Dependency on Digital

With news of the Fox acquisition, the Mouse House may have a shot to crumble Sarantos' House of Cards. Hulu's fate? TBD. And the impact of today's Net Neutrality ruling? TBFD. We've become dependent on digital, but these pixelated waters are unpredictable-- and as Gen Z media star Jake Paul knows, despite the youth's digital dependence, they also crave experiences IRL.Views and likes are nice, but what publishers really crave is some loyal lovin.' HBO's looking to build addicts -- and don't miss Digiday's Sahil Patel going deep on the pivot to nowhere. Looks like Refinery29 is experiencing the latest casualties in the war for views.Full steam ahead to 2018, tune into 24/7 news on Twitter and all your favorite shows on T-Mobile and Verizon's OTT offerings.Pivot to nowhere: The once-vibrant market for digital video series has deteriorated [Digiday]“The only company who is buying [short form] in bulk right now is Facebook,” said an executive at a digital studio that has content deals with Facebook and Go90. Meanwhile, Verizon’s Go90, another high-profile buyer of short- and mid-form video shows over the past few years, has cut spending as the company rethinks its original content strategy, according to multiple content partners. It’s all up in the air, as Verizon’s big Oath merger — during which Verizon’s top media executive, Marni Walden, left the company — has slowed the Go90 team. “The people over [at Go90] said that it’s all being worked out, but it takes time to integrate,” said one Go90 partner.Netflix's Ted Sarandos Talks Originals Output, Disney's Streaming Efforts [THR]Netflix, of course, has plenty of content outside of the films and TV shows that it licenses from Disney. Next year, the company, which currently licenses more titles than it produces but plans to reach a 50-50 split by 2019, will release 60 kids' shows and 20 anime originals. It also is planning 60 global series next year and 30 local-language series, Sarandos revealed.Verizon will launch over-the-top service before year-end with NFL as key piece, analyst predicts [CNBC]Kvaal expects "more to come" in terms of OTT content, he also added that the telecommunications company's 15 percent stock appreciation over the past month reflects mounting optimism around the Republican tax efforts, which could add 20 percent to earnings per share.T-Mobile plans pay TV service in 2018 fueled by Layer3 TV acquisition [TechCrunch]The plan involves building a service that avoids long-term contracts, as well as complex bundles and billing. Layer3 TV offers streaming TV and online video combined into a single service offering Media Companies Aim To Build 'Addicts' With Direct-To-Consumer Video Services [MediaPost]“I am trying to build addicts -- and I want people addicted to something every week,” said HBO CEO Richard Plepler, speaking at Business Insider’s ignition conference last week. “What we are seeing is less churn, more engagement and more subscriber satisfaction. We want to put our foot on the accelerator and get more of that.”TV networks are buying original digital series for their apps [Digiday]One Los Angeles-based digital studio executive said he’s had pitch meetings in the past few months with Discovery, NBCUniversal and Turner about producing original programming for those companies’ TV Everywhere apps.Refinery29 Lays Off 34 Employees Amid Digital Media Headwinds [THR]The women's lifestyle site has raised more than $125 million from investors that include Turner and Scripps Networks.Jake Paul Wants to Sell You...Something [GQ]And, despite Generation Z’s dependence on digital, it was part of a growing trend for experiential moments, things that could be captured and tagged and broadcast on social media.The Database "Rotten Apples" Flags Movies & TV Shows Featuring People Who Have Been Accused Of Sexual Assault [Bustle]Rotten Apples is a database of movies and TV shows linked to people accused of alleged sexual misconduct in Hollywood. By simply searching the name of a film or show, you can check to see whether a person who’s been accused of sexual misconduct is tied to that project.YouTube wants to launch yet another streaming music service, this time called Remix [Business Insider]YouTube wants to launch a new streaming music subscription service by March.YouTube TV hits 34 new markets [TechCrunch]Total of 83 U.S. markets in which YouTube TV is currently available.Report: YouTube creators lose up to 80% of monthly revenue amid brand safety push [MarketingDive]Bloomberg interviewed one video maker, Joe Taylor, whose channel JoeGo101 has seen earnings fall from $6,000 per month to around $1,000 per month.Facebook plans to stop paying publishers to make news feed videos [Digiday]Now, Facebook’s efforts are entirely focused on funding shows for Watch, for which it’s already telling content partners that it wants to fund less shows but with bigger budgets. Facebook’s mid-rolls programs is also a priority now, sources said, as the company is beginning to open up access to more data on how mid-roll ad breaks are performing.Bloomberg's TicToc Streaming Network To Launch Dec. 18 [MediaPost]Bloomberg will launch its new 24-hour Twitter-based streaming news channel, called TicToc, on Dec. 18, according to a promotional video published to the platform. TicToc will be available exclusively on Twitter and will incorporate tweets into its programming.