Latest news with #TheSidemen
Business Insider
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
Netflix is quietly searching for an exec to lead its video podcast efforts as it chases YouTube
Netflix is quietly searching for an exec to lead its video podcast efforts. The streamer is chasing YouTube, which has cemented itself as a video podcast titan. Podcast listening and advertising are on the rise, and media giants are investing. Netflix is quietly searching for a podcast leader as it looks to bring video pods onto the streaming platform, two people close to the company told Business Insider. Netflix had previously explored potential deals with podcasters as it sought new areas of growth, as BI first reported. The hunt for an exec to lead a video podcasting effort shows how seriously Netflix is taking the space. The streamer's interest comes as rival YouTube has cemented itself as a living-room fixture and video podcasting powerhouse. Netflix has also shown interest in creator content more broadly. "We're really excited about 'The Sidemen' and 'Pop the Balloon' and a wide variety of creators and video podcasters that might be a good fit for us, and particularly if they're doing great work and looking for different ways to connect with audiences," co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on the company's second-quarter earnings call this month. "The Sidemen" and "Pop the Balloon" are two Netflix shows that began in the creator realm. Netflix has not publicized a podcast lead job opening and declined to comment for this story. One person who had conversations with Netflix said the company wanted someone who could make video-first podcasts for a big audience. Many of today's biggest podcasts started as audio-only endeavors and later added video as audience habits changed and YouTube gained prominence. The lines between video talk shows and podcasts have increasingly blurred, and newer podcasts often now start with video in mind. It's not clear where the podcast role would sit inside Netflix. A second person who had conversations with the company said they believed it would sit in Netflix's TV and film licensing arm under Lori Conkling rather than the original content side. That could signal that Netflix might look to license existing shows, as it's done with some YouTube creators like preschool entertainer Ms. Rachel, as well as make original shows with hosts. Separate content-side hires could follow. Edison Research has charted the continued rise of podcast listening. In a new report out this week, the firm said 73% of people ages 12 and over in the US listen to or watch podcasts, up from 55% in 2020. Video is on the rise, too, with 51% of people 12 and up saying they've watched a podcast, according to Edison. Podcast advertising grew 26.4% to $2.4 billion in 2024, according to the IAB. EMARKETER projects it will top $2.5 billion in 2025. Other media heavyweights have made big moves to chase the podcast-listening audience and the advertising that can come with it. In February, Fox acquired Red Seat Ventures, which produces Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and others. Amazon paid $300 million for podcast company Wondery in 2020, The New York Times reported at the time, after snapping up audiobook company Audible in 2008.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
YouTube Shows Are Increasingly Going To Netflix. Now The Streamer Wants To Make Them Bigger
What do children's entertainer Ms. Rachel, prank collective The Sidemen and dating show Pop The Balloon have in common? They are all people and projects that started on YouTube but have also ended up on Netflix. The world of content creators has exploded in the last few years and has become the next big battle between two of the behemoths of the entertainment business. More from Deadline 'We've Broken The Mainstream': Did The Sidemen's YouTube-To-Netflix Gamble Pay Off? Viral YouTube Dating Series 'Pop The Balloon' Lands Live Netflix Order, Yvonne Orji To Host 'Untamed' Rises To No. 1 On Netflix TV Charts After Debut Weekend As Audiences Also Revisit Amy Bradley Missing Persons Case The two companies have been increasingly competing for eyeballs, particularly on TV screens, and to some extent, talent, over the last twelve months. In March, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said YouTube was useful for creators to 'cut their teeth on' and called the Google-owned platform a 'little bit of a farm league'. 'There's a whole bunch of creators that I would put in the pro-am category that are making really interesting, compelling programming to watch,' he added at the Paley Media Council event. 'But YouTube doesn't give them any money up front to make it, so they're doing it all at their own risk.' Netflix wants to help an increasing number of these folk share the risk as it searches for the 'next generation of great creators'. One of the executives leading this charge is Jeff Gaspin, who oversees unscripted content at Netflix, which brought the second season of reality series Inside to the streamer from YouTube in March and is working on a U.S. version and launched a live version of Pop The Balloon, the Arlette Amuli-created series, which began on YouTube, in April. There's also been suggestions that the company has held talks with other YouTubers such as Mark Rober, the former NASA engineer who starred on Discovery's Jimmy Kimmel-produced series Revengineers, and Dude Perfect, the trick shot experts who have been front and center at a number of YouTube events. 'These content creators are even more prolific and more pronounced today than they even were a year ago,' Gaspin told Deadline. 