Join 5k TV producers subscribing to my newsletter. Consultant helping TV, film, & digital leaders grow their businesses & manage change. ex C4, BBC, Xbox.

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Joined April 2008
Jen Topping retweeted
Today Instagram announced they are testing long-form horizontal videos called Features. The platform wants to be a place where you watch a 90 second video and a 90 minute video. All on your TV. They are also testing Lives in the Reels tab, a hub for Series, and more.
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I’ve been writing about this play and what it means for TV producers & creators. If Meta made their rev share equal or better than YT, and assured companies they wouldn’t pivot like they did with FB & Buzzfeed in the 2010s, then they could be a serious disruptor to YT.
instagram is launching longform video AND pulling livestreams into the Reels tab i'm posting ~35 shortform vids per week on IG rn. 7x per week on youtube longform. this is huge. so IG is testing "Features" in the US • horizontal video up to 90 minutes • livestreams in the reels tab • a hub for series they used to have IGTV but it was a massive flop. since they launched Reels, it makes more sense to compete with youtube & get on TV apps also AI made short video too easy to copy. longform & live is harder to fake the play now is record once, post everywhere. tbh @RiversidedotFM makes this extremely easy. their entire product is built with this thesis in mind and it's playing out what to do now: • start recording horizontal, even if you only post vertical today • turn your best reels into a series so there's a longer version to send people to • go live on IG at least once a week • keep the raw files from every show so you're ready when Features opens up • watch the creators who get early access and copy what works would you post longform on IG or keep it on youtube?
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Is there any research that shows if you have to call up to cancel a monthly subscription you are less likely to take it out in the first place? Newspaper groups I’m looking at you…
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Well, astrophysics as an arena tour is a new one on me - @ProfBrianCox filling the O2.
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Exactly what Julia says. I have a long piece on this point for tomorrow.
Genuinely flabbergasted there isn’t a more unified, vocal campaign from the legacy companies asking for Nielsen to disclose YouTube’s most watched channels (akin to streaming individual shows). Would display content preference by platform differences. Far from apples to apples.
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Re-upping this from last week re #Netflix. As expected, Dan Lin did not last through the weekend, now Peter Rice has a major role to fill in running film.
🧵NEW details on seismic changes at #Netflix: Confirming that Bela Bajaria was completely blind-sided by the news that she was being ousted. Netflix was not planning to tell her yesterday but forced to confirm bc of media leaks. Netflix is mortified to not ...
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An analog to this are coastal elite marketers who only know how to market to other coastal elites.
This bit from Chuck Lorre’s DEADLINE interview immediately juxtaposed itself in my brain with an anonymous agent’s comment to VULTURE three years ago.
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Jen Topping retweeted
Replying to @pkafka
Yeah, well there used to be a reason they would publish daily and weekly Nielsen ranks. Obscuring performance metrics can obscure a problem, but cannot erase it.
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Jen Topping retweeted
Netflix has spent the last year telling everyone that its content is great no matter what all the chatterers say. Now their head of content is out.
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Jen Topping retweeted
The WBD/ParaSky is bad for a number of reasons. But @emohorgan recently highlighted one overlooked positive for kids media. With Cartoon Network/Nickelodeon soon to be under one roof, which properties could/should receive a second life? thekidsstreamersphere.substa…
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Jen Topping retweeted
Can YOU see it? This is why you shouldn't trust generative AI, in one photo. Watch, share, and tell your friends how far into the video you were when you saw it!
