Rohan Castelino

News is out that Beachfront is now part of Seedtag - but what does it mean? Seedtag is enhancing its contextual solutions to provide highly relevant and engaging content across all screens with: 🤝 Contextual Targeting + Premium CTV to reach highly relevant audiences with laser precision. 🍿 Expanded CTV inventory providing a broader range of premium CTV placements. 🔒 Privacy-first advertising that delivers putting user privacy regulations first. 💡 Deeper audience insights with more effective campaign planning and optimization. Ready to push the boundaries of #CTV advertising? Discover more: https://lnkd.in/eXsKpwBf #BeachfrontxSeedtag #ConnectedTV #ContextualAdvertising

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After attending a couple events with bleeding edge Al practitioners (among many, Anthropic co-founders, Meta CPO, Director of Stanford AI Institute, Venture Partners from Gray Lock, Khosla, Forerunner, Base10, etc.). The top takeaways: Gen-AI technology is flipping the script on how we innovate, streamline operations, and personalize services. The big question now? Companies diving into Gen-AI will unlock new growth opportunities and leave the competition in the dust. But here’s the kicker: success hinges on a steady stream of QUALITY DATA. Robust data governance isn’t just a fancy add-on—it’s the secret sauce. As we push forward, keeping our data in check will be crucial. So, let’s charge ahead and lead this transformative journey! What are you trailblazers doing to up your game and sustain a high-quality data stream? #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Innovation #BusinessGrowth #DigitalTransformation #DataGovernance #TechLeadership #FutureOfWork #Automation #BusinessStrategy #TechTrends #Leadership #CompetitiveEdge #BusinessInnovation #MachineLearning

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"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success." - Henry Ford In my recent interview, I highlighted the game-changing potential of our new CTV traffic direction. This innovation stems from long-standing partnerships, emphasizing how collaboration fosters breakthroughs. Partnerships are the bedrock of innovation, enabling us to pioneer unique offerings that drive performance and reshape the industry landscape. #PartnershipPower #InnovationLeadership

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Range Media Partners just raised big $$ from Liberty Global, Wildcat Capital Management. It's an M&A warchest so they don’t fall behind their peers.  Let’s break it down… BACKGROUND ON RANGE • Mgmt and prod co founded in 2020 by Peter Micelli and other top agents from CAA / WME / UTA • Goal = extend beyond trad film / TV representation • Has expanded into music, sports, gaming, digital, music pub M&A + CAP MARKETS HISTORY • Merged with film / TV prod co Automatik in Jan 2023 • Bought upstart athlete mgmt co Stoked Management Group in Sep 2023 • Existing investors incl Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures and A+E Networks (also has prod deal) NEW INVESTMENT • Last week closed significant minority investment by John Malone’s Liberty Global, TPG founder’s Wildcat Capital, and family entertainment co Playground Productions • Former CAA film finance exec Rick Hess, and The Forest Road Company were also involved (either as investors or advisors, can’t tell exactly from press release) • Use of Funds: M&A, scale in US, int’l growth, add more talent rep and prod services What you need to know about this deal 👇... It's not surprising when you consider all the other fundraising and M&A amongst Range’s peers in talent representation.  The influx of capital and high dealmaking volume is driven by a belief that outsized returns will go to rep firms who are fastest to scale, in a winner-take-most market. Because scale makes it easier to sign more talent clients, work with the largest brand marketers, hire the best talent agents and managers, package up the largest Hollywood projects, and launch the most exciting new talent-led ventures. Particularly in a world where scaled access to audience (which talent and influencers bring in a post ATT world) is the top driver in capturing share of high-growth IM spend, which is est at $7B in 2024, up 15% YoY. So it’s a race to the top. And that race is being fueled by large M&A war chests from big investor backers… Companies to watch here are: - Crestview-backed Gersh (just bought A3’s digital team) - Coral Tree-backed Loaded (just bought GG Talent) - Providence-backed Wasserman (13 deals in 2 years) - TCG-backed Night (just bought LFM and Roost Podcast Network) - The big 3: CAA, UTA, Endeavor And after last week, I expect Range Media to ramp up its acquisition activity. Particularly in athlete and digital-native representation. Curious to see what they do next with the $$. Will definitely add them to our buyers list as we bring more deals to market. —- I’m the founder of RockWater Industries. We do M&A and strategy advisory for media, agencies, and creator economy. My DMs are open. #media #agency #creatoreconomy

