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Mariah Carey defrosts for this year’s ‘It’s time’ Christmas video
The “All I Want for Christmas Is You” singer has made a creative tradition of kicking off the holiday season.
‘Thrift Style’ comes to Marco Island
Making ends meet isn’t just math and business— it’s art. The terminology of home economics once portrayed this important aspect of life. Now, in Collier County, at the Marco Island
“Matilda” cast reunites without 2 key stars for 30th anniversary: ‘So sad I couldn’t be there!’
Danny DeVito, Mara Wilson, Pam Ferris, and more joined together in London to celebrate the 1996 classic.
Joel and Ethan Coen reuniting for their first film together in nearly a decade
The Oscar-winning siblings co-wrote “Jack of Spades,” marking their first project together since 2018.
“Ellen DeGeneres Show ”producer Matthew Wright dies at 52: Read the former talk show host’s tribute
Matthew Wright died following “an unfathomable tragedy,” his family said.
Scaring Up Customers for Halloween Streaming
(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.) Way back in 2022, I did a deep dive into each streamer’s horror offerings, looking at the top horror film and TV shows, and which streamers had the best library titles and best Halloween landing pages. If you’d like to check out those articles... Way back in 2022, I ranked all the streamers’ Halloween landing pages. I updated my thoughts in 2023... ...and 2024. After taking last year off, I’m back at it again this year. My theory—then and now—is that Halloween landing pages provide a subtle but surprisingly valuable insight into how the streamers position themselves, and what they do well and what they don’t. They show who relies on libraries, whose libraries across TV and film have the most value, who understands how customers want to access those libraries, and, being blunt, which product teams actually put the time in to make a quality holiday user experience. Plus, three “horror” TV shows had big debuts this month! So today, I’ll answer the questions... What are the all-time biggest horror shows and films on streaming? What streamer has the best library? What streamer has the best landing page? And what does this say about the streaming wars today? But first, let’s look at three big new horror shows on streaming... Subscribe Horror TV Has Dominated October So Far In a fun twist this month, three different streamers released three different horror TV shows. Many scary stories come out every October, but the twist is that all three did well: Two of the shows got over 20 million hours, which is just good. You can see that Below is helping Netflix start October/Q4 off well: And that Carrie is a top seven show for Amazon through two weeks: But here’s the crazier note: even though it doesn’t look huge, Crystal Lake is Peacock’s biggest debut yet: Let’s discuss the streaming elephant in the room: two of these shows are based off classic horror IP: Jason and Carrie. So once again, IP works, in theaters and on streaming. It just does. Oddly enough, horror IP doesn’t draw a tenth of the ire that other IP does, even though, arguably, horror films are the original franchise films, starting in the 1930s and continuing on through the slasher film 80s. So horror TV shows are off to a great start. While I’ve written before that horror films do NOT over-perform on streaming, TV shows are a different story. The Top Horror Films and TV Shows on Streaming All Time To start, here are the top first seasons for all streaming TV shows since 2020 (the start of the Streaming Ratings Era): First take: yep, that’s some power laws at work right there. The biggest TV show hits aren’t just bigger than other hit shows, they’re orders of magnitude bigger. Wednesday dwarfs The Last of Us (a big hit!) and is ten times bigger than the next six most popular horror shows. Wow! So yes, horror or horror-adjacent shows can do as well as the top shows on streaming. Wednesday is proof of this. (Though, even Wednesday is more horror-adjacent than proper horror.) Also, note that Below, Carrie and _Crystal Lake_could/should keep moving up the charts. That said, there is some weakness in these numbers. Only eighteen horror first seasons made the charts, which is low. For context, 541 season ones have made the Nielsen originals charts since 2020. Eighteen out of 541 isn’t great! Plus, again, the IP issue. Wednesday and The Last of Us came from popular IP, and It: Welcome to Derry and Goosebumps are spinoffs. Next up, every horror show from season two on: The bad news here? Besides one iconic example, horror shows don’t last long i.e. generate very many seasons. While many straight-to-streaming horror shows were limited series, many weren’t and only four horror shows got to a second season or beyond. That’s a bad hit rate. And yeah, only one horror show made it to a fifth season! This genre is just not elite (on streaming). Okay, on to the top horror films all time (er, since 2020): 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… ...What streamers have the most horror films... ...And how FASTs have embraced horror films... ...How many elite horror films are on linear TV or aren’t on TV at all… ...How streamers make it very, very hard to find horror films… …And a lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. If you’d like to read more about why you should subscribe, please read this article about the Streaming Ratings Report, why it matters, why you need it, and why we cover streaming ratings best.
“Suite Life of Zack & Cody ”actor recreates spooky Halloween episode séance
Everyone, join hands.
Taylor Red singer Nicole Taylor dies at 35 after ‘aggressive’ breast cancer diagnosis
Nicole’s identical triplet sisters and bandmates, Nika and Natalie, announced her death on social media.
Nicolas Cage says he almost ‘really lost it’ while filming “Face/Off” scene: ‘Am I really in prison?’
Nicolas Cage recalled getting deep into the mind of his character while filming the 1997 movie ‘Face/Off’
Jessica Lange says her career is ‘coming to an end’
The 77-year-old previously said she’d be “phasing out of filmmaking.”
