- Viacom taps into the next generation of digital stars by taking a minority stake in live-events startup DigiTour Media (Variety)
- New Star Wars trailer is released and the internet implodes – again (CNN)
- Why Walmart’s minimum wage raise to US$10 could cost retailers an astounding US$4 billion (Bloomberg)
- A Greek artist is telling the story of Europe’s woes through Playmobil figurines – and the toy company isn’t so appreciative of his satire (The Guardian)
- Netflix’s global push is greeted with some pushback (The New York Times)
- Poison over play? One alarming ad campaign shows 82% of kids chose to play with a bottle of bleach over building blocks (Sydney Morning Herald)
- In the UK, record employment and stronger wage growth means consumers are spending more (The Telegraph)
- The sky isn’t even the limit when it comes to Frozen’s brand power, as one Canadian airline launches a totally Frozen-clad Boeing 737 (The Huffington Post)
- For the first time, Forbes ranks the world’s highest-paid YouTube stars. See the 13 DIY filmmakers who are cashing in (Forbes)
- Chinese web video giant Youku Tudou may get fully acquired by e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group (The Hollywood Reporter)
- The LEGO color palette of today is far moodier than it was 40 years ago (Gizmodo)
- Even with more than 144 billion minutes of video views per month, YouTube Gaming has a long way to go to catch main rival Twitch (alistdaily)
- Thanks to China, Apple’s App Store revenue is now 80% higher than Google Play’s (TechCrunch)
- Change is in the air at Walmart – and for the retail industry at large – as the company’s stock falls by 10% (Forbes)
- With the number of TV shows soaring across the board, filmed production spend in New York City alone reaches US$8.7 billion (Variety)
- The truth behind author R.L. Stine’s scarily successful career path (Boston Globe)
- Facebook’s potential new video offering looks a lot like YouTube (Bloomberg)
- Family first: A study finds more than half of US millennial parents say their child is one of their best friends (The Washington Times)
- The future of TV may hinge on two different approaches: One that pushes the device and another that’s centered around apps (The Hollywood Reporter)
- Is gifting kids with stocks – instead of toys – a trend that’s bound to take off? (Market Watch)
- Snapchat bids farewell to original content channel as well as a number of employees (Deadline Hollywood)
- …Meanwhile, Snapchat is having a lasting impact on toy sales, as seen by Sphero’s groundbreaking marketing campaign (The Wall Street Journal)
- What Pan‘s flop at the box office will mean for fairy tale adaptations and origin stories (Variety)
- For the third year in a row, Disney surpasses the US$4-billion mark at the global box office (Los Angeles Times)
- Netflix raises its US subscription prices as it dishes out serious dollars for original programming and global rights to popular shows (The Wall Street Journal)
- A software industry booms in Canada, with venture capital doubling to US$2.4 billion since 2009(Bloomberg)
- Apparently, there’s more to Sandra Boynton’s board books than meets the eye (The New Yorker)
- Is delaying kindergarten by a year a good idea for kids’ developmental well-being? A new study says yes (The Washington Post)
- With attendance numbers through the roof, Disney’s theme parks are raising admission prices. The world responds. (Time)
- Mobile screens as TV audience drivers, lifestyle products on the rise, and more insights from Nickelodeon and Hasbro content creators (The Hollywood Reporter)
- LittleBits creators want more mini inventors with their new Gizmos & Gadgets (CNET)
- As the US kindergarten experience gets more academic, Finland promotes the power of play (The Atlantic)
- The war for exclusive SVOD rights heats up following Hulu-Viacom deal (Variety)
- With 30% of US children playing with a mobile device while still in diapers, new guidelines emerge from the American Academy of Pediatrics (The Washington Post)
- Is a Lionsgate-Starz merger imminent? (Los Angeles Times)
- What the richest kids in China mean for the country’s future (Bloomberg)
- Status update: Why young teens are compelled to check social media updates 100 times a day (CNN)
- Europe’s highest court has declared the data-transfer agreement between the US and the EU immediately invalid, and the implications are big (The New York Times)
- Meanwhile, Google’s Android is battling an important antitrust case in Russia (Re/code )
- Marketers take note of the power of emojis (Adweek)
October 20, 2015
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