Hazel Savage

I got to speak to one of the smartest operational development folks in podcasting, Hassan Chaudhry, on Podcast Perspectives. Hassan hails from Blanchard House, HBO Max, and before that the world of private equity. In other words, he was a big spreadsheet guy that graduated into creative development for some of the most exciting companies in podcasting. He puts on a masterclass in how big companies (and solo creators) should be thinking about podcasts beyond the podcast universe. Give this one a listen to learn more about where your show can fit into the broader media ecosystem. We'll work on the video thumbnails for next time ;)

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I am curious to hear your thoughts on a significant topic within our industry - the UK HETV threshold. During a recent discussion with industry colleagues, we questioned why the tax rebate threshold is set at £1M+. This setup seems to primarily benefit streamers, studios, and the top 1% of production companies. Having worked in the UK industry for 10+ years, I believe lowering or eliminating this threshold could enhance production activities and support independent projects at home. Your insights on this matter are welcomed. #UKIndustry #TaxRebate #ProductionPotential

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Some highlights from the Pocket Gamer Brands over the last week (April 15th-April 18th, 2024): 1) UK video games market hits £7.82 billion valuation with mobile up 4.5%. - PocketGamer.biz dived into Ukie's Consumer Market Valuation Report. https://lnkd.in/eVAkEB5S 2) Over on Pocketgamer.com we gave out one of our incredibly scarce Platinum awards to Chucklefish Limited & Deadpan Games' Wildfrost: "A compelling roguelike deck-builder that'll make you want to volunteer as tribute" https://lnkd.in/e_DQFTxe 3) Over on the PocketGamer.biz Podcast, Peggy Anne Salz and Faith Price discussed Testing Tactics and Lifecycle Marketing Tips. https://lnkd.in/eex7rwTU 4) Over on Pocketgamer.com we wrote about AltStore PAL coming to iOS; the latest (if not the first) alternative AppStore to run natively there. https://lnkd.in/eyaxakFK 5) “There is no need for regulations. It [games industry] should remain free, it is only then that it will bloom.” - India's PM Narendra Mobi underlined their aim of keeping India's Gaming Industry regulation free. https://lnkd.in/eww6sUGr

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A short read on why providing 'clarity' is essential in our approach to platform #support for our #partners. #software #CustomerSatisfaction #ITSupport #CustomerRetention

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"We don’t have a British film industry and I’m bored of everyone saying we do have one. I think it’s crazy to subsidise British movies with tax breaks because when we do get any of that back, we’re just subsiding Hollywood!” Matthew Vaughn 2015 Perhaps these tax breaks are intended to steer us in a direction of creating a more independent film industry. Maybe it could do so. But the issue most producers here I'm sure are going to face is who puts in the money first. I'm sure it depends on the project, but I feel most overseas prod co.s and financiers are still going to look for soft money being involved from UK funding bodies. And the issue for many of us is having a funding body who is committed to get involved first and help the ball get rolling. (Don't we know that pain Scotland) And if your regional or national film body aren't stepping in, it's a tough uphill battle. If you're from a working class background, outside of London without too many connections, particularly to LA. That's probably going to be even harder. On a personal note, I do welcome this. But my fear is that this might only help a few companies who are already established in the UK. I've heard and seen it from several producers who have made stuff where they hit a mental brick wall when it comes to how they get that money. I don't see the UK film industry getting better until there is more investment and encouragement for grass root projects that give emerging producers and filmmakers their first footing.

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The brilliant Ben Keen recently published a report about the state of UK film financing for the British Screen Forum in which he outlined some of the trends he’d spotted over the past 10 years including total spending across all film and High-End Television (HETV) production, the average budget of inward investment vs. domestic (British) films, the number of films funded by public service broadcasters and the key role they play in talent incubation. Germane to OTT, Ben also talked about films backed by legacy Hollywood majors vs. those part, or fully, financed by the global streamers. For example, over the four years to 2022, Netflix was involved in the financing of more UK films than Warner Bros, Disney and Universal combined. We’re going to discuss some of some of these findings at this Thursday's OTT Question Time Online (24 October, 4pm UK / 5pm CET). Together with Ben, Anwen Griffiths, Head of Legal & Business Affairs at BBC Films, and Amanda Groom, founder of The Bridge, we’ll also explore: - Some of the acronyms, terminology and financial incentives involved in content production (especially useful, perhaps, for those of us from a pure OTT background!) - Applying a wider lens, the film & HETV markets in South Korea, the US, Asia and LATAM - Content production business models - The impact on investment of the streamers now increasingly focusing on profits rather than growth - And the outlook for content producers worldwide over the next five years Season 5, Episode 6 of OTT Question Time Online will be streamed live at 16:00 UK / 17:00 CET on Thurs 24 October. Register to watch live and engage in the conversation! https://lnkd.in/e2Qch-9u