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UTA just promoted 24 new partners. What's driving this? Promotions can be part of a retention strategy as competition for talent, and their reps, heats up. Particularly when new firms like Range Media Partners, which was the result top agent defections from the Big 3 Hollywood agencies in 2020, are growing fast and raising growth capital (see my analysis 👇). Some questions worth asking... - How is the agency's employee retention rate trending? - How does the % of promotions compare to prior years? - What agency depts are seeing more promotions? e.g. fast-growing areas like digital? - What are the benefits of being a partner? - What type of commitment is required from partners, if any? - How does all this compare to peer agencies? Many talent reps are thinking through decisions about staying VS leaving at bigger co's, starting their own firms, staying independent, and more. This is important info to track. For both those starting out their agency careers, and more seasoned agency execs thinking about their next career step. #media #agency #creatoreconomy

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Spotify Korea released its local report into music streaming economics, Loud & Clear, providing a valuable resource for South Korean artists, the industry and fans about the big things we’re seeing in our data and beyond. Royalties generated by South Korean artists from Spotify have seen a three-fold increase since 2019. The 10 countries streaming South Korean artists were the US, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, India, Thailand, South Korea and Canada.

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At some point, all streaming TV services wrestle with the same agonizing decision: Extend a launch window and deliver a streaming app with unmatched performance and quality, OR launch anything and get to market ASAP. It's the difference between an app using native code vs. non-native, HTML5-based frameworks. But what if media services didn't need to choose? We experienced this with the recent launch of mitú on #comcastX1. Using pre-built, native components, we quickly developed the core app and implemented custom optimizations not possible with generic HTML5. It's truly the best of both worlds. The native components allowed us to fine-tune performance, exploit unique platform capabilities, and create apps that deliver highly responsive user experiences. Sure, it requires specialized skills, but user engagement and retention payoff are worth it. Most importantly, it helped our client differentiate in a crowded market and drive long-term growth. 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: You no longer need to choose. With the right expertise and a balanced approach, you can launch compelling streaming apps faster than you think—without sacrificing performance. Want a demo? DM me! ------------------------ If you found this helpful, consider reposting ♻️ and follow me: Mike Ryan

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If you are thinking about commercializing AI via human mimicry (or just curious about it), and if you have time for one more short read tonight, please consider Michael Atleson’s latest blog post.

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Introducing PrebidServer.io by Premtech – Coming Out of Stealth! I'm excited to finally unveil PrebidServer.io, a solution developed from years of insights and the evolving needs of digital advertising. Why PrebidServer.io? Despite the mixed success with traditional Prebid Server implementations, the need for more sophisticated ad stacks is undeniable. As we approach the end of third-party cookies, the shift from client-side to server-side auctions becomes crucial. PrebidServer.io is designed to make this transition seamless and advantageous for publishers looking to reclaim control over their ad revenue strategies. What We Offer: - Seamless Integration: A pure SaaS solution that works with any client-side Prebid.js with just one tag. Integrate with any prebid js client whether its your own or another vendors. - Transparent Pricing (SaaS): As an engineer, I believe in fair pricing. Our model charges the same, whether your CPMs are $0.50 or $50. - Customizable Portal: Easily choose how to run demand—client vs. server—and execute A/B tests directly from a simple portal. - AI-Driven Optimization: Our AI automatically optimizes for user experience and revenue, finding the best segments for server-side traffic. - Advanced Reporting: Gain detailed insights with our comprehensive metrics such bid rates and bid CPMs to identify performance hotspots. No Adjustments Needed: Simply drop your tag, and our system takes care of the rest, shaping your Prebid demand without any need for code tweaks. Join Our Beta Program: We're expanding our beta, soon to include AMP/Video capabilities and options for self-hosting. If you're looking to advance your ad solutions with cutting-edge technology, let’s connect.