Taika Waititi slams bad reviews of latest movie as ‘irrelevant,’ out of touch,’ ‘obsolete’
The Oscar-winner’s latest directorial effort, “Klara and the Sun,” arrived to dismal reviews and bleak box office numbers.
Jack Lowden breaks silence on “Slow Horses” costar Gary Oldman’s James Bond comments: ‘Oh, Christ’
Hey, he didn’t say no.
Chris Rock says he was ‘not a great husband’ because he ‘watched a lot of porn’
He divorced from ex-wife Malaak Compton-Rock in 2016.
Jessica Alba deletes controversial Halloween photo of herself as bloody Nancy Kerrigan with Tonya Harding
The actress’ costume included a bandaged knee and baseball bat.
“Heat” director Michael Mann, 83, hospitalized after accidentally shooting himself in the leg at L.A. gun range
The filmmaker was transported to the hospital in stable condition.
Pleasanton seeks to set hours of play, fence heights for private sport courts
The Pleasanton Planning Commission is recommending a new set of rules for residential sport courts, including set hours of operation and height limits for fencing and light fixtures. The commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to recommend several municipal code amendments for sport courts, an well as another set of changes regarding canopy signage, to the […]
Todd Chrisley recalls becoming an escort at 18 after working at Cheesecake Factory: ‘I’m laying up getting my rent paid’
He kept his encounters a secret from his family.
Sportico Transactions: Moves and Mergers Roundup for Oct. 30
Welcome to Sportico’s transactions wire, a weekly rundown of personnel, partnerships, products and purchases across the sports business industry. PERSONNEL Angel City FC Names Jenna Hauca, Ali D’Andrea to Executive Posts Angel City Football Club announced the appointments of Jenna Hauca as chief marketing officer and Ali D’Andrea as chief revenue officer, adding two senior …
Sporting KC Weekly Schedule: Nov. 3-7, 2026
Sporting Kansas City will conclude the 2026 season on the road against San Diego FC at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium. The Western Conference match-up will be broadcast live on Apple TV in English and Spanish in addition to local radio coverage on Sports Radio 810 WHB
Maura Higgins Looks Back on ‘One of the Toughest’ Weeks on ‘DWTS’
Maura Higgins opened up about her “lowest” week on Dancing with the Stars. On Monday, Nov. 2, the Love Island alum shocked fans when she and her professional dance partner, Mark Mallas, scored last du...
Milo Ventimiglia makes rare comment about ‘being with’ “Gilmore Girls” costar and ex Alexis Bledel
The costars dated for several years after playing love interests on the CW drama.
Brevard County HS Sports Weekly Results, Week of Nov. 2-7
Brevard County HS Sports Weekly Results, Week of Nov. 2-7
Mark-Paul Gosselaar was ‘upset’ over NBC’s “Saved by the Bell” revival cancellation
The actor says he believed the Peacock series deserved more time after it helped “expose” the streamer.
Right Men’s Club to host Salute to Veterans luncheon
The Right Men’s Club of Collier County will host the ninth annual Salute to Veterans Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, at the Hilton Naples. Proceeds will support
I wanted a side-hustle. I started a business instead.
Jessica Redford started a cake pop business while homeschooling three kids. She now sells out weekly and has found a creative outlet.
Fantasy football IDP free-agent report: Week 9
This is our weekly Waiver Wire feature depicting the best individual defensive players to target on waivers in fantasy.
Weekly Portland women’s sports wrap up (10/30)
Weekly Portland women’s sports wrap up (10/30) presented by Rebound Orthopedics and Neurosurgery and Rivermark Community Credit Union.
“American Idol” runner-up reveals major transformation: ‘Who’s that guy?’
Bo Bice looked much different while announcing new music.
John Goodman admits scathing “Digger” reviews ‘hurt’ him: ‘Killed us before we opened’
“I think everything I’ve done for the Cohen brothers flopped, initially, so, who cares?”
Take control of your health insurance during Washington Healthplanfinder open enrollment
Your healthcare needs change over time.
When does “The” “Rings of Power” season 3 premiere? All about the war for Middle-earth — and the “Stranger Things” star joining the cast
The Amazon Prime series’ third season features a major time jump.
Legends Radio Artist Spotlight on Judy Horozitz
This week, artist Judy Horowitz stands in Legends Radio's Local Artist Spotlight.
Tulane's TJ Smith Receives Weekly American Conference Honor
Smith was named the league's American Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.
With Midterms Looming, Americans Feel Priced Out of Healthcare
Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.
“The View” dresses child as Donald Trump’s algae-infested Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool for Halloween
The talk show has a history of dressing children in absurd Halloween costumes, from one inspired by Will Smith’s Oscars slap to a Chinese spy balloon.
Brittany Snow explains why she’s ‘grateful’ for divorce from “Selling the OC” star Tyler Stanaland
“The person that I am and the partner I’m with now, it’s just so different.”
Your Weekly Michigan Political Brief
State Rep. Sean McCann (D-Kalamazoo), who is seeking to unseat U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga in Michigan’s 4th Congressional District, has been endorsed by six former Republican members of Congress, including former U.S. Senator Gordon Humphrey (R-New Hampshire) and former U.S. Reps. Jim Greenwood (R-Pennsylvania), Claudine Schneider (R-Rhode Island), Chris Shays (R-Connecticut), Peter Smith (R-Vermont), and Steve […]
My Chemical Romance breaks music record after band scores first No. 1 album 25 years into career
The band recently reissued its fan-favorite “The Black Parade” album, which hit No. 1 and broke an interesting chart record in the process.