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On the way to ADE, and reading this which feels timely A great post that anyone in and around the music industry would benefit from reading Is this good news? Some thoughts: 1: probably isn’t true, they will buy up stuff as they always do. The no new genres thing is kinda boomer vibes, there’s cool stuff, it’s just hard to find it cause it’s niche and in chat groups etc The doubling down on the super fans thing is getting exhausting as a concept. Are we saying that replacing the 1000 fan theory with super fan theory plays out differently?

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One year ago, we launched Latitude Media! Over the last year, we’ve questioned the hyped-up tech backed by Sam Altman, dissected failures in the carbon removal and storage space, heard anxiety in the green hydrogen market, examined the divide in the tech industry over how to build clean energy, and recorded more than a dozen interviews at the DNC and RNC. We also took artificial intelligence very seriously as a foundational coverage area — with lots of rational coverage, a conference series, and detailed research on the state of AI adoption in the power sector. This set us up to cover the nuances of the surge in electricity demand from data centers, months before it became a big story. Before launching Latitude Media last year, many of you knew us as a production company making podcasts about the energy transition. And even as our work expands, audio remains a core part of what we do. Our original podcasts — including our flagship shows Catalyst with Shayle Kann and The Carbon Copy — have brought in 2.5 million downloads. Earlier this year, I stepped back from making The Carbon Copy, and we’re set to launch a new show in November, hosted by Lara Pierpoint, that will profile the people and companies building first-of-a-kind projects. I started reporting on the clean energy market in 2006, when solar PV and wind were just beginning to achieve liftoff. It was immediately clear that the energy transition would be a generation-defining business story — or, as my former Energy Gang co-host Jigar Shah put it: “the largest wealth creation opportunity on the planet.” My Latitude Media co-founder, Scott Clavenna, saw the early signs as well. He co-founded Greentech Media in 2007, which went on to become the defining B2B media and research voice for the budding clean energy industry. In those early days, most other media outlets treated renewables and other forms of clean energy as an “alternative” curiosity. The scale and complexity of the industry have changed radically in the years since — and so has the media environment. With nearly $3 trillion headed into clean energy annually, investment now eclipses that of fossil fuels. And today, there are many high-quality outlets taking the energy transition seriously. We saw an opportunity to bring journalism, events, research, and our production team together for a new B2B media brand. We started Latitude Media as a guide to the energy transition for the people who are shaping it: the entrepreneurs, investors, and companies looking to understand what is working — and what is not working — in today’s market. As we evolve over the coming year, we will continue to dig into the markets, business models, and tech trends at the commercial frontiers of clean energy. Thank you for reading, listening, or attending one of our events! Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/gsPSkrTt

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The difference in building a modern media company in developed versus emerging market in the last decade Lad Bible Group vs Augustus Media Founded: 2012 vs 2015 Employees: 500 vs 110 Markets: Uk & US vs MENA Revenue 2023: $85m vs $10m Profit: $7.6m vs $2.1m Brands: 12 vs 35 Offices: 6 vs 5 Reach: 1bn vs 1.2b

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🎥 HBO Releases Full Episodes for Seasons 1-8 of ‘Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’ on YouTube In a noteworthy development, HBO has taken a strategic shift in releasing full episodes from its catalogue of John Oliver's hit show onto YouTube. At first glance, this might seem unconventional for the premium cable network as YouTube is a direct competitor to its streaming service MAX, but it’s a savvy business move that reflects broader industry trends. Content owners like HBO are increasingly leveraging platforms like YouTube and TikTok to tease their premium offerings. By dropping full episodes online for free, they aim to entice viewers by driving traffic, viewership, and subscriptions to their services. This approach can effectively convert casual viewers into paying subscribers. However, this strategy carries its inherent risks. There's a delicate balance between attracting new subscribers on a third party platform like YouTube and potentially cannibalizing the existing viewership on their primary platform. The success of such initiatives ultimately depends on how effectively they can convert free viewers into committed subscribers without diluting the perceived value of their premium service. As professionals in the media and entertainment industry, this move by HBO offers us a fascinating case study in strategic content deployment. How do you think this will play out for HBO and the industry at large?

