lostrune2 comments

But more than 50 percent of total revenue for women's sport is still generated in North America despite the growth of women's soccer in Europe.

The booming popularity of women's sport is expected to lead to more prime-time broadcasting slots and visibility on streaming platforms.

Commercial income still accounts for more than 50 percent of total revenue, but that percentage share is falling thanks to bigger broadcast deals and attendances on match days.

They know where the support is

The recent finals for the WNBA and NWSL bear it out

"2023 WNBA Finals nets highest TV viewership in 20 years on ESPN"

https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/wnba-finals-2023-tv-audience-viewership-ratings-espn/

Each game averaged 728k viewers and audiences increased by 36% on last year's finals. The Las Vegas Aces’ series-clinching game four win was watched by an average audience of 889,000 viewers, becoming the most watched WNBA Finals game four on record. The game’s viewership peaked at 1.3 million

"WNBA ratings highest in decades as crowds also climb"

https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/38407231/wnba-ratings-highest-decades-crowds-climb

The WNBA once again had strong metrics this year as the league had its most-watched regular season in 21 years and its highest average attendance since 2018. Viewership was up 21% over last year across its national television partners

"Big-time NWSL championship a sign of where the league can go"

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/38884681/big-nwsl-championship-sign-where-league-go

Saturday's NWSL championship aired in prime time on broadcast television. It featured a two-hour pregame show and that included multiple on-site talent crews. The NWSL has certainly come a long way in its 10 seasons of existence.

"Look around," OL Reign midfielder Jess Fishlock told reporters on Thursday, taking a breath to let the setting sink in. Fishlock and her teammates -- along with players from NWSL championship opponent NJ/NY Gotham FC -- sat at tables throughout an NWSL media day event in a swanky downtown San Diego venue to speak with dozens of national media members about the league's marquee end-cap to the season.

The bright orange and purple hues of the 2023 NWSL championship branding evoked the feel of a Super Bowl-lite and popped in contrast to the venue's modern rustic theme. Cameras from local and national outlets joined several in-house league content teams to capture moments both serious and (mostly) silly.

Earlier Thursday, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman sat beside executives from four different major media entities to announce a new, four-year media rights deal worth a combined $60 million per year. Starting next year, ESPN/ABC, CBS, Prime Sports, and ION will combine to broadcast over 100 games to national audiences. This for a league that launched 10 years ago with unreliable livestreams on YouTube that often matched high-school sports production levels.

"Our film's (Chinese) name is 'Pineapple' and Taiwan's audiences have told me that pineapple means good luck" in Taiwanese culture, Hu said in a brief televised interview.

Yes, Taiwanese culture, not Chinese culture. She recognizes the difference

Both China and Syria lost big

Stockholm syndrome

Keep on going, Strolling Bones!

He grabbed the hood of her jacket and pushed her against a wall.

Kabedon swoon

If the OpenAI employees do quit and join Altman at Microsoft, Microsoft essentially makes an acquisition without making an acquisition, lol

"Microsoft emerges as big winner from OpenAI turmoil"

https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-emerges-big-winner-openai-turmoil-with-altman-board-2023-11-20/

"Microsoft's valuation soars as OpenAI turmoil unfurls: CEO and key staff join forces"

https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-emerges-big-winner-openai-turmoil-with-altman-board-2023-11-20/

OpenAI has a valuation of around $86 billion. Microsoft has invested around $13 billion, but only a fraction of that has been wired to the startup - while a significant portion of the funding, divided into tranches, is in the form of cloud compute purchases instead of cash

So, to keep it simple, for the cost of $13 billion, Microsoft can essentially make a $86 billion "acquisition" if the OpenAI employees quit and follow Altman to Microsoft (as of now, 725 of 770 OpenAI employees have signed the letter threatening to quit unless the OpenAI board resigns and reinstates Altman)

(Microsoft is fine going either way - whether Altman and his employees stay at OpenAI or go to Microsoft. Microsoft has certain rights to OpenAI’s intellectual property, so if their relationship were to break down, Microsoft would still be able to run OpenAI’s current models on its servers.)

