Search headlines

Beloved Musician Brady Rymer To Be Inducted Into LI Music & Entertainment Hall Of Fame

"Brady Rymer's induction recognizes a remarkable career that has brought musical excellence to audiences of all ages."

Oct 23 • 5:40 AM EDT • Entertainment • patch.com

Chappell Roan might just go on singing these songs forever

LOS ANGELES — "Someone's smoking weed at the trans fundraiser!" That was Chappell Roan on Wednesday at the Shrine Auditorium, where somebody in the audience did indeed light up moments

Oct 22 • 4:46 PM EDT • Entertainment • recorderonline.com

Chappell Roan might just go on singing these songs forever

LOS ANGELES — "Someone's smoking weed at the trans fundraiser!" That was Chappell Roan on Wednesday at the Shrine Auditorium, where somebody in the audience did indeed light up moments

Oct 22 • 4:46 PM EDT • Entertainment • thederrick.com

How well have past GOTY winners sold?

We’re less than two months away from 2026’s The Game Awards, and what a year it’s been for fantastic games, including Resident Evil Requiem, Forza Horizon 6, Slay the Spire II, the Blood of Dawnwalker, and Control Resonant – just to name a few. So as we approach the end of the year, we thought we’d look back on our estimates for the GOTY winners of the past four years. In terms of revenue, Elden Ring (2022 winner), Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023), Astro Bot (2024), and Expedition 33 (2025) have generated a combined $3.8B via 73M copies sold: Let’s have a look, then. Elden Ring has generated $2B in revenue Elden Ring is a phenomenon in every sense. It’s sold a whopping 36.4M copies across Steam (50%), PS5 (35%), and Xbox (15% across console and PC). Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Elden Ring also just passed an astronomical milestone: $2B in revenue. While PlayStation and Xbox account for half of Elden Ring’s copies sold across these three platforms, they account for 57.5% of revenue. This – as ever – is due to regional pricing and the higher relative share of PC gamers in lower-priced markets. For example, around 17.4% of Elden Ring’s Steam copies sold were in China, where the game costs about 26% less than the price in the States. There’s an … interesting narrative going around these days that console gamers are only interested in ball-and-gun games and have the patience for little else. Well, Elden Ring’s impressive sales prove that is simply not true, and across all platforms. What’s more, over 9.8M people have played Elden Ring for over 100 hours, with nearly 3.5M people getting all of the achievements and trophies. For reference, 10.9% of Elden Ring’s PlayStation players have the platinum trophy, while 10.5% of players on Steam and 3.9% of Xbox players unlocked all the achievements. Git gud, Xbox players! Of the 1.5M people who played Elden Ring on PlayStation last month, 4% also played Dark Souls 3 last month, 4% played Bloodborne, and 3% played Sekiro. There’s those Soulsborne diehards for you. By many accounts, including my own, Elden Ring is one of the best games of all time. It’s an evergreen seller that will continue to be a cash cow for Bandai and FromSoftware for years to come. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Elden Ring has sold another 2M copies across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox this year, generating almost $110M. This means it’s outperforming many of this year’s high-profile releases. Even Elden Ring’s standalone run-based PvE spinoff, 2025’s Nightreign, has sold 7.8M copies and generated $282M in revenue. Baldur’s Gate 3 is another billion-dollar-plus banger Another cross-platform phenomenon is Baldur’s Gate 3, which has sold 23.2M copies and generated over $1.2B in revenue. About 18.7M of these copies (80.6%) are via Steam, 2.9M via PS5 (12.7%), and 1.6M (6.8%) via Xbox. Around 1.3M folks on Steam bought BG3 before it hit 1.0. The PlayStation version launched about a month after the PC 1.0 release, while the Xbox version came four months later due to technical issues around developing local co-op on the Series S. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Across platforms, Baldur’s Gate 3’s monthly active users have never dropped below 2M, including 2.2M MAUs last month (68.5% on Steam, 21.9% on PS5, and 9.6% on Xbox). And it still regularly brings in 280K to 400K players every day: About 1% of BG3’s Steam player base has played for over 500 hours! That’s a little under 200K people. Astro Bot is also an evergreen seller, albeit a more niche, family one Astro Bot, 2024’s winner, has now sold 4.7M copies and generated $291M in revenue. The budget, including marketing, is almost certainly under $100M, given the small Japan-based core team and three-year dev timeline. You can really see why the tides are changing toward less expensive hubs. Astro Bot is the only first-party winner on this list, but follows other first-party winners of The Last of Us Part II (2020’s winner), God of War (2018), and Breath of the Wild (2017). Around 46.6% of Astro Bot’s copies sold have been physical, which is far higher than the typical game. This makes sense for a couple of reasons: There’s a large family audience for this one, and physical boxes are an item to wrap when giving Astro as a gift. Astro has collector value for the PlayStation core (this is nostalgia-fueled platformer celebrating PlayStation’s history) Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Astro is another one of those games that continues selling over time, regularly selling more than 100K a month. It’s sold around 1M more copies this year ($60M in revenue) and is a popular title with families. We can see this using the Alinea platform’s MAU crossover tool: Astro Bot’s top #2, #3, and #4 games by crossover in any given month this year are Minecraft, Fortnite, and Roblox – without fail. The #1 title every month, though, is Astro’s Playroom, a pack-in with all PS5 consoles. For every month this year, between 20% and 30% of Astro Bot players also played Astro’s Playroom that month. So the free pack-in is a noice funnel for converting players to a full paid product. Expedition 33 sells 8.7M despite Game Pass cannibalisation Finally, we have last year’s winner – Expedition 33. The turn-based-RPG banger has generated $366M via 8.7M copies sold, with 58.8% on Steam, 35.7% on PS5, and 5.5% on Xbox. Xbox’s share of copies sold is this low due to Expedition 33 launching on Game Pass, where 4.3M people across console and PC accessed the game. A little under 700K Xbox players used their subscription to play Expedition 33 this year. That said, the game’s 1.5-year Game Pass deal ended last week on October 16, and we’re already beginning to see a positive trend on Expedition 33’s copies sold via Xbox (but the jury’s still out!). There’s understandably a lot of French pride behind this one, as France is the game’s #3 market on both Steam and PlayStation. Vive la France! One thing that stood out to me is that the GOTY winners aren’t $300M Hollywood productions made in the US. They’re mostly mid-budget studios outside the traditional AAA cost centres. Lots to think about there. Also, good games sell well; who’d have thunk it!? And there’s a whole load of them this year, with GTA 6 still to come, too. GTA just made the cutoff point for the VGAs this year. What a coincidence! Loading... Cool links and other stuff Our physical games newsletter from Tuesday was picked up by GameSpot, Eurogamer, TweakTown, and a bunch of others. We’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies. Send us a message here, or reply right here on Substack/email, and we’ll set you up. Next week, we’ve got some exciting news regarding the future of our newsletter, so stay tuned! The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. Want to see why these companies (and many others) are subscribed to Alinea? Get a free platform trial! [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]

Oct 22 • 1:02 PM EDT • Technology • alineaanalytics.substack.com

This modern-day fairy tale invites conversations about mental health - College of Arts and Sciences

Rachel Hynes’ production, “Song of a Sea Witch,” invites intergenerational audiences to confront the power of language and the lasting impact of negative self-talk.

Oct 22 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • college.unc.edu

Bose Buys Audio Rival Skullcandy

Bose sees the company as a way to reach a wider audience.

Oct 21 • 6:19 PM EDT • Technology • engadget.com

Bose acquires Skullcandy to help it reach a wider audience

Skullcandy will remain a separate brand under Bose.

Oct 21 • 4:15 PM EDT • Technology • theverge.com

American ‘magic’ might be the solution to political polarization

Ford Foundation president tells BYU audience that political polarization is a problem — and one that needs to be addressed immediately.

