Madelyn (00:05)
Hello and welcome to the Unscripted Files. This is our Monday mini-sode full of industry news with Emily Wilson. Welcome, Emily. Absolutely. Let's start off. the Paramount Warner Brothers merger. It looks like 10 different states, attorneys generals have drafted a lawsuit opposing the merger. Just...

Emily Wilson (00:11)
Thank you for having me.

Madelyn (00:27)
According to a Paramount spokesperson,

Opposing this deal means opposing expanded consumer choice, new opportunities for creators and workers, and greater competition throughout the creative ecosystem, the opposite of what antitrust law is meant to achieve. It also means giving entrenched incumbents like Netflix an advantage they do not deserve. We will continue to fight against any attempt to derail a deal that plainly benefits consumers, creators, and the industry as a whole. Obviously, those drafting this lawsuit and so many others who oppose this

deal do not feel that way and feel like this is in direct violation to antitrust law. of course we will continue to stay updated. What's next on the Dock and Emily?

Emily Wilson (01:12)
We have quite a few podcast stories this week, some coming out of A &E Global Media, who has announced a podcast adaption of the first 48 and five further unscripted series, such as History's Greatest Mysteries, Modern Marvels, The Unbelievable Celebrity Ghost Stories, and The Unexplained.

Madelyn (01:33)
no surprise that, know, A &E, who's built some of the most iconic franchises in true crime and in history, is getting into this space. They have such great proven IP in this area. you know, and a very audacious slate as well, launching six different series into this particular medium. History Channel, also in the podcast game. History Channel and the Obama's Higher Ground debuted Malcolm Gladwell's Reconstruction podcast for Audible.

But really wonderful to see Higher Ground continue to push into this space. They have many other podcasts that are very successful. this project looks like it's part of History Channel's History Honors 250 campaign honoring the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Emily Wilson (02:12)
were just telling me about something called updating, which I had never heard of, surprisingly, and they have just set some new US tour dates. And the viewership of this is staggering, considering it's primarily a live format.

Madelyn (02:27)
Yeah, it's really interesting, our ecosystem right now, social, vertical, digital, live. Updating is a really, really popular social media dating show, viral phenomenon. Over five billion total views, more than six million followers across its platform. It's essentially a live dating show where people get up on stools, they have blindfolds, they talk, they chat about their type, then they say the name of the person they

like and you know like I was saying this is this is live this is this is a comedy show that's getting tour dates but they're filming it and it's becoming one of the most you know frankly popular digital dating shows there are and I just think as we see more rise of preference for vertical for digital for YouTube we're going to start seeing a lot of these live formats being preferential to be highly

formatted and produced dating shows that we're seeing on Netflix. just an interesting medium, I think, for producers to continuously keep up with and to look at as I think a lot of this IP is going to continue to become, like I said, our next favorite dating show.

Emily Wilson (03:37)
for sure. think it's quite similar to something we've had in the UK called Blind Date, which is a 1980s show. And I think for over a year now, it's been in the talks of making its resurrection and coming back. And only in the past couple of days, there seems to be closer to confirmed tabloid rumors about Maura Higgins maybe being the new filler black and that show appearing on Disney+. So

I mean, studio dating formats, whether they're live or pre-recorded, it's interesting how everyone seems to be leaning into them.

Madelyn (04:13)
Absolutely and speaking of dating shows I was just

talking about Love Island, has premiered this week. Both UK and USA are out. Of course USA is on Peacock. I believe that they had very, very close to one billion viewers last summer and are expecting the same this summer. But it was just reported that Peacock finally turned a profit after six years they just turned a profit in Q2.

So, you know, hopefully can continue to be much more successful with a couple of these franchises.

Emily Wilson (04:43)
I'm sure the Love Island results over there are quite staggering. It was a massive conversation at Met London six months ago. So no doubt that that will continue with the spark of the new season.

Madelyn (04:56)
I, 9 p.m. every night, I am tuned in and I watch UK in the morning when it drops. So I am all over it. But, you know, I think a beginning of a huge validation for that platform that has been successful for the past few years pulled incredible numbers and, nice to hear that they're finally feeling promising.

Emily Wilson (05:13)
The tritus must be helpful with that

The tritus would be helpful with that as well.

Madelyn (05:17)
Yeah, 100%, absolutely. Some news on Disney +, a new series with two pretty big US celebrities. Can you tell me about this latest adventure show at Disney+.

Emily Wilson (05:28)
Yeah,

so Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds are co-owners of a sale Grand Prix or sale GP team. So maximum effort has been greenlit for a documentary about Bond's flying rooves for Disney Plus, which I guess is almost a drive to survive style Docker series take on the sale Grand Prix. And it will be interesting to see whether that same kind of

fan-built demand that has come from Tribe Survive F1 will follow the sale Grand Prix as well.

Madelyn (06:01)
it is going to be interesting to see if this sport translates to these audiences. But with two, with what, Deadpool and Wolverine at the helm, certainly there will be some help there. So, Disney Plus, I feel like this fits really nicely into their portfolio. I feel like they're focused on adventure and

Going beyond your limits really as their mandate like this makes a lot of sense I think for them so yeah looking forward to that and the high stakes of sailing Grand Prix which I admittedly did not know existed so ⁓ Well before we wrap up

some really interesting data just came out. YouTube is, listen, it's all anyone is talking about. They just held their own up fronts not long ago. But some really interesting data just came out about the average number of minutes that users spend on YouTube versus Netflix. Can you talk to me more about this?

Emily Wilson (07:01)
Everyone says that YouTube is the new TV and daily usage per YouTube account rose from 87 minutes to 99 minutes and the figure for Netflix dropped from 100 minutes to 93 minutes. So we are seeing Netflix underneath YouTube.

Madelyn (07:20)
This is what an interesting time and entertainment. So there was a new horror movie that has come out recently. It was made for $750,000. I believe it's going to surpass $250 million at the box office. Independent film from a director who was posting his work and his shorts on YouTube. And I think that that model of

the gatekeeping and waiting for the execs to give you the green flags and just having creatives be able to put their work out there. I think we're seeing this desire and the hunger for this across scripted, unscripted. ⁓ And so it's really fascinating to hear these numbers when it comes to YouTube. And I think, like everyone's saying, we are in the creator era. So I think this is incredibly exciting and

Hope that we will continue to see a trend in this direction. So tell me what you're watching lately. I know we said you're not watching any Love Island or any other shows that you're really into.

Emily Wilson (08:17)
I mean maybe I should be watching Love Island.

Madelyn (08:20)
You

I think you should watch UK because it is the OG. just, it is so good. USA is great. but for someone who's never watched it, just getting into it, I always recommend UK. So maybe next time we speak, you can let me know if you've dipped your toes in and we can talk more about it.

Okay, well thank you so much, Emily, for joining As always, you can follow Emily on LinkedIn, where she posts unscripted industry news every single Friday. Or you can subscribe to her sub stack, Unscripted TV News, and she will send it directly to your inbox. Thanks so much, Emily. I'll see you next time.