Netflix Has a New Contender for Most-Watched Show Ever
The hit new British series about a 13-year-old boy (Owen Cooper) who viciously murders his classmate has a lot of people talking—and watching. As TheWrap reports, Adolescence just knocked Ryan Murphy's Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story out of the number three spot on Netflix's list of most-watched (original) TV series of all time.It has been just over one month since the four-part drama arrived on Netflix on March 13, and it has already logged 124.2 million views. The only series standing in the way of Adolescence becoming the most-watched Netflix series ever are Stranger Things 4, which isn't too far ahead with just over 140 million views, and season 1 of Wednesday, which has been viewed a whopping 252.1 million times. Dahmer is now in fourth place, with 115.6 million views, while the first season of Bridgerton rounds out the top five with 113.3 million views.
Adolescence, which was co-created by star Stephen Graham and writer/playwright Jack Thorne (who is also behind Netflix's new Toxic Town), has done more than just become a TV hit—it's also igniting national debates about social media and toxic masculinity.
Shortly after the show dropped, it was mentioned in the House of Commons by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who watched it with his two children, and thought it should be used as a jumping off point for necessary changes by the Department of Education. That it's creating these conversations is thrilling to Thorne, who told The New York Times he would like to see social media banned for all children under the age of 16.
While Adolescence was planned as a one-season miniseries, its unexpected success has Graham and his wife/producing partner Hannah Walters (who also has a small part in the series) thinking about how they could expand the series into an anthology.
While Walters ruled out the idea of a prequel series, she remarked to Variety about how 'there's so much mileage in the one-shot and so much mileage in investing into human nature again and looking at something else.'
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TechCrunch
a minute ago
- TechCrunch
Pocket FM gives its writers an AI tool to transform narratives, write cliffhangers, and more
India-based audio series platform maker Pocket FM aims to be the Netflix of audio. That is, the company intends to match its audio series with hundreds of episodes to its users' tastes. For that to work, it needs to release content rapidly — something it's now turning to AI to help with. The Lightspeed-backed startup is giving its writers an AI tool set that can do things like suggest better endings to an episode or make the narrative more engaging. The hope is that the tools will speed up the storywriting process. Pocket FM already uses some AI tools like ElevenLabs to generate voices for audio series. It also tested AI tools for writing and adaptation assistance internally. Rohan Nayak, Pocket FM's founder, said it's rolling out the AI tools to all writers, so it will take them less time to finish their episodes. Image Credits: Pocket FM The writing tool, dubbed CoPilot, can be used to help any writer create a story. CoPilot can transform narrative-based writing into dialog-based writing for a specific segment. It can also do 'beat analysis' to shape the writing in a way to makes it more engaging for an audio series of a particular genre. The tool additionally has basic chatbot-style writing features such as 'shorten,' 'expand,' and the ability to generate text via a prompt. To build CoPilot, the company examined thousands of hours of data points to understand what makes users engage more with a particular storyline in a specific genre. Based on that, it added writing suggestion features designed to increase conflict between characters and recommend endings for an episode to make it more exciting. AI can also suggest tags for background effects that can be used while producing the audio. The tool can automatically generate bios of characters, their relationships, and summarize plot points of different episodes, allowing creators to refer back to these details while writing. CoPilot also has a review tool, which checks for plot points, grammar, and leaves qualitative feedback through comments on an episode. Under the hood, Pocket FM is training smaller models to maintain context for a story for character arcs and relations, along with narrative consistency. Plus, utilizing signals from users, the startup is nudging AI to add more drama to the story. International expansion and localization plans Alongside the arrival of the AI tools, Pocket FM launched adaptation tools for various markets that not only translate the text from one language to another but also change names and phrases that are more suited to that region's culture. The company first debuted this tool as a part of the CoPilot suite in Germany earlier this year to convert stories from other regions after reportedly struggling to engage users in the European country last year. Nayak said the company saw great results from this trial, with a constant increase in monthly in-app revenue, which crossed $700,000 in June. Image Credits: Pocket FM 'When we started expanding into new regions, it used to take us 12-18 months to meaningfully exist in that market. You have to have at least 1,000 hours of content to start acquiring users and scaling the market. Now we can do this in less than three months,' Nayak said. The tool increased writer productivity by up to 50% for the German market in terms of show output. Plus, the tool helped the company create more error-free drafts of the shows that resulted in higher user retention for audio series. In