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Forbes
21-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Digital Transformation At Sea: Carnival's DXC Technology Alliance
AVALON, CA - MAY 19: General views of the Carnival Radiance cruise ship at Avalon harbor on May 19, ... More 2023 in Avalon, California. (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) When Carnival Cruise Line embarked on modernizing the technology foundation behind its global fleet and operations, the company did what many others are increasingly doing: it partnered with a global systems integrator with deep expertise in complex IT environments. The company entered a multi-year 'strategic relationship' with DXC Technology, a Fortune 500 GSI, to fully manage and modernize its core IT infrastructure. The deal, however, goes beyond the boundaries of a traditional outsourcing arrangement. In partnering with a GSI, Carnival sets an example for how large enterprises can accelerate modernization, improve customer experience, and streamline operations through strategic, outcome-driven partnerships. Carnival's approach is also a compelling example of how GSIs have become central to the digital strategies of experience-driven industries. Technical Modernization: Building a Resilient Digital Core The partnership between DXC and Carnival Cruise Line addresses three interconnected challenges: operational complexity, technology fragmentation, and workforce enablement. With 29 ships operating globally, plus port facilities, regional offices, and a distributed workforce exceeding 50,000, Carnival requires IT systems that maintain global coordination while remaining locally responsive. DXC will manage Carnival's core IT infrastructure across shipboard, shoreside, and port operations through several key services: From Outsourcing to Co-Innovation Traditional outsourcing agreements are transactional. Companies often transfer commoditized IT functions to external vendors, typically as part of a cost-saving initiative. The challenge, however, is that these arrangements often bind both parties to inflexible service-level agreements with limited potential for innovation. Carnival is taking a more modern approach with its partnership with DXC. The alliance is characterized by shared accountability for outcomes, co-investment in modernization roadmaps, and end-to-end integration where partners manage everything from infrastructure to employee experience. Sean Kenny, SVP and CIO at Carnival Cruise Line, when asked why his team chose DXC, said, "They answered all the hard questions." And, in a shipboard environment, the questions are rarely easy. There's no room for failure at sea, a fact that forced Carnival's IT teams to adopt a maritime mentality. Mr. Kenny shared, for example, that, much like every other critical system on a ship, each of Carnival's 29 ships maintains two identical fault-tolerant data centers – each data center comprised of 30 racks of IT equipment. Enterprise sectors facing legacy infrastructure burdens and regulatory complexity can learn from this approach. Strategic partnerships enable organizations to accelerate transformation while maintaining operational control and mitigating risk. DXC's Competitive Fit The IT services market is highly competitive, with large players including Accenture, NTT DATA, Infosys, Capgemini, and IBM competing for large-scale transformation engagements. While GSIs like Accenture and Infosys excel in digital consulting and application modernization, DXC has established expertise in managing mission-critical infrastructure at scale. DXC's focus on operational resilience and sector-specific delivery provides competitive advantages in high-complexity environments such as travel, logistics, and regulated industries. Chris Drumgoole, President of DXC Global Infrastructure Solutions, told me that DXC has an affinity for mission-critical environments. He said that DXC "runs the boring stuff, the systems you don't think about but that can't fail." The Future of Enterprise IT Partnerships The Carnival-DXC partnership provides other organizations with a roadmap for modern IT transformation. In an environment where digital performance underpins brand experience, customer trust, and business resilience, companies across industries must fundamentally rethink their approach to technology partnerships. The lesson for enterprise leaders is clear: major digital transformations can no longer succeed through piecemeal outsourcing or isolated projects. Success depends on identifying partners who deeply understand business requirements, manage complexity at scale, and deliver outcomes aligned with long-term strategic goals. Carnival's strategic alignment with DXC demonstrates what modern IT partnerships deliver in practice: deep integration, shared objectives, and commitment to operational excellence. It demonstrates the value of partnering with a global system integrator that understands your industry. For sectors facing similar pressures, Carnival offers a practical model for leveraging IT modernization to gain a competitive advantage, while also showing how GSI partnerships drive growth. Disclosure: Steve McDowell is an industry analyst, and NAND Research is an industry analyst firm, that engages in, or has engaged in, research, analysis and advisory services with many technology companies, but has no business relationship or financial interest with any company mentioned in this article. No company mentioned was involved in the writing of this article.