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The music business stocks performed the NASDAQ and The Dow this quarter. As Q1 earnings wrap, many companies once again are delivering much better profitability than street expectations. But overall, the 20-company Billboard Global Music Index rose 3.3% to a record 1,847.64, topping the previous high mark of 1,841.66. Music stocks bested numerous indexes. In the United States, the Nasdaq composite rose 2.1% to 16,685.97 and the S&P 500 gained 1.5% to 5,303.27. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 declined 0.2% to 8,420.26. South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index dropped 0.1% to 2,724.62. As we head into a healthy Summer festival season & a lot of amazing artists dropping albums which will undoubtedly lead to more live experience, there should be even more growth. Music brand partnerships continue to deliver big results and there is a lot of data suggesting that music is a cultural vessel for ROI with brand marketing campaigns. On top of all of that, there are big new frontiers with a lot of blue sky, on the horizon for the industry from a technological and global market perspective. Although there are still many issues to work through, from my perspective, the future is looking brighter than ever for the business of music.

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The Wall Street Journal had a feature on the Acquired podcast, which I’ve never listened to (confirming the headline - ha!) - it lead me to think about two pioneers of media and cable of note: John Malone & Sumner Redstone. The former was a founder of TCI and subsequently Liberty Media, synonymous with distribution; the latter is associated with the "content is king" adage, which he meant to suggest that with new distribution comes new opportunity for content. New distribution online - YouTube, podcasts, sub-Reddit's, Instagram creators - are replicating cable's playbook. The father of cable, aka Cable Cowboy John Malone discussed cable pushing network TV's 3-4 channels to 500. Well, the Web has expanded the universe of distribution to billions (after all, each Reddit sub-community, YouTube channel, Instgram personality or Twitter/X account is the equivalent of a cable channel). But while online distribution has definitely expanded the opportunities for content libraries, it's become ever-harder for media to diversify and expand into new verticals as they did in the good old days. It's very hard to see producers & publishers expand that expertise and brand permission/authority onto new verticals/segments. This is a reality of media nowadays, you cannot simply copy & paste your magazine's strategy to launch new brands. Most of the voices that matter are super selective in their editorial focus. This is nothing new, but the web exacerbates the reality. Most valuable brands in the history of media have a very well defined and limited Platform/Format fit. - Time: Printed magazine on current affairs - TED Talks: In-person events - Huffington Post: Online magazine format covering news - PewDiePie: YouTube series featuring Let's Play gaming style - And yes, even the Wall Street Journal that covered the Acquired story: Printed newspaper on business. "Acquired had become a show telling the epic tales of the world’s most successful companies. I think corporations are the biggest and best nonfiction stories of our day. There’s no Roman Empire anymore. If you’re looking for a story like the legends of old, it’s Apple and Microsoft and LVMH. That is the arena in which people pursue greatness. How something started with nothing in obscurity and turned into the most important or valuable institution in our modern world. That’s a hell of a hook, and that’s our hook basically every time. It launched that year with an episode about Pixar. Like most new podcasts, it had no listeners. That first show lasted 37 minutes and got a few hundred downloads over the next six months. Today’s episodes average more than 500,000."

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Do not miss my latest article in OTTVerse on the the global growth of sports viewing on FAST/AVOD and how the consumption of sports content has undergone significant transformation!

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Media giants like Warner Bros. Discovery are entering a new phase of bundling, spending cuts, and ending freeloading as they fight to make streaming profitable. It's a recognition that the days of trying to catch Netflix at any cost are over. "Costs are going back to the reality of what they should have been," Jean-Briac Perrette told me. "We're finally at a point where people realize you can't keep doing uneconomically viable things forever. Great stories are expensive to produce, and consumers have to pay." But after a year of fits and starts, can #Max, with just 1.2% of #streamingTV viewing share, catch up? #entertainment #streamingwars #subscriptions #bundling Read my interview with JB in Business Insider: https://lnkd.in/eyjj3sRV

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"The New York Times and Netflix Win" If Netflix dominated the streaming service market, the New York Times (NYT) dominated the news subscription market. The New York Times has successfully transitioned to a subscription platform rather than a subscription. In Q1 2024 alone, they gained 200,000 digital subscribers, many of whom are readers of not just the New York Times, but all of their various subscription products, including newspapers, cooking, gaming, sports, and more. The NYT's per capita revenue is close to $10. That's less than the $17.30 average per capita revenue for subscribers in North America, Netflix's most valuable customers, but more than the $7.3 in Asia. Content and information subscriptions are different, but the strategy is the same: center on strong originals (drama, NYT News) and expand revenue into other subscriptions and advertising. Will there be a runner-up to the NYT and Netflix? Just yesterday, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery formed a bundle to take on Netflix. https://lnkd.in/gXqZYt3h