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Our team at Dream Bay Entertainment is so excited to announce that Simon Hood & Charlene Mitchell-Hood at Sooper Books who were backed by all five tycoons on this season’s Dragons’ Den (aka UK’s Shark Tank), have just announced their debut crowdfunding campaign. If you haven’t heard about Sooper Books yet, their rise has been explosive to say the least. Their free children’s story website started as a hobby when they were expecting their daughter, Goldie. But when Lockdown hit, it quickly gained traction. Within weeks it had become a recommended reading resource for hundreds of schools and shot to the top of Google. This early traction enabled them to gain funding from some of the UK’s top VCs and angels and grow a phenomenal team. Then they made history on Dragons’ Den and walked out with the backing of all five Dragons (giving away just 1% to each of them). This drove massive visibility in the media. Sooper Books appeared on the front of The Sun, The Daily Mail, BBC websites and in a host of other press articles. Now, for the first time ever, the public can invest. The opportunity ahead of Sooper Books is extremely exciting indeed. With a large and growing audience, they are in a unique position. They’ll continue to create world-class characters with their Emmy-winning storytellers and use the data to determine the most popular ones. These top characters will then be turned into feature length stories and pushed out into different verticals for licensing (books, toys, clothing, TV, Film etc). Ultimately, their goal is to create a suite of characters that can define the next generation of children’s entertainment. If you’re interested in investing, I’d suggest joining the priority access list to beat the rush: https://lnkd.in/eH-57ydY P.s. Joining the list is not a commitment to invest. You’ll have time to review all the necessary details. They’ll be accepting anything from $10 to $500,000 so it really is for everyone! #crowdfunding #angelinvestors #startups

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The results of a consumer survey undertaken by the Night Time Industries Association smashes the current narrative being pushed in some areas of media and politics that the UK public (of all ages) has changed the way they engage with the NTE. Data from over 2300 respondents shows: *52% are not able to afford to go out   *44% say Labour stands out as the political party most supportive of nightlife and culture   *68% of 18-24 year-old respondents participate in social activities several times a week or more *43% attended cultural events at least once a month over the past six months.   *76% felt impacted by the inability to go out during the COVID-19 pandemic   *37% indicated that lower drink prices would encourage them to go out more frequently, with better late-night transport cited by 23%. *Dining out is the most popular activity (55%) with younger respondents favour going to the cinema, playing sports, and attending nightclubs. Full report: https://buff.ly/3VIJ0Ad

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Another addition - this one from the BBC - to the “X Most Effecftive Attributes of Entrepreneurs” genre. Post-facto analysis for sure, but invaluable insights nonetheless. Bottom line: if you want to strike out on your own and stop serving as indentured labour to some body corporate or narcissist, consider being a rebel with loads of impatience and an obsession with making things happen. And by the way, make sure you have luck on your side! Best of luck! https://lnkd.in/gv7XaJMB #entrepreneur #mindyourbusiness #startup

