Weekly Roundup – February 3rd, 2025
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Disney Hires YouTube, Meta Veteran Andre Rohe to Lead Product Engineering for Entertainment Division and ESPN.
"Andre Rohe, who previously held senior engineering roles at Meta, YouTube and Google, has been hired to lead a newly created consolidated product engineering team in the Disney Entertainment and ESPN technology group."
Our Take: If the Pat McAfee show is any indication of where ESPN are headed in their content strategy, hiring a former YouTube and Meta product engineer should serve as a clear signpost.
Buyers Are Glad Nielsen Is Moving Away From Panel-Only Ratings
"Last week, TV measurement hit a long-awaited milestone when Nielsen announced that it will stop offering panel-only ratings as a standalone currency offering later this year.
Panel-based data will still be incorporated into Nielsen’s combined Big Data + Panel offering, which sits in the Nielsen ONE measurement platform and includes larger data sets from set-top boxes and smart TVs. The combined data offering, which is Nielsen’s endorsed currency for this year’s upfront season, gained Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation in January."
Our Take: Nielsen will most likely remain the industry standard for measurement. The real challenge for Nielsen in the future is to remain adaptable to evolving consumer behaviors. It took over a decade to realize their panels were not only severely limited with regard to sample size, but also significantly undercounted audiences.
Music streams hit nearly 5 trillion in 2024. Women pop performers lead the charge in the US.
"More music, more listeners, no problems.
The global music industry hit 4.8 trillion streams in 2024, a new single-year record, Luminate’s 2024 Year-End Report found. That’s up 14% from 2023, which held the previous record.
If you streamed a lot more music in 2024 — and in particular, a lot of women pop performers — you are not alone.
In the U.S., on-demand audio streams grew at a rate of 6.4%, totaling 1.4 trillion.
Contemporary music is fueling the growth. The overwhelming majority of U.S. plays – 79.5% — were from songs released in 2010 or later. Songs released between 2020 and 2024 accounted for nearly half of all streams."
Our Take: This is good news for the tiny sliver of major artists backed by the industry and biggest labels. It is not good news for the 'middle class' of musicians who are not sustained by the current structure of the music industry. It used to be that you had a 'middle class' of artists that would occasionally break into the 'mainstream'. This was good for business, and it pushed the envelope from an artistic standpoint. That doesn't really happen anymore - and if it does happen it is incredibly rare. The only thing the industry touts/promotes nowadays are 'sure things' (i.e., your Beyoncés, your Taylor Swifts, your [insert former Disney child star here]).
Tech Companies And Journalism Companies Join Forces, Sometimes
"In today’s fast paced high-tech world, there’s the question of how digital information is going to replace traditional media. There’s a conflict between competitive and collaborative models that’s redefining how we treat news in the 21st-century.
But sometimes the collaborative approach wins out: case in point, Google is broadcasting that it’s going to work with the Associated Press to promote quality information in Google’s Gemini AI service."
Our Take: Google's Gemini AI model originally came under heat when it was providing users with flat-out incorrect information. This seems like a move by Google to reassure advertisers that their ads are being placed alongside reputable content. For the AP, this seems more like a means of survival.
MSNBC ratings collapse postelection, Fox News surges as cable faces an uncertain future.
"When a sports team loses, its fans don’t hang around for the postgame show.
The same goes for the tribal habits of cable news audiences.
Viewers have fled left-leaning MSNBC since Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential race to former President Trump on Nov. 5."
Our Take: Fox News being such a draw on cable is interesting because Trump and his base have also wholly embraced the shift to new media platforms like YouTube, Twitch, X, and the podcast-sphere. Maybe there are some lessons here for the DNC and perceived left-of-center-leaning outlets like MSNBC and CNN...
Recent Blogs from Crowd React Media
Do you have a plan?
In his latest piece for Crowd React Media, Scott Masteller emphasizes the importance of planning at least 5 years ahead. While the rate of change in the present might seem overwhelming, you always need to keep an eye out for the future.
Sean Bos
Sean Bos is a founder of Crowd React Media and VP of Branding & Research at Harker Bos Group.