site's revamped navigation bar as coverage is rolled out. ComingSoon will also further commit resources to delivering top-notch anime, documentary and horror coverage, which have become key elements of the entertainment site. It will also continue to produce top-quality features and reviews that are just as engaging as they are informative, while also conducting interviews with some of Hollywood's biggest directors and stars. "Our goal is to make ComingSoon a one-stop destination for media consumers all over the world," said Todd Jacobs, Director of Content & Operations at Evolve Media. "With these strategic investments, ComingSoon will exponentially expand their global audience." "Thanks to streaming, we've seen entertainment around the globe become pop culture phenomenons," said Tyler Treese, Frontpage Editorial Manager of Evolve Media's Entertainment and Gaming Division. "International hits like Squid Game and Jawan have shown that Korea and India are producing incredible content, while anime continues to grow in popularity. We'll finally be able to cover these areas with the news coverage they deserve, and help fans figure out the next show to binge or what film to invite their friends over to watch." About Evolve Media, LLC Evolve Media is a premium publisher of leading enthusiast destinations for influential men and women. Leveraging proprietary advertising and publishing technologies, as well as hundreds of talented content professionals, Evolve Media offers premium and engaging content to its readers, while offering marketers the tools needed to execute custom, content-led marketing solutions that reach its audience of over 78 million people globally each month.

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Technologies, Solutions

Paysafe launches upgraded Skrill digital wallet for iGaming in Ontario

Businesswire | May 11, 2023

Paysafe (NYSE: PSFE), a leading payments platform, today announced the launch of its revamped Skrill digital wallet for online betting in the Canadian province of Ontario. Developed specifically to meet the payment preferences of iGaming players, the upgraded Skrill wallet allows Ontarians to instantly fund wagers and effortlessly cash-out winnings while enjoying a streamlined and intuitive user experience (UX). Launched in the U.S. in 2021 and available across all 26 American iGaming jurisdictions where Paysafe supports operators, the upgraded Skrill wallet is now live in Ontario, Canada’s most populated province (14.2m residents) which launched an expanded market for private operators in April 2022. With Paysafe’s 2023 All the ways players pay research revealing that 73% of Ontarian online sports bettors have deposited at sportsbooks using a digital wallet, the latest Skrill innovations will allow operators to better serve these customers, who favour wallets for their transactional security and speed. Now, after a streamlined registration process with Skrill that links Ontarians’ bank accounts to the wallet and takes just seconds, players can use Skrill to deposit instantly yet securely into sportsbook accounts via online bank transfer. Alternatively, online bettors can load funds to their Skrill wallet balance using the Paysafecash eCash solution. For returning Skrill users, the redeposit process is even more rapid, skipping log-in (when ‘remember me’ is activated) to deposit with a single click. Ontarians will also enjoy the wallet’s state-of-the-art ‘look and feel’, with Skrill boasting a seamless UX across desktop, iOS and Android apps that meets the transactional expectations of casual players to high-stakes VIP sports bettors moving money across multiple sportsbooks. Through a ‘tiled’ display, all the info a player needs is centralized, ensuring an uninterrupted depositing process. Cashing-out is just as simple, with funds accessible in players’ Skrill accounts in real time. Winnings can either be spent online using Skrill at supporting merchants or transferred to players’ linked bank accounts. Zak Cutler, President of Global Gaming at Paysafe, said: “Since we first rolled-out the new Skrill in the U.S. two years ago, we feel it’s been a game changer for the payments experience of American players. We expect the upgraded wallet to be just as well received north of the border, with Skrill giving Ontarian operators a competitive edge when it comes to acquiring and retaining their customers.” About Paysafe Paysafe Limited (“Paysafe”) (NYSE: PSFE) (PSFE.WS) is a leading payments platform with an extensive track record of serving merchants and consumers in the global entertainment sectors. Its core purpose is to enable businesses and consumers to connect and transact seamlessly through industry-leading capabilities in payment processing, digital wallet, and online cash solutions. With 25 years of online payment experience, an annualized transactional volume of over $130 billion in 2022, and approximately 3,300 employees located in 12+ countries, Paysafe connects businesses and consumers across more than 250 payment types in over 40 currencies around the world. Delivered through an integrated platform, Paysafe solutions are geared toward mobile-initiated transactions, real-time analytics and the convergence between brick-and-mortar and online payments. Further information is available at www.paysafe.com. About Paysafe iGaming Paysafe brings over two decades of specialized payments experience supporting the global iGaming and sports-betting sectors and provides operators with a comprehensive suite of traditional and alternative payment methods through a single, streamlined API integration. Paysafe is also a leader in digital and affiliate marketing technology and services for iGaming operators through its Income Access business unit. Since the opening-up of the U.S. iGaming market in May 2018, Paysafe has consistently stated its ambitions to be the payments leader in the fast-growing sector, building on its leadership in Canada and Europe. As of May 10th, 2023, the company supports 75% of operators in the country with payments or marketing solutions across 26 jurisdictions. In Canada, Paysafe also has a leading position and partners with the majority of regulated iLottery and gaming brands.

