🎬 Anime Powerhouse

👋 Good morning! Today's the day Warner Bros. Discovery officially hits "command+z" on one of Hollywood's most expensive branding blunders, as Max becomes HBO Max once again. After nearly two years of everyone still calling it "HBO Max" anyway, the streaming service is finally admitting defeat. Lesson learned: if it ain’t broke, don’t Max it.

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CLOSEUP
🍱 Netflix is becoming an anime powerhouse…

Netflix showed up to the Anime Expo in Los Angeles this past weekend with some impressive viewership numbers. While dedicated platforms like Crunchyroll built their entire business around anime fans, Netflix quietly became the place most people actually watch the stuff:

• Over 50% of Netflix's global user base (150M+ households) now watches anime—a 3x jump from five years ago

• 33 anime titles cracked Netflix's Global Top 10 in 2024, more than double the 2021 count

• According to a new Dentsu study across 10 countries, Netflix leads with 48% of anime viewers, followed by Disney+ at 32% and Prime Video at 29%

• Meanwhile, Crunchyroll (the OG anime platform) ranks dead last in viewership

Why the anime explosion? This isn't just about Japanese animation getting trendy all of a sudden. It's really about audience fatigue with traditional Hollywood content. Nearly 3 in 10 US anime viewers cite "exhaustion with Hollywood sequels and remakes" as a key reason they're diving into anime instead. Top motivators include "unique worlds and stories" (39%) and "variety of genres" (36%).

The bigger picture: Netflix didn’t try to out-anime the anime platforms, they just made anime as easy to find as ‘The Office.’ It’s the same playbook they used with stand-up comedy specials. Put the niche content right next to the mainstream hits, and suddenly you’ve got 150M households discovering something new.

Looking ahead… Netflix rolled out their loaded 2025 slate, while casually mentioning their anime content hit 1B views globally last year. Impressive for a platform that wasn’t even in the anime conversation a decade ago.

INTERMISSION: A MESSAGE FROM THE DAILIES
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Take the First Step Back to Balance

WIDESHOT
🎬 A+E Global, Netflix, and social apps…

📺 The A+E cable empire is up for grabs. Disney and Hearst have tapped Wells Fargo to explore a sale or merger for their joint venture, which owns A&E, Lifetime, and History Channel. Hearst's CEO recently admitted A+E had a "tough year," citing declining election advertising and cord-cutting pressures. It’s part of a larger pattern: Warner Bros. Discovery is splitting its cable channels from streaming operations, while Comcast is dumping most of its networks like MSNBC and CNBC into a new company called Versant. Just last month, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that Disney wouldn’t follow the spinoff trend, but A+E seems to be the exception. Traditional TV’s become a hot potato that legacy media giants would rather pass off to specialized operators who can squeeze every last penny from these declining assets.

🎤 Netflix is betting its future on the types of shows that made cable TV king. The streamer drops 'Building the Band' today. AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys hosts this blind band-building competition that feels like 'Love Is Blind' meets 'The Voice.' It's yet another step in their broader push toward more cable-style content. The streamer even brought in Jeff Gaspin, the NBC executive who gave us 'The Voice,' to spearhead this unscripted strategy, which includes rebooting 'Star Search' and Neil Patrick Harris's upcoming game show 'What's in the Box.' The streamer has also reportedly been talking with Spotify about potentially partnering for music awards shows, live concerts, celebrity sit-downs, and quick-turnaround docs. The message is clear: Netflix knows cord-cutters still want the appointment TV that cable perfected, and they're betting big on bringing those proven formats to streaming.

📱 TikTok and Instagram want a spot on your TV menu. The social media giants are developing TV apps to chase the living room audience that YouTube has already conquered. YouTube now commands over 12% of all TV viewing time and continues growing, even outpacing Netflix and Disney+. TikTok and Instagram want in on that action, especially the premium ad dollars that come with connected TV versus mobile scrolling. Their main challenge will be figuring out a way to make their signature vertical phone videos not look ridiculous on horizontal TV screens. TikTok already started encouraging users to post more long form horizontal videos last year. But with older viewers preferring couches over phones and TV ads paying significantly more than mobile ones, both platforms apparently think it's worth the hassle of striking deals with TV manufacturers and rethinking their entire video format.

