Many American Netflix users will need to pay $1 extra for a subscription, the company announced Thursday, as the streaming giant deals with slowing U.S. growth after an explosion in new subscribers at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



A standard subscription now costs $14 a month rather than $13, and a premium plan (which allows users to stream content on more devices simultaneously) jumped from $16 to $18, though the company’s $9 basic standard-definition plan remains unchanged.



The price hikes will take effect immediately for new subscribers, and existing users will see their monthly bills increase over the next two months, with a warning 30 days ahead of time, a Netflix spokesperson told&nbsp;Forbes.



The company said it is raising prices to underwrite an expansion in original movies and shows.



Netflix last hiked its U.S. prices in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/netflix-raising-cost-to-13-a-month-its-biggest-hike-ever-2019-01-15" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">January of 2019</a>, boosting the cost of a standard plan from $11 to $13 per month.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h4>



73.08 million. That’s the total number of U.S. Netflix subscriptions as of last month, according to the company’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.netflixinvestor.com/financials/quarterly-earnings/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">third quarter</a>&nbsp;earnings report. Fewer than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2020/10/20/netflix-subscriber-growth-slows-after-surging-during-pandemic/?sh=690475e7244e">half</a>&nbsp;of all Netflix subscribers live in the United States, the result of rapid international growth.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



Netflix saw&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52376022" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">surging demand</a>&nbsp;earlier this year, after the coronavirus closed most movie theaters and sent bored, homebound customers in search for entertainment. Almost 26 million new people worldwide subscribed to Netflix in the first half of 2020, the largest growth spurt in Netflix’s history, and the company rushed to add new shows at a rapid clip. This expansion&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2020/10/20/netflix-subscriber-growth-slows-after-surging-during-pandemic/?sh=690475e7244e">stalled</a>&nbsp;between July and September, when the company added just 2.2 million new subscribers, and Netflix expects growth to remain more modest for the next few months.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h4>



Netflix faces stiff competition from smaller streaming services, including longstanding rivals like Disney’s Hulu and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/11/new-streaming-services-2019-2020.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">newer services</a>&nbsp;like Disney+ and NBCUniversal’s Peacock. Most of these services&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thestreet.com/lifestyle/best-streaming-services-cost-15166523" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">charge</a>&nbsp;less than $10 per month, making Netflix a pricey option in a crowded market. Still,&nbsp;<a href="https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/files/doc_financials/2020/q3/Netflix,-Inc.,-Q3-2020-Earnings-Call,-Oct-20,-2020.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Netflix executives believe</a>&nbsp;price increases will not slow their growth as long as the company continues adding enough new shows to justify the cost of a subscription.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



“We understand people have more entertainment choices than ever and we’re committed to delivering an even better experience for our members,” Netflix spokesperson Katy Dormer told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;in an email. “We’re updating our prices so that we can continue to offer more variety of TV shows and films.”



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/29/21540346/netflix-price-increase-united-states-standard-premium-content-product-features" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Netflix is raising the price of its most popular plan to $14 today, premium tier increasing to $18 (The Verge)</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2020/10/20/netflix-subscriber-growth-slows-after-surging-during-pandemic/?sh=690475e7244e">Netflix Subscriber Growth Slows After Surging During Pandemic (Forbes)</a>



-By Joe Walsh, Forbes Staff

Stay at home and watch TV

Netflix Just Raised The Price Of A Monthly Subscription

A controversial movie release and weaker-than-anticipated growth projections for the third quarter have barely stunted Netflix&#8217;s <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/netflix" target="_blank">NFLX</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/netflix">0.0%</a> surge this year. Though they took a small hit amid the broader market&#8217;s September correction–after an all-time Netflix high in late August–shares of the Los Gatos, California-based firm are once again nearing peak levels. With the firm set to report earnings Tuesday after the market close, here are five numbers that show just how much the firm has dominated entertainment in the pandemic age.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">$235 Billion</h3>



That&#8217;s Netflix&#8217;s market capitalization the day before it&#8217;s set to release third-quarter earnings. It&#8217;s up nearly $100 billion in 2020 alone, making the 23-year-old streaming giant one of the 20 largest companies on the S&amp;P 500 by market cap–ahead of even media mainstays like Walt Disney <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/walt-disney" target="_blank">DIS</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/walt-disney">-2%</a>, Comcast <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/comcast" target="_blank">CMCSA</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/comcast">-2.7%</a> and AT&amp;T.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">60%</h3>