Oct 21 • 12:25 PM EDT • Politics • yahoo.com

American ‘magic’ might be the solution to political polarization

Ford Foundation president tells BYU audience that political polarization is a problem — and one that needs to be addressed immediately

Oct 21 • 12:25 PM EDT • Politics • deseret.com

Troy Aikman and Joe Buck: what next for the NFL’s $165m TV power couple as they head for a split?

The duo have carved out lucrative and successful careers as TV audiences elsewhere are falling. It seems they won’t be together for much longer

Oct 21 • 5:00 AM EDT • Sports • theguardian.com

When I was 8 years old, Carl Sagan showed me the universe I want you to see

I have always tried to pattern my interactions with my program audiences like Carl might have done. Every chance I get to do that is one more opportunity I have to spark someone else’s interest in science.

Oct 20 • 4:36 PM EDT • Science • adlerplanetarium.org

AES Show 2026: Industry Panel Examines Live Entertainment Delivery in Dolby Atmos

As concerts and other live performances reach audiences through global streaming platforms, Dolby Atmos is opening new possibilities for immersive entertainment at home. At the upcoming AES Show Nashville, From...

Oct 20 • 10:24 AM EDT • Entertainment • sportsvideo.org

Two longtime rivals seek new audiences in Oregon governor’s race. Who will persuade voters?

Despite the effective rematch from 2022, this year’s campaign trail has pushed both candidates to reach voters in opposing ideological lanes.

Oct 20 • 9:00 AM EDT • Politics • oregoncapitalchronicle.com

How a fashion creator turned audience demand into a 500+ client styling business

A creator with a fashion merchandising degree speaks on her quest to diversify revenue fast, from styling to sweat equity investment.

Oct 20 • 12:01 AM EDT • Business • digiday.com

Megyn Kelly Bemoans ‘You Can See Everything’ ‘Political’ Charlie Kirk Mentions: ‘Cannot Go Anywhere’

Megyn Kelly is still recommending "You Can See Everything" to her audience even if the Charlie Kirk mentions angered her.

Oct 19 • 4:47 PM EDT • Politics • yahoo.com

The Business Behind Matcha

Matcha is a ground green tea powder with roots in ancient Japanese culture, dating back centuries. Only recently has the drink reached a wider global audience, appearing on cafe menus worldwide. Its growing popularity raises a question: How does a product that has been around for so long suddenly become a global trend? During the […]

Oct 19 • 10:20 AM EDT • Business • yucommentator.org

Streaming’s Biggest Show Returns…and a Buzzy Genre Struggles

(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Obviously, the big news of the week (if not month) is Netflix letting go of executive Bela Bajaria, their chief content officer. I’m going to cover this in my next “Most Important Story of the Week”, but I also have a data angle that I might publish before then. (Too much news this month, am I right?) But first, I have a bonus Streaming Ratings Report issue for you. Today’s article is a bit of a grab bag of topics I’ve wanted to write about, but couldn’t squeeze into the (already very long) Streaming Ratings Report issues. The NFL drives huge viewership numbers, so I’ve got a look at that. A whole bunch of TV shows returned to the traditional broadcast channels, and I have thoughts. And I have a quick look at adult animated shows, since a couple flopped earlier this month. Plus, the Emmys aired earlier this month, and we got some fun data bout how popular those nominated shows are and why I’m not optimistic about the show’s future. That’s a lot, so let’s dive right in. Subscribe Sports - Football Remains the King of Streaming Over the last two Streaming Ratings Reports, I sorta ignored the biggest “show” each week. (I was tempted to say “piece of content” but I know that word bugs folks.) In my database, I call these “specials”, and they sure are special. I speak of the king of American TV: football!!! Streaming football is back and, unlike some other sports, it routinely dominates all viewership. Probably the best way to show this is to update one of my favorite graphics, the “40 Million Hour Club”1 since football games have joined that club each week they’ve premiered: (Yep, that’s the data through 28-Sep, the first four weeks of the season. As a reminder, I take the average minute audience provided by Nielsen, factor out a percentage of linear TV viewers in home markets, and multiply the run time by the three-hour runtime.) Again, the numbers are huge. Let’s start with Netflix. They grabbed the rights to the bonus opening week NFL Kickoff game (which was on YouTube last year) and it put up 18.5 million viewers on average. That nets out to 47.4 million hours of estimated streaming hours. That’s good! Though, notably, it’s well below Christmas Day games from previous years. Compared to other streamers/broadcasters, that’s a bit of a mixed result. On one hand, Netflix’s 18.5 million average is about what YouTube claimed last year, though Nielsen used a bespoke methodology at that time, so I trust this viewership figure more. So that’s good. (The game also shifted from a Friday to a Thursday and that could have helped the viewership as well.) And Netflix continues to best Prime Video in total viewership—as you’ll see next—though Netflix has had much higher-profile (opening week and Christmas Day) games. NBC/Peacock’s opening game the night before averaged 25.1 million average viewers, which is just much bigger than Netflix (or Prime Video). That’s the big caveat to all streaming viewership records: even in success, they can’t compete with traditional linear TV. Previously, I called this my “hierarchy of viewership”, and the data keeps supporting that thesis. The downside for NBC is that this game’s viewership was down compared to previous years, though it may be a counting issue. Here’s a great chart from Sports Media Watch: Indeed, looking at all the opening week games across all windows, Netflix still lags the other primetime windows, but does well compared to the afternoon games: I saw a few folks make the case that streamers still lag traditional broadcasters in reach, and I’d add they really lag compared to “broadcast plus streaming” options like NBC/Peacock, ESPN/Disney+ and CBS/Paramount+. The best data I saw for this came from Samba TV, who charted reach through the 2025 season, and, wow. (Samba TV’s numbers are historically lower than Nielsen’s, so don’t compare their household figures to Nielsen’s hours, but use them as a proxy for the relative reach of the streamers.) The good news is Prime Video is NOT having a down year. Their opening Thursday Night Football game reached 18.6 million viewers (about what Netflix got), but that’s a high for Prime Video on Thursdays and the biggest Thursday night game since 2015. The TNF games the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep continued this streak, getting 43.1 (16.8 million average viewers) and 42.5 total hours (16.6 million average viewers), which were both up from last year. Still, that continues the (typical) season slide: (For those new-to-streaming-football-numbers folks, the viewership declines for Thursday Night Football as the year goes along.) Overall, it appears as if Prime Video is now part of the “football habit”, be it for customers at home or out at places like bars and restaurants. And its viewership is slowly catching up to broadcast. One last chart shows this. Last season, Nielsen started adding out-of-home viewership to the charts, so I try not to do season-to-season comparisons as I did for the first few years. And while Nielsen added Big Data viewing this year, I’m going to compare the last two seasons. Here’s that chart, which shows the season-over-season gains: When it comes to streaming football, we have to keep a few seemingly contradictory thoughts in our head… First, streaming doesn’t come close to matching broadcast’s reach and, thus, viewership. Second, even with that gap, football is still the biggest “thing” on streaming. It’s very, very popular. Third, while some methodology changes have likely helped Prime Video’s numbers, their viewership does appear to be growing. Lastly, yeah, the NFL started the season off poorly, with week one dragging down the numbers in year-over-year comparisons. However—and again, methodology changes may have helped this—the viewership grew compared to previous seasons over the next couple of weeks. So football is still king. On streaming and off. Television - Adult Animation Continues to NOT Make the Streaming Charts In the last two reports, two adult-animated shows whiffed: Netflix’s animated comedy, Dang! Paramount+’s Sega-video-game-inspired fantasy/comedy, Golden Axe. Neither made the charts, but that’s usually the case for animated shows. I mean, here’s literally every animated show that’s made the Nielsen Original charts since the start of 2025: And one of those shows is G_abby’s Dollhouse_! A kids show! The problem with charts like this is that they don’t give you a sense of how many shows miss the charts. Netflix had at least eleven animated flops, including comedies like Big Mouth (a show everyone assumed was popular in the pre-Streaming Ratings Era), Long Story Short, Haunted Hotel, Mating Season, Strip Law, and Alley Cats, and action shows like Blood of Zeus, Castlevania: Nocturne, Devil May Cry, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft. Prime Video had at least six animated misses, two in the same universe (Hazbin Hotel, Helluva Boss), three more comedies (#1 Happy Family USA, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy and Kevin) and an action show (The Mighty Nein). Disney+ had MCU and Star Wars animated misses (Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies, Star Wars: Visions, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, and Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld) but I can’t tell how many of those shows were geared towards adults. HBO Max had Harley Quinn and Hulu had Solar Opposites. None of these shows made the charts! That’s a lot of misses! If I remade the chart with all those misses, here’s how it would look: Listen, I know the counter arguments. First, it’s cheaper to produce animated shows than live action. Fair enough, but with viewership this low, even that cheaper price point starts to not matter. Second, just look at the acquired charts. Hit animated comedies can generate viewership for years! Shows like The Simpsons, South Park, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers do really, really well. Fair enough, but streaming has failed to recreate the dynamic that Fox has mastered so well. That’s a problem for streaming still. Television - Emmys! The annual Emmys broadcast was a few weeks ago, and I’ve got data on how the nominees performed on streaming, plus hot takes on this year’s viewership (and the big news about the broadcast’s, er, streamcast’s future). We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… The top Emmy-nominated shows… ...why I’m worried about the future of the Emmys telecast... ...the pros of broadcast television ...and the cons... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! Next week, we’ve got a double issue (since the weeks of 21-Sep and 28-Sep were so light), but then I’ll be all caught up after a deluge of streaming ratings data from Nielsen in September. In the meantime, I’m going to try to take a look at Netflix’s stats to explain why Bela Bajaria is out. But even light weeks give me plenty to talk about. The Great British Baking Show returns to Netflix and Apple TV has a buzzy new star-studded comedy. And Netflix has a controversial-but-appears-to-be-popular new game show. Plus big films like Toy Story 5, Backrooms and The Breadwinner head to streaming. And is East of Eden a hit? After that, The Kardashians return to Hulu, Prime Video has a reboot of Carrie, and Netflix has a horror show, Below. Disclosure Day heads to Peacock, The Housemaid heads to HBO Max_,_ a new Ben Affleck film, Animals, lands on Netflix, and Apple TV has a new John Cena action film based on, checks notes, Hasbro’s Matchbox toys. Okay. Longterm, some interesting TV production news. HBO Max ordered How to Survive Without Me, starring Kaley Cuoco, Joshua Jackson, Ray Romano and Rita Wilson, for fifteen episodes! I love that some streamers (or, at least, HBO Max) are finally ordering TV shows with more than eight episodes. In less wise production news, Landman does not appear to be coming back this year, since it just started production. Frankly, I don’t love this (get your shows out on time) but Landman is so popular, I doubt it matters.