Newsweek
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Baseball Team Sues Disney For Trademark Infringement
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Portland Pickles, an amateur summer-league team for collegiate baseball players, might not make a lot of noise in their 17-team league this season. They've already made noise in court. More news: Viral Clip Shows Pope Leo XIV On Camera During the 2005 World Series In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Pickles accused Disney of violating trademark law by appropriating their mascot, logo, and merchandise design in an animated series, Win or Lose, on Disney+. The series centers around a fictitious co-ed softball team named "The Pickles." General views of Walt Disney Studios and The Walt Disney Company corporate headquarters on December 13, 2023 in Burbank, California. General views of Walt Disney Studios and The Walt Disney Company corporate headquarters on December 13, 2023 in Burbank, California. AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of Oregon and provided to Newsweek Sports, names The Walt Disney Company and Disney Enterprises, Inc. as defendants. More news: Upset Red Sox Star Unloads on Executive "As explained in the lawsuit recently filed against Disney, the Portland Pickles are taking action to eliminate confusion in the marketplace caused by unauthorized use of our trademarked logos on merchandise," the team said in a statement. "Fueled by incredible support from our fans and community members from all walks of life, we felt we had no choice but to protect our rights—not just for ourselves, but on behalf of the little guy. We may not have limitless resources, but we have something equally powerful: an unwavering belief in defending what we've created and a determination to prevent our creative marks from being exploited without consequence." Win or Lose is Pixar's first-ever original long-form animated series. It follows the Pickles, a co-ed middle school softball team, throughout the week as they prepare for their upcoming championship game. More news: Disney Introduces Christian Character After Ditching Transgender Story Each episode focuses on a different character and their life off the field. The series premiered on Disney+ on February 19. The Portland Pickles' 18-page lawsuit accuses Disney of "leveraging their outsized market power to appropriate a brand identity with a decade of goodwill and fan devotion behind it." More news: Pitcher Plays Catch With Fan in New York's Central Park Attorneys for the team are seeking unspecified damages and a judge's order banning Disney from using their name in the show or on merchandise. Disney has licensed the logo for the Peaks Valley Pickles of Win or Lose fame on T-shirts that feature a smiling green pickle logo. The plaintiff in the case is Rose City Baseball LLC, the operator of the Portland Pickles. For more sports news, visit Newsweek Sports.
Forbes
18-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Netflix Earnings: Ads Could Continue Growth After Exceeding Expectations
(Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) Netflix is 'off to a good start in 2025," the company said in its first-quarter earnings release on Thursday afternoon. Indeed, revenue was up 13%, and operating income up 27%, both ahead of the company's typically conservative guidance thanks to 'slightly higher' subscription and ad revenues, and the timing of expenses. But it's Netflix's still-nascent ad operation that will drive growth going forward, especially if the economic climate in the United States and beyond worsens amid ongoing trade, tariff and other uncertainties. Tucked into the investor letter that accompanied the earnings call was perhaps the most important news affecting growth: the April 1 launch of Netflix's own in-house ad-tech platform, the latest big step since the company announced after a disastrous earnings call three years ago that it would crack down on password sharing and launch an ad-supported tier. The password crackdown is largely in place globally now, and credited by analysts for driving the previous quarter's astonishing addition of 19 million subscribers, taking the company to 301 million total. But Netflix executives said that would be its last quarter to regularly release subscriber adds, preferring to focus on measures of revenue, profit, reach and engagement. Along the way, Netflix has been developing an ad-based tier and the ad-targeting and -serving technologies needed to run it. That launch, so far, is only in the U.S. and Canada markets, the company's biggest. Co-CEO Greg Peters said the tech will roll out in 10 more major markets in coming months. 'It was a big milestone to roll out our own ad suite,' Peters said during the earnings call in response to a question. 'We're still in the middle of that. The United States and Canada rollouts have gone well. We're continuing to operate based on the feedback we're getting.' The company started with ad technology from Microsoft, and continues to work with various providers in other markets. Peters said going in-house will give advertisers more flexibility and ease of use, in turn driving more ad sales. Further enhancements are planned to improve programmatic-ad availability, along with enhanced targeting and more data sources. Not incidentally, Peters said it should create a better, more relevant ad experience for viewers on the ad tier. 