Microsoft are hedging their bets, no matter what happens with OpenAI, that they will have the brains and knowledge behind the tech

Meanwhile, OpenAI employees are now threatening to quit unless the board resigns

Atlman and OpenAI co-founder Brockman have been hired by Microsoft, who are hedging their bets no matter what happens with OpenAI

OpenAI staff now demanding the board resign

People realized they like Barbie better

Barbie is woke too

Law is everywhere, including showbiz

It's best to learn law everywhere, not just the boring sections

Lol, seems there's nobody manning their offices anymore

Like the U.S. soldier arrested for trespassing in home in Aomori Prefecture a couple weeks ago

https://japantoday.com/category/crime/u.s.-soldier-arrested-for-trespassing-in-home-in-aomori-prefecture

Court-martial and kick all the JSDF out on the streets

the ioc should lose restrictions on the football tournament and allow players of all ages to take part

FIFA won't allow that. FIFA only allows football/soccer in the Olympics on the condition that it's for Under-23. Allowing 3 over-age players is the compromise towards the IOC

FIFA won't allow the Olympics to be anywhere near on par with the World Cup and the money it earns there

(The women's tournament is a different matter though, since that's not as lucrative yet.)

If there's gonna be a military, then may as well train it

Having a military, but not doing trainings, is useless

Yonaguni is only 110 km from Taiwan.

If China attacks Taiwan, the JSDF should be prepared for emergency collateral casualties such as stray missiles and airborne debris

It's better to be prepared and not have to use it, then have to use it but not prepared

Fear is a system of control and a way to manufacture consent for the military buildup

Yes, China does it in spades

Koi don't swim in Fukushima waters

Just goes to show that it's not about science with China - they're just looking for any reason

So next time China complains about something, then references science - this proves it's not really about science with them. They're just looking for any reason, so it destroys their credibility

These Hamas-style terror attacks need to stop. Civilians are getting hurt. They have also taken hostages previously.

Yeah, Russia should stop raining missiles to civilian apartments and return the thousands of Ukrainian children hostages back to their Ukrainian families

Don't block the stars with the lights!

Japan uphold pacifism with your neighbors through dialog and actions

Then demand that China and Russia do the same thing - instead of sending bomber flights near Japan

Why are China and Russia sending warplanes if they're trying to uphold pacifism with their neighbors

Friends help friends. Good on Japan

It's better to be prepared and not need to use it, than need to use it and not prepared

Just like they were too chicken to attack Russia, so they got Ukraine to "act strong" and threaten them. Acting strong, with all the NATO training, arming, and support, did not help Ukraine...

Ukraine never threatened Russia, until Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukraine has no interest in taking over any Russian land, while Russia is the opposite - Russia wants to take over Ukrainian land. That's why Ukraine had no reason to threaten Russia - they just want Russia to stay on their side of the fence

And supposedly being a "superpower" is not helping Russia - Russia can't even beat Ukraine and even has to pay a visit to impoverished North Korea (a country with no money that's resorting to stealing!) to beg for weapons

If they're so concerned, send their scientists

Don't rely on other countries' mouthpieces

Send them to China too while they're at it - where there's been a nuclear power plant construction spree

The economy is not going well, and people have less money

Not to mention that this Livestreaming business is predatory

Livestreamers -- who draw in millions for e-commerce giants in China with marathon online sales pitches

They won due to Omegle not verifying the participants' ages

Does Microsoft?

Microsoft doesn't pair you randomly with strangers

Not sure how they could sue and win based on that

They won due to Omegle not verifying the participants' ages - they just let the 11-yr-old in

Legend of Zelda co-creator Shigeru Miyamoto revealed in a post on Twitter Tuesday that the Zelda movie project has actually been in the works for many years.

This is Miyamoto. I have been working on the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda for many years now with Avi Arad-san, who has produced many mega hit films.

The co-production is more than 50% funded by Nintendo, so Nintendo would retain creative control, like they did with The Super Mario Bros movie with Universal Pictures

The actors got their AI safeguards. The union surprisingly stayed in solidarity despite going through a lot of their financial funds

The studios needed the strike to end very soon in order to have enough time for the next summer big movies and save whatever is left of the lucrative holiday TV season

The film business not only affects the studios and actors and writers, but also the periphery businesses like the shops that supply the food and costumes, and the technical workers that set up and run the production sets. The work stoppage is estimated to have cost in the many billions of dollars in lost earnings. Everyone will be glad the work stoppage is over and can earn again

Why do ya guys think the studios would do anything different with just a different set of writers or actors?

Ya think the studios don't make these decisions like they have always been?

It's the same studios!

When you and your jobs are replaced by A.I., do ya think your bosses would do anything different? Ya guys so funny, lol

Let A.I. decide in a split-second

Can't be any worse, lol

“There’s not enough people doing these jobs, so the market’s massive," said Figure AI CEO Brett Adcock. "If we can just get humanoids to do work that humans are not wanting to do because there’s a shortfall of humans, we can sell millions of humanoids, billions maybe.”

Well, Mr. Adcock, as they say with The Rules of First Adopters of New Technology:

The first 1% of new technology are the early adopters

The next 10% are for porn

Then followed by the rest of the population at last

That's why

(See "home video media" and "internet")