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Warner Bros. Discovery promises Max will be a more personalized, technically improved streaming service

With next month’s arrival of the new streaming service “Max” from Warner Bros. Discovery, the company is also promising a revamped product experience with an expanded feature set, improved recommendations and better performance. The new service, which combines HBO Max and Discovery+ content into one offering, will gain an updated user interface that’s delivered by way of a largely seamless transition for existing HBO Max subscribers across most platforms.
However, Discovery+ subscribers will be able to continue to watch in their standalone app, if they choose, the company noted during today’s press event where it introduced the new service and its many forthcoming originals, including a new Game of Thrones series.
Of particular interest, the company openly admitted that its current HBO Max service has a number of technical shortcomings that it now aims to address with the move to Max.
“As we started this journey 12 months ago, we did a thorough assessment of our two streaming businesses, as well as the technology and products of each. And we realized that, while both were solid, they also each had important shortcomings,” said JB Perrette, CEO and president of global streaming and games, while speaking to the gathered crowd.
“In summary, we needed to do the basics much better,” he said, before spinning his mea culpa into an odd form of praise by adding, “if we got this far with some suboptimal features and experiences, imagine what we will do when we get more of it right!”
That’s certainly an interesting way to sell things, we’d say.
Perrette said the new Max service would address several key business objectives, including user engagement, retention, more regular viewership and easier, more personalized discovery of the content offerings, to name a few.

Warner Bros. Discovery to launch ‘Max’ service starting at $9.99/mo on May 23

Though the company had announced an expanded slate of new original programming earlier in the event, including new series like Big Bang Theory and True Detective spinoffs, a live-action Harry Potter, DC Comics titles like “The Penguin,” and others, the exec also acknowledged that the product itself has to do a better job at surfacing its content for subscribers.
“HBO Max has an amazing depth of content, but it’s largely unexplored because we don’t make it easy enough to find,” he said. As an example of this problem, he noted that three-quarters of its viewership came from the home screen only, while on Discovery+ the majority of usage came from other screens deeper in the app. In addition, four times as much content drives the majority of viewership on Discovery+ than on HBO Max.
Image Credits: Warner Bros. Discovery
One might argue that’s because of the nature of the programming on the respective services, where Discovery+’s lifestyle content drives repeated viewing, perhaps, compared with flagship series like “Game of Thrones” that are viewed in real time, but are not necessarily the types of shows to be rediscovered later and then rewatched. However, the company is betting that product changes will be able to improve these metrics around discoverability.
For starters, the revamped app will feature a new content navigation menu at the top that will help consumers more easily find the series and movies, as well as the new releases they may want to watch. Across the app, the company promises streamlined categories, improved content detail pages, shortcuts, dedicated brand hubs and thematic content rails, to make the app easier to explore.
HBO’s brand will still have a prominent position in this new interface, too, but will be showcased alongside the company’s other top brands that will serve as gateways to their respective content.
There will also be genre hubs to dive into different types of content and a new quick shortcut that lets users save content to a list for later viewing.
For users on the new Ultimate Ad-Free tier, the service will feature an expanded catalog of 4K UHD content, including across programming like “Game of Thrones,” “The Last of Us,” “Harry Potter,” “Lord of the Rings,” “The Dark Night” trilogy and others. This catalog will expand to include all the Warner Bros. movies released this year and in the future.
Image Credits: Warner Bros. Discovery
Plus, individual user profiles will for the first time offer more personalized experiences where users are recommended new things to watch based on their prior habits and viewing, via things like “because you watched” recommendations, suggestions of what to watch next that appear when you finish a series or movie and immersive hero images tailored to the end user. This personalized experience will extend beyond the home page, too, so users are seeing tailored recommendations across the full service.
A combination of machine learning and human editorial curation will help to drive these recommendations, Perrette explained.
Parents will be able to configure their kids’ profiles, including through the use of parental controls. While that’s not new, the revamped Max will introduce a default kids profile for its new subscribers, with options for parents to set the profile to either little kids, big kids, big kids plus, pre-teens or teens — an expanded set of kids’ tiers that goes beyond those offered by some rival services, where the “kids” experience is often aimed at younger school-age children. This tends to frustrate older kids, and teens when they outgrow cartoons and other “kids” content, but aren’t yet old enough for more adult fare, like much of what HBO offers.
Under the hood, the company touted other technological improvements focused on user retention, performance and stability.
For example, Max will proactively alert customers about failed payments through notifications and on and off-product messages, including for the first time in-app alerts on connected TVs. It also added support for PayPal as another payment option and made it easier for its marketing teams to run promotional pricing without requiring weeks of engineering work.
Image Credits: Warner Bros. Discovery
The company additionally promised updates to its core architecture to deliver “faster, more reliable, and more efficient performance.” Among the changes, Max will offer a new connected TV sign-in process where users don’t have to type in their credentials with their remote and a more dependable downloads experience.
“…We maniacally focused on app performance to get our customers watching their content as fast as possible,” Perrette said. “So app start times, video start times, and the general navigation response times will be 20 to 30% faster, depending on which device you’re using.”
The exec said HBO Max app customers will be automatically updated to Max on May 23 when the shift is made. On most platforms, this update will happen automatically, but others will prompt users who open the HBO Max app to download the new Max app instead. It will then only be “two clicks” to continue watching, Perrette noted, as usernames, passwords, profiles, watch histories, watch rails and billing will carry over automatically. Discovery+ subscribers won’t be forced to transition apps but will be prompted at different times to try the new Max app.
Image Credits: Warner Bros. Discovery
The new service will offer three pricing tiers, starting at $9.99 per month for ad-supported, $15.99 per month to go ad-free and $19.99 per month for ad-free viewing with 4K UHD and Dolby Atmos. The latter two tiers also include offline downloads but are limited to either 30 or 100 downloads, respectively. The top-tier service also includes four concurrent streams instead of just two.

