How can AI and virtual reality improve client experience?

Advice has overtaken investment performance as the most valued aspect of an IFA or wealth manager’s offering and this means consumers need to have the best experience money can buy. In a bid to stand out from the crowd, wealth companies are looking to virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to bolster their interactions with clients. John Gamble, director of professional services at tech provider C5 Alliance, told International Adviser: “AI and VR technology presents us with opportunities that can revolutionise our everyday lives. “It can be used to enhance customer experience, especially in the finance sector, where advisers are dealing with clients from all over the world.”

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Wasserman

Wasserman is a culture-centric agency, serving the best talent, brands and properties in the world. Founded in 2002 with roots in sports and entertainment, Wasserman has evolved beyond those categories. They are an agency not just of advisors, but creators, developers, influencers and innovators who work across music, art, entertainment, social, tech, content and beyond.

OTHER ARTICLES
Media and Broadcasting, Business

20 GAMING COMPANIES IN ATLANTA ADDING NEW ELEMENTS TO A DECADES-OLD INDUSTRY

Article | August 4, 2022

Considering Atlanta is known for its status as a burgeoning entertainment capital, it’s no surprise that the city boasts a large number of gaming professionals. According to reports, the video game market in America was estimated at $17.69 billion in 2016, with the global market valued at $75 billion that same year. Esports in particular have increased in popularity, leading to the rise of games like “Fortnite,” “League of Legends” and “Overwatch.”

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Business

Music and podcasts are competing for the same time

Article | July 11, 2022

The pandemic changed media consumption.Consumers acquired an extra 12% of entertainment timeand though everything was up, some categories grew much faster than others. One of the biggest gainers was spoken word audio, with podcasts and audiobooks seeing dramatic rises and while music hours grew too, the increase was below 12%, which means that music lost share. In the current entertainment environment of plenty this may be an academic concern, but when life returns to some form of normality (commutes, going out, gyms etc.) some or all of that extra 12% of entertainment time will go, which means that growing by less than the market average could translate into decline.

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Technologies, Virtualization

The rediscovered power of time-seasoned brand equity

Article | August 2, 2022

Discovery CEO David Zaslav has proposed that the new combined Discovery / Warner Media entity will be known as Warner Bros. Discovery. This is a recognition that leveraging brand equity will be crucial for the new-combined entity to successfully compete in the increasingly crowded direct-to-consumer (D2C) video streaming landscape. Zaslav is successfully absorbing a key lesson from Disney+’s meteoric rise to 103.6 million subscribers in less than two years since its launch: leverage deep consumer brand equity for D2C success.

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4 Stocks To Buy To Invest in Virtual Reality

Article | June 13, 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.

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Spotlight

Wasserman

Wasserman is a culture-centric agency, serving the best talent, brands and properties in the world. Founded in 2002 with roots in sports and entertainment, Wasserman has evolved beyond those categories. They are an agency not just of advisors, but creators, developers, influencers and innovators who work across music, art, entertainment, social, tech, content and beyond.

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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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Applications

Cineverse Reaches Agreement to Integrate Whip Media's Content Partner Payments Platform for FAST, AVOD, SVOD and EST into Matchpoint Insights

