Universal Pictures will make movies available at home and in theaters on the same day

(Reuters) - Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast Corp-owned NBCUniversal, will make its movies available at home on the same day they are released in theaters worldwide, beginning with the DreamWorks Animation film “Trolls World Tour” - which opens in the United States on April 10.

The decision, announced by NBCUniversal on Monday, is a response to changing consumer behavior as the coronavirus spreads. It upends the traditional practice of keeping a movie exclusively in theaters for what is typically a 90-day window before releasing it on other platforms.

NBCUniversal will “continue to evaluate the environment as conditions evolve,” the company said in a statement, adding it will revisit the strategy when the current situation changes.

On Sunday night, the mayors of New York and Los Angeles ordered movie theaters in their respective cities to close in response to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.

NBCUniversal said that by Friday, recently released films including “The Hunt,” “The Invisible Man” and “Emma” will be available from sister companies Sky and Comcast and on a variety of on-demand services. The suggested price will be $19.99 in the United States for a 48-hour rental, and the equivalent price elsewhere.

“Rather than delaying these films or releasing them into a challenged distribution landscape, we wanted to provide an option for people to view these titles in the home that is both accessible and affordable,” said NBCUniversal Chief Executive Officer Jeff Shell in a statement.

Between this past Friday and Sunday, North American movie box office sales hit their lowest levels in over two decades, according to Comscore, as viewers stayed home and theaters capped their seating capacity to create more space between moviegoers.

Reporting by Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis

NBC plans for Tokyo Olympics as coronavirus worries advertisers

If NBCUniversal is anxious about how coronavirus may affect its plans for the Olympic Games, it is trying not to show it.

“The Olympics are obviously on everybody’s mind,” Brian Roberts, chief executive of Comcast, NBCUniversal’s parent company, said at a conference Tuesday. “What I know is, it’s full steam ahead. We’re getting ready. We’re excited.”

The media giant has been the main broadcaster of the Summer Games since 1988 and the Winter Games since 2002. In 2014, it paid roughly $7.7 billion to retain the US broadcast rights to the Olympics through 2032.

NBCUniversal has sold more than $1.25 billion in advertising commitments, or nearly 90 percent of the available ad space, to go with 7,000 hours of broadcast, streaming and social media content, the company said Tuesday. It plans to deploy more than 2,000 people to Japan for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which start July 24.

The coronavirus could disrupt not only NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Games but also its advertising arrangements, sponsorship deals and promotional events.

As the outbreak expands, killing more than 3,200 people and infecting an estimated 92,000 in dozens of countries, Japanese officials and Olympics organizers have said the Games will proceed as planned. But companies that have signed up for ads are increasingly concerned that the most-watched sporting event in the world may be canceled, rescheduled or diminished.

John Shea, president of marketing and events for Octagon, a sports agency working with several Fortune 100 companies on Olympics deals, said advertisers were taking the threat seriously.

“You’re planning for the world’s biggest event, and there are tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars attached to these opportunities,” Shea said, “so these questions are being asked at every level of our clients’ organizations.”

“We have to anticipate that the Games will happen,” he added, “but it would also be irresponsible for us not to acknowledge and recognize that a number of scenarios could take place.”

Sports agents have said they are concerned that endorsement deals with athletes may be affected. Companies like Twitter, which has a deal with NBCUniversal for daily live coverage of the Tokyo Games, have restricted employee travel and backed out of conferences and other events.

Roberts brought up the worst-case scenario in his comments Tuesday. “We try to anticipate, for big events, what might happen so that we’re protected there, and we also have insurance for any expenses we make,” he said. “So there should be no losses should there not be an Olympics. There wouldn’t be a profit this year. But, again, we’re optimistic the Olympics are going to happen.”

Michael Lynch, a marketing consultant who from 1995 until 2012 led Visa’s global sponsorship strategy, which included events like the Olympics, noted the importance of sponsors.

“There’s this enormous brand infrastructure around the world,” he said. “The Games don’t happen without the corporate support.” He added that companies with money in the Olympics were “hoping and praying” that they went on as scheduled.

Major companies that have signed on as sponsors ahead of the 2020 Summer Games include Coca-Cola, Airbnb, General Electric, Procter & Gamble and Visa.

“It would be disastrous if it’s canceled,” said Steven Moy, chief executive of ad agency Barbarian. “There could be a very dramatic impact to the whole economy.”

NBCUniversal also counts on its Olympics programming to promote itself. It plugs its network and cable series, Universal movies and theme parks in between volleyball matches, track-and-field contests and gymnastics competitions.