‘Game of Thrones’ fans are getting a new spinoff based on characters Dunk and Egg

 
Warner Bros. Discovery promises Max will be a more personalized, technically improved streaming service by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch
Warner Bros. Discovery promises Max will be a more personalized, technically improved streaming service

Spotify is testing new card-style user profiles focused on discovery

At Spotify’s Stream On event this month, the company introduced a redesigned app with TikTok-like discovery feeds, an AI DJ and other tools for artists and podcasters. But the app’s changes may not be stopping there. The company confirmed it’s now testing a revamp of its user profiles, which includes a card-style layout that lets users establish more of a social identity on the platform in addition to providing easy access to Spotify’s unique features — like its personalized recommendations, Blend playlists, co-listening experiences and more.
The changes were first spotted by Chris Messina, who shared screenshots of the tests on Twitter. He noted the additional cards on profiles and how the new layout was directing users to tap a button to “discover more features.”
Some Spotify users, however, said they’ve had the updated profiles for some time. But that’s only because the feature has been in live testing in multiple markets. These profiles are not fully rolled out to all users.

This is big! Spotify is previewing a new profile design!
It appears that more profile cards will be coming soon.
It recommends discovering «more features» to «get the most of your listening experience».#NewSpotify pic.twitter.com/Qcctw3PJU7
— Chris Messina (chrismessina@mastodon.xyz) (@chrismessina) March 28, 2023