Netflix shares have soared more than 60% since the beginning of the year. To compare, the S&amp;P 500 is up just 6.5% in 2020. The firm&#8217;s billionaire cofounder and CEO, Reed Hastings, has gotten nearly $2 billion during the pandemic. The 60-year-old, who launched Netflix as a DVD subscription service in 1997 and owns roughly 1% of its shares, is now worth about $5.4 billion.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">195 Million</h3>



That&#8217;s the number of paid subscribers analysts expect Netflix will report on Tuesday, up 2.5 million quarter to quarter and in line with the firm&#8217;s latest guidance. Netflix said in July that it added 26 million subscribers during the first half of the year (10 million in the first quarter and nearly 16 million in the second) as homebound consumers facing government-mandated quarantine orders turned to the streaming giant–and away from movie theaters and live shows–for entertainment. That increase could even prove conservative, noted investment research firm CFRA on Monday, reiterating its buy rating on Netflix shares and adding that the firm could be bolstered by an increase in subscribers from international markets.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">$6.4 Billion</h3>



Analysts are expecting Netflix will pull nearly $6.4 billion in third-quarter revenues, up more than 20% from the same period last year. The company&#8217;s also expected to report earnings of about $2.13 per share, down from $1.47 per share last year on heightened costs amid the pandemic.&nbsp;



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">$670</h3>



That&#8217;s the price target Bank of America <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/bank-of-america" target="_blank">BAC</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/bank-of-america">-2.1%</a> issued on Friday for Netflix, up nearly 17% from a prior target of $575 and representing the highest Netflix price target on Wall Street. Despite near-term uncertainties around second-half subscriber growth–and a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2020/10/12/netflixs-sarandos-defends-cuties-calling-the-controversial-film-misunderstood/">highly criticized</a> movie release, Bank of America said it continues to see the acceleration in Netflix subscriber growth during the first half of the year as a &#8220;permanent benefit.&#8221; Netflix&#8217;s average price target from 39 analysts covering its stock is about $527–within 1% of current prices.



-By Jonathan Ponciano, Forbes Staff

Netflix

5 Big Numbers That Show Netflix’s Massive Growth Continues During The Coronavirus Pandemic

A look at the never-say-die Nigerian film industry’s emerging money-spinning trends.



POPULARLY KNOWN AS Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry is the world’s second-largest producer of commercial cinema, and also accounts for 5% of Nigeria’s GDP. It is estimated that over 2,500 movies are produced each year in Nollywood with the industry employing more than a million people. Ingenuity and resourcefulness have always been a trademark of Nollywood, from homemade movies to ground-breaking blockbusters over the past decade. But the industry is not without its share of controversies. On the one hand, you have the never-say-die attitude of Nigerians combined with the glitzy and glamorous red-carpet events with celebrities attracting multi-million-naira brand endorsements. But underneath, the industry is characterized by a lack of funding and piracy, which has consistently robbed filmmakers of their revenues. But Covid-19 has led to a halt in Nollywood production decimating millions of dollars in earnings for the industry. The pandemic’s arrival has led to producers looking at new ways of staying afloat as well as focusing on higher-quality movies for streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon who are hoping to take a slice of the 200-million content market. FORBES AFRICA spoke with three of the key players in Nollywood to find out about the current state of the industry and what trends will affect its future. 



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">‘Nollywood Offers A Gateway To A New Opportunity In Africa’</h3>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Mo Abudu, CEO, EbonyLife Media</h4>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-703x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48273" width="323" height="470" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-703x1024.jpg 703w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-206x300.jpg 206w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-768x1118.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-1055x1536.jpg 1055w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-1407x2048.jpg 1407w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-300x437.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-600x873.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Mo-Abudu-1-scaled.jpg 1759w" sizes="(max-width: 323px) 100vw, 323px" /></figure></div>



Abudu began EbonyLife in 2013 by launching a premium TV channel and in the same year, the company announced its first international partnership with Disney Media Distribution EMEA on the iconic hit series Desperate Housewives, bringing a new take on the series’ darkly comic view of suburbia to African audiences. In 2018, Sony Pictures Television announced a three-year deal with EbonyLife TV, In January this year, AMC Networks (USA) announced its partnership with EbonyLife to produce Nigeria 2099, an Afro-futuristic crime-drama created by EbonyLife and in June, Netflix signed a multi-title deal with EbonyLife to create two original series and multiple branded films and a series. Abudu shares more:



How has Nollywood evolved over the years?