“Criminal Minds” to end again — this time with season 20
The series initially wrapped in 2020, before being revived as “Criminal Minds: Evolution.”
NFL Announces Discipline for Multiple Players Over Houston Texans Game
The NFL has taken action against multiple players, including Houston Texans cornerback Ja’Marcus Ingram, in its weekly sweep. The post NFL Announces Discipline for Multiple Players Over Houston Texans Game appeared first on HEAVY.
‘Party Rock Anthem’ singer Lauren Bennett’s official cause of death revealed
The former member of G.R.L. died in May at 36.
Heidi Klum reveals her 2026 Halloween costume
The “Project Runway” star’s latest scary look is a doozy.
Henrico Business in Brief: Nov. 2, 2026
Weekly news and notes from the Henrico business community. Sarah Payne has joined Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer’s corporate accounting team as a senior financial analyst, the Henrico-based firm announced Oct. 26. Payne previously worked as a financial analyst for the Virginia Department of Health. Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer announced Oct.
Aye, Aye, Captain! A Weekly Catch of 25 ‘SpongeBob’ Memes Fished Directly From Bikini Bottom (November 2, 2026)
No, Patrick, mayonnaise isn't a meme. These are!
Jason Priestley says Brandon and Kelly were supposed to get married on “Beverly Hills, 90210”: ‘I was so pissed’
The actor reflected on the couple’s canceled wedding with costar Jennie Garth.
Kevin Federline allegedly faces thousands of dollars in debt after Britney Spears’ child support payments ended
The former rapper has been sued by City National Bank and Bank of America this year.
“Nobody Wants This” star hits back at ‘tensions’ on set following Adam Brody comments
Tovah Feldshuh previously slammed the “OC” alum’s criticism of Israel’s attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.
Upper Keys BPW names woman, business of the year
On Oct. 21, more than 60 honorees, members and guests gathered at Baker’s Cay Resort in Key Largo for the annual Upper Keys Business & Professional
Quentin Tarantino felt like he was ‘letting down’ Brad Pitt by ditching Cliff Booth sequel
David Fincher eventually came in to save “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth.”
Matt Damon and David Letterman make blink-and-you-miss-it cameo on “The Gilded Age” season 4 premiere
The Hollywood heavyweights went through a lot of back-and-forth with studios to make it happen.
“Bachelor” alum and “DWTS” winner Melissa Rycroft arrested on suspicion of DWI, her second in a year
Rycroft has been charged with driving while intoxicated, driving with an invalid license on a prior conviction, and collision causing damage to a vehicle.
Pleasanton recognizes businesses celebrating milestone anniversaries this year
Richert Lumber ACE Hardware was one of 173 local businesses recognized by the city in October for celebrating 15-, 20-, 25-, 30-, 40- or 50-year anniversaries this year. The group was honored at the Oct. 20 City Council meeting.
DisruptHR Naples 5.0 on the future of work highlights
Business leaders, HR professionals, entrepreneurs, and forward-thinking innovators participated in an evening of challenging conventional thinking about leadership, workplace culture, talent, and the evolving world of work.
Hillary Clinton warns “The View ”that Donald Trump will get ‘even more out of control’ if Democrats win midterms
“I think he’s going to feel cornered, I think he’s going to feel angry, I think he’s going to be lashing out,” Clinton claimed.
Here’s Why ‘NCIS,’ ‘DWTS,’ and Some Other Tuesday Favorites Won’t Be Airing Tonight
On November 3, many fans of the usual Tuesday night television shows will find that there aren't new episodes airing, but one network made an exception.
“The Great British Baking Show” host Alison Hammond defends 22-year age gap with boyfriend: ‘Mind your business!’
The 51-year-old has been dating 29-year-old David Putman for nearly three years.
Julia Stiles’ gay “DWTS” partner Ezra Sosa lobbied casting director for future same-sex pairing: ‘I’ve put in my word’
JoJo Siwa, Shangela, and this season’s Sarah Jane Nader have all danced with same-sex partners on the American version of the competition.
Arthrex’s TightRope implant wins Coolest Thing Made in Florida
The Florida Chamber of Commerce is working to move Florida’s growing manufacturing sector from #10 in America to Top 5 by 2030. Arthrex’s TightRope® PRO Implant was named the 2026
Johnny Depp wreaks havoc in New York park to promote new movie
The actor pulled a similar stunt at San Diego Comic-Con in July.
Sarah Michelle Gellar shares rare photo of look-alike daughter: ‘My built in bestie’
The “Buffy” star’s son Rocky is also the spitting image of his father, Freddie Prinze Jr.
Patrick Stewart’s son Daniel pays tribute with sweet throwback photo after actor’s death
The “X-Men” star previously revealed that he was estranged from his children.
“Hunger Games” star McKenna Grace says she won’t do nudity for her film roles
The actress stars in the upcoming prequel film “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” out on Nov. 20.