Spotify did not commit it would make the feature available for everyone at any particular time. Often, the company’s new ideas are tested in public, then modified based on user engagement and feedback before a global rollout. Or, in some cases, they’re scrapped entirely. That said, it’s not as likely that this one would be dropped, given how well it fits with the new Spotify redesign which puts greater emphasis on discovery.
“We routinely conduct a number of tests,” a company spokesperson told TechCrunch when asked about the new profiles. “Some of those tests end up informing our user experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don’t have anything further to share at this time,” they added.
Image Credits: Chris Messina via Twitter (opens in a new window)
Among the notable changes in this version of the user profiles is the new heading at the top of the screen that looks more like something you’d see on a social network. Currently, Spotify user profiles are fairly bare-bones. The person’s name as well as their follower and following counts are displayed above lists of their playlists and recently played artists. The new profiles, by comparison, include other details about the person like which Spotify plan they’re subscribed to, how long they’ve been a Spotify member, their general location (like the U.S.), in addition to their follower and following counts, a button that lets you follow them and another for profile edits.
There’s also a fun feature that apparently lets you set a “vibe” above your name, to give your profile a little pizazz.
Image Credits: Chris Messina via Twitter (opens in a new window)
The new profiles still feature sections for your playlists and artists, but these now appear as cards and there are more interactive features available next to these options. For instance, you can now click a button to create a new playlist right from your profile, or use buttons beside each playlist to share them with others. Next to each artist’s name, there also are buttons that let you follow the artist on Spotify — before, you’d have to click into the artist profile to do so. This could be particularly useful if you had visited someone else’s profile and were discovering new artists through their activity.
Under the “Discover more features” section on the new profiles, users are pointed to other things they can do on Spotify — like find live events, “like” more songs to improve their recommendations, create Blends with friends, check out Spotify’s new audiobooks and more.
The profiles also include a message at the bottom that reads “View more cards,” which indicates there will be future additions coming to this space beyond the playlists and recently played artists. But this feature isn’t fully built out yet — Messina told us that, when clicked, the in-app message reads “there’s nothing to see here yet” and informs users that Spotify is “busy building more content for you — coming soon.”
(May we suggest incorporating podcast recommendations into this experience, please?)
These changes would make sense as part of Spotify’s broader focus on discovery that’s driving its most recent app updates. That is, instead of just showcasing a user’s basic information and activity, these redesigned profiles would allow people to explore more of what Spotify has to offer while also making it easier to find and enjoy new artists and music directly from someone else’s profile with fewer clicks.
Spotify is testing new card-style user profiles focused on discovery by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch
Spotify is testing new card-style user profiles focused on discovery

Amazon expands Fire TV lineup with more QLED models, entry-level 2-Series TVs and new markets

As competition among smart TV makers heats up, Amazon today is introducing an expanded Fire TV lineup which now includes more sizes for its top-of-the-line Omni QLED series as well as a new, lower-cost Fire TV 2-Series that will start at $199.99. The company is also bringing its TVs to new markets globally, updating some features — like the Omni QLED’s “ambient” mode — and will roll out its cloud gaming service Luna to countries outside the U.S. for the first time.
Amazon first announced its Omni QLED TVs last fall as a way to bring better picture quality to customers with a 4K QLED display. The sets, which initially shipped in both 65-inch ($799.99) and 75-inch ($1,099.99) sizes, were the first Amazon Fire TVs to ship with Dolby Vision IQ. They also support HDR 10+ Adaptive and Adaptive Brightness, which adjusts the picture brightness and contrast based on the room’s brightness.

Amazon updates its Fire TV lineup with a new Fire TV Cube, QLED TVs and Alexa Voice Remote Pro