The Nigerian entertainment industry is currently going through a renaissance. While historically, Nigeria has been dependent on oil and agriculture to subsidize its economy, Nollywood is rapidly taking over this role, not just in terms of content creation, but also in terms of distribution within Africa and the rest of the world. It’s inspiring to see more stories out of Nollywood told by Nigerian creators, and using resources found in Nigeria.&nbsp;



As a result, there is an international desire to invest in Nollywood stories, to make investments in productions within the nation’s borders, and hence elevate the quality of output to make it more appealing to a global audience. For example, among the highlights of our partnership with Netflix will be a film adaptation of Death and the King’s Horseman, a play by Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka, and a series based on Lola Shoneyin’s best-selling debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives. Nigerian entertainment is no longer just for Nigeria, but also the world.



How far can Nollywood go in the global content marketplace?



The new interest in black culture and the questioning of colonialization’s legacy has resulted in international interest in Nollywood. Nollywood can draw upon the rising momentum in the United States and the United Kingdom in particular and offer viewers a wide array of works by black creators. Global streaming services are now offering more curated content to subscribers than ever before. Now, millions of people have access to content from Nollywood. EbonyLife’s first feature film Fifty, the only film selected from Nigeria, and one of only five films from the entire continent of Africa from 238 films selected globally for screening at the 2015 BFI London Film Festival, became the first Nigerian film to stream on Netflix in 2015. Our other film projects licensed by Netflix include The Wedding Party 1 and 2, Chief Daddy, and The Royal Hibiscus Hotel. Recently, Netflix acquired EbonyLife’s most popular drama series: Castle &amp; Castle, Fifty: The Series, Sons of the Caliphate, and On The Real, amongst others.&nbsp;



What are the current trends you are noticing in the content space and how is Nollywood adjusting to those trends? 



Nollywood offers a gateway to a new opportunity in Africa – in light of the recent racial tensions around the world, broadcasters are now more committed to commissioning relevant and authentic content reflecting the lives of global black audiences on an ongoing basis. There is a new desire, in short, for authenticity, or people speaking from their own experiences, telling stories from their unique perspectives. Nigeria has a historic tradition of exhibiting emotional, dramatic, and dynamic, rich content. Nigerian audiences have always been unafraid to see social issues mixed even into otherwise escapist entertainment. New media and the craving for new ideas has made Nollywood creators interested in exploring new formats for storytelling. Nigerian creators are also seeking outside training and resources to produce films that meet high international standards of visual and artistic interest. To meet this demand, EbonyLife is setting up a creative academy to build a bridge to the sub-Saharan African film and television industry, towards a value chain based on international best practices.&nbsp;



How has Covid-19 affected the Nigerian entertainment industry? 



In light of Covid-19, many international film festivals and global conferences have gone online, which has enabled more Nigerian creators to gain access to new audiences through live streams and virtual spaces rather than physical sessions that are more costly to attend. As a result, the online move has opened doors for virtual networking and building opportunities with Nigerian creatives in the industry. The pandemic also forced Nollywood to work differently, to become more technology-driven in a manner that reaches more specific niches, including black audiences all over the world.&nbsp;



There are now more reasons than ever to connect people around the world via the internet. The fact that more people are watching content on the small screen versus movie theaters has, in particular, caused this shift. Despite the halted production and gradual move back with increased health insecurity and insurance costs, interest in film-making remains high in Nigeria. The loss of jobs has balanced with opportunities for innovation. There has been a greater focus on pre-production, story development, writing and post-production work virtually.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">‘We Have Stories The World Hasn’t Heard’</h3>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Omoni Oboli, Actress, Producer and Director</h4>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-746x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48276" width="413" height="567" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-746x1024.jpg 746w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-219x300.jpg 219w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-768x1054.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-1120x1536.jpg 1120w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-1493x2048.jpg 1493w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-300x412.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868-600x823.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Omoni-Oboli-2-scaled-e1602166800868.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px" /></figure></div>



Oboli began her career in 1996. Her company, Dioni Visions Entertainment, has produced blockbusters in Nigerian cinema, with such films as Being Mrs Elliott, Wives On Strike and Okafor’s Law which was an official selection at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. Her movies are on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Iroko, and other streaming platforms. Her views on the movie business:



How would you describe the current state of the Nigerian entertainment industry?



The Nigerian movie industry needs a major boost to spark the flames that are clearly unwilling to be put out. Unlike other forms of entertainment, movie producers have only the sales and release of their movies to make their money back. With no serious checks and curtailing of the nature of piracy and no aggressive protection of intellectual property, we’re pretty much left to our own individual means of getting our money back from our work.&nbsp;



While all areas of entertainment are touched, I’m more specific about the movie business. We’ve been able to push our products far and wide with little resources, so it’s clear we have what it takes to break the ceiling given the talent that abounds, but without the structured means of having good returns on our investment, it’s hard for so many who are in the industry, especially those who are not at the top of the food chain, to make ends meet. There’s hope, and that’s the hope many hold on to.&nbsp;



What factors would you say have contributed to the global demand for Nollywood?