Cineverse Corp | September 26, 2023

Cineverse Corp., a global streaming technology and entertainment company with one of the world's largest portfolios of streaming channels and content libraries, announced today a partnership with Whip Media, the leading enterprise software platform and data provider to the world's largest entertainment organizations. Using its Content Value Management (CVM) software platform, Whip Media will help Cineverse automate and more efficiently manage content partner royalty payments for its expansive distribution network across Cineverse direct and third-party platforms. Cineverse distributes content from hundreds of content providers through its FAST/AVOD channels, SVOD service, TVOD/EST distribution and physical home entertainment products. The rapid growth of Cineverse required a new system to scale and efficiently handle financial activities for the high volume of content partner contracts and licenses, such as royalty calculations, revenue statement generation and issuance of payment to partners on a monthly and quarterly basis. Currently, Cineverse must create over 1,700 complex financial statements per quarter which require significant manual effort to manage. Cineverse will leverage the CVM Platform for Content Partner Payments to capture all contractual financial terms for each content provider, and ingest performance and revenue data from Matchpoint Insights – part of Cineverse's proprietary suite of streaming technology products. By consolidating sales, performance, and revenue data, CVM can automate the calculation of royalties due to each provider and accurately generate royalty statements. What has historically been a manual process will be transformed into a highly scalable solution that radically reduces costs, increases efficiency, and improves accuracy. "We're excited to partner with Cineverse, an entertainment technology and streaming trailblazer that has created an innovative solution that eliminates the expensive, time-consuming manual process required for preparing film and television assets for broad global distribution," said Saj Jayasinghe, Whip Media's EVP of Global Revenue. "Our partnership will allow Cineverse to optimize their workflow and automate their digital supply chain by utilizing our platform to streamline their financial reconciliation process and extend automation to a much higher level on the financial side." "Our partnership with Whip Media is critical as it helps fill a gap in our technology stack. We feel that developing financial-based software is not our core competency so partnering with Whip Media and leveraging their best-in-class technology allows us to address a significant unmet need in the rapidly growing streaming marketplace: an end-to-end solution from content ingestion and delivery all the way to reporting and payment," said Tony Huidor, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Technology Officer at Cineverse. "This comes at a time when the legacy entertainment industry desperately needs to shift towards video-on-demand and FAST services, giving us the ability to scale quickly via automation and pave the way via an all-in-one solution." About Whip Media Whip Media is reimagining content licensing to create a smarter, more connected entertainment ecosystem. We help the world's leading entertainment organizations succeed in today's high-volume, high-velocity global content environment with a market leading cloud software platform that combines unique, actionable insights with scalable, connected workflows for licensing, content planning and financial operations. About Cineverse Cineverse is a global streaming technology and entertainment company with one of the world's largest portfolios of streaming channels and content libraries, all powered by its advanced, proprietary technology platform. Cineverse currently features enthusiast brands for subscription video on demand (SVOD), advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) and free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels. Cineverse entertains consumers around the globe by providing premium feature film and television series, enthusiast streaming channels and technology services to some of the world's largest media, retail, and technology companies.

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Solutions

IMAX and Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) expand strategic relationship into the streaming ecosystem

Media and Entertainment | September 14, 2023

Entertainment technology industry leader IMAX Corporation® (NYSE: IMAX) and PFT, the creator of AI-powered technology solutions for the Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry, today announced plans to expand their strategic relationship beyond theatrical and into the streaming ecosystem. Under the arrangement, IMAX will expand access to its Stream Smart™ technology to PFT customers across Europe, Asia, and Australia. The expanded partnership will dramatically increase the global availability of Stream Smart™, which helps streaming platforms deliver maximum picture quality while significantly reducing distribution and storage costs. "We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with IMAX, an industry trailblazer with a remarkable legacy of revolutionizing the global entertainment industry," said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, Global CEO of PFT. "For over a decade, CLEAR®, our flagship product, has spearheaded digital packaging and delivery services for prominent streaming platforms worldwide. CLEAR® & Stream Smart will help optimize our customers' encoding pipeline, so they deliver better streaming quality while optimizing CDN & storage costs." "Many of Hollywood's biggest streaming platforms use Stream Smart™ to ensure quality and reduce costs, and we're excited to work with our partners at PFT to extend the reach of our technologies throughout key markets in Europe, Asia, and Australia," said Vikram Arumilli, General Manager of Streaming and Consumer Technology at IMAX. "Our suite of streaming technology products, including Stream Smart™, provides a best-in-class service for direct-to-consumer broadcast and streaming companies, and PFT's' ability to leverage this for their customers is a win-win for both organizations." PFT and its parent company, DNEG, are industry leaders providing a full suite of technology and creative solutions, including IMAX post-production and 3D mastering. IMAX and DNEG joined forces in 2022 for post-production, which included Indian films like Jawan, Pathaan, and RRR. This extended partnership will build upon the established theatrical relationship between IMAX and DNEG to develop a comprehensive video optimization solution. Stream Smart™ is an enterprise software product designed to deliver the best image quality and optimize delivery to unlock cost savings. This product was built from cutting-edge scientific advancements, state-of-the-art engineering, trusted studio relationships, and rooted in a real-world at-scale Emmy®-winning collaboration with Disney Streaming Services and SSIMWAVE. Stream Smart™ will be the centerpiece of the IMAX showcase at IBC 2023. Sign up to meet with PFT and IMAX Streaming & Consumer Technology group at IBC: About IMAX Corporation IMAX, an innovator in entertainment technology, combines proprietary software, architecture, and equipment to create experiences that take you beyond the edge of your seat to a world you've never imagined. Top filmmakers and studios are utilizing IMAX systems to connect with audiences in extraordinary ways, making IMAX's network among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event films around the globe. IMAX is headquartered in New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles, with additional offices in London, Dublin, Tokyo, and Shanghai. As of June 30, 2023, there were 1,718 IMAX systems (1,638 commercial multiplexes, 12 commercial destinations, 68 institutional) operating in 87 countries and territories. Shares of IMAX China Holding, Inc., a subsidiary of IMAX Corporation, trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code "1970." About Prime Focus Technologies Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) is the creator of CLEAR® and CLEAR® AI. It offers streaming platforms, studios, and broadcasters transformational AI-led technology and media services powered by the cloud that help them lower their Total Cost of Operations (TCOP) by automating their content supply chain. PFT works with major companies like Walt Disney-owned Star TV, Channel 4, ITV, Sinclair Broadcast Group, A&E Networks, Warner Media, PBS, CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, Lionsgate, Showtime, HBO, NBCU, TERN International, Disney+ Hotstar, BCCI, Indian Premier League and more. About DNEG DNEG (www.dneg.com) is a world-leading visual entertainment services company for the creation of feature film, television, and multiplatform content, with worldwide offices and studios across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. DNEG's critically acclaimed work has earned the company seven Academy Awards® for Best Visual Effects and numerous BAFTA and Primetime EMMY® Awards for its high-quality VFX work. Current and upcoming DNEG projects on behalf of its Hollywood and global studio and production company partners include Spy Kids Armageddon (September 2023), No One Will Save You (September 2023), The Gilded Age S2 (October 2023), Nyad (November 2023), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (December 2023), Lift (January 2024), Dune: Part Two (March 2024), Mickey 17 (March 2024), Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (April 2024), Garfield (May 2024), Borderlands (August 2024), Furiosa (2024), That Christmas, Coyote vs. Acme, The Gorge, and Animal Friends.