'We're just getting started,' he said. 'We have many years of work ahead of us, but we have a clear road map.' Mark Douglas, the CEO of Los Angeles-based ad-tech company MNTN, told CNBC before earnings were released that Netflix has said internally that it is targeting $9 billion in advertising revenue by 2030. That's both a huge jump for Netflix, but far less than the vast sums collected by Google and its YouTube subsidiary, Meta's social-media outlets, or even Amazon's e-commerce-fueled ads that were goosed last year when it converted all Prime Video subscribers to an ad-supported tier. But it represents a hefty jump from Netflix's first couple of years of ad-supported operations, and will require a big expansion in that low-cost, but highly profitable tier, Douglas said. 'It's like a backlog of (unrealized) revenue they can tap into' to drive future growth, Douglas said. He likened it to the bonanza of new subscribers the company was able to generate, capped by Q4's 19 million adds, after it cracked down globally on password sharing. The company reported $10.5 billion in revenue for the quarter, operating profit of $3.3 billion, and an operating margin of 31.7%, well above annual levels of the past three years. Revenue growth in the U.S./Canada market dropped to 9%, from last quarter's 15%, but executives attributed some of that to a mismatch on when expenses and programming are arriving. Wall Street generally welcomed the results, sending shares about $1,000, up more than 3%, in after-hours trading. In the Netflix investor newsletter, the company said 'Our ads plan allows us to offer lower price points for consumers while creating an additional revenue and profit stream for our business. We continue to make progress building our ads business. We remain on track to reach sufficient scale with our member base in all ads countries in 2025, and we expect to continue to grow our ads membership from this strong base in the future.' Once advertising is more fully built out, it should be more lucrative than straight subscription-based tiers, because revenue grows larger as more people watch for longer periods, Douglas said. With subscription-only tiers, more viewership actually costs more to operate in the streaming world, reducing profits. Peters said he was unsure he'd characterize the ad-tech buildout as 'completely solved, but we do have an ambition to achieve the same level of recommendations on the ad side as we provide on the program side. We're literally just beginning to get that going." Targeting based on demographic slices such as a viewer's 'life stage,' interests, or viewing mood are starting to be incorporated into the targeting that brands will be able to choose, with more of that capability available in 2026, and in more countries, with 'more measurement functionality," Peters said. And though Netflix is not routinely releasing quarterly subscriber adds any more, Douglas said the company has signaled it will note various goalposts. He predicted, when pressed by a CNBC host, that Netflix would crest (and likely announce) that it had 350 million subscribers 'within 12 months.' During an economic downturn, as may be looming amid tariff uncertainty, Netflix executives said they expected the company will be well positioned as perhaps the last entertainment service most subscribers would cut if they had to scrimp. 'Engagement remains strong and healthy,' Peters said. 'Things generally look strong from that lens. Entertainment has generally been pretty resilient during tougher times. Netflix has also been resilient, though over a shorter history.' Meanwhile, though the company is closely watching the burgeoning video-based podcast sector, and already has launch many of its own for marketing and promotion purposes, executives said the company is less concerned about YouTube's ocean of user-generated shows, than it is about carving a larger portion of viewership from the 80% percent of watch time that neither Netflix or YouTube already command. 'We still have hundreds of millions of folks to sign up,' Peters said. 'We believe we have plenty of room to grow our engagement, our revenue, and our profit.' Indeed, company executives believe they're pretty good position even if other countries try to levy stout penalties in response to U.S. tariff threats. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said Netflix produces content in 50 countries and 'is a net contributor to many of those countries," helping export local stories and cultures around the world and even driving tourism. 'We believe we're additive to local economies,' Sarandos said. The company has made massive investments in production centers, particularly in the United Kingdom, Mexico, and South Korea. Four hits released in the quarter broke into various Netflix lists of its all-time most-popular shows, including the harrowing limited series Adolescence, from the United Kingdom, and three features, Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz spy thriller Back in Action, French thriller Ad Vitam with Guillaume Canet and Mexican anti-cartel action film Counterattack.