Oct 18 • 3:59 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

Exchange Between El-Sayed and Audience Member at Townhall in Caro, Michigan

Oct 17 • 8:49 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com

Scaler Wave (@scalerwave)

How’s that “science” workin’ out for ya? -“Outside of running, Yoo was a graduate student at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, known as KAIST, where she researched AI semiconductors. She shared her training and race results online and built an audience of thousands who admired how she balanced demanding research with serious endurance running. In March, she completed the full Seoul Marathon in 2 hours, 56 minutes and 32 seconds, finishing under the three-hour mark. No cause of death has been made public.” Odd….

Oct 17 • 4:27 PM EDT • Science • substack.com

Customers Kept Asking Vivian Tu for Help. She Turned Their Questions Into a Business

Vivian Tu turned recurring questions from her audience into Ask Dolly, showing how founders can turn customers’ unmet needs into a business.

Oct 17 • 10:00 AM EDT • Business • inc.com

Geese shred Hollywood Forever (and Dodger fan egos) at their three-night stand in L.A.

Cameron Winter had one last knife to twist for the Dodger faithful in the audience at Hollywood Forever on Thursday night.

Oct 16 • 5:55 PM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com

IU Kelley School of Business Expert Weights in on Prediction Markets and Midterm Elections

As prediction markets play a growing role in election forecasting and increasingly compete with traditional polling, Russell Rhoads, clinical associate professor of finance at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business Indianapolis, is available to provide expert analysis and commentary. Rhoads can help audiences understand how prediction markets work, what market odds actually signal about election outcomes, and why investors, analysts, and political observers are payin

Oct 16 • 10:45 AM EDT • Business • newswise.com

JesserCo., Culture Genius, Uproxx, Comscore Leaders on Creator Boom

Digital leaders discuss why audiences and brands are flocking to the creator economy in a session from Variety's Entertainment and Technology Summit.

Oct 16 • 9:15 AM EDT • Entertainment • variety.com

Nvidia is no longer a PC gaming company. Get used to it

The disappearance of the GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card shouldn't come as a surprise, because PC game fans are no longer Nvidia's audience—AI companies are.

Oct 16 • 8:00 AM EDT • Technology • pcworld.com

'Houdini' takes to the stage at the Grand Theatre

EAU CLAIRE — A story of life and death, Houdini, illusions and “other worlds” will take the stage this October, as audience members are encouraged to attend a showing of

Oct 15 • 5:27 PM EDT • Entertainment • leadertelegram.com

13News Now

13News Now (WVEC) is made up of storytellers, innovators, content creators, and idea generators. We stand for passion. Passion for our people, passion in our product, and above all- passion in our community. We value honesty, accuracy, and solutions. We serve as the local ABC affiliate for Hampton Roads. We strive for interaction with our audience and are constantly working on our presentation so that you have the best experience when consuming our products. Whether on air, online, or on the go- we are everywhere you go. Digitally we lead the market by more than a million actions over our nearest competitor. Join the conversation with us, help us tell the Stories of Now. About our parent company TEGNA- TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) is an innovative media company that serves the greater good of our communities. With 46 television stations in 38 markets, TEGNA delivers relevant content and information to consumers across platforms.

Oct 15 • 3:32 PM EDT • Health • youtube.com

13News Now

13News Now (WVEC) is made up of storytellers, innovators, content creators, and idea generators. We stand for passion. Passion for our people, passion in our product, and above all- passion in our community. We value honesty, accuracy, and solutions. We serve as the local ABC affiliate for Hampton Roads. We strive for interaction with our audience and are constantly working on our presentation so that you have the best experience when consuming our products. Whether on air, online, or on the go- we are everywhere you go. Digitally we lead the market by more than a million actions over our nearest competitor. Join the conversation with us, help us tell the Stories of Now. About our parent company TEGNA- TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) is an innovative media company that serves the greater good of our communities. With 46 television stations in 38 markets, TEGNA delivers relevant content and information to consumers across platforms.

Oct 15 • 1:02 PM EDT • Science • youtube.com

LAIKA and Fathom Entertainment Announce Nationwide WILDWOOD Fan First Premium Screenings

Following its acclaimed world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival, LAIKA and Fathom Entertainment have announced nationwide fan first premium-format screenings of Wildwood, director Travis Knight’s ambitious new stop-motion fantasy adventure. The film will be presented in more than 100 participating theatrical locations on Monday, October 19, offering audiences an exclusive early opportunity to […]

Oct 15 • 12:55 PM EDT • Entertainment • boxofficepro.com

'Whalefall' takes audiences inside 'the yuckiest escape room ever'

With “Whalefall,” director Brian Duffield thinks he might have the most beautiful stomach on screen in movie history. Though that might depend upon the beholder.