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We had so much fun with our friends at White Castle celebrating the launch of the movie #Borderlands earlier this month! #Gamers are significantly more likely to eat at #QSRs than the Gen Population. 57% more likely to eat #QSR at least once a day… 42% more likely to eat QSR at least once a week… 35% more likely to eat QSR more than once a week… and Gamers are 2.4x more likely to order take-out and 2.0x more likely to order from a food delivery app 👀 What’s the opportunity? ANTI-AFK WHITE CASTLE IS PART OF GAMING CULTURE Why we crave it: #AFK is a common #gaming term meaning “Away from Keyboard”. This lets a creator notify their followers that they are stepping away for a moment – and let’s be real it’s likely to get a snack…since 94% of gamers eat or drink while gaming 🤷 So, how did the campaign come to life? Vertiqal Studios owns Gamelancer, the largest gaming community on TikTok and Snapchat, and we made White Castle sliders the hero by eradicating AFKs! There’s no need to leave your game and community because White Castle Sliders are your secret weapon! 3 #Gamelancer #Twitch gaming #creators joined the movement to end AFKs!! (How noble!) We sent them custom mini-freezers and White Castle branded microwaves to add to their gaming setup. Then, we launched a number of streams throughout the month brought to our audience by White Castle! Every two hours, White Castle got to own Anti-AFK moments – in the 60 seconds that it takes to prepare a delicious slider, creators called out Borderlands and White Castle trivia in chat – and correct answers earned our audience digital prizes! White Castle graphic takeovers fired during the 60-second countdown, and our in-house production studio, V/S, produced TikTok and IG cutdowns to generate off-platform engagement. Our objective was to position White Castle and specifically White Castle microwavable sliders as a hero amongst the gaming community through fun, entertaining and engaging experiences that stand out. STORY TO BE TOLD Anti-AFK (Away From Keyboard): White Castle sliders are eliminating the moments where creators must leave their streams. What’s more important than that!? Make sure to follow all 138 of our channels on #TikTok, #Instagram, and #Snapchat to see why over 40 million Americans in the continental US tune in to our content every day. Our humble thanks to the wonderful visionaries at CROSSMEDIA USA for giving us a shot. You are ahead of the curve, my friends 🙏 #WhiteCastle ❤️

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UK-based Channel 4 Ventures has made a strategic investment in Layered Reality through an equity-for-advertising media deal. This partnership marks a significant step for broadcast media branching into the live immersive experience sector. Here's why it's a triple win: 🌟 Layered Reality gains valuable on-air advertising to promote their top-tier immersive experiences. 📺 Channel 4 explores new territories beyond traditional broadcast by investing in original IP. I'm optimistic they've also secured rights for exclusive behind-the-scenes content and event showcases. 🎉 Audiences benefit as this deal supports the launch of the eagerly awaited Elvis Evolution experience, and broadens exposure to immersive theatrical entertainment. I'm eager to see how this partnership evolves and am particularly excited about the debut of Elvis Evolution next spring. ❓ Are there any similar partnerships that you know about? #ImmersiveEntertainment #BroadcastMedia #MediaPartnerships #Channel4 #LayeredReality #LiveEvents #TheatricalExperience #Innovation #ElvisEvolution #EntertainmentIndustry #MediaInvestment #WXO #WorldExperienceOrganization #ExperienceDesign #ImmersiveExperience #ExperientialEntertainment #Experiences #Experiential #Storytelling #Immersive #UK #MediaInnovation #Investors #Venture #London https://lnkd.in/gfw_n9rU

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The recent report on the UK indie film market reveals a staggering 60% drop in financing since 2016. . Challenges include lack of equity funding, declining budgets, and pressure to diversify into TV. For producers with European access, this opens up a unique opportunity to co-produce and support UK filmmakers struggling with funding gaps. By offering more flexible partnerships, innovative financial models, and European funding resources, we can strengthen the creative ecosystem across borders. Let's be connected and explore how we can create win-win situations in this challenging landscape. 👉 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dBJer7kv

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#indiefilmmakers in #Scotland lets start a conversation about creating a sustainable industry. Please spread the word and repost this and more importantly... Come and join us! #IndieFilmInScotland #FilmTwitter #supportindiefilm #indiefilm

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📺 I believe Gen Z has a huge appetite for TV content despite the scary 👻 data from todays OFCOM Media Nations report. 💡However, distribution and formats need to be adapted to better meet the changing behaviours of this digitally native cohort 👾 At Gaggl, TV content is hosted by creators distributed on live social platforms and is experienced by our Gen Z viewers as a live, video game-like, community activity. 🤔 Our Watch, React, Interact broadcast philosophy is consistently generating 45 minute average watch times Vs todays report which states 16-24s watch just 20 mins of live TV. 🔮If you are a content owner, creator manager or advertiser and you fancy chatting about the future of TV, let me know! Greg Miall James Duffield https://lnkd.in/dbmdiTtC

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