The “Today” show and Lester Holt’s “Nightly News” program were broadcast from the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and NBC comedy “Superstore” had a ratings lift when it followed Olympics programming. Other NBC shows, including “The Voice” and “The Tonight Show,” have scored big ratings when the network scheduled them after the opening and closing ceremonies. And Universal film “Jason Bourne” grossed more than $400 million at the box office after it received a promotional push during the 2016 Games.

The Olympics have faced threats before. The Zika virus sparked alarm before the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and political tensions with North Korea preceded the Pyeongchang Games in 2018. In both cases, the Games went on, and NBC broadcast them to millions of viewers.

NBC also found itself in a bind in 1980, when the United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics. Even after its insurance through Lloyd’s of London kicked in, NBC took a $34 million loss.

If the Tokyo Olympics are canceled, insurance is likely to cover losses related to broadcast rights and production through a claim that the coronavirus was an act of God. But it is not clear if it would protect NBCUniversal if Olympics-themed commercials and promotional tie-ins were scrapped.

In most circumstances, companies pay for Olympics ads after they appear. If the Games are canceled, or continue with fewer nations competing and lower ratings, NBCUniversal may be required to release companies from their ad commitments or otherwise compensate them.

But many ad agencies have spent months working on campaigns tailor-made for the Games that would not make sense in the context of, say, “This Is Us.”

“Unfortunately, there is no simple or easy replacement for the Olympics,” said Kevin Collins, an executive at ad-buying and media intelligence firm Magna. “There’s nothing out there of equal value from a marketing or programming standpoint.”


2020 The New York Times Company

Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, will have free option, ‘The Office’

Despite taking its name from one of the flashiest animals on the planet, NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service is at risk of blending in with the flock.

On Thursday at Rockefeller Center in New York City, the media company, owned by cable giant Comcast, made the case that Peacock would distinguish itself from Netflix and Disney Plus, among others in an increasingly crowded field, because it will rely on advertisements rather than subscriptions to generate revenue, while offering live broadcasts, including news programming and sports coverage in addition to 15,000 hours of TV shows and movies.

The streaming service announced itself to the world with the help of a 15,000-pound topiary peafowl sculpture that towered over throngs of Midtown tourists for much of the day. As the 4 p.m. presentation approached, investors, journalists and ad agency employees headed through the doors of 30 Rock toward Studio 8H, home of “Saturday Night Live,” to hear the Peacock pitch from company executives and stars.

Stephen Burke, chief executive of NBCUniversal who recently announced that he would step down in August, was the first to take the stage. He described Peacock as “the equivalent of a 21st-century broadcast business delivered on the internet” before making way for a procession of NBC talent.

Tina Fey, the “SNL” alumna and “30 Rock” creator, got laughs with a reference to the streaming service’s name. “When I sold my first very TV show,” she said, “I named it after this building. I wanted to name it ‘Peacock’ but was told it was a hard no and that it would not pass the censors.”

NBC late-nights hosts Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon helped make the case, as did NBC News anchors Rachel Maddow, Lester Holt and Savannah Guthrie. Dick Wolf, the powerhouse producer whose “Law & Order” shows will stream exclusively on Peacock, sat in the audience. Sizzle reels were heavy with scenes from “The Office,” the enduring sitcom that NBCUniversal wrested from Netflix in a $500 million deal last year.

When it goes live in April, Peacock will have a deep library of content and a smattering of originals. So what will distinguish Peacock from other streaming platforms, other than its affinity for avian references on Twitter? As the two-hour presentation repeatedly suggested, it will be NBCUniversal’s hefty bet on advertising.

Peacock will be available in three tiers. The so-called Peacock Free option will allow viewers to watch current seasons of NBC shows, past series, movies, news, Spanish-language content and one of NBC’s most elaborate productions: the 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

In exchange for paying nothing, Peacock Free viewers will sit through commercials from State Farm, Target, Unilever and other brands, making Peacock more akin to YouTube than Netflix. NBCUniversal executives hope the reliance on ads will give them an advantage over streaming services from The Walt Disney Co., Apple, AT&T and other media giants.

Peacock will also offer what it calls Peacock Premium, a plan that comes with commercials and has double the content: more than 15,000 hours of original programming, current series, news and sports. Those who sign on for the top level will have early access to “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night With Seth Meyers.” Peacock Premium will be free to viewers who subscribe to cable companies Cox or Comcast and will cost $5 a month for other viewers. For $10 a month, the same amount of content will be available ad-free.