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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.

Read More

Applications

Cineverse Reaches Agreement to Integrate Whip Media's Content Partner Payments Platform for FAST, AVOD, SVOD and EST into Matchpoint Insights

Cineverse Corp | September 26, 2023

Cineverse Corp., a global streaming technology and entertainment company with one of the world's largest portfolios of streaming channels and content libraries, announced today a partnership with Whip Media, the leading enterprise software platform and data provider to the world's largest entertainment organizations. Using its Content Value Management (CVM) software platform, Whip Media will help Cineverse automate and more efficiently manage content partner royalty payments for its expansive distribution network across Cineverse direct and third-party platforms. Cineverse distributes content from hundreds of content providers through its FAST/AVOD channels, SVOD service, TVOD/EST distribution and physical home entertainment products. The rapid growth of Cineverse required a new system to scale and efficiently handle financial activities for the high volume of content partner contracts and licenses, such as royalty calculations, revenue statement generation and issuance of payment to partners on a monthly and quarterly basis. Currently, Cineverse must create over 1,700 complex financial statements per quarter which require significant manual effort to manage. Cineverse will leverage the CVM Platform for Content Partner Payments to capture all contractual financial terms for each content provider, and ingest performance and revenue data from Matchpoint Insights – part of Cineverse's proprietary suite of streaming technology products. By consolidating sales, performance, and revenue data, CVM can automate the calculation of royalties due to each provider and accurately generate royalty statements. What has historically been a manual process will be transformed into a highly scalable solution that radically reduces costs, increases efficiency, and improves accuracy. "We're excited to partner with Cineverse, an entertainment technology and streaming trailblazer that has created an innovative solution that eliminates the expensive, time-consuming manual process required for preparing film and television assets for broad global distribution," said Saj Jayasinghe, Whip Media's EVP of Global Revenue. "Our partnership will allow Cineverse to optimize their workflow and automate their digital supply chain by utilizing our platform to streamline their financial reconciliation process and extend automation to a much higher level on the financial side." "Our partnership with Whip Media is critical as it helps fill a gap in our technology stack. We feel that developing financial-based software is not our core competency so partnering with Whip Media and leveraging their best-in-class technology allows us to address a significant unmet need in the rapidly growing streaming marketplace: an end-to-end solution from content ingestion and delivery all the way to reporting and payment," said Tony Huidor, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Technology Officer at Cineverse. "This comes at a time when the legacy entertainment industry desperately needs to shift towards video-on-demand and FAST services, giving us the ability to scale quickly via automation and pave the way via an all-in-one solution." About Whip Media Whip Media is reimagining content licensing to create a smarter, more connected entertainment ecosystem. We help the world's leading entertainment organizations succeed in today's high-volume, high-velocity global content environment with a market leading cloud software platform that combines unique, actionable insights with scalable, connected workflows for licensing, content planning and financial operations. About Cineverse Cineverse is a global streaming technology and entertainment company with one of the world's largest portfolios of streaming channels and content libraries, all powered by its advanced, proprietary technology platform. Cineverse currently features enthusiast brands for subscription video on demand (SVOD), advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) and free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels. Cineverse entertains consumers around the globe by providing premium feature film and television series, enthusiast streaming channels and technology services to some of the world's largest media, retail, and technology companies.