Oct 15 • 11:07 AM EDT • Entertainment • centraloregondaily.com

The ‘Call of Duty tax’ means games media doesn’t cover COD the way it used to, Activision says

Its large audience has “become status quo” and people forget the work that goes into each entry…

Oct 15 • 10:22 AM EDT • Technology • videogameschronicle.com

Great American Media Invests in Wholesome, Family Streaming Entertainment for Latinos with Launch of Pure Flix Familia

/PRNewswire/ -- Great American Media is expanding its investment in Latino audiences with today's launch of Pure Flix Familia, a new streaming destination...

Oct 15 • 9:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • prnewswire.com

Lights, curtains, spirits? Inside The Ritz's paranormal past

The building has hosted entertainment venues for 100 years, and some say there are members of the audience and performers who have never left.

Oct 15 • 8:14 AM EDT • Entertainment • abc7.com

Lights, curtains, spirits? Inside The Ritz's paranormal past

The building has hosted entertainment venues for 100 years, and some say there are members of the audience and performers who have never left.

Oct 15 • 8:14 AM EDT • Entertainment • 6abc.com

Meet MARO: The Portuguese singer-songwriter captivating audiences around the world

At a time when concert crowds are often illuminated by the glow of their own phones, Portuguese singer-songwriter MARO had a Los Angeles audience doing something increasingly rare on Tuesday night:…

Oct 14 • 9:42 PM EDT • Entertainment • ktla.com

Kevin Hart's Hartbeat Inks Deal With Fox Entertainment For Vertical Content, Microdramas

Fox Entertainment and Hartbeat announced a multi-faceted partnership that leverages new, original vertical series as a development pipeline for film and television content. The partnership pairs Codeblack’s record of building film and television businesses for underserved audiences with Fox Entertainment’s studio operations, worldwide sales organization and growing vertical video ecosystem. It also extends vertical storytelling … Continue reading "Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Inks Deal With Fox Entertainment For Vertical Content, Microdramas"

Oct 14 • 10:16 AM EDT • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Busy Fall

We have a busy fall ahead of us—and that’s always good news. We like to stay busy. We’re working on two special annual publications: the CNY Business Guide and the CNY Winter Guide. Both publications are designed to reach specific audiences in the community. We’re excited about these new editions and would like to share a few details about them. Let’s begin with the Winter Guide. Winter can be challenging, but it also offers plenty to celebrate. The new CNY Winter Guide will help readers embrace the season and make it more fun and enjoyable. This year’s annual publication will feature an extensive calendar of events, compelling stories, and curated lists of things to do and see throughout the winter. This will be our 31st annual issue. It is one of the few publications—if not the only one—devoted exclusively to winter in Central New York. For advertisers, it offers a valuable opportunity to reach readers across the region. As we tell prospective advertisers, one ad works for them all season long. Rates start in the low $200s. The guide will be available at hundreds of high-traffic locations, including all Wegmans stores and select Price Chopper and Tops Friendly Markets locations. It will also be available online, with every ad hyperlinked so readers can click directly through to the advertiser’s website or Facebook page. Our network of drivers will also deliver the guide to hundreds of high-traffic locations several times throughout the winter. The publication will be out by Thanksgiving. The CNY Business Guide is a one-of-a-kind publication that many readers use as a reference. Unlike the books of lists published by business journals across the country, it comes in a glossy, full-color magazine format. It also ranks employers in four counties, with a particular emphasis on Oswego and Onondaga and substantial information about Cayuga and Jefferson. It is an ambitious project that requires extensive research, phone calls, careful fact-checking, writing and design. In short, it takes a great deal of work—and we’re glad to take on the challenge. The guide is widely distributed to business and professional readers throughout Central New York. The Business Guide gives companies an excellent opportunity to highlight their growth and expansion, showcase new products, and share other noteworthy developments. For readers, it provides a valuable snapshot of companies across the region, including what they do and who leads them. The guide will be published in early December. We invite companies to advertise in both publications. Advertising costs are relatively low, and each guide offers access to a broad audience across Central New York. Wagner Dotto is the editor and publisher of Oswego County Business Magazine.

Oct 14 • 8:23 AM EDT • Business • oswegocountybusiness.com

'Aladdin' star Mena Massoud teases 'Daniel' sequel after box office success

Mena Massoud is hopeful audiences haven t seen the last of the biblical prophet Daniel on the big screen, as the 35-year-old actor and producer says the success of Daniel The Fiery Furnace has opened

Oct 14 • 7:50 AM EDT • Entertainment • christianpost.com

Why political campaigns still spend all their money on TV

Audiences have been leaving TV for the internet for a very long time. Most advertisers have figured that out some time ago. But not political ones.

Oct 14 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • businessinsider.com

Xbox CEO reportedly warns firm will "not survive" if it only relies on existing franchises

Platform needs to "find new ways, and courage, to have invention on new IP that reach new sets of audiences"

Oct 14 • 3:44 AM EDT • Technology • gamesindustry.biz

Brian Cox awarded 2026 Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication

British physicist and broadcaster Brian Cox has been awarded the 2026 Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, recognising his work bringing complex scientific ideas to audiences around the world.

Oct 14 • 1:14 AM EDT • Science • euronews.com

Justin Baldoni makes rare public appearance in “DWTS ”audience after “It Ends With Us” legal battle

Eagle-eyed fans spotted the actor-director in the crowd during “Super Bowl Night” on Tuesday.

Oct 13 • 8:58 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Justin Baldoni makes rare appearance in ‘DWTS’ audience after Blake Lively drama

Eagle-eyed fans spotted Justin Baldoni in the ‘Dancing With the Stars’ audience during ‘Super Bowl Night’ on Tuesday after his ‘It Ends With Us’ legal battle.

Oct 13 • 8:58 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

Starstuff: A Festival of Solo Artists returns to Seattle’s Kerry Hall

Astro Lab Productions presents the second-annual Starstuff, a theater festival celebrating solo artists, audiences and the connections between them.

Oct 13 • 4:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • yakimaherald.com

Clint Kisker, Sean Kisker, Jason Kandar Launch Twin Pines Entertainment Aimed Heartland Audiences

Twin Pines Entertainment was founded by Clint Kisker, Sean Kisker and Jason Kander to produce sports-themed series and movies for heartland America audiences.

Oct 13 • 10:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • variety.com

7SEAS ENTERTAINMENT SHIFTS INTO HIGHER GEAR WITH "FORMULA RIDE"

October 13, 2026 -- India-built mobile racing title brings together speed, strategy, career progression and real-time multiplayer for a wider global audience

Oct 12 • 8:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • 24-7pressrelease.com

For Wave Sports & Entertainment, less is more in terms of cutting through the noise

Wave Sports, with around 120 full-time employees, is set up to serve three different groups: the audience (young millennials and Gen Z, in particular); the talent; and the advertisers. Across of its 10 shows, there are now over 1 billion views per month, with 75% of the audience under the age of 35.

Oct 12 • 5:36 PM EDT • Entertainment • sportsbusinessjournal.com

Netflix’s Best New Show Has A 95% Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score

Netflix's best new show has a sky-high 95% audience review score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it is going to be worth checking out even if it's not your usual genre.

Oct 12 • 11:02 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Ron Perlman’s Watrfall Hands Audiences Control Of $275,000 Creator Fund

EXCLUSIVE: Watrfall, the Ron Perlman-backed creator platform, is planning to put the power in the hands of audiences. The company, which we first told you about in August last year, has opened submiss...

Oct 12 • 7:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Theater Economics Need to Change. But How?

Is the problem economics, audiences, or something even bigger?