Peacock will go live April 15 for certain Comcast customers, expanding nationwide July 15, days before the 2020 Games. NBCUniversal plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to market the platform. It expects to rack up 30 million to 35 million accounts by 2024.

“Peacock is unique because of its advertiser model,” said Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, mentioning the “massive moat of content” available through the platform. “This could be a watershed event in terms of starting to monetize advertising in the streaming world.”

Peacock’s pride is its sprawling library — more than 600 movies and 400 series — which it hopes will draw more advertising dollars.

The service has nailed down exclusive digital rights to shows like “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation” while also lining up reboots of “Saved by the Bell” and “Battlestar Galactica.” A series based on the true crime podcast “Dr. Death,” featuring actors Jamie Dornan and Alec Baldwin, is on its way, as is an adaptation of “Brave New World,” with Demi Moore.

Fey will produce a Peacock original series, “Girls5Eva,” about a washed-up 1990s band. NBCUniversal company Telemundo will provide 3,000 hours of Spanish-language original programming. And Peacock will also try to attract viewers through a licensing deal with Lionsgate, known for films like the “John Wick” action series, while also becoming the exclusive streaming home for new films from Universal.

Peacock will also run a comedy special and an interview series from Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud company, new animated episodes of “Curious George” and “Where’s Waldo,” and Premier League matches.

Other streaming services, like the Disney-owned company Hulu, offer discount plans that come with ads; and the still-gestating short-form video app Quibi, set to start streaming April 6, will also go the ad route.

Comcast does not expect Peacock to be profitable in its first five years, executives have said. The cable company, which has 21.4 million video subscribers and 28.2 million broadband subscribers, plans to inject $2 billion into Peacock over its first two years.

“Getting in the game with Peacock is the right way to preserve an audience, but it will be very, very expensive,” said Peter Supino, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein.

Peacock will give companies a lot of advertising options, with tech that will allow for ads that show up when viewers hit pause and others that will appear during bingeing sessions. The service will have five minutes of ads per hour or less, according to NBCUniversal, which is also capping the number of times an ad can appear for the same viewer. The company said that it will use customer data from Comcast set-top boxes, advertising partners and its own collection to deliver relevant ads.

“Ad-supported streaming is about more than giving consumers what they want; it’s also about giving advertisers what they desperately need,” said Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s ads chief.

The platform will become the main digital repository for shows like “SNL” and “The Tonight Show,” content available on YouTube that NBCUniversal would prefer to bring more securely into the corporate fold.

Some analysts have expressed the concern that NBCUniversal may be cannibalizing itself to support Peacock, forgoing licensing arrangements and other revenue-generating deals for popular shows like “The Office” to provide exclusive streaming content to its customers. By offering early peeks at its late-night programs, NBCUniversal may alienate station affiliates and cable operators that pay to carry those broadcasts.

Peacock went through a choppy development process, with a shake-up in its leadership team less than a month after the service was announced in September, and it faces intense pressure from competitors like Disney, which unveiled Disney Plus with a great marketing push in November.

The new platform must also contend with viewers who, faced with more entertainment options than ever, are battling streaming fatigue. Multiple studies have concluded that people are willing to pay for only a few services.

“There’s a battle for market share, and they’re going to have to fight tooth and nail for consumer eyeballs,” Ives said.


2020 The New York Times Company

source: news.abs-cbn.com

AllThingsD relaunches as Re/code

NEW YORK - The technology news blog AllThingsD has relaunched under the name Re/code under a partnership with NBCUniversal, after splitting with News Corp's Wall Street Journal.

Re/code is a "media news, reviews and analysis site launching today, with the same talented team we've worked with for many years at the former All Things Digital site that we ran for Dow Jones & Co," said a statement Thursday from executive editors Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

The website is the first project of the new independent media company, Revere Digital LLC, backed by Comcast's NBCUniversal News Group and former Yahoo chairman Terry Semel's Windsor Media.

Revere will be operating news sites and apps, as well as a series of conferences, according to the statement.

Its first "Code Conference" will be held May 27 to 29 in Southern California, by the same team that produced conferences under the AllThingsD conference banner.

The Wall Street Journal, part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, said in September it would split with the technology news website amid a major reorganization in Murdoch's holdings.

The newspaper, part of the Dow Jones unit of News Corp, is beefing up its technology coverage and launched its own tech section following the departure of the AllThingsD team.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com