Martha Stewart chides Craig Melvin after he spills chocolate ganache on her live on “Today”
“My Halloween crew is out of control here,” the businesswoman declared.
‘Three’s Company’ Star John Ritter’s Widow Reveals the One Thing She Still Does Every Day 23 Years After His Death
More than 23 years after John Ritter’s tragic death in 2003 at the age of 54, his wife, Amy Yasbeck, still has a very special way of communicating with the Three’s Company star. Yasbeck recently opene...
Bill Murray asks Trump advisor to say his ‘dog just died’ in awkward TV exchange
“I want to see what happens to your smile,” the actor told Kevin Hassett during a bizarre moment on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
How a UTI and “House of the Dragon” star saved Sharon Horgan’s “Youth” ending
The creator and star breaks down the finale, season 2 prospects, and the “Game of Thrones” alums in front of and behind the camera.
Elsie Hewitt shares Halloween photo with ex Pete Davidson and their daughter after claim she’s parenting on her own
Davidson and Hewitt welcomed daughter Scottie in Dec. 2025, and broke up the following May.
Derek Hough subtly shades Shirley Ballas on “DWTS” Disney Night for her guest judging scores
Ballas was a tough critic on the show’s Horror Movie Night last week.
Wild Bill Belvin’s survival bet in the Florida bush
There was a time when the man you see in this photo, taken a mere 95 years ago, was only considered slightly imbalanced, like your uncle or a cousin or
Bill Burr blasts film critics for “Digger” hate: ‘They don’t even understand it’
“These critics are out of their minds,” the comedian said, opining that Tom Cruise “should win the Oscar” for his turn in the film.
Martha Stewart responds to backlash over controversial homeless Halloween costume: ‘I am distressed’
In a now-deleted social media post, Stewart showed off her costume: a tattered outfit, dirty face, and sign that read, “I am hungry. Help Me!!”
The Last Disney+ Original?
(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.) Before we get going, I wanted to remind readers about how I plan to keep your trust while I add advertising to this newsletter. As you’ve no doubt noticed, I’m running ads now, but the danger is that it could impact my analysis and writing. I have a list of sponsors on my About Page, so if you think I’m biased, you can check out who’s sponsored this newsletter! This is something that I’m not sure anyone else in digital media does (if you’re a writer or media outlet and you do this, let me know and I’ll shout you out!) but it’s something I’d love to see embraced by the entire industry. Sunlight, i.e. transparency, is often the best disinfectant. Okay, on to this week’s issue. We (finally) have another major Disney+ TV show to talk about, so that’s my main focus for today. Plus, we had a lot of new shows come out, including the fourth seasons of The Diplomat and Tulsa King! And Love is Blind! The Lowdown! Also, four (four!) straight-to-streaming films came out this week, featuring a lot of big names and celebrities, so I’m going to look at those. All that, mixed news for the WNBA, Reacher ends its run on the charts, Skydance does well in September viewership, NYU’s Sundance dominance, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of October 12th to October 18th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Television - Disney+’s Porridge Problem Listen, per my headline, VisionQuest isn’t the last Disney+ Original. At least, I’m pretty sure it’s not. They have other MCU shows in development. Well, maybe one: But it sure feels like the end of an era. I’d call it their “porridge too hot” era, to quote myself from The Ringer. I told Ben Lindbergh that Disney+ seemingly couldn’t figure out the right amount of content. In the heights of the Streaming Bubble Era (circa 2019 to 2022), they started releasing an insane amount of TV shows. After their growth slowed, they’re down to two or three shows a year, and that might be down to 1 by 2027. Here’s my TV shows by year chart: Even at the time, I thought Disney was making too many shows (that cost too much). Today? They’re definitely making too few shows (though the budgets are more in check, at least according to the reporting). Porridge too hot, porridge too cold; too many shows, now not enough. Which makes evaluating VisionQuest so interesting. This show didn’t have a great lead-in, whether it be a Marvel Cinematic Universe film (the last non-Sony-produced-Spider-Man flick came out The Fantastic Four from July of 2025) or Marvel Cinematic Universe TV show (the two this year were Wonder Man back in January and _Daredevil: Born Again_in May, both of which underwhelmed). And so far, VisionQuest hasn’t quite recaptured the MCU Originals glory, but it has some signs of sparks. First, it made Samba TV, though at a lowly ninth place. At least it made it, a feat some other Marvel shows didn’t accomplish. (Ironheart landed on the Samba TV charts one week at tenth place, but Wonder Man and Daredevil: Born Again both missed.) VisionQuest also made Luminate, though with only 3.0 and 7.6 million hours. But it missed Nielsen in its first week. The best news might be its 7.8 on IMDb, on 12K reviews so far, great numbers, even for a superhero show. Looking at those numbers, this show will really need to pick up in future weeks—and it may since it’s coming out weekly—or Disney will have another disappointment on its hands. Disney+ binge-released their last few shows to try to boost numbers, but that meant shows like Iron Heart and Wonder Man didn’t last long on the charts. _Daredevil: Born Again’s_last season missed entirely (though it came out weekly). Here’s the Disney+ Originals by totals: And for a fun new look, here are those same shows, rearranged by the years they came out: That really shows that, in addition to Disney+ releasing fewer shows, those shows just don’t hit like they once did. If I had to offer one main explanation, it’s that Marvel Studios moved away from characters who starred in the Avengersmovies (The Scarlett Witch, Vision, Hawkeye, Loki, Falcon, Winter Soldier) to characters who didn’t (Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Iron Heart, Wonder Man, Daredevil). It sounds trite, but more popular IP tends to do better than less popular IP. In Marvel’s case, beloved, decades-old characters trump newer ones. And yes, I think this is a problem for Disney. The failure of Marvel TV shows to linger for weeks on the charts, unlike in 2021 and 2022, explains why Disney’s share of the charts has plummeted: That’s a strategic issue. Yes, these shows are really expensive, but without them, Disney+ will struggle, especially if Disney+ keeps raising prices AND licenses out its shows non-exclusively. My recommendation? Return to the core value proposition, which is Disney+ as “genre HBO”. The goal is six shows a year, coming out weekly, spaced out throughout the year. When a show hits, keep it coming back. Make three to four of those shows Marvel or Star Wars, and fill out the rest with IP swings like Percy Jackson, Goosebumps or something like National Treasure. And make YA-skewing shows like Coven Academy to fill out the schedule. Disney, you can get this porridge just right, er, make the right number of shows. Quick Notes on TV Netflix’s sophomore, er, junior, er, senior season slump abated very, very slightly this week. I speak of The Diplomat, which returned for its fourth season on 15-Oct. Credit where credit is due, this show debuted in April of 2023, and has put out new seasons every year since. Has that helped the viewership? Not really. This season opened to 16.4 million hours, which is down significantly from the first season (21.7 million hours) and down somewhat from the second season (18.0 million hours), but it is up from last year’s 14.2 million hours opening. On Samba TV, it opened to third place; that’s also very good. On Luminate, it opened to 25.0 million hours, which is good, but over thirty million hours is a hit on that platform. Netflix wisely renewed it, since it’s steady and, frankly, Netflix needs hits.1 Paramount+ put out Tulsa King’s fourth season on a Friday. After putting out most of their big, usually-Taylor Sheridan-scripted shows out on Sundays last year, they’ve clearly moved to Fridays going forward. Was this a thought-out strategic change, Netflix mimicry, or a data-inspired move? Tough to say. Fridays are crowded with new movies, but so are Sundays with new shows. Anyways, this one is coming out weekly, and we haven’t seen it hit the Nielsen or Luminate charts yet. But it did make Samba TV at fifth place, which is a good opening. Still, if this doesn’t make Luminate or Nielsen next week, I’d call it a disappointment. Netflix had two unscripted shows hit the charts this week, one a docu-series and one a reality competition show. Tyson is a four-episode docu-series about one of boxing’s most popular fighters, and it made both the Samba TV and Luminate charts, but not Nielsen. That’s a solid run for only four episodes (assuming it didn’t cost an arm and a leg to produce). Netflix’s latest season of Love Is Blind also returned for its eleventh season, which opened to 10.0 million hours, down from previous seasons. It also had 11.0 million hours according to Luminate, roughly in line with the Nielsen numbers. Last issue, I analyzed the triple successes of Below, Carrie and Crystal Lake, noting that all three have done well. I mostly used Nielsen, but all three shows also made Samba TV (see above). Crystal Lake in particular did very well on Luminate, getting 35.0 million hours, top for Peacock among first seasons: The top “show” of the week would have been Thursday Night Football again, at 41.7 million hours. This is still above last year’s game, but it continues the season’s overall downward trend, which happens every year. (Though a big week is coming, based on the news stories I’ve seen.) As I said before, I’ll do a deeper dive on all the October games later this month, with comparisons to previous years. One company is quietly on a roll, when you consider the shows it makes and streams. I speak of Skydance—a point Variety made—noting that it produces Neagley and Reacher for Amazon, along with Paramount+’s Lioness, which means it produced three of the top four shows of September according to Nielsen. By the way, Neagley fell off the Nielsen charts after four weeks, which is a pinch short for how well it started, but it’s still a huge success. (Interestingly, it finished just 7.3 million hours ahead of the cancelled Ride or Die.) The point, though, which I’ve made before, is that Prime Video still has a problem with how many co-productions it buys, most notably _The Boys_from Sony and Reacher/Jack Ryan from Skydance. It’s not a critical flaw—everyone licenses shows—but Amazon still struggles to make its own hits. Reacher finally fell off the Nielsen charts, so here’s its final rank for season four: 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… ...An example of the algorithm NOT picking a film… …whether or not Netflix buys shows simply for the movie poster… ...if East of Eden is above the Obliterated Line... ...what four star-studded straight-to-streaming films didn’t chart... ...and a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. If you want an idea of just how much content you’d get in a full issue, check out this older issue.
Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa tearfully react to their “DWTS” elimination: ‘It’s bummer city’
The pair was sent home on Disney Night after a solid performance to a “Hamilton” classic.
“Dancing With the Stars” pro reveals she’ll be missing from Disney Night amid illness
Disney Night will see Grammy, Emmy, and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo join the judges in narrowing the competition from 9 to 8 competitors.
Cleveland Browns Path To The Playoffs
Welcome to my weekly Cleveland Browns rooting guide looking at the best outcomes for the Cleveland Browns. With many of the top quarterbacks in the league not being selected in the first three picks, the Browns winning games isn't a bad thing, it shows the roster is loaded and able to continue improving with another offseason. What we will cover weekly in this article: - Current AFC Playoff Games...