'The creativity is off the charts.' Inside is a Big Brother-style reality series that features prolific influencers locked inside a house, where they compete in a series of challenges for a prize worth up to £1m ($1.3M). How different were the ratings on the free service versus the paid option? The first episode of the first season of Inside has been watched 15.4M times on YouTube with the second episode dropping to 6.9M (this is wildly down on The Sidemen's most popular video, which has 115M views). On Netflix, over its first three months, it averaged 17.5M hours viewed and 2.4M views, per the streamer's engagement report Gaspin echoed Sarandos' comments by highlighting that YouTube series are a handy development tool for Netflix. 'There's so much experimenting going on there and it's so great. It's great for development, because I get to see something, it's not just on paper or a sizzle. We were able to watch Inside to know whether it's a show we were interested in,' he added. Pop The Balloon, meanwhile, started as Pop The Balloon or Find Love on YouTube from Amuli and her husband Bolia Matundu, who made nearly 50 episodes for the digital service and generated over 100M views to their channel. The dating experiment sees singles test their chemistry while trying to keep their balloon intact. The Netflix version, which was hosted by Insecure star Yvonne Orji, was one if its first major unscripted experiments in the live arena, an area where it also has series such as Everybody's Live with John Mulaney and Dinner Time with David Chang. However, Pop The Balloon Live: Pop It Like It's Hot didn't fare so well in terms of ratings. The show averaged 1M hours viewed from 1.2M views. Gaspin called Pop The Balloon a 'really fun format'. But he admitted that it could have adapted the show in a different way. 'Honestly, one of the things that we should have done with Pop The Balloon was used more of the essence of Pop The Balloon, and then try to create something bigger and more arcing, over multiple episodes,' he added. This seems to be the key difference; YouTube allows creators to do whatever they want but Netflix wants to 'support more ambitious efforts', according to Sarandos. Gaspin added, 'The decision that we have to make is, do we just translate it 100% or do we just use the essence of the concept and then try to create something that probably works a little better long form? But the ability to see something that's basically a pilot for us is really valuable.' This is not unlike what MrBeast did with Amazon's Beast Games, turning his YouTube videos into a series that costs exponentially more – in his case, a production budget (including cash giveaways) that total around $250M for two seasons. MrBeast, otherwise known as Jimmy Donaldson, told Deadline earlier this year, 'Truthfully, when you make videos on YouTube, they're usually not episodic. I've just always been really excited about taking the big spectacles we do on YouTube but being able to do it over an episodic series where we could actually get to know the contestants and have more depth and story and get more invested into the challenges and games. The idea was to take what we do on YouTube, but make it 10 times bigger and 20 times better.' Gaspin compared the current moment to when cable television moved heavily into original content. 'Cable was a big inventor from Real World to Unplugged to Shark Week. Cable innovated and zigged when networks were zagging and ultimately took the bulk of broadcast share,' he said. Middle-aged television executives, however, have always struggled to denote what's new and cool and Gaspin has a solution: ask your teenagers. 'If you have kids that are between 15 to 25, watch what they're watching, watch what they're responding to,' he added. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More Everything We Know About 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' Solve the daily Crossword
Scottish Sun
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Huge all-star reality show renewed for a fourth season before the third has even aired – but there's a twist
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BEFORE the third series has even aired on Netflix, the streaming service has given the green light to a fourth instalment. It's a fan-favourite dating show that has starred celebrities made by famous on other Netflix shows. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 1 Harry Jowsey found fame on Netflix's Too Hot To Handle Credit: COURTESY OF NETFLIX Now we can reveal The Perfect Match will be getting a shake-up - with producers casting influencers alongside TV stars. A source told The Sun: 'Perfect Match has been a huge hit for Netflix by bringing together all-stars casts from its own dating shows like Love Is Blind, Too Hot To Handle and The Ultimatum, as well as other hit reality shows like Love Island and The Bachelor. "It's not been officially announced yet but bosses have already greenlit a fourth season, before season three starts streaming in August. "The show films almost a year in advance, but for season four they are planning to mix things up. "Rather than just being a cast of reality stars, they will also be casting content creators, YouTubers and TikTok stars. "They wants to capitalise on the success of Inside, which features internet superstars The Sidemen, so season 4 will cast the net wider. Internet stars are basically the new reality stars.' The Sun has contacted a rep for Netflix for comment. The idea behind The Perfect Match is to bring single Netflix stars together to find love. Couples who prove their compatibility gain the power to make or break other matches in this strategic and seductive dating competition.
