Wednesday 22 May 2019

Avengers: Endgame has generated over $1bn in 3D ticket sales

"Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame, the  critically acclaimed epic conclusion to the historic 22 film superhero franchise, has now generated over $1 billion in 3D ticket sales worldwide since the film debuted on screens, according to data from ReadD.
The film is only the third in history to reach this milestone along with Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. To date, approximately 45 per cent of the film’s box office has been generated from 3D ticket sales. Avengers: Endgame is the fastest film to ever hit the $1 billion mark in 3D box office."

18.6m people in India watched an IPL game live on Hotstar

"Indian video streaming giant Hotstar, owned by Disney, today set a new global benchmark for the number of people an OTT service can draw to a live event.
Some 18.6 million users simultaneously tuned into Hotstar’s website and app to watch the deciding game of the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament. The streaming giant, which competes with Netflix  and Amazon in India, broke its own “global best” 10.3 million concurrent views milestone that it set last year."

China accounts for over 50% of smart speaker shipments

"China has surpassed the United States to lead the smart speaker market.
According to new data from Canalys, China’s smart speaker shipments grew by 500 percent in Q1 2019 to achieve a 51 percent market share. The U.S. has dropped to a 24 percent market share in the same quarter, down from its 44 percent share in Q4 2018.
Baidu, for example, shipped 3.3 million speakers, bolstered by an exclusive sponsorship deal with China’s national TV channel, CCTV, on its New Year’s Gala on Chinese New Year’s Eve. The promotion prompted users to download the Baidu app, which handed out more than 100 million coupons. The company is now in third place in smart speaker shipments, behind Amazon at 4.6 million and Google at 3.5 million. Alibaba and Xiaomi each had 3.2 million shipments, with both benefiting from Chinese New Year promotions."

The final episode of Game of Thrones had 19.3m live viewers on HBO in the US

"Despite the lukewarm reception to the eighth and final season, the last ever episode of Game of Thrones drew19.3 million viewers for HBO in the US on May 19th, making it the most-watched live broadcast in the network’s history
Season eight of the fantasy behemoth averaged 44.2 million viewers per episode when accounting for catch-up viewing.
Prior to Game of Thrones, HBO’s record audience belonged to the finale of The Sopranos which aired way back in 2007."
Source:  Advanced TV, 21st May 2019

Thursday 2 May 2019

The Guardian has 655,000 regular monthly supporters

"The Guardian and the Observer have broken even for the first time in recent history aided by record online traffic, reduced costs and increased financial contributions from readers.
Guardian News & Media recorded an £800,000 operating profit for the 2018-19 financial year – compared with a £57m loss three years previously – ensuring the business is existing on a sustainable basis following the culmination of a turnaround programme put in place following years of substantial losses.
The company said it had 655,000 regular monthly supporters across both print and digital, with a further 300,000 people making one-off contributions in the last year alone.
The Guardian has taken the decision to keep its journalism outside a paywall, while asking readers to contribute in order to subsidise its reporting into topics such as Cambridge Analytica, the Windrush scandal, and the Paradise Papers.
Total monthly page views increased over the last three years from 790m in January 2016 to 1.35bn in March 2019."
Note - it's not clear whether the 'regular monthly supporters' includes subscribers - I assume that it does.