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What better way to kick off Season 5 of "OTT Executive Podcast" than to interview one of the pioneers of the #streaming industry-- Allen Media Group's Michael Senzon. We covered a lot of ground including Michael's start at "Late Night with David Letterman", his first forays into streaming at CNN and NBC News, and the future of local. Along the way we discuss cool topics such as #AI and streaming #UX. Not to be missed. Watch here on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ePQ9BfTb Or listen on any podcast platform (Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Google, etc.) by searching on "OTT Executive Podcast". Don't forget to hit the "subscribe" button. Thanks! 1) Interning for "Late Night with David Letterman" -- can people still start their M&E careers that way? 2) CNN Digital role; 3) Launching first live news streaming service; 4) The "Great Big Story" story; 5) CNBC and NBC News #OTT products; 6) Partnership with Pluto; 7) What was the inflection point where streaming became "real"? 8) Current Allen Media Group role as President of Digital; 9) What is the future of "local" in streaming? 10) Current state and future of streaming UX; 11) Role of AI to improve content management and UX-- "AI will eventually build the ultimate streaming service"; 12) Michael's passion for writing, being creative, and using AI to create new logos; 13) Michael's advice to people starting their M&E careers "ask how can I be helpful"-- take action, be humble, be useful.

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US content leads in Asia Pacific SVOD - This headline may seem promising for American producers at first, but a closer look reveals a significant shift in audience preferences. Reliable data analysis is crucial. US content no longer seems to matter much in Korea, Japan, and Indonesia, three nations with large middle-class populations and local content productions. At the same time, price sensitivity continues to impact local consumers' choice of streamers. But there are local streamers with bigger ambitions beginning to emerge. If Netflix is GM, will there be Toyota and Hyundai in the new entertainment future? https://lnkd.in/gJapu2AF

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Post-podcast bubble it looks like deals are being made again for real businesses. The PodX model is to roll up profitable audio businesses with real revenue. Given that greed and fantasy led everyone to imagine their loss-making audio division was the next Tesla, or that their revenue alone was worth multiples of total valuation, it’s good for the industry that sanity and hard cash is returning. After pets dot com and the yo app there came Amazon and Tik Tok. From what I know of the podx people they are savvy, and the Swedes know a thing or two about audio. #podcast #business #uk https://lnkd.in/gU-MCkVT

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As the discussions heat up between creators, songwriters, rights holders and DSPs around payment, I’m curious to see how meta-data is going to play a pivotal role in reshaping attribution. There needs to be a standardization across the industry and movement (speed of payment) that matches the pace of current technology. Robert Kyncl hits the nail on head here: “The other is that a lot of the revenue is flowing slow[ly], and some of it is trapped and that shouldn’t be [the case] for digital revenue. That [revenue] should be flowing way faster. Some of these things we just need to solve as an industry, and we haven’t yet. I look forward to doing that.” https://lnkd.in/eiVdS-qD

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Bundle in a Bungle Me, last December: “In 2024 expect the Battle of the Bundles to escalate. Every Media company with even a modicum of strategy will seek out bundle partnerships to deepen customer relationships, lower churn, and solidify their business models.” https://lnkd.in/euyx4c9U Disney & Disco Bros yesterday: “The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery will offer a bundle of the Disney+, Hulu, and Max streaming services in the US starting this summer, the companies said on Wednesday. Customers will be able to sign up on any of the three individual websites and chose from an ad-free or ad-supported plan. No prices were disclosed.” https://lnkd.in/eMdkgXAp Neat. EXCEPT… bundling a LOT of TV with even MORE TV is NOT going to truly address the total churn problem they’ve got. As I wrote earlier this week, more than 50% of Disney+ users DO NOT USE the service in an average month, and two-thirds of Max subs are inactive on average. THIS is why they churn. https://lnkd.in/eFRum6Pf But if these folks READ my piece at the first link, they’d KNOW that bundling is about way more than JUST video - and has been for decades. Ask Amazon - who does NOT have a #churn problem. Since the days of the triple play, bundling has been about UTILITY. Amazon knows this. Traditional Media SHOULD. But, either they never learned it (which is bonkers) or they’ve totally forgotten it… Which is why they are very likely doomed to repeat their mistakes all over again.

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