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Hiber raises $2.25 million for user-generated web game platform

Hiber | August 21, 2020

Hiber has raised $2.25 million in a second round of seed funding for its web platform that makes it easy to create user-generated games. The company says it is at the intersection of connected devices, AI, and creator-focused entertainment. The Gothenberg, Sweden-based company has quietly amassed more than 300,000 games from 250,000 monthly active users for its HiberWorld platform. Those players are creating 3D games without the need to learn any coding. The company says it is enabling users to create and express themselves through bite-sized games and is giving a generation a new way to communicate. The social nature of the games puts it somewhere akin to Snapchat or TikTok, with people expressing themselves with what they create.

Read More

Applications

ComingSoon Expands Entertainment News Coverage

PR Newswire | October 05, 2023

Evolve Media LLC, a passion-based publisher of some of the most influential internet brands since 1996, announced that its marquee entertainment site ComingSoon is continuing to grow and expand its coverage areas. ComingSoon will expand to new coverage areas, including Bollywood With traffic up 79 percent since April 2023, ComingSoon is expanding in order to continue its rapid growth since a redesign was launched in December 2022. The site is now broadening its entertainment coverage into new areas, including Indian films and television, Korean dramas, reality television, documentaries, and true crime. All of these new verticals will be easily accessible in the site's revamped navigation bar as coverage is rolled out. ComingSoon will also further commit resources to delivering top-notch anime, documentary and horror coverage, which have become key elements of the entertainment site. It will also continue to produce top-quality features and reviews that are just as engaging as they are informative, while also conducting interviews with some of Hollywood's biggest directors and stars. "Our goal is to make ComingSoon a one-stop destination for media consumers all over the world," said Todd Jacobs, Director of Content & Operations at Evolve Media. "With these strategic investments, ComingSoon will exponentially expand their global audience." "Thanks to streaming, we've seen entertainment around the globe become pop culture phenomenons," said Tyler Treese, Frontpage Editorial Manager of Evolve Media's Entertainment and Gaming Division. "International hits like Squid Game and Jawan have shown that Korea and India are producing incredible content, while anime continues to grow in popularity. We'll finally be able to cover these areas with the news coverage they deserve, and help fans figure out the next show to binge or what film to invite their friends over to watch." About Evolve Media, LLC Evolve Media is a premium publisher of leading enthusiast destinations for influential men and women. Leveraging proprietary advertising and publishing technologies, as well as hundreds of talented content professionals, Evolve Media offers premium and engaging content to its readers, while offering marketers the tools needed to execute custom, content-led marketing solutions that reach its audience of over 78 million people globally each month.