Now, the company is expanding its QLED lineup with three new models starting at $449.99, in 43-inch, 50-inch and 55-inch sizes. Like their larger counterparts, these will still include QLED displays with up to 96 dimming zones and the sensor-driven “Ambient Experience” features.
The TVs ship with a custom sensor package on the front that includes a presence sensor that allows the TV to turn its “Ambient Experience” on or off based on whether someone has entered or left the room thanks to an ambient light sensor that helps the TV understand the context of the movement. That is, if you just walked past the TV to get a midnight snack it may remain off, but if you walk into the room in the morning, it may load the ambient experience to help you start your day.
Image Credits: Amazon
The experience includes a free package of artwork and photography and various Alexa widgets that can be displayed either compacted or expanded, delivering things like news and headlines, your calendar, notes and reminders, streaming recommendations and more.
Now, Amazon says the experience is being updated with new art, too. Specifically, it’s adding something it’s calling “dynamic art,” or art that adapts to the current environment. The art will change based on factors like the time of day, temperature, weather and more. Initially, Amazon is working with contemporary artist Samuel Stubblefield to create the dynamic art package.
“We want to make smart TVs that are actually smart. That means things like bringing together content usefully…but we also want them to be beautiful and useful throughout more parts of the day and infused with ambient intelligence to make them more powerful for customers,” noted Daniel Rausch, VP of Entertainment Devices & Services at Amazon, in a conversation about the new Fire TV products.
Image Credits: Amazon (Fire TV Omni QLED Series)
These newly added QLED models will become available for preorder today and ship on May 11. The 43″ will be $449.99; the 50″ is $529.99; and the 55″ is $599.99.
Amazon is also now introducing a new line of more affordable Fire TVs, dubbed the Fire TV 2-Series, which slots in below the existing QLED and 4-Series. These will ship in two models to start: 32-inch ($199.99) and 40-inch ($249.99) options in HD. The 2-Series lineup supports HDR 10, HLG and Dolby Digital Audio and comes with an Alexa Voice remote.
Image Credits: Amazon (Fire TV 2-Series)
These models can be ordered now and start shipping today.
In addition, Amazon says it will now begin to ship its Omni QLED Series, 4-Series and new 2-Series in the U.K., Germany and Mexico for the first time.
Rausch says the company has now sold more than 200 million Fire TV devices worldwide, including TVs and media players, and has shipped over 260 Fire TV models with its partners, like TCL, Hisense, Yamada, Xiaomi and others. As TV sets themselves become more powerful, many consumers are now opting to buy a TV with Fire TV baked in, rather than as a streaming player add-on. This has resulted in TVs becoming the fastest-growing part of the Fire TV business, he notes.
Image Credits: Amazon (Luna)
Alongside the TV expansion, the company will also bring its Luna cloud gaming service to new markets outside the U.S. for the first time.
Designed to work with Fire TV, Luna offers Prime customers a rotating selection of monthly games that can be streamed and played using a Bluetooth controller like Amazon’s Luna Controller, or even with a smartphone through a companion app.
Luna customers can optionally choose to subscribe to premium packages, like Luna+, Ubisoft+ and Jackbox Games. Luna+ includes a broad selection of games like action, adventure, platformer, indie, shooter, racing and classic games for $9.99 per month. The Ubisoft+ subscription, meanwhile, features top titles and fan favorites like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry for $17.99 per month. And Jackbox Games offers a party gaming set for $4.99 per month.
The service has been generally available in the U.S. for over a year and is now coming to the U.K., Germany and Canada, Amazon says, which will allow it to reach some of the new Fire TV markets.

Roku unveils its first-ever TVs designed and built by the company

Amazon isn’t alone in targeting consumers with TVs running its own OS — rival Roku in January revealed its first-ever TVs designed and built by the company. But neither effort is meant to preclude the companies from working with partners — it’s more of a way to demonstrate what’s possible from the company’s own software and specs while generating additional revenue from hardware sales.
Amazon expands Fire TV lineup with more QLED models, entry-level 2-Series TVs and new markets by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch
Amazon expands Fire TV lineup with more QLED models, entry-level 2-Series TVs and new markets

Roku partners with Best Buy and its advertising business to get first-party shopper data

Roku and Best Buy announced today that as part of their new first-to-market partnership, Roku gets access to Best Buy’s advertising platform. Also, Best Buy customers have exclusive access to Roku-branded TVs.
The relationship is a first for Best Buy since it’s never partnered with a TV streaming platform to provide its first-party sales data. The new deal allows Roku to use the retailer’s data to target ads. Best Buy launched its advertising business, Best Buy Ads, in January 2022.
“We’re bringing together our entire business to build the future of entertainment and advertising — making the TV experience simpler, offering the right marketing, data, tech, and scale to drive real results, and helping win the entire streamer’s journey together with Best Buy,” Julian Mintz, co-head of U.S. brand sales for Roku Media, said in a statement.
The companies claim that combining the data will make TV advertising more performance-driven. Brands can target, optimize and measure their ads on the streaming platform using Best Buy shopper data, ensuring Roku viewers see ads that interest them, Roku and Best Buy explained. Roku recently surpassed 70 million active accounts.
The partnership points to a shift in how advertisers are spending, as they lean toward streaming and retail media to reach a larger number of consumers. In 2022, 82% of U.S. advertisers anticipated an increase in spending levels with retail media networks, per eMarketer.
Roku and Best Buy also announced an in-person, interactive activation which will launch at South by Southwest (SXSW) on March 11, allowing event-goers to experience Roku’s screensaver, Roku City, as well as a Best Buy Home Theater Experience that features the latest Roku devices available at Best Buy and Roku’s upcoming original content slate among other titles on The Roku Channel.