Oct 12 • 7:27 AM EDT • Business • tcbmag.com

Apple MacBook Pro 16 vs Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: Poll shows clear winner

With the launch of the newest Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra, many people are comparing the laptop to the Apple MacBook Pro 16 with the M5 Pro. This comparison is quite apt, as both machines target the same audience. A poll run by Hardware Canucks has now revealed which laptop users prefer more.

Oct 12 • 6:25 AM EDT • Technology • notebookcheck.net

Marc Summers Says His Parents ‘Never’ Thought He Was ‘Successful’ Despite Impressive Entertainment Career (Exclusive)

Summers knew that he loved the command of an audience from an early age

Oct 11 • 10:59 AM EDT • Entertainment • aol.com

Marc Summers Says His Parents ‘Never’ Thought He Was ‘Successful’ Despite Impressive Entertainment Career (Exclusive)

Summers knew that he loved the command of an audience from an early age

Oct 11 • 10:59 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Esports team DRX seeks to broaden territory into digital entertainment

The esports industry continues to expand, drawing large audiences across game titles and appealing to an increasingly diverse range of people. The...

Oct 10 • 6:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • koreatimes.co.kr

Corporate site selection experts raise a warning flag on Colorado

Business site-selection experts had some concerns about Denver's affordability and regulations, they told the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce audience

Oct 10 • 10:51 AM EDT • Business • denvergazette.com

Television Q&A: Do new CBS late-night shows both have studio...

CBS late-night imports “Comics Unleashed” and “Funny You Should Ask” both use studio audiences, Allen Media Group says. Also: updates on “Lioness,” “Patience” a...

Oct 10 • 12:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • unionleader.com

As AI reshapes entertainment, can it ever replace human connection?

From gaming to live streaming, audiences are seeking authentic interactions in an increasingly automated digital world

Oct 9 • 11:16 PM EDT • Entertainment • thenationalnews.com

Dr. André Carrington on audiofuturism: the Black history of science fiction radio drama, Oct. 16

“Audiofuturism: Science Fiction Radio Drama and the Black Fantastic Imagination” chronicles the largely understudied history of audio science fiction made for Black creators for Black audiences.

Oct 9 • 3:59 PM EDT • Science • today.marquette.edu

Céline Dion takes a tumble, but goes on

LOS ANGELES — Céline Dion will go on — even after taking a little tumble onstage. The 58-year-old singer slipped in front of a live audience while performing "Dans un

Oct 9 • 3:54 PM EDT • Entertainment • recorderonline.com

Céline Dion falls during her Paris residency, but she gets back up

Céline Dion slipped in front of live audiences while performing 'Dans un Autre monde' during her Paris residency on Oct. 7. But the French Canadian singer quickly got back up and signaled to fans that she was A-OK by flashing a thumbs-up.

Oct 9 • 3:21 PM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com

Are colleges doing enough to support students' mental health? Join our live audience.

"Connections" goes on the road to The Little Theatre for a conversation about mental health on college and university campuses. We'd like you to join us.

Oct 9 • 12:22 PM EDT • Health • wxxinews.org

Jessica Chastain's horror movie 'Other Mommy' is filled with jump scares. But is it actually scary?

Some critics say the film's nonstop attempts to frighten audiences ultimately have the opposite effect.

Oct 9 • 11:59 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

Gears of War: E-Day sells 230K copies

Gears of War: E-Day has sold 230K copies since its advance-access launch on October 1 and full release on October 6. Steam accounts for 168K of those, with Xbox (console and PC) selling 62K. But there’s more to this story, as Xbox makes up the bulk of revenue. E-Day is the best-reviewed Gears game in nearly two decades (and the best one ever made, in my opinion). The Coalition has made a banger here (it’s currently in my top 10 of the year). Despite E-Day’s undeniable quality, this is a soft result. And it’s down to the business model, really. E-Day has made $37M so far, thanks to the Premium upgrade On Xbox, Game Pass is cannibalising much of the premium revenue. Our estimates show that 1.7M folks accessed E-Day via their subscription rather than a copy. But Xbox is having it both ways – or having it halfway, at least – via its Premium Edition Game Pass upgrade. Game Pass subscribers could pay $30 (or their local equivalent) for up to five days of early access starting October 1. Our estimates show that of the 1.7M who accessed E-Day through Game Pass, 722K paid for the upgrade. Between the review embargo lifting on October 1 and the full release, E-Day managed to shift another 250K early-access upgrades – no doubt helped by the campaign’s rave reviews. So despite selling far fewer copies on Steam, Xbox accounts for almost three-quarters of the revenue (roughly $26M of the $37M, versus about $11M on Steam). So “230K copies” undersells the paying audience. Including the 722K upgrades, nearly 950K people actually paid something for E-Day. The $30 upgrade is a halfstep from cannibalisation, but will Xbox go all the way? While E-Day is a sublime game, these are soft numbers for a flagship when Xbox badly needs revenue wins. E-Day sold 62K copies on Xbox against 722K Premium upgrades, so for every one copy sold on Xbox, nearly 12 Game Pass upgrades were sold. The $70 premium SKU is – functionally – dead on Xbox. Normally you can’t see what a Game Pass player would have paid, because the game’s just there in the subscription. But the $30 early-access upgrade estimate shows that 722K people demonstrated they’ll spend real money on this game. In a world without day-one Game Pass, many of these folks would have bought E-Day at $70. They paid $30 for five days early access to something they don’t own. Xbox is, in effect, charging its most valuable customers the least, based on a hangover from a tried-and-exhausted strategy from a previous administration. Those 722K willing-to-pay players generated about $21.7M via the upgrade. If three quarters of this group – mostly US and European audiences – bought E-Day outright, that’s nearly $40M. Of course, Game Pass does bring in meaningful recurring revenue, and E-Day is adding value for hundreds of thousands of subscribers. However, Game Pass is no longer growing, so Xbox is at a crossroads. Xbox is reportedly looking to do a Netflix and bolt on an ad-supported tier to pad it further. But that will just set a new floor, and leadership keeps telling us the priority now is revenue growth, which is subscriber-speak for ARPU. Xbox has already pulled Call of Duty from day-one Game Pass after day-one inclusion hammered its sales, with new CoD titles now arriving on the service around a year late. We know that some Microsoft executives believe the service devalues games outright, and rumours (which Microsoft has dismissed so far, to be fair) suggest that day-one releases could be taken off Game Pass. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe When a game this well-reviewed does this softly on its home platform, the model – not the game – gets brought into question. What else E-Day’s early adopters have played (including this month so far) Looking at E-Day‘s players on Xbox, most have played the franchise before (86% have played Gears 5, 76% Gears 4), and every game on the crossover list is either a shooter or a title from an Xbox-owned studio (though Game Pass is inflating those numbers, of course, more on that later): As for what else Xbox’s E-Day players have played this month, the top three are Fortnite (16%), Roblox (7%), and Call of Duty (6%). Another 5% played Minecraft Dungeons II, which is also on Game Pass and launched a couple of days before Gears‘ advance-access date. Many Game Pass players are happy to check out most big new additions. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Over on Steam, the top crossover games are also mostly shooters (slightly more PC-coded ones), including Space Marine 2, which was itself heavily inspired by Gears: Looking at what E-Day‘s Steam players are into this month shows who they are – as subscriptions don’t skew the data. The top three are Wardogs (13%), Deadlock (12%), and CS2 (10%), so you’ve got the restless shooter crowd checking out the new hotness. A little further down are Helldivers 2 and Space Marine 2, your co-op PVE shooter players who’ll feel right at home in Horde mode. Game Pass is skewing the playtime distribution on Xbox Looking at the playtime distribution in our platform, E-Day players on Steam are – relatively speaking – playing for longer: 54% of E-Day players on Xbox have played for five hours or less (versus 32% on Steam) 19% of Xbox players played for over 15 hours (versus 33% on Steam) 14% of Xbox players played for over 20 hours (22% on Steam) The absolute number of people playing for over 15, 20, and 50 hours is, of course, bigger on Xbox, thanks to the sheer volume of folks who came in through Game Pass (upgraders included). None of that is cause for alarm. Game Pass is the reason Xbox playtime skews lower, as when a game is free to try, people try it and bounce without putting in even an hour (17% under an hour on Xbox versus 6% on Steam). Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe The subscription brings in tourists alongside the committed, dragging down the average even when the game is excellent (but also perhaps winning over the uninitiated). It’s standard across every subscription-included title, on PS Plus too. Forza Horizon 6, for instance, had 11% of its Xbox players bounce under an hour, versus just 2% on Steam. So, Xbox’s crossroads So there we have it. Gears of War: E-Day is an incredible game whose revenues have been stifled by subscription inclusion and exclusivity. It’s the best-reviewed entry in the series in fifteen-odd years, but it still turned into one of the year’s softer flagship launches, not because players didn’t want it, but because Xbox’s own storefront gave its most willing buyers a reason not to pay. Which leaves Xbox at a crossroads. Will it keep making Gears games when the financial returns are this thin and the margins this low? And if it does, does the next one arrive off Game Pass at day one – the way CoD now does, or even on PlayStation? I think it should. Alright, back to E-Day for me! The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]