the U.S, series created with the help of these new AI tools are now contributing 10% of playtime. Plus, these shows have generated $7 million in revenue in the last 12 months while reducing the cost of production by 2-3 times. Building tech to scale content generation As a result of adopting different AI features internally, Pocket FM has been able to scale the content quickly. The startup said it launches close to 1,000 pilots per month. And just the sheer volume of content results in a few of them becoming hits. But the audio show is just one part. The company is already working on tools to convert stories into comic strips with its Pocket Toons platform. Plus, Nayak said video is a possible format the company could explore, too. The startup, which has raised over $196 million in funding across rounds, is experimenting with a micro drama app as well. Image Credits: Screenshot by TechCrunch By next year, Pocket FM wants to release its own singular large language model (LLM), which will be based on data collected from its shows and incorporate different tools like writing assistance, adoption, dramatization, and story context retention. The company said that when it switches to its own LLM, it won't need to train a ton of small models for separate features. AI's potential downsides Adopting AI has had its side effects. Pocket FM has already laid off people who were employees or contractors across multiple rounds in the last 12 months. There have also been reports of writers seeing diminished returns over time. And the company is facing lawsuits in California over employment and wage issues. 'Like most content-led industries, we work with a diverse network of writers, voice artists, and production partners on a project basis, tailoring resources to each market. AI has had minimal impact on our core creative community; instead, it has opened new avenues to expand reach and output,' a company rep said, in response to these layoffs. There are questions around quality, as well. The company measures quality by the retention numbers of a show. The base argument is that the new AI tools act as a writers' room even for solo creators, so they will be able to produce more content at a rapid rate. Plus, based on the numbers, writers can quickly edit the story with the help of AI. However, these tools can very well induce 'AI slop' — or low-quality, AI-generated content — into the platform and could impact a user's recommendations, making it difficult for them to discover good stories. Pocket FM argues that stories that have a solid structure will gain popularity, despite AI helping them. The company noted that every piece of content is reviewed by its AI-powered moderation framework to ensure quality and originality. It also claims its AI moderation checks for things like duplication, copyright issues, content health, and other quality measures before approving audio to go live. Each show receives and equal push, and user engagement ultimately determines a show's ranking. Another concern is that writers could become overly dependent on AI over time. In Germany, AI is writing more content than humans per show for select titles. With Pocket FM's plans to roll out more AI tools, the amount of AI-written content could increase. And with that, the expectation of churning out more shows could rise, too. Unless user adoption also rises rapidly, average returns could drop. The company didn't directly address TechCrunch's questions about returns, but said that its AI tools can speed up a writer's work and help them edit an episode based on numbers and audience feedback. That is they could make targeted improvements, instead of doing a full rewrite. 'This way, faster content creation doesn't necessarily dilute quality or relevance; it just shifts the writer's role towards editing, refining, and steering more productive output,' a spokesperson said in a statement.
Cosmopolitan
2 minutes ago
- Cosmopolitan
Materialists brings up the age old debate: 10 women on whether they actually care about a man's height
In Materialists, as Lucy (played by Dakota Johnson) sits across from Henry (Pedro Pascal) at an expensive restaurant, she explains to him why he's considered a 'unicorn' — in simple terms, a real, rare catch. What is it about Henry that makes him such an attractive prospect (well, apart from being played by Pascal, of course)? Well, as Lucy goes on to explain, he's handsome, rich, kind — and over 6ft tall. This summer's blockbuster, then, has reignited the age old debate: does men's height really matter in dating? Before we get into the debate, it's worth pointing out — as cheesy as this sounds — that no physical trait matters in dating nearly as much as compatibility, mutual respect, and finding a partner who makes you feel good and treats you well. Plus, despite what western beauty standards would like us to believe, there's no such thing as an ideal physicality. Still, while we all know that looks aren't everything when it comes to finding love, height does appear to be a real sticking point for many women looking to date men — to the extent that some men desperately go to extremes to gain an extra few inches (look up limb stretching, if you dare). A YouGov study from earlier this year found that 55% of women believe single people should be able to filter by height on dating apps (interestingly, 56% of men also agree on this point). Meanwhile, there are numerous research papers which suggest women generally prefer a significant height difference between them and male partners — this is likely down to evolutionary factors, such as taller men being able to protect and provide better than competitors, as well as sociocultural reasons, where we've been socialised into