Ashley Rodriguez

Streaming-video platforms like Netflix and Amazon pride themselves on algorithms that deliver personalized recommendations for TV shows and movies to watch. Netflix, for example, is constantly tweaking its recommendation engine to draw on subtle patterns in a user’s viewing behavior, similarities between viewers around the world, and to test what imagery most piques their interest most.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 86, had the future of his empire all secured, agreeing last year to sell 21st Century Fox to Disney’s Bob Iger for $52 billion. Included in the deal was the 39% of European pay-TV giant Sky that Fox owns.

Saoirse Ronan is in great company heading into the Oscars on Sunday—even if she’s never won an award.

Disney says not all of its films are destined to become franchises. The hit maker, which boasts 11 franchises that generate more than $1 billion in sales each year, says it doesn’t set out to build franchises every time it makes movies.

It starts with a single video. A YouTube search for keywords like “crisis actor,” a term used last week to discredit the outspoken survivors of a school shooting in Parkland, Florida, can drag viewers down a rabbit hole of conspiracy-related content, a researcher found.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has whittled down another year’s worth of films—some brilliant, some painfully awful—into nine nominees for its marquee award, Best Picture. The winner will be crowned in an ABC broadcast on Mar. 4 beginning at 8pm eastern time.

YouTube drew ire among many this week for elevating a video in its Trending tab that sought to discredit a survivor of the shooting that last week left 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

A grassroots group is turning Marvel’s Black Panther into a rallying cry for black voters ahead of the 2018 US midterm elections.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe may have a new leader. His name is King T’Challa.

Critics truly hated Netflix’s The Cloverfield Paradox. IndieWire called it a “insufferably boring” and “an unmitigated disaster.” The Guardian said it was “an unholy mess.”

“Nobody gives a sh— about any of the other Marvel characters. Go back and do a deal for only Spider-Man.”

Is it starting to seem like Marvel is everywhere? Marvel Comics has a massive library of more than 7,000 characters—maybe more than 50,000 if you count one-off and ancillary superheroes, villains, and other mutants—and it seems keen to feature as many of them as possible on the big screen.

Google’s war on bad ads starts now.

Netflix just inked what may be the one of the biggest deals ever for a TV producer.

Google is following Facebook, following Instagram, following Snapchat.

YouTube is hitting controversial creator Logan Paul where it hurts, by putting a dent in his estimated $40,000-$700,000 a month of ad revenue.

India’s anti-trust watchdog Feb. 08 fined US-based search giant Google (pdf) Rs1.36 billion ($21 million), or about 5% of the average total revenue from its India operations, for “search bias.”

Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu have been spending billions on everything from blockbusters to kids shows to dominate streaming video. Netflix earmarked $8 billion in 2018, Amazon said it would boost its video budget from $4.5 billion last year, and Hulu, which has not revealed its budget for this year, spent about $2.5 billion in 2017.

For many, Netflix was a gateway drug to binge-watching, or watching multiple episodes of TV series in a single sitting. The streaming-video service brought seasons of TV shows—old and new—from different networks to members’ fingertips.

Facebook might be messing with YouTube’s livelihood.

The Philadelphia Eagles aren’t the only ones flying after their Super Bowl victory. Five Super Bowl commercials soared above the flock of advertising, according to the USA Today Ad Meter, which asks fans to rate the national ads on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest.

Two weeks before the Super Bowl, trailers began surfacing online for a reboot of the 1986 Australian movie Crocodile Dundee. In the supposed sequel, Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home, Dundee is missing and his American son, played by Danny McBride, goes Down Under to find him with the help a local expert, portrayed by Chris Hemsworth. Ostensible behind-the-scenes photos of the production emerged online, posted to Twitter, as did an official-looking website—which went as far as to include the name of company, Rimfire Films, that produced the original Dundee movie. And the stacked cast, which also included Aussies Hugh Jackman, Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Isla Fisher, and Liam Hemsworth, touted the film on social media.

The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles aren’t the only ones facing off in Super Bowl 52 on Sunday (Feb. 4). More than 100 million viewers are expected to tune into NBC’s live TV broadcast of the NFL championship game—a colossal audience, especially in the age of cord-cutting—and millions more will stream online. Advertisers, who have paid good money to capture a sliver of your attention, will be jockeying for eyeballs.

People around the world are turning to virtual private networks, or VPNs, more often to stream major sporting events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics, providers are finding. Both events return to the airwaves next week—Super Bowl 52 will be held in the US on Feb. 4 and the 2018 Winter Olympics open in Pyeongchang, South Korea on Feb. 9.