Forbes
17-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
It's An Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World For Netflix After Password Crackdown
(Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) Netflix is 'off to a good start in 2025," the company said in its first-quarter earnings release on Thursday afternoon. Indeed, revenue was up 13%, and operating income up 27%, both ahead of the company's typically conservative guidance thanks to 'slightly higher' subscription and ad revenues, and the timing of expenses. But it's Netflix's still-nascent ad operation that will drive growth going forward, especially if the economic climate in the United States and beyond worsens amid ongoing trade, tariff and other uncertainties. Tucked into the investor letter that accompanied today's earnings call was perhaps the most important news affecting growth, the April 1 launch of Netflix's own in-house ad-tech platform, the latest big step since the company announced after a disastrous earnings call three years ago that it would crack down on password sharing and launch an ad-supported tier. The password crackdown is largely in place globally now, and credited by analysts for driving the previous quarter's astonishing addition of 19 million subscribers, taking the company to 301 million total. But Netflix executives said that would be its last quarter to regularly release subscriber adds, preferring to focus on measures of revenue, profit, reach and engagement. Along the way, Netflix has been developing an ad-based tier and the ad-targeting and -serving technologies needed to run it. That launch, so far, is only in the U.S. and Canada markets, the company's biggest. Co-CEO Greg Peters said the tech will roll out in 10 more major markets in coming months. 'It was a big milestone to roll out our own ad suite,' Peters said during the earnings call in response to a question. 'We're still in the middle of that. The United States and Canada rollouts have gone well. We're continuing to operate based on the feedback we're getting.' The company started with ad technology from Microsoft, and continues to work with various providers in other markets. Peters said going in-house will give advertisers more flexibility and ease of use, in turn driving more ad sales. Further enhancements are planned to improve programmatic-ad availability, along with enhanced targeting and more data sources. Not incidentally, Peters said it should create a better, more relevant ad experience for viewers on the ad tier. 'We're just getting started,' Peters said. 'We have many years of work ahead of us, but we have a clear road map.' Mark Douglas, the CEO of Los Angeles-based ad-tech company MNTN, told CNBC before earnings were released that Netflix has said internally that it is targeting $9 billion in advertising revenue by 2030. That's both a huge jump for Netflix, but far less than the vast sums collected by Google and its YouTube subsidiary, Meta's social-media outlets, or even Amazon's e-commerce-fueled ads that were goosed last year when it converted all Prime Video subscribers to an ad-supported tier. But it represents a hefty jump from Netflix's first couple of years of ad-supported operations, and will require a big expansion in that low-cost, but highly profitable tier, Douglas said. 