The Sun
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Huge all-star reality show renewed for a fourth season before the third has even aired – but there's a twist
BEFORE the third series has even aired on Netflix, the streaming service has given the green light to a fourth instalment. It's a fan-favourite dating show that has starred celebrities made by famous on other Netflix shows. 1 Now we can reveal The Perfect Match will be getting a shake-up - with producers casting influencers alongside TV stars. A source told The Sun: 'Perfect Match has been a huge hit for Netflix by bringing together all-stars casts from its own dating shows like Love Is Blind, Too Hot To Handle and The Ultimatum, as well as other hit reality shows like Love Island and The Bachelor. "It's not been officially announced yet but bosses have already greenlit a fourth season, before season three starts streaming in August. "The show films almost a year in advance, but for season four they are planning to mix things up. "Rather than just being a cast of reality stars, they will also be casting content creators, YouTubers and TikTok stars. "They wants to capitalise on the success of Inside, which features internet superstars The Sidemen, so season 4 will cast the net wider. Internet stars are basically the new reality stars.' The Sun has contacted a rep for Netflix for comment. The idea behind The Perfect Match is to bring single Netflix stars together to find love. Couples who prove their compatibility gain the power to make or break other matches in this strategic and seductive dating competition.
The Irish Sun
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Huge all-star reality show renewed for a fourth season before the third has even aired – but there's a twist
BEFORE the third series has even aired on Netflix, the streaming service has given the green light to a fourth instalment. It's a fan-favourite dating show that has starred celebrities made by famous on other Netflix shows. Advertisement 1 Harry Jowsey found fame on Netflix's Too Hot To Handle Credit: COURTESY OF NETFLIX Now we can reveal The Perfect Match will be getting a shake-up - with producers casting influencers alongside TV stars. A source told The Sun: 'Perfect Match has been a huge hit for Netflix by bringing together all-stars casts from its own dating shows like Love Is Blind, Too Hot To Handle and The Ultimatum, as well as other hit reality shows like Love Island and The Bachelor. "It's not been officially announced yet but bosses have already greenlit a fourth season, before season three starts streaming in August. "The show films almost a year in advance, but for season four they are planning to mix things up. Advertisement READ MORE ON NETFLIX "Rather than just being a cast of reality stars, they will also be casting content creators, YouTubers and TikTok stars. "They wants to capitalise on the success of Inside, which features internet superstars The Sidemen , so season 4 will cast the net wider. Internet stars are basically the new reality stars.' The Sun has contacted a rep for Netflix for comment. The idea behind The Perfect Match is to bring single Netflix stars together to find love. Advertisement Most read in Reality Couples who prove their compatibility gain the power to make or break other matches in this strategic and seductive dating competition. Perfect Match fans rage at 'undeserving' winners in 'rigged' finale & praise footage that exposes 'toxic' Harry Jowsey