Oct 9 • 11:49 AM EDT • Technology • alineaanalytics.substack.com

Sanrio Puroland 35th Anniversary: Connecting Smiles Through Entertainment

The popular theme park has brought smiles to generations of fans, while embracing new forms of entertainment to reach an even wider audience.

Oct 8 • 11:07 PM EDT • Entertainment • japan-forward.com

Some Hollywood stars retreat from political debate

'The Big Money Show' panel discusses the growing trend of Hollywood A-listers, including Glen Powell and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, choosing to stay out of political discourse to avoid dividing audiences.

Oct 8 • 2:15 PM EDT • Politics • foxbusiness.com

Rice Business Wisdom marks 10 years of bringing faculty research to wider audience

The anniversary issue examines a technology reshaping how people work, learn and make decisions. Featured stories explore how AI and machine learning influence household financial decisions, what drives data center location decisions across the United States and whether generative AI can help organizations sustain creativity over time.

Oct 8 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • news.rice.edu

'Other Mommy' is packed with jump scares. Why our brains can't resist them.

Jessica Chastain's new horror movie is here — and it is bound to have some audience members scared witless.

Oct 8 • 7:06 AM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

TAKE3 comes to Lebanon as LCCCA continues 93-year tradition of live entertainment

The Lebanon County Community Concert Association will welcome TAKE3 to Lebanon on Sunday, Oct. 11, for the second performance of its 2026–27 concert season.

Oct 8 • 5:30 AM EDT • Entertainment • lebtown.com

Mali’s AI Propaganda War: The Fake Fighter With a Real Audience

Bamako-based TikTok account built up more than 436,000 followers with AI-generated material praising the army and the Africa Corps.

Oct 8 • 2:47 AM EDT • Politics • politicstoday.org

NFL Canada Partnership Could Be A Game Changer For Penn Entertainment Stock (PENN)

PENN Entertainment recently saw its theScore Bet unit secure a multiyear role as an official NFL partner for sports betting and online casino in Canada, alongside an analyst upgrade that reflected these business developments. The Canadian NFL tie-up gives PENN Entertainment another channel to push its digital betting brand into a live sports audience, which could affect user acquisition costs and long term engagement across its broader entertainment ecosystem. We will now look at how PENN...

Oct 8 • 1:39 AM EDT • Entertainment • simplywall.st

Who Won August and September: Original Films or Franchises?