'It's like a backlog of (unrealized) revenue they can tap into' to drive future growth, Douglas said. He likened it to the bonanza of new subscribers the company was able to generate, capped by Q4's 19 million adds, after it cracked down globally on password sharing. The company reported $10.5 billion in revenue for the quarter, operating profit of $3.3 billion, and an operating margin of 31.7%, well above annual levels of the past three years. Revenue growth in the U.S./Canada market dropped to 9%, from last quarter's 15%, but executives attributed some of that to a mismatch on when expenses and programming are arriving. Wall Street generally welcomed the results, sending shares about $1,000, up more than 3%, in after-hours trading. In the Netflix investor newsletter, the company said 'Our ads plan allows us to offer lower price points for consumers while creating an additional revenue and profit stream for our business. We continue to make progress building our ads business. We remain on track to reach sufficient scale with our member base in all ads countries in 2025, and we expect to continue to grow our ads membership from this strong base in the future.' Once advertising is more fully built out, it should be more lucrative than straight subscription-based tiers, because revenue grows larger as more people watch for longer periods, Douglas said. With subscription-only tiers, more viewership actually costs more to operate in the streaming world, reducing profits. Peters said he was unsure he'd characterize the ad-tech buildout as 'completely solved, but we do have an ambition to achieve the same level of recommendations on the ad side as we provide on the program side. We're literally just beginning to get that going." Targeting based on demographic slices such as a viewer's 'life stage,' interests, or viewing mood are starting to be incorporated into the targeting that brands will be able to choose, with more of that capability available in 2026, and in more countries, with 'more measurement functionality," Peters said. And though Netflix is not routinely releasing quarterly subscriber adds any more, Douglas said the company has signaled it will note various goalposts. He predicted, when pressed by a CNBC host, that Netflix would crest (and likely announce) that it had 350 million subscribers 'within 12 months.' During an economic downturn, as may be looming amid tariff uncertainty, Netflix executives said they expected the company will be well positioned as perhaps the last entertainment service most subscribers would cut if they had to scrimp. 'Engagement remains strong and healthy,' Peters said. 'Things generally look strong from that lens. Entertainment has generally been pretty resilient during tougher times. Netflix has also been resilient, though over a shorter history.' Meanwhile, though the company is closely watching the burgeoning video-based podcast sector, and already has launch many of its own for marketing and promotion purposes, executives said the company is less concerned about YouTube's ocean of user-generated shows, than it is about carving a larger portion of viewership from the 80% percent of watch time that neither Netflix or YouTube already command. 'We still have hundreds of millions of folks to sign up,' Peters said. 'We believe we have plenty of room to grow our engagement, our revenue, and our profit.' Indeed, company executives believe they're pretty good position even if other countries try to levy stout penalties in response to U.S. tariff threats. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said Netflix produces content in 50 countries and 'is a net contributor to many of those countries," helping export local stories and cultures around the world and even driving tourism. 'We believe we're additive to local economies,' Sarandos said. The company has made massive investments in production centers, particularly in the United Kingdom, Mexico, and South Korea. Four hits released in the quarter broke into various Netflix lists of its all-time most-popular shows, including the harrowing limited series Adolescence, from the United Kingdom, and three features, Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz spy thriller Back in Action, French thriller Ad Vitam with Guillaume Canet, and Mexican anti-cartel action film Counterattack.