Roku’s latest software update brings local news, more live sports and a new mobile app

Roku partners with Best Buy and its advertising business to get first-party shopper data by Lauren Forristal originally published on TechCrunch
Roku partners with Best Buy and its advertising business to get first-party shopper data

Amid growing competition, Paramount+ and Showtime are combining in the US

Nearly a year after ViacomCBS announced its rebrand to become Paramount, the company is now making a major change to its portfolio with today’s news that it will be fully integrating Showtime into Paramount+ — the streamer known in previous years as CBS All Access. The integration will include both streaming and linear platforms, the company noted, meaning Paramount+ will now be renamed “Paramount+ with Showtime,” while the Showtime linear TV network will also be renamed the same in the U.S.
This sort of consolidation was bound to happen, given today’s competitive streaming environment where even Netflix has seen tougher quarters and has had to embrace advertising in order to further grow its business. There are many options for consumers to choose from in the streaming market, and a stand-alone service like Showtime simply doesn’t have the breadth and depth of content required to stand on its own.
Showtime first launched its over-the-top streaming service in 2015, six years before CBS All Access was rebranded to Paramount+. However, Showtime is not as popular as its younger sister, Paramount+, which makes up the bulk of the company’s direct-to-consumer subscriber base. The streaming service reported 46 million subscribers in Q3 2022. Paramount itself has almost 67 million global subscribers across Paramount +, Pluto TV, Showtime, Noggin and BET+.
The integration isn’t just aimed at boosting Paramount+’s profile on the market; it will also help the linear Showtime network. Paramount said select Paramount+ original programs will soon join the TV network, which provides incremental value for Showtime’s distributors and potentially, more linear customers as well.
The changes will roll out later this year and will involve only the premium tiers at Paramount+, the company clarified. This will allow Paramount+ to better compete agains other premium streamers, like HBO Max, while also differentiating its streaming service by offering a combination of original and premium content, linear channels, live news and sports and Paramount Pictures movies.
Similar to HBO, Showtime’s content tends to have more mature themes, which appeals more to a certain demographic beyond the general market Paramount+ targets. However, both services would benefit from a combined user base and the ability to cross-promote titles.
“This new combined offering demonstrates how we can leverage our entire collection of content to drive deeper connections with consumers and greater value for our distribution partners,” wrote Paramount CEO Bob Bakish in a memo to employees, announcing the news. “This change will also drive stronger alignment across our domestic and international Paramount+ offerings, as international Paramount+ already includes Showtime content. And, very importantly, this integration will unlock operational efficiencies and financial benefits across our broader portfolio,” he said.
Alongside the news, Paramount announced that Chris McCarthy will continue to lead the Showtime studio and oversee network operations for the linear channel. He will also work closely with Tom Ryan, who will oversee the “Paramount+ with Showtime” streaming business.
The company warned that other changes to programming may come about with this transition. For example, in order to focus on building franchises out of Showtime’s hit shows, it will divert investment from underperforming areas that “account for less than 10% of our views.” That means, likely, some cancellations or removals are in order. Paramount says it has begun those discussions with its production partners but didn’t announce which shows are being cut or are being elevated by way of these changes.
The newly merged Paramount+ with Showtime service will be in direct competition with Warner Bros. Discovery, which has 94.9 million global subscribers across HBO, HBO Max and Discovery+. In September, during Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia + Technology Conference, Bakish confirmed that a merger had been discussed internally.
“It shouldn’t surprise you that [we’re looking] to have optionality in the future…Quite frankly, if we weren’t having that conversation, you should fire all of us because we should have that conversation,” Bakish had said.
In August 2022, Paramount+ launched an in-app Showtime bundle for U.S. customers that wanted to upgrade to a plan that included both Paramount+ and Showtime. Paramount had already integrated Showtime content with its streaming product in international markets, as a precursor to the company’s domestic integration plans.
Amid growing competition, Paramount+ and Showtime are combining in the US by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch
Amid growing competition, Paramount+ and Showtime are combining in the US