Read More

Technologies, Solutions

Paysafe launches upgraded Skrill digital wallet for iGaming in Ontario

Businesswire | May 11, 2023

Paysafe (NYSE: PSFE), a leading payments platform, today announced the launch of its revamped Skrill digital wallet for online betting in the Canadian province of Ontario. Developed specifically to meet the payment preferences of iGaming players, the upgraded Skrill wallet allows Ontarians to instantly fund wagers and effortlessly cash-out winnings while enjoying a streamlined and intuitive user experience (UX). Launched in the U.S. in 2021 and available across all 26 American iGaming jurisdictions where Paysafe supports operators, the upgraded Skrill wallet is now live in Ontario, Canada’s most populated province (14.2m residents) which launched an expanded market for private operators in April 2022. With Paysafe’s 2023 All the ways players pay research revealing that 73% of Ontarian online sports bettors have deposited at sportsbooks using a digital wallet, the latest Skrill innovations will allow operators to better serve these customers, who favour wallets for their transactional security and speed. Now, after a streamlined registration process with Skrill that links Ontarians’ bank accounts to the wallet and takes just seconds, players can use Skrill to deposit instantly yet securely into sportsbook accounts via online bank transfer. Alternatively, online bettors can load funds to their Skrill wallet balance using the Paysafecash eCash solution. For returning Skrill users, the redeposit process is even more rapid, skipping log-in (when ‘remember me’ is activated) to deposit with a single click. Ontarians will also enjoy the wallet’s state-of-the-art ‘look and feel’, with Skrill boasting a seamless UX across desktop, iOS and Android apps that meets the transactional expectations of casual players to high-stakes VIP sports bettors moving money across multiple sportsbooks. Through a ‘tiled’ display, all the info a player needs is centralized, ensuring an uninterrupted depositing process. Cashing-out is just as simple, with funds accessible in players’ Skrill accounts in real time. Winnings can either be spent online using Skrill at supporting merchants or transferred to players’ linked bank accounts. Zak Cutler, President of Global Gaming at Paysafe, said: “Since we first rolled-out the new Skrill in the U.S. two years ago, we feel it’s been a game changer for the payments experience of American players. We expect the upgraded wallet to be just as well received north of the border, with Skrill giving Ontarian operators a competitive edge when it comes to acquiring and retaining their customers.” About Paysafe Paysafe Limited (“Paysafe”) (NYSE: PSFE) (PSFE.WS) is a leading payments platform with an extensive track record of serving merchants and consumers in the global entertainment sectors. Its core purpose is to enable businesses and consumers to connect and transact seamlessly through industry-leading capabilities in payment processing, digital wallet, and online cash solutions. With 25 years of online payment experience, an annualized transactional volume of over $130 billion in 2022, and approximately 3,300 employees located in 12+ countries, Paysafe connects businesses and consumers across more than 250 payment types in over 40 currencies around the world. Delivered through an integrated platform, Paysafe solutions are geared toward mobile-initiated transactions, real-time analytics and the convergence between brick-and-mortar and online payments. Further information is available at www.paysafe.com. About Paysafe iGaming Paysafe brings over two decades of specialized payments experience supporting the global iGaming and sports-betting sectors and provides operators with a comprehensive suite of traditional and alternative payment methods through a single, streamlined API integration. Paysafe is also a leader in digital and affiliate marketing technology and services for iGaming operators through its Income Access business unit. Since the opening-up of the U.S. iGaming market in May 2018, Paysafe has consistently stated its ambitions to be the payments leader in the fast-growing sector, building on its leadership in Canada and Europe. As of May 10th, 2023, the company supports 75% of operators in the country with payments or marketing solutions across 26 jurisdictions. In Canada, Paysafe also has a leading position and partners with the majority of regulated iLottery and gaming brands.

Read More

Hiber raises $2.25 million for user-generated web game platform

Hiber | August 21, 2020

Hiber has raised $2.25 million in a second round of seed funding for its web platform that makes it easy to create user-generated games. The company says it is at the intersection of connected devices, AI, and creator-focused entertainment. The Gothenberg, Sweden-based company has quietly amassed more than 300,000 games from 250,000 monthly active users for its HiberWorld platform. Those players are creating 3D games without the need to learn any coding. The company says it is enabling users to create and express themselves through bite-sized games and is giving a generation a new way to communicate. The social nature of the games puts it somewhere akin to Snapchat or TikTok, with people expressing themselves with what they create.

Read More

Events