Forbes
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Why Females Liked The Minecraft Video Game More Than The Movie
HOLLYWOOD, CA - APRIL 04: General view of the 'Minecraft' skyscraper billboard campaign at Hollywood ... More & Highland on April 04, 2025 in Hollywood, California. The movie has become the top grossing film so far this year, (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) A Minecraft Movie, released by Warner Bros has given the film industry a much needed boost. Released on April 4, in its first ten days, the film has grossed nearly $280 million domestically and overall, $550 million worldwide. Based upon the video game launched in 2011, the film has already surpassed Captain America: Brave New World as the top grossing film so far this year. Citing data from Comscore, Variety reported that prior to the release of Minecraft, domestic box office sales had been sluggish with box office down by almost 11% 2024 and by 40% from the pre-pandemic year of 2019. With the success of A Minecraft Movie two weekends in, this year's box office is now running about even with last year. The film has also grossed nearly $40 million in the UK/Ireland and $20.3 million in China. With a trade war between China and the U.S., A Minecraft Movie could be the last Hollywood film released in China for the time being. Diesel Labs, an AI data analytics company, evaluated social and video media behaviors from consumers (with heavy focus on unsolicited comments, a strong performance predictor), and compared the engagement levels with other previously released video game film adaptations. These included Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Borderlands, and Until Dawn, a film scheduled for release on April 25. Among the comparison set, Super Mario Bros. was the top grossing thus far. The data found that A Minecraft Movie had, overall, a similar engagement level with The Super Mario Bros movie and had outperformed the other films. Similar to Minecraft, Super Mario Bros was also released in early April (2023). In their domestic opening weekends Super Mario Bros generated $146 million in ticket sales, compared to $163 million for Minecraft. Super Mario Bros wound up grossing $575 million domestically and $1.36 billion globally, ranking second domestically and globally to Barbie in 2023. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder In looking at the findings by gender, Diesel Labs found A Minecraft Movie had a similar gender break as both the Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movies with one-third of the audience female. When looking at gaming, the gender split for recent Super Mario Bros game releases was comparable to that of its feature film. Conversely, however, for Minecraft the audience profile for females was noticeably higher for gaming (45%) than for the movie (34%). In analyzing the commentary from the Minecraft movie trailer Diesel Labs found; Male audiences discussed topics such as;Excitement & Humor: Many male commenters expressed excitement and found aspects of the trailer humorous. References to scenes and elements like Villagers and Elytra were often made in a light-hearted manner. Nostalgia for the game also emerged as a significant theme. • Critical Evaluation: There was a significant portion of male commenters evaluating the trailer critically, focusing on its fidelity to the game, particularly regarding graphics and storyline accuracy. While female audiences leaned more toward; • Aesthetic Appreciation and Excitement: Female commentators often focused on the aesthetics and the 'cute' or 'adorable' elements, expressing excitement over the game's visual representation in the movie, particularly when it comes to characters like pandas and baby zombies. • Positive Anticipation: There was an eager anticipation for the movie, with many expressing the hope that it would live up to or surpass expectations set by previous trailers. And finally, audience members who are also Minecraft players touched on; • True-to-game Elements: Players express a strong emotional connection to the Minecraft movie, particularly appreciating the tribute to Technoblade, a beloved Minecraft content creator. This tribute resonates deeply with the community, evoking feelings of nostalgia and appreciation. • Easter Eggs and Game References: Elements such as crafting, mobs, and specific game mechanics like the "chicken jockey" scene are discussed. Players enjoy identifying references to the game within the movie, such as the inclusion of Piglins and other in-game entities. There was also a notable difference in commentary after the releases of the two trailers. The first trailer released on September 4, 2024 referenced A Minecraft Movie as a 'Hollywood Cash Grab' bereft of creativity and uniqueness compared to the game. Also, many players expressed dissatisfaction with the trailer's lack of authenticity to the original game. Reactions to the first trailer skewed very negative vs expected levels. However, feedback from the second trailer released on November 19, 2024 was slightly more encouraging, with an appreciation of the Minecraft music and other small details (characters, scenes, etc.) that were represented. While some concerns remained on the quality of the CGI used and storyline, the reactions overall skewed less negative than after the first trailer. When looking at age breaks; Gen Alpha (under 18) were least critical and were excited about the film despite the perceived flaws. Older demographics were more critical about the apparent shortfalls and reduction in original. One consistent theme after both trailers was that audiences expressed a desire for the movie to have been animated versus live-action. Among the takeaways Diesel Labs found that some trailers should highlight more of the film's aspects that would be more appealing and engaging to females. The CEO of Diesel Labs, Anjali Midha, shared that, 'this case study highlighted a unique demographic disconnect between those who are players and those who are expressing that they saw the film. There's an opportunity over these next few weeks to subtly adjust the marketing plan to better target female film-goers and draw them back into the conversation.' In addition, the use of YouTube for post release and capturing the TikTok trends around the film and for others to view, similar to the trends exhibited around Minions.