“Today” fan stuns Craig Melvin with Halloween costume of his iconic violin photo: ‘Spitting image’
The fan drove all the way from North Carolina to New York to show her recreation to the anchor.
“8 Simple Rules” star still thinks about what John Ritter whispered to her at their first table read
Amy Davidson said the actor, who died in 2003, encouraged her when they first met on the sitcom.
Martha Stewart Apologizes After Backlash for Controversial ‘Hungry Person’ Halloween Costume
Martha Stewart has sparked controversy with her choice of Halloween costume. The image, which she posted on a now-removed Instagram carousel, showed the businesswoman appearing to be dressed as a poor...
Jane Leeves recalls how David Hyde Pierce rallied “Frasier” team after losing series co-creator David Angell on 9/11
Leeves remembered David Angell, who died alongside his wife in the Twin Towers attacks, as a “remarkable man” who “quietly went about the business of bettering so many lives.”
Dustin Hoffman says “The Graduate” director Mike Nichols made Katharine Ross slap him 27 times: ‘A certain sadism seemed to creep in’
The Oscar winner recalled his time on the set in his new book.
“You Can See Everything ”barely“ ”overtakes “Clayface ”in photo finish at Halloween box office
The surreal portrait of convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim has enjoyed unprecedented success for a documentary.
Sandra Bullock shares rare look at past Halloweens with kids in touching throwback photos
The Oscar winner quipped that “nothing is off limits” during Halloween in their household.
13-year-old singer on “The Voice” compared to Whitney Houston: ‘I just have a really hard time accepting you as a human’
Coaches cut their teams by more than half in show’s first Cut Week.
Boyfriend charged with murder of Christina Downer, missing sister of “SNL” writer
A co-defendant charged with accessory after the fact. Downer’s body has still not been found.
Business Starts for Nov. 2, 2026
In July 2026, 1,349 businesses were listed in the Massachusetts new-incorporations spreadsheet. This biweekly edition lists 675 of those businesses. Acton Ng Home Improvement Corp — 85 Hosmer St., Suite […]
UFC Vegas 123 Post-Fight Press Conference
Following the UFC Vegas 123 fights, tune into the post-fight press conference.
“The Brady Bunch” almost had a very different mom, according to Joyce Bulifant, the actress who lost the role
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OpenAI: ChatGPT Search Is About 20% of Google’s, 250 Million People Speak With ChatGPT, and Chat Is Merging With Work
OpenAI says ChatGPT growth is accelerating. The company added 200 million users over just the past two months, jumping from 1 billion to 1.2 billion weekly active users in 60 days. Its search volume, it says, is approximately 20% of Google’s. Its users create 1.5 billion images with it per week. And its voice mode, between dictation and speaking with ChatGPT, now has 250 million combined weekly active users. ChatGPT consumer product lead Adam Fry told me this during a brief fireside chat at an OpenAI-hosted dinner in New York City on Monday night. “The growth is just going big,” he said. During our conversation, Fry also revealed plans to merge ChatGPT’s Chat and Work modes (so that confusing toggle up top will soon go away), agreed with feedback that ChatGPT-created restaurant signage looks too uniform, and addressed the cost to serve its personal assistant Dots. Here’s a look at our full conversation, lightly edited for clarity and length. We also cover image generation, interactive interfaces, advertising, education, and public unease about AI: Alex Kantrowitz: OpenAI has analyzed ChatGPT’s search volume and compared it with Google’s. What did you find? Adam Fry: ChatGPT has been growing quite quickly. ChatGPT’s volume of search-like queries is now roughly one-fifth the volume of queries of Google. It’s a pretty amazing statistic when you think about it, mainly because we started just about a year and a half ago. It’s hard to remember this, but ChatGPT at a time didn’t have any up-to-date information. You’d ask a question, it would say something like, “It’s past my training date,” and nobody had any idea what that meant. You’re saying ChatGPT’s search volume is one-fifth of Google’s. Bing’s share of the search market is around 5%. Does that make you multiple times larger than Bing? To say that more directly, ChatGPT has gone from one billion to 1.2 in just the last two months. That’s roughly 100 million users in 30 days, and another 100 million in another 30 days. The growth is just going big, and we’re staying very focused on how fast ChatGPT is growing. What counts as a search? I might have 20 prompts back and forth in a ChatGPT conversation. Does each one count as a query? Story continues below… A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR Move upmarket without a rebuild Moving upmarket means saying yes to what enterprise buyers ask for first: SSO, directory sync, and audit logs. WorkOS gives you all three, so your team keeps building the product instead of the checklist. Get enterprise-ready. Continued from above…. Adam Fry: What people came to ChatGPT for to start, if you go back about two years, is really writing help and coding help. Those wouldn’t be things that you really search for. What we’ve seen over the last year is people have grown into all these other topics. Things like you’re looking up a person or people or a place or a thing, and it requires up-to-date information. That’s a key element. Another big part is finance questions or health questions, where you really want to make sure it’s up-to-date information that’s quite factual, and we’ll do a web search for those questions. It’s basically anything that a user would have traditionally gone to a traditional search engine for, but is now deciding to go to ChatGPT for. Does each conversation with a search embedded count as one search, or does every question that requires a web search count? Every time you ask a question and go search the web, that’s a search. You used to work at Google. How would you say the nature of search is changing? One of the things that people really love about ChatGPT is this personalization and this understanding of the broader journey. If you look in the past, people would go for a Q&A box, and you’d ask a one-off question, like how tall is the Eiffel Tower. But there’s so much context in our lives