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) I just heard someone say that if you’re reading a pundit or data analyst, and they don’t tell you that they got anything wrong, they’re not a pundit but an “influencer”. I agree with that. You have to tell your audience when you get things wrong, or they won’t (or shouldn’t) trust you as much. Today, we’ve got another edition of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. In general, I’m patting myself on the back (and patting very hard) about a few things like IP at the box office, LIV golf, horror films, crowdfunding movies, superheroes, and old people going to the theaters. That said, I also made a couple of data mistakes on the streaming bubble popping and HBO’s datecdotes, so I’m not perfect. But first, I need your feedback... Subscribe Follow-Ups: What Should We Call Mid-Budget Movies Which Aren’t Cinematic Enough for Theaters But Are Too Expensive to Make Money on Streaming? After I asked for feedback on what we should call straight-to-streaming films that are too big to pencil out on streaming but not really big enough to resonate in theaters, I got some great suggestions from you all, including... “Moldilocks” from John Aboud “Little Big Indie” from Travis Frick1 “Midflicks” from Jonathan Funke. “Extra-Medium” from Jona Nwuke. (Read the explanation in the footnote.) Between these and Brandon Katz—who suggested “Bermuda Budget Triangle”, “The Platform Gap” and “The Distribution Deadzone”—we’ve got some excellent suggestions. And they’re better than my suggestion, the “Streaming Budget Dead Zone”, so let’s take a poll! The winning entry becomes the new term. Loading... RIGHT: LIV Golf is Fully Bankrupt…Is Anyone Else Next? A few years ago, I was always a bit perplexed at all the articles I’d read praising LIV Golf and their strategy to disrupt the PGA. LIV Golf, a brand new professional golf league, offered PGA stars ten times what they made on the PGA Tour to join their new league. And folks praised this strategy for its initial “success” in that a lot of big names did indeed leave the PGA. Yeah, of course the players came over. LIV Golf paid them so, so, so much more! But LIV Golf hadn’t discovered a way to increase potential revenue. So think about this in basic business terms… They paid much more in costs… …but had no real way to increase revenue. That’s not a strategy! That’s deficit financing. It won’t work unless you bankrupt the competition (and then turn around and pay those same golfers much, much less). It’s not a sustainable strategy and only lasts as long as the company/person/nation backing it decides they’re cool with losing money. For LIV Golf, that meant Middle East oil wealth, in particular Saudi Arabian money. Clearly, the current Iran War has hurt Middle East finances, so they need to trim their more exorbitant spending. And LIV Golf was part of that trimming. This should be a major warning for others. TGL’s parent company, TMRW Sports, just got a $1 billion valuation, despite TGL’s (the indoor golf league) horrible TV viewership of less than half a million viewers per match. Unrivaled, the women’s basketball league, just secured a $650 valuation, despite its horrible TV viewership and a new rival (Project B) entering the scene next year. To relate this to streaming, Hollywood should ask which streamers may have wealthy patrons funding their losses. (Let’s be clear: Google, Amazon and Apple.) Could those patrons lose their appetite? For Amazon, probably not. But Apple has a new boss, so maybe! WRONG: My Analysis of the Streaming Bubble Was Missing a Week I’m going to be congratulating myself a lot today, but I make mistakes too, like this data goof. When I last compiled the data on the decline in TV shows, I was missing one week at the end of June. If you look at the first image, you can see that one week was mislabelled as “July”. Mainly, this image got updated to show a 27% decline, not 29%: This change doesn’t really impact the overall analysis, but it is two percent better. By the way, through the third quarter, the decline increased and it’s now a 30% decrease since 2022. (I’ll write/visualize this in an upcoming article.) But I want you to trust me and my data. Especially these days, when many people are using LLMs that I know are inserting faulty data into their charts, I want to keep earning my audience’s faith. So that’s the accurate data. RIGHT: IP Remains Very, Very Popular In July, I wrote a giant (and I mean giant) article on Backrooms, Obsession, and the box office, going over what we know, what we don’t know about what works in theaters, looking at YouTubers, IP, the horror genre, comic book movies, and a whole lot more. The month of August really tested a lot of my theses and, being honest, mostly supported my arguments. Let’s start with IP. Looking at 8-Aug (the weekend after Spider-Man: Brand New Day came out) to 18-Sep (the weekend that Resident Evil came out, which I think provides a nice bookend to this time period), there were seven films based on pre-existing IP: Resident Evil (2026) ($126 million) Practical Magic 2 ($65 million) _Insidious: Out of the Furthe_r ($65 million) Coyote Vs. Acme ($59 million) Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie ($53 million) Tony ($15 million) Super Troopers 3 ($7 million) Compare those to the notable original films from the past month—I actually could have included more movies, but here are just thirteen, bringing us to an even twenty films—including.... The End of Oak Street ($54 million) Buddy ($26 million) Mutiny ($15 million) By Any Means ($15 million) The Dog Stars ($14 million) Runner ($14 million) One Night Only ($11 million) Hope ($8 million) Spa Weekend ($7 million) The Uprising ($6 million) Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma ($6 million) Onslaught ($3 million) Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man ($2.8 million) Here’s that in chart form: Five of the top six films in this time period were all based on IP. I made a big chart of films that grossed over $200 million at the box office before Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey hit theaters. Let’s update that chart! By the way, if you want to see how I categorized each film—so another bar chart—here it is: I know that many of my fellow critics/pundits/analysts dislike films based on IP and how Hollywood is making so many of them. And I’m sympathetic to this point of view. As I’ve written many, many times before, you need a balance between existing franchises, new IP, and original films. And Hollywood clearly needs to make more films like Resident Evil (a well-made film from a visionary director) and fewer Practical Magic 2’s (which didn’t get critical or customer buzz). But at some point, critics and pundits need to contend with what audiences are telling them: Movie-goers aren’t showing up to original films. Audiences are speaking with their dollars, telling you they want more IP and franchises. You can try to convince studio heads to make fewer IP-based films and franchises, but the data and numbers aren’t there. Instead, critics need to work harder to convince audiences to show up for original films. Aim your ire/concern at the average person, not studio heads.2 Because they’re just making the films that audiences are telling them to make. WRONG: Original Horror Films Didn’t Break Out I’ll be honest, even though I wrote an article casting some skepticism on the horror genre in July, if you asked me to make a prediction, I would have predicted that, in August, a new, original horror film would have blown up. No, seriously, I just assumed that Obsession and Backrooms presaged a change in audience behavior. But none of the buzzy new original horror films from August—Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Onslaught (not an action film in spite of the ads), The End of Oak Street, Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man, or _Buddy—_broke out. To be clear, exactly one of those films (Buddy) had good “ROI”, but again—I try to be specific in my language—none were “popular” in any broad sense of the word. None of them will be “saving” movies theaters like Backrooms or _Obsession_helped save the summer. The new Insidious film and Resident Evil, both based on IP, were far and away the biggest horror films since July. (We’ll see if this changes in October/Halloween season.) RIGHT: Stay Skeptical about Crowdfunding... I’ve long been skeptical about crowd-investing platforms as one of Hollywood’s saviors, mainly because there’s so much hype/buzz. People need to stay more skeptical about more things, explaining both the potential upside but also the downsides. In particular, the media often hypes crowdfunding at the start and never checks in on the actual results after they’ve come in later. And August gave us our first update! _Ice Cream Man—_directed by Eli Roth—grossed $6 million off of a $5.5 million budget. This is a production of The Horror Section, which was one of the first “crowd investing” studios with 2,400 investors, which means that 2,400 investors probably lost money. They certainly aren’t getting as great of returns as if they had just invested their dollars in the stock market. Hopefully Stiletto (Tagline: “Someone’s Going to Make it Rain Blood!”) does better next month. WRONG: Another Data Goof Here’s another data error. When the first episode of House of the Dragon came out, HBO put out that it had 21.5 million viewers in the first three days, and I read that to mean in the US…but no, it was global. So my US-only datecdotes charts shouldn’t have included it. We never got US-only numbers for the first episode, but for the final episode, HBO put out that it had 11 million US viewers. (And that global dropped to 21 million viewers.) Here’s the updated chart (which I’ve since used in the Streaming Ratings Report): Still, this show is absolutely huge. RIGHT: Superhero Films Remain Very, Very Popular After Supergirl flopped, I read a few takes that “comic book movies are going the way of the Western”. Post-Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that take didn’t age well. To be fair, I have a very nuanced take on the superhero genre right now; it’s down right now, for a lot of reasons. But it’s not “dead”. Maybe _Spider-_Man is just a really popular character? I saw that take, and it’s a fair counter-argument. (But pundits arguing that superhero movies were dead should have mentioned this $1.5 billion counter-argument…) But is it just Spider-Man? The next Avengers film already has $50 million in pre-sales (and I was skeptical that that film would do well) and the Avengers: End Game re-release topped the box office two weekends ago (over three original films). And I wouldn’t bet against Batman or Superman. So maybe it’s just Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and the Avengers. Oh, and Deadpool, of course. And Black Panther. And Wolverine. And probably the X-Men. Plus a well-made Wonder Woman or the Hulk film could break out. But that’s it! It’s just those ten characters/teams. Oh, what’s that? Lanterns is also doing well on HBO? (See previous section…) To be fair, I’m actually pretty sympathetic to the argument that more popular characters—like Spider-Man and Batman—anchor more popular films. In fact, I made that exact argument three years ago when I first wrote about the “Marvel-cession”. In many ways, you can blame The Guardians of the Galaxy for fooling Marvel Studios (and the rest of us) into believing that any character could pop. It turns out, the list of iconic characters is probably smaller than most people think. But it’s probably too early to say that superhero films and comic book movies are dead unless “death” means a slight decline over a longtime. RIGHT: Who Killed Theaters? Old People I get frustrated whenever I see headlines or analysis about how young people are “returning” to theaters. As I’ve detailed(for years), young people have always powered the US box office, despite narratives about “kids these days” and their “phones”. Really, what’s changed post-2020/pandemic is that old people aren’t going to the movies nearly as much. This summer, I saw a movie (from an older director) in a theater near a retirement community, and multiple older people at the theater were talking about how this was their first time seeing a movie in years. I dislike personal anecdotes, so YouGov can fill in the data, best summarized by this headline: “Who killed movie theaters? Not the youths”. According to them, 64% of people aged 18-29 have seen a movie in the last year, but only 30% of 65-and-older. 20% of 18-29 have seen a movie in theaters in the last week and 42% in the last month. Here’s the polling data: Most concerning? Many Americans (17%) think theaters are a worse or much worse experience than watching films at home. Slight WRONG: Hadestown Opens Big A live theater capture of the Broadway musical, Hadestown, made $20 million at the US box office, which begs the question: was I wrong to be skeptical about musicals a few years ago? Yes and no. On the one hand, $20 million is a far cry from being “popular”, so yeah, the genre isn’t that popular overall and Hadestown is one of the more popular musicals from recent years (i.e. the “Taylor Swift Data Fallacy” in action). On the other, I doubt filming this cost all that much, and I don’t think that they spent much on marketing, so this is a good source of ancillary revenue. Smaller Updates WRONG: As I mentioned in a Streaming Ratings Report, I underestimated the budget for Enola Holmes 3. It probably cost more like $50 million, if not more. But... I’m not sure that it really matters? At sub-10 million hours, prices have to come down to make this work. WRONG: Netflix is giving Ink a 27-day in theaters! To quote the kids/YouTubers these days, let’s go! Now I might actually have a chance to see Danny Boyle’s latest in theaters. I’d complained about this in a “Coming Soon” section, but I was heartened to read that Netflix is giving multiple films longer theatrical windows this year. RIGHT: Netflix is sending 4-5 films per year to theaters. Netflix is slowly but surely sending more and more films to theaters, as I cautiously predicted earlier this year. For now, it’s just three big films and a number of awards contenders, but still, this is great news. And they’ll be releasing box office grosses! Just this week, Ted Sarandos confirmed that KPop Demon Hunters 2 will come to theaters (and my guess is it performs in the box office top ten at a minimum). WRONG: Angel has 3 million subscribers! How do I know this? Well, they told Deadline, who reported it. I marked this as “wrong”, since they’ve doubled their subscribers in one year but, you know, they don’t really have a hit film to speak of and they’re still losing money. WRONG: Furious was only renewed for one more season. I accidentally wrote “two more seasons” in my latest “Renewals, Cancellations, Un-Orders and Removals Update”. RIGHT: House of David is ending with its third season. In July, Prime Video renewed House of David for a third season, as I just wrote in my latest “Renewals and Cancellations” report. Well, now it’s ending after that third season. Why? As I’ve been writing, its viewership wasn’t great. I got feedback that this show didn’t cost very much, but it cost enough that its limited viewership didn’t save it. WRONG: Adults was a Hulu original! So I missed Adults when it first came out last year; I saw that it aired on FX and just assumed that it was a linear-first program. Turns out, it aired three episodes on FX, but binge-released the rest of its episodes the next day on Hulu. Huh. So I should have covered it last year! But I just wrote about it. 1 “When I was a kid in the 90s, if you wore a t-shirt to school that wasn’t too big and also wasn’t too small, but somehow didn’t quite fit, we’d say you were wearing an “extra-medium” shirt.” 2 As always, a huge exception is Disney, which barely makes anything original anymore.