believing being small and petite is the same as being feminine. But in more recent years, being 6ft or taller is being touted as 'the benchmark' for attractive men. A former product manager from Bumble claimed that most women set their lower height limit for men at 6ft, which would wipe out around 85% of men in the UK (the average height of a British man is thought to be 5ft 9). A perfunctory look on TikTok merely confirms preference for especially taller guys; there are 141.9 million posts tagged '6 Foot Guy' (and who could forget last summer, when we were all looking for 6ft 5 man in finance?) Ofc, there are some notable exceptions of famously statuesque women dating men who are shorter than them — Zendaya and Tom Holland, Erin Darke and Daniel Radcliffe, and Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, to name just a few — but do women really want their male partners to measure up to size in the year of 2025? Or is it just a big old myth? Cosmopolitan UK asked 10 women for their thoughts on dating shorter men — and, as expected, the responses are pretty varied. 'My ex was the same height as me, 5ft 7. It didn't bother me at all. I tend to date shorter guys anyway, and I have no idea why. I guess I'm just attracted to them. I loved hugging him because I could put my arms around his shoulders and our bodies just almost became one. Honestly after a while I didn't even notice it anymore' — MissyTX via Reddit 'I am 5ft 7 and my boyfriend is 5ft 5 on a good day. I've never been big on height but, I will admit, on the first date it took some getting used to. We've honestly never even talked about it and I've gotten used to it and don't even think about it anymore." — Jenneapolis via Reddit 'I dated someone who said they were my height (5ft 5), and really the only person who found it an issue was him because he kept making jokes about how short he was and it made me want to cry.' — Katie* 'I'm 5ft 2 and I probably wouldn't want to date someone shorter than me, but that would be very short for a man I guess. I actually didn't really like dating men over 6ft when I was dating because I find standing really close to a really tall person kind of intimidating, and it makes me feel inferior. My ideal height in a partner would probably be around 5ft 10, but it wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me.' — Beth* 'My boyfriend is shorter than me, he's 5ft 9. At the beginning of our relationship it did cause some problems (I walk fast[er than him]; holding hands while walking was kinda awkward when I wore heels), but we've figured all that out rather quickly. He's fantastic and I'm lucky to have him in my life.' — Kotacoette via Reddit 'As a 5ft 9 girlie, I would always date someone taller than me. It's mainly because of my own body insecurities that I'd want my partner to be taller, but that doesn't mean they have to be 6ft 4 — just at least an inch or two taller than me. Also think it's very selfish when super short girls date super tall guys, save some for the rest of us' — Marianne* 'Being short is an absolute deal breaker. I dated a guy that was 5ft 5, and he had short man syndrome. Never again. I'm tall and felt like a giant too.' — Send_Me_An_Angel via Reddit 'I've dated across the height spectrum and think it's all about confidence/how you wear that height. If a man can own his height, whatever it is, then that's attractive. Kendrick Lamar is 5ft 6, and could you imagine him turning up to a date and being like, 'Omg sorry I'm so short, hate my life'? Also I literally threw my neck out a couple of months ago kissing my boyfriend — who is 6ft 2 — goodbye, and literally needed physio. Sometimes there's a thing as too tall' — Jenni 'I'm 5ft 3, so I've never cared about height. My husband happens to be 6ft 3 though, but I didn't actively care whether I was with someone over 6ft… I promise!' — Clare* 'Dear Short Kings, I simply could not. I'm 5ft7 — not exactly giraffe-level, but not a height which screams damsel in distress either. If I dated someone shorter, I'd feel like a Viking Shieldmaiden preparing for battle, not a dainty delicate flower from an Austen novel. I strictly swipe right on 6ft over.' — Marie* So, there you have it. Just like with any trait in dating, some women care about height and others don't. Perhaps fitness blogger Zanna van Dijk summarises the issue best. Taking to Instagram in June this year, she wrote: 'I'm 6ft 2, my husband is shorter than me, and we met on a dating app. When I was younger, society told me that I had to date men taller than me. So if the height filter had existed back then, we probably wouldn't have matched. And that blows my mind. Because this relationship has taught me height doesn't dictate compatibility. It doesn't make someone kind. Or funny. Or supportive. Or a great life partner.' And of course, this is the point at the very heart of Materialists. The film suggests that the 'Tinderfied' nature of dating, which prioritises superficial qualities such as wealth and looks — for any gender — shouldn't supersede genuine, authentic connections. Regardless of whatever we consider our 'type' to be, it's always important to remain open-minded; the rigidity of searching for a certain type of person — seeing them not as a whole person, but as a list of attributes — may see us lose out on finding a truly happy relationship. Besides, when it comes to height, it really doesn't matter — we're all the same height lying down, after all. *Names have been changed Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper's Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.
CNN
16 minutes ago
- CNN
Sha'Carri Richardson addresses domestic violence incident
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