VIEWERSHIP RECORD
Indian streaming service JioCinema claimed a record for the number of concurrent viewers this week. It reported that 32 million viewers were simultaneously using its service to watch the IPL cricket final match between The Chennai Super Kings and the Gujarat Titans. The platform’s previous peak was 25 million. Chennai eventually won the rain-affected and one-day delayed match
DARK MATTER
Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has removed its bouquet of 14 channels from Indonesia’s TV largest platform, MNC, ending decades-long affiliate arrangements, Content Asia reported. The decision, confirmed by WBD, involves channels from HBO and Cartoon Network to Discovery and TLC, all of which came off air on May 12. The move is understood to be the culmination of a payments disagreement. In November last year, beIN removds its sports service from MNC. WBD content remains available on three smaller platforms in Indonesia, IndiHome First Media and Trans.
LOCATION ATTRACTION
Ausfilm,Australia’s screen industry association responsible for attracting international film and television productions to Australia, has appointedSimon Graham-Clare to the role of VP of international production, based in Los Angeles.A former producer, Graham-Clare previously worked for Warner Bros. Pictures U.K. before joining the U.K. Film Council in Los Angeles (now the British Film Commission), promoting British incentives, production facilities and filmmaking talent. He starts in the role on May 30, 2023.
REVELATION REVEALED
Crime drama film “Devil’s Peak” from by Australian director and festival ambassador Ben Young (“Hounds of Love,”“Extinction”) will open the Revelation Perth International Film Festival in Perth, Australia on July 12. The film stars Billy Bob Thornton, Robin Wright, Hopper Penn and Emma Booth and is set in North Carolina, but saw sound and post-production handled in Western Australia.
The festival, established in 1997, claims to be Australia’s leading independent screen event continuously advocating for Australian screen culture and independent practice. It will operate out of the Luna Cinemas in Leederville. The five-day film festival (July, 12 – 16, 2023) will be followed by a four-day VR, games and immersive technology event (XR:WA).
“We’re loving the ability to deliver a more compact and modular event – it’s of the time,” says Festival Director Richard Sowada.
Other confirmed film titles include Canadian comedy-drama “I Like Movies,” by Chandler Levack; experimental political film “Hello Dankness,” by U.S.-based Australian siblings Dan and Dominique Angeloro (aka Soda Jerk); “Manifesto,” a Russian found-footage documentary; and micro-budget, West Australian-produced bromance “Frank and Frank.”
ACCESSIBILITY
The tenth season of “Love Island” is improving access for blind and partially sighted audiences by arranging for this year’s contestants to record audio descriptions of themselves which will be available on the show’s YouTube page. There will also be an audio description available of the infamous “Love Island” villa.
ITV has also confirmed every episode of the new season, which launches this summer, will be subtitled.
“Love Island” Season 10 will be available on ITV2 and ITVX.
SUBscriptIONS
U.K. audience research body BARB has revealed that SVOD subscriptions are down in the first quarter of 2023. They found that 67.4% of households in the U.K. (equating to 19.08 million homes) had a subscription compared to 19.42 million in the last quarter of 2022 – a drop of 1.7%.
Specifically, BARB said Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ also saw small drops in Q1 while NOW and Apple TV+ saw gains of 8% and 13% respectively.