Oct 7 • 6:41 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com

RHOSLC Season 7 Kicks Off With a Record-Breaking Win

RHOSLC Season 7 is already delivering strong ratings for Bravo. The latest season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City scored the show’s biggest premiere audience to date across multiple platforms...

Oct 7 • 4:20 PM EDT • Entertainment • yahoo.com

C21 launches D2C Entertainment Summit with Audience First focus as entertainment business transforms

C21Media has launched the D2C Entertainment Summit, which will run as a track within Content London, Content Americas and Content Europe and as a standalone one-day event in London during June 2027.

Oct 7 • 8:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • c21media.net

C21 launches D2C Entertainment Summit with Audience First focus as entertainment business transforms

C21Media has launched the D2C Entertainment Summit, which will run as a track within Content London, Content Americas and Content Europe and as a standalone one-day event in London during June 2027.

Oct 7 • 8:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • c21media.net

Journalism is serious business. That doesn’t mean it can’t be funny.

5 reasons humor (and memes) can help journalists inform audiences, build community and cut through the noise

Oct 7 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • poynter.org

Ben Gleib built a late-night show in his house — he’s not the only comedian going DIY

Ben Gleib’s DIY late-night show reflects how comedians are using YouTube and social media to build audiences and create on their own terms.

Oct 7 • 6:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • latimes.com

Raiders-Chiefs Showdown Draws NFL's Biggest TV Audience Of 2026

The Las Vegas Raiders' showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs helped CBS draw a record-setting audience and the NFL's biggest television viewership of the 2026 season.

Oct 6 • 9:17 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Justin Garza High School students bring mental health project to statewide NAMI conference

A group of students from Justin Garza High School is taking its message of mental health awareness to a statewide audience this week.

Oct 6 • 8:32 PM EDT • Health • abc30.com

‘The Love Witch’ at 10: How Anna Biller created a film that real witches would want to see

‘The Love Witch’ turns 10 in November 2026, and director Anna Biller sat down with EW to reflect on the feminist, ‘60s-inspired horror film and what audiences may have missed upon its release.

Oct 6 • 11:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

Zachary Levi, Neal McDonough revive family-friendly Western with ‘Angel and the Badman’

Angel and the Badman stars Neal McDonough and Zachary Levi share why stories of redemption are among the most important Hollywood can tell, particularly at a time when audiences are looking for

Oct 6 • 9:27 AM EDT • Entertainment • christianpost.com

Going International: How Global South Journalists Can Elevate Local Science Stories

For journalists in the Global South, access to local science presents an opportunity to bring this knowledge to a wider audience via international outlets. Regional studies and perspectives can inform broader conversations about science, highlight multinational patterns, and elevate research conducted outside of traditional scientific centers. This story offers strategies to find stories, connect with international editors, and meet the needs of audiences that may know little about the place where a story is unfolding.

Oct 6 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • theopennotebook.com

Sony Music Publishing to administer El Reino Infantil’s music catalog worldwide in Leader Entertainment

The partnership aims to expand the reach of El Reino Infantil across new audiences, formats, and markets, the companies said.

Oct 6 • 2:14 AM EDT • Entertainment • musicbusinessworldwide.com

Musical residencies: Business is booming, but who pays the most for pop stars playing in Europe?

Musical residencies are on the rise in Europe for major pop stars, but costs are increasingly being heaped upon audiences with travel, accommodation and extras pushing up ticket prices, according to S...

Oct 6 • 12:14 AM EDT • Business • yahoo.com

Whole Hog Politics: Audience capture and the GOP’s #content trap

You did not, I hope, have to take any notice of an empty online furor over Arkansas’s Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s campaign ad that cast a young, white male as a welfare freeloader redeemed from sloth by...

Oct 5 • 11:20 AM EDT • Politics • aei.org

LinkedIn pros have found a new key to getting opportunities: selfies

LinkedIn creators are increasingly seeing work selfies and casual videos build trust and grow audiences that lead to jobs and speaking opportunities.

Oct 5 • 4:11 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com

From a landmark discovery by Chinese scientists to global nanozyme research and science art

From enzyme-like nanoparticles to a global research field, nanozymes now inspire art that makes advanced chemistry accessible to wider audiences.

Oct 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • nanowerk.com

Quad-Cities comedy scene grows with a welcoming crowd of comics

Quad-Cities comedians foster a welcoming, growing scene where newcomers thrive, audiences grow and age cannot prevent reinvention.

Oct 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • qconline.com

Quad-Cities comedy scene grows with a welcoming crowd of comics

Quad-Cities comedians foster a welcoming, growing scene where newcomers thrive, audiences grow and age cannot prevent reinvention.

Oct 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • qctimes.com

OPINION | OTHERS SAY: Put an end to resentment politics

American politics is being hijacked not by one ideology, one party or one faith but by influential voices who have discovered that resentment attracts attention, outrage builds audiences and division produces political power.

Oct 4 • 2:00 AM EDT • Politics • nwaonline.com

Can a civility pledge help address our toxic politics?

By Vince Bzdek It has been a tale of two cities in Colorado Springs in recent weeks. On Sept. 17, a nine-hour-long city council meeting on the merits of the Project Taurus data center devolved into violence when Colorado Springs Police brawled with several audience members after two men tried to shield a woman who […]

Oct 3 • 8:04 PM EDT • Politics • gazette.com

Flick’s Barcelona and the value of entertainment

What makes a TV show or movie ‘entertaining’? An exciting and dynamic cast roster? Some compelling writing? A creative head pulling all these strings together in one direction? What about a hooked audience? Take one look at FC Barcelona 2026/27, and how is the season so far any different? Or if it is lacking any […]

Oct 3 • 3:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • barcauniversal.com

'Digger' explained: You got questions? Valid.

Tom Cruise's latest movie has a big twist that might have audiences scratching their heads. Spoilers ahead.

Oct 3 • 5:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • mashable.com

'Verity' ending explainer: What should audiences believe?

Anne Hathaway plays two versions of Verity. Which one is real?

Oct 3 • 5:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • mashable.com

Editorial: Both parties must reject the politics of resentment

American politics is being hijacked not by one ideology, one party or one faith but by influential voices who have discovered that resentment attracts attention, outrage builds audiences and division produces political power.

Oct 2 • 11:00 PM EDT • Politics • timesleader.com