STATISTIC
🎬 Subscription fatigue meets short attention span…

Simon-Kucher's recent Global Streaming Study 2025 hit 12,000 users across 11 countries and uncovered something streaming execs probably don't want to hear: their customers are getting restless.

• 88% of users are consuming the same or more streaming content compared to 2024—basically, everyone's still glued to their screens

• But 42% think they're spending way too much on streaming platforms

• 35% are planning to ditch at least one service within the next year

• 48% of those considering cancellations would stick around if cheaper, ad-supported options were available

• 37% globally say TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are eating into time they used to spend binge-watching Netflix and friends

The takeaway: People want all the content but none of the cost, and they're increasingly cool with trading premium series for 60-second TikTok videos. It's subscription fatigue meets short-form attention spans—a perfect storm for streaming giants to weather.

LAST LOOKS
Film Development 🗒️

• ‘The Odyssey’ recasts Cosmo Jarvis with Logan Marshall-Green due to scheduling conflicts ahead of Christopher Nolan’s shoot. (more)

• Chris Pratt will return to voice the lasagna-loving cat in a sequel to ‘The Garfield Movie.’ (more)

• Jon M. Chu will direct a live-action ‘Hot Wheels’ movie for Mattel, Warner Bros., and Bad Robot following his ‘Wicked’ success. (more)

• Theo Rossi will make his feature directorial debut with action-heist film ‘Shell Game,’ which he also co-wrote and will produce. (more)

• ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ remake adds Kenneth Branagh and Lily Gladstone alongside star-director Michael B. Jordan. (more)

• ‘Eruption’ from Michael Crichton and James Patterson is being adapted by Kaz and Ryan Firpo for Sony, following its bestseller debut. (more)

TV Development 📺

• Abigail Spencer joins ‘Best Medicine’ at Fox, starring opposite Josh Charles in the ‘Doc Martin’ adaptation. (more)

• ‘Vladimir’ adds John Slattery, Jessica Henwick, and Ellen Robertson as series regulars in Netflix’s Rachel Weisz-led thriller. (more)

• Tinx will co-write and executive produce a TV adaptation of her bestselling book ‘The Shift’ for Amazon, Kapital, and 3 Arts. (more)

• Regé-Jean Page will executive produce and is set to star in Apple’s ‘Funny You Should Ask’ series adaptation from Tomorrow Studios. (more)

• ‘Every Year After’ taps Amy B. Harris as new showrunner, replacing Leila Gerstein on Amazon’s adaptation of ‘Every Summer After.’ (more)

• FX greenlights workplace comedy pilot ‘Movers’ from the ‘Reno 911!’ team, starring Robert Ben Garant, Cathy Shim, and WWE’s Becky Lynch. (more)

• Tubi has picked up sci-fi comedy ‘Demascus,’ two years after it was pulled by AMC, with a premiere set for August 7. (more)

• ‘Grantchester’ will end with S11, concluding ITV and PBS’s long-running detective drama after a decade on air. (more)

• ‘Slow Horses’ is renewed for S7 at Apple. (more)

Business 🤝

• Paramount-Skydance merger enters a second 90-day extension, with FCC review ongoing and a new October deadline in place. (more)

• Niels Swinkels has been promoted to President of International Distribution at ‘Focus Features,’ expanding his role at Universal Pictures. (more)

Other News 🚨

• Trump Media has launched streaming platform ‘Truth+’ with Newsmax as its flagship channel, offering content globally. (more)

• Feed your curiosity & expand your knowledge by joining 4M+ Americans who start their day with 1440’s newsletter. (more)*

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