🍿 Netflix wants to win the box office now. Somewhere, a theater owner just did a spit take. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos told the New York Times that if Netflix closes its $83B Warner Bros. acquisition, WB films will keep a 45-day theatrical window. Theater owners had feared Netflix would slash that to 17 days. Sarandos also tried to calm other nerves, saying Netflix and WB would actually release more movies together than apart and that HBO would stay "completely intact." The deal still faces a hostile counter-bid from Paramount Skydance, so these promises come with an asterisk for now.
📺 The BBC is about to start making shows for YouTube. The century-old British broadcaster is finalizing a landmark deal to produce original programming that will premiere on YouTube before moving to its own iPlayer platform. It's a first for the publicly funded network, and a quiet admission that YouTube is simply where young audiences live now. The timing makes sense: YouTube overtook the BBC in UK viewership for the first time in December, reaching 52M viewers compared to the BBC's 51M. Related: former Paramount co-CEO Brian Robbins just raised $100M to produce YouTube content and turn it into theatrical films.
📱 Everyone wants to be the Netflix of one-minute soap operas. Ukrainian microdramas company Holywater just raised $22M from Fox, Endeavor, and Wheelhouse to become the go-to platform for the format. It’s reportedly the largest funding round for the format outside Asia. At the same time, TikTok quietly launched PineDrama, a standalone app for bite-sized serialized content that's currently ad-free with no paywall. The space pulled in an estimated $1.3B in the U.S. last year, and now everyone from ReelShort to Hollywood-backed startups is fighting over who gets to monetize your vampire romance addiction. The land grab is officially on. May the best werewolf billionaire love triangle win.
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