around, “Maybe I’m taking a trip to Paris.” It’s actually helpful for ChatGPT to respond, “Here’s how tall the Eiffel Tower is, but I know you’re going on a trip to Paris.” It’s that ability for people to actually maintain context over time that has led them to start using ChatGPT in this way. You’ve also announced 250 million weekly active users of voice input, including dictation and conversations with voice mode. We are at 250 million weekly active users. What’s amazing about this is, if you look at those 250 million, what we’re seeing is it’s actually also incremental to the product. It’s no longer just a novelty. People aren’t just trying out voice. We’re seeing them use voice input day to day in their daily life, and it’s grown so quickly. Those 250 million users are using voice input, and that could just be a quick question or a long conversation. We’re seeing both behaviors. We’re seeing people just not want to type. You just hold it and start talking to it, or it turns into a longer conversation where people just sit with it. The big reason for this is the frontier capabilities of our models that we’ve shipped. We shipped what we call GPT Live 1, and then we shipped GPT Live 1.1. The big change with this is that it’s much more natural to speak with. It’s something we call backchanneling and interruptibility. Mhhhm… What you just did there is what the model does, because it’s really good at having a bidirectional conversation. That push to the frontier—we were the first to really release this at scale—has made it so much more natural for people to chat. That’s still only about 20% of the user base. From the outside, that looks small. Why is it exciting from the inside? It’s very exciting for a few reasons. We see from the data that when people start using voice, they stay around using voice. One of the things, transparently, we can do a better job of is bringing more people into discovering it. We see that the number of people who discover it could be a lot higher. But once they do, it’s a really new way for people to interact with AI. We’ve made a lot of improvements to it too, where we’re just going to see the number go up. You have background mode, so now by default, if you close the app, it’ll show, “Hey, the conversation’s still going.” If you want to walk around the house or you’re putting away the groceries, you can still have a chat. That kind of continuity has also changed how much people use it. Dots launched on September 29 and is about a month old. How’s it doing? It’s doing great. We talk to people about their Dot, and the first thing that everyone says is, “I love my Dot.” One of the reasons we’re seeing this is the proactivity, its ability to reach out to you and figure out things. The biggest use case I see all the time is, “Did I forget something today that I was supposed to do?” You can just say to your Dot, “Remind me of things at the end of the day that I may have forgotten. Somebody emailed me or messaged me,” and it’ll do that. This Dot changes the paradigm of the relationship with AI, where it’s actually helping you and giving you time back. You’re more conservative with permissions than some competitors. I tried to give my Dot my credit card, and it wouldn’t take it. With the creator of OpenClaw in-house, why are Dots’ permissions more limited? This is a space where we want to be very thoughtful and conservative because it’s a new space where you’re entrusting your Dot to take care of things on behalf of you that matter and are meaningful. We’ve just talked about how you go to this 1.2 billion user growth and asking questions. Now we’re asking people, “Can you ask ChatGPT or your Dot to help get things done?” But when you ask it to help get things done, it’s a whole new level of trust. We’ve built up a tremendous amount of trust in giving the right answers to your questions, and we want to make sure that when we build this new product, it has a high degree of trust. It’s a long game. We think this is going to be a new market for a very long time, and we want to make sure that we’re being this trusted player in the market to start. I initially thought Dots would be available on my $20 plan, then realized I had to spend $100 a month to get it. I upgraded, but I’d like to downgrade at some point…. We hope to keep earning your business and make the value good enough. It’s a really good point. ChatGPT’s goal more broadly, which I think is unique for us in the market, is we are focused on bringing intelligence to everyone safely across the entire world. For Dots in particular, there’s no difference. We don’t have anything to share tonight about the date of when Dots will go to a broader set of users. But you can rest assured we’re working very hard, and there are a couple things we have to get right. Over time we’re going to work on more efficient, agentic models that are able and capable of doing things for you. The first one is, right now we wanted to make sure that your Dot is actually really helpful. We started with some of our best models, but over time we’re going to work on more efficient, agentic models that are able and capable of doing things for you. The second thing is around proactivity. We’re still dialing in: How much do I message you to help you get things done? We can always play around with that to understand how much usage should a user use to have a successful Dot. We’re going to work on both, and our goal and ambition is to bring it out to all users. How much background computing does a Dot require? I’ve read estimates that serving a $100 subscriber might cost OpenAI $3,000 in compute, and mine seems to read every email that arrives. How often is it checking connected data sources? Right now, Dots are on the compute-heavier side, and this is one of the things we want to make sure that we can dial back over time. But the goal is to give you the best product. This is our premium, always-on personal assistant. Once we nail that, we’ll figure out how to dial back the compute needs. The thing we’re seeing also from our models, as we train frontier models, is just how—I can’t even keep up with how quickly we have a new model, and each new model is more efficient. If you looked at 6.1 Sol when it came out relative to Astra, much more efficient. I’m very excited about the next set of models we have coming too that’ll be even more efficient that we can use. Elon Musk said the cost of serving Grok Bot was unsustainably high relative