Read More

Solutions

IMAX and Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) expand strategic relationship into the streaming ecosystem

Media and Entertainment | September 14, 2023

Entertainment technology industry leader IMAX Corporation® (NYSE: IMAX) and PFT, the creator of AI-powered technology solutions for the Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry, today announced plans to expand their strategic relationship beyond theatrical and into the streaming ecosystem. Under the arrangement, IMAX will expand access to its Stream Smart™ technology to PFT customers across Europe, Asia, and Australia. The expanded partnership will dramatically increase the global availability of Stream Smart™, which helps streaming platforms deliver maximum picture quality while significantly reducing distribution and storage costs. "We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with IMAX, an industry trailblazer with a remarkable legacy of revolutionizing the global entertainment industry," said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, Global CEO of PFT. "For over a decade, CLEAR®, our flagship product, has spearheaded digital packaging and delivery services for prominent streaming platforms worldwide. CLEAR® & Stream Smart will help optimize our customers' encoding pipeline, so they deliver better streaming quality while optimizing CDN & storage costs." "Many of Hollywood's biggest streaming platforms use Stream Smart™ to ensure quality and reduce costs, and we're excited to work with our partners at PFT to extend the reach of our technologies throughout key markets in Europe, Asia, and Australia," said Vikram Arumilli, General Manager of Streaming and Consumer Technology at IMAX. "Our suite of streaming technology products, including Stream Smart™, provides a best-in-class service for direct-to-consumer broadcast and streaming companies, and PFT's' ability to leverage this for their customers is a win-win for both organizations." PFT and its parent company, DNEG, are industry leaders providing a full suite of technology and creative solutions, including IMAX post-production and 3D mastering. IMAX and DNEG joined forces in 2022 for post-production, which included Indian films like Jawan, Pathaan, and RRR. This extended partnership will build upon the established theatrical relationship between IMAX and DNEG to develop a comprehensive video optimization solution. Stream Smart™ is an enterprise software product designed to deliver the best image quality and optimize delivery to unlock cost savings. This product was built from cutting-edge scientific advancements, state-of-the-art engineering, trusted studio relationships, and rooted in a real-world at-scale Emmy®-winning collaboration with Disney Streaming Services and SSIMWAVE. Stream Smart™ will be the centerpiece of the IMAX showcase at IBC 2023. Sign up to meet with PFT and IMAX Streaming & Consumer Technology group at IBC: About IMAX Corporation IMAX, an innovator in entertainment technology, combines proprietary software, architecture, and equipment to create experiences that take you beyond the edge of your seat to a world you've never imagined. Top filmmakers and studios are utilizing IMAX systems to connect with audiences in extraordinary ways, making IMAX's network among the most important and successful theatrical distribution platforms for major event films around the globe. IMAX is headquartered in New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles, with additional offices in London, Dublin, Tokyo, and Shanghai. As of June 30, 2023, there were 1,718 IMAX systems (1,638 commercial multiplexes, 12 commercial destinations, 68 institutional) operating in 87 countries and territories. Shares of IMAX China Holding, Inc., a subsidiary of IMAX Corporation, trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code "1970." About Prime Focus Technologies Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) is the creator of CLEAR® and CLEAR® AI. It offers streaming platforms, studios, and broadcasters transformational AI-led technology and media services powered by the cloud that help them lower their Total Cost of Operations (TCOP) by automating their content supply chain. PFT works with major companies like Walt Disney-owned Star TV, Channel 4, ITV, Sinclair Broadcast Group, A&E Networks, Warner Media, PBS, CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, Lionsgate, Showtime, HBO, NBCU, TERN International, Disney+ Hotstar, BCCI, Indian Premier League and more. About DNEG DNEG (www.dneg.com) is a world-leading visual entertainment services company for the creation of feature film, television, and multiplatform content, with worldwide offices and studios across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. DNEG's critically acclaimed work has earned the company seven Academy Awards® for Best Visual Effects and numerous BAFTA and Primetime EMMY® Awards for its high-quality VFX work. Current and upcoming DNEG projects on behalf of its Hollywood and global studio and production company partners include Spy Kids Armageddon (September 2023), No One Will Save You (September 2023), The Gilded Age S2 (October 2023), Nyad (November 2023), Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (December 2023), Lift (January 2024), Dune: Part Two (March 2024), Mickey 17 (March 2024), Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (April 2024), Garfield (May 2024), Borderlands (August 2024), Furiosa (2024), That Christmas, Coyote vs. Acme, The Gorge, and Animal Friends.

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