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Jen Topping retweeted
Netflix, Amazon and YouTube have formed a new D.C. lobbying group to push back against bipartisan criticism over the rising cost and complexity of streaming sports. Sports content has increased by 52% since January 2024 on major global subscription streaming services. variety.com/2026/tv/news/net…
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Jen Topping retweeted
Much bigger deal than people realize. Broadcast rights to live sports are the final boss battle for legacy cable distributors. If they all go streaming…
Exclusive: @Netflix, @Amazon, @YouTube launch new streaming coalition w @technet -It’ll advocate for sports rights moving to streaming, among other issues -Streamers don’t have a single trade grp that reps them. Mostly work through coalitions More on @axios axios.com/2026/09/14/netflix…
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Jen Topping retweeted
The question that should be asked is: Why is it a video game analyst doesn't understand video game layoffs? Well, I guess that starts from the fact they retweet charts that can't identify companies actually in the games business. Or the difference between gross profit and net income. It is deranged to think that the gross profit for Caesar's Entertainment is somehow indicative of why layoffs are happening, just as listing Take Two's gross profit growth... with no highlighting of the fact net income has been negative every single quarter since March 2022. Aristocrat Leisure is up, too? Is that their small games business? Or their real-money gaming business? Or their literal casino operating business? Oh, guess what, they listed EQT. Why did they list EQT? I guess it's because they own Keywords. Well, EQT is a private equity giant where Keywords is one of MANY investments. Warner Bros Discovery, putting aside they recently had two of the biggest game write-offs ever, is anyone really trying to say their consolidated profits - sorry, GROSS PROFIT - illuminates their gaming business, let alone the total industry? Amazon and Meta. Businesses are massively up, that's true! Does that have ANYTHING to do with games? No. And that's exactly why they are laying off. Their games businesses did not work. It is unclear to me why the question of why the layoffs are continuing needs to be asked when we were shown the fundamentals so many times over the last year. Growth in the industry is not even, is highly regionalized and specific to places like Roblox, China, etc. The data is clear and obvious. A developer in the US costs 3x more the equivalent in Japan and Poland, and 7x more the equivalent in Brazil. Are we going to argue that Polish developers are 3x worse than US developers? Absolutely not; studios like CDPR and Bloober are world-class. Brazilian studios are just as good at Unreal as their US equivalents, not 7x worse. We live in a global talent economy, and US talent costs more for the same quality of product. Anyone, anywhere can make a great game now. Here are some of the top games of 2025-2026 by unit sales with their countries of origin: 1. BF6 - Sweden 2. REPO - Sweden 3. Mario Kart world - Japan 4. Pokemon Legends - Japan 5. ARC Raiders - Sweden 6. Monster Hunter Wilds - Japan 7. Peak - Sweden/US 8. Schedule I - Australia 9. RE: Requiem - Japan 10. Clair Obscur - France 11. Tomodachi Life - Japan 12. EA Sports FC - Canada 13. Split Fiction - Sweden 14. Elden Ring Nightreign - Japan 15. Pokemon Pokopia - Japan 16. Ghost of Yotei - US 17. Donkey Kong Bonanza - Japan 18. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 - Czech Republic 19. Crimson Desert - Korea 20. 007 First Light - Denmark The US only cracks one and a half. The answer is thus clear as to "why" layoffs are happening in the US and will continue to happen, as it was for manufacturing decades ago. Game developers in the US are both more expensive and sell less games than their global counterparts. We should be asking what led to this instead of why layoffs are happening, because any analyst who has correct data and half a brain should know the answer. Furthermore, I do not understand how someone can be considered a credible business analyst yet continues to argue that layoffs are a "squeeze for maximum profit" issue. We are not talking about Microsoft, for example, with an Xbox division has a 30% margin and it wants to get to a 31% margin via layoffs. Xbox have just 1/10th that margin for the division. When a company like Microsoft shows that it has a 3% margin for Xbox, this is unhealthy for its business. If the argument is that Microsoft as a whole is more profitable, I can understand why a child would make this point, but not a credible person working in this industry who I should take seriously. I worked in equity research. A 3% margin would be absolutely damning for a public stock. Analysts would be screeching. Yet here we have analysts who don't want businesses to operate as they should in capital markets? This should be disqualifying.
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Jen Topping retweeted
interesting: here's how much season 3 of Netflix's TIRES cost, per records from PA's film tax credit program
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Jen Topping retweeted
This just gets crazier by the second. @Meta and @finkd need to address this ASAP. This is the flock-fueled future everyone is afraid of and corporations keep telling everyone it's fine. Prove it. @ kontheinside on IG
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Oh - aTwist has launched. The microdrama app that was previously called MicroCo. The standard monthly price is more than the top Netflix sub - nuts, but in keeping with the other microdrama apps. Or as someone called them the lovechild of Barbara Cartland Candy Crush…
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Jen Topping retweeted
Kids media execs launch Brainchild Entertainment with $100m investment from IMC dlvr.it/TVGzjb
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Jen Topping retweeted
We have secured the X/Twitter handle: @LeawoodFilms We also have secured the web site: LeawoodFilms.com It is early days, of course. So no activity as of yet, but over time this X/Twitter address and web site will have significant activity. Here we go! #LeawoodFilms
On Monday August 31, AMC Entertainment announced the creation of Leawood Films. A disciplined low-risk way to distribute more movies to movie theatres.
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