to revenue. Is efficiency the key to winning against competitors, or is there more to it? There are a couple of factors that go into it. One is the cost side, but the other is the revenue side. On ChatGPT and on our consumer business, we’ve been extremely proud of our ability to diversify different revenue streams in a way that’s growing really fast. To give you another stat, we announced several months back that we had passed 50 million subscriptions, and the number has grown considerably since then. On ads, within 200 days, we reached more than a billion in ARR, and that business is growing extremely quickly. We also have credits. Rather than paying for subscriptions, users can buy more credits. Between credits, subscriptions, and ads, I’m confident that the value of a Dot is going to be able to pay for itself. Elon has subscriptions too. This is clearly an expensive product to serve. One thing we continue to bet on at OpenAI and ChatGPT more broadly is that the models will continue to get much better and much cheaper, way faster than any of us think. If you look back at the historicals on it, it continues to be true. From what I’ve seen, I see no slowing down of that. What is Meta doing right with Muse? It has spent a lot of time atop the App Store charts. There are a couple of things they’ve done well. The first is people have been craving simplicity in their products. One of the things we have stated publicly as well is, at times AI products can be too complex. We’ve announced we’re merging ChatGPT’s Chat and Work. We’re making it much more simple in the products. You don’t have as many toggles or sliders between efforts and different model pickers. One of the things they’ve done well is this simplicity. You just go in and you can ask a question. You don’t have to think too much about what you’re doing. That’s one thing that seems to have resonated with users, which we also believe in. Second, there’s something really nice about being able to access your agent across many different channels. We just announced and launched Dots on iMessage. Whether you talk to your Dot on email or iMessage or within the ChatGPT app, the ubiquity in getting your assistant out there is going to be key. Those are two things that, if I had to be nice to our competitors, I would say were two big ones. So Alexandr Wang’s meme-tweeting strategy isn’t something you’re going to emulate? I have a different tweeting style. ChatGPT still asks me to choose between Chat and Work, even though some people call this technology AGI. Will that distinction go away? Couldn’t agree more. We have to solve this. Asking users to choose — we’ve heard repeatedly from all of our users it’s too much to understand. When should you go to Chat? When should you go to Work? It’s solvable. There’s real research to solve to make sure the models can understand what your intent is. Are you asking for a fast, quick reply? Are you asking me to go do a long agentic task? We’re going to solve it, and the plan is to bring Chat and Work together. So one interface will work out whether I’m asking for a conversation or a task. When? Coming soon. You told me the majority of ChatGPT’s 1.2 billion users are using image functionality. What are they doing? Today, 1.5 billion images are created per week. It’s hard to even wrap my head around that number. They’re doing a wide range of things. One of the most interesting things they’ve started to do is really use it for productivity use cases. The first thing it started with—I don’t know if you saw the ’80s trend, but it was quite fun. You could take a photo of yourself and say, “Put me and my family in ’80s outfits.” I did this for my family, and it was a really fun poster. But what we’re also seeing is businesses for their menus, or posters for birthdays. People are using it almost in a productivity-like fashion to create visual diagrams of what they would like to see. We’ve actually brought the latency down on images as well, so it’s gotten a lot faster. It went from a very high number of seconds to getting much faster. As it comes down even further, the number of images people are creating and the number of use cases is going to grow a lot. My feature request: When a restaurant makes a menu or sign, prompt it for more specificity so it doesn’t look like every other AI-generated restaurant sign. Or offer a shuffle button for a different style. I agree with the feedback, and we’ll take it to the team. I’m seeing ChatGPT generate little interactive interfaces within its answers. What’s the direction for Intelligent UI, and how are people using it? I am extremely excited about Intelligent UI. If you go back a couple years, these chat apps were all text, and now that’s changing. They’re going to be visuals. Intelligent UI and our first attempt at this with GPT-6 Intelligent UI is really just the beginning. As you go to the extreme, what you can imagine is, let’s say you’re using voice mode, and you just say, “Show me how offside works.” Immediately it should show you a visual diagram, and you say, “No, I don’t quite understand it.” It should just repopulate. That’s where the future of this technology goes. It’s almost like you’re talking to a canvas that will update and change. People are finding it helpful for a lot of things. My favorite one is—it’s hard to admit that I had no idea how hearts work. The last biology course I took was in high school. I just asked it, “How does the heart work?” and it instantly gave me a beautiful interactive diagram of where blood flows and how it goes through. I’m really, really bullish on this for learning in particular. You’ve described useful applications in finance, health, and learning, and ChatGPT has 1.2 billion users. If people are getting so much value, why is public polling on AI so negative? The reality with AI is it is going to change the nature of how work gets done. For a lot of people, that is something that can feel scary at times, and we’ve all felt that. But I remain confident that when people actually use the product and they use AI, it very quickly changes how they perceive it. We’re at 1.2 billion, but there are still a lot of people who haven’t used it. The more people use it, get familiar with it, how it can actually help you in your life, it’s going to feel a lot less scary. Big Technology is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Thanks!! Subscribe
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