The first would be the obvious one: migration. With Africans everywhere in the diaspora, our movies, music and brand of comedy, and stage performances, are being demanded by them first, and then by others who see the infectious frenzy around our work by Africans everywhere. Our movies and entertainment bring a nostalgic feeling. The next is our unique stories. We have stories that the world hasn’t heard, or nuances to the same stories that breaks the monotony of the often-recycled stories.&nbsp;



What we may lack in production value, [compared to the likes of Hollywood and Bollywood], we are able to hold our audiences with the storylines, which are different, but resonate with everyone who watches them. Also, with the internet and social media, we can see the cross-cultural advantages that come with the global village and the growing yearning for inclusion and diversity. Whatever the reason, we love what we see with the popularity of our work.&nbsp;



Do you think Nollywood has what it takes to compete in the global content market? 



Sure it does. Nollywood started as the outlier; the great stories (product) with a poor wrapping, but has metamorphosed into the more presentable work we see today, and improving and competing with contemporaries the world over. We may not have arrived where we’re going, but where and what we are right now is far from, and better than, where we used to be. We have the stories, and with new stories to tell, the world has come to appreciate what we’re saying, and with time, has grown to appreciate and celebrate how we’re delivering it. With better returns on our investment, we can see more and more works of great art with each year and each producer pushing the envelope to give our stories more life and present our stories in its raw yet easy-to-watch format that resonates with all audiences. With the growing love the world has for our music, and its expression by us through our movies, we have seen more foreigners beginning to appreciate our candid presentations that are closer to our reality than if they were shot by a foreigner who may have the means to do justice to the production value, yet lose the essence that makes it authentically Nigerian. You can’t separate our stories from our mannerisms and language and culture.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">‘The Progress Of Nollywood Is In Leaps And Bounds Now’</h3>



<h4 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Richard Mofe-Damijo, Actor and Producer</h4>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-822x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48275" width="369" height="459" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-822x1024.jpg 822w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-241x300.jpg 241w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-768x956.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-300x374.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833-600x747.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Richard-Mofe-Damijo-e1602166644833.jpg 853w" sizes="(max-width: 369px) 100vw, 369px" /></figure></div>



Mofe-Damijo, popularly known by the moniker ‘RMD’ is one of the most successful actors in Nollywood. At 59 years old, the veteran actor has starred in over 75 movies and is also a qualified lawyer specializing in Intellectual Property. Over his acting career, which spans a period of 37 years, he has won every best actor award there is as well as is the only actor who has won the prestigious African Movie Academy Awards twice for best actor along with receiving a lifetime achievement award. He is the founder of RMD Productions which produces content for DSTV as well as is currently developing a slate of docu series in Nigeria. He is also starring in a lead role in Netflix’s first original Nigerian series.



How far has Nollywood come over the years?



The progress of Nollywood is in leaps and bounds now and there is a lot of collaboration with other film-making countries in the world. The streaming services have been very kind to us in Nigeria, so Nigerian movies have a very strong presence on the Netflix and Amazon platforms&#8230; So, in terms of impact, they usually say we are the second-largest film production industry in the world or the third, always between Hollywood or Bollywood and the good thing is we are in contention.&nbsp;



Covid-19 has been a major threat to the industry but just like the never-die spirit of Nigeria, we are all back again and making sure we keep producing movies.



What factors have led to the proliferation of Nollywood on the global market?



The authenticity of our stories means we tell our stories in the best way we can. We don’t have access to funds as most Hollywood or Bollywood movies will have. What we do here is like performing bypass surgery with forks and knives because of the limited funds. Technology has improved so we have embraced technology in production. So at least the standard of production has increased significantly. This has accounted for the big box office movies we have and created the cinema-going culture.&nbsp;



Nigerians are also getting cast in international movies now and we have more or less affected the whole of the West African region and African continent and a lot of them are now also looking inward to tell their own stories. Nigerians in the diaspora are constantly looking for ways to connect back home so our movies have become a tool for them to connect. The reason Netflix is here is because they know we can compete; our films are beginning to speak for themselves.



What new trends are shaping the stories being told in Nollywood?



Producers are looking to get their movies to the point where we can get our movies to be judged for international awards now and this means we are going to get more authentic stories from Nigeria.&nbsp;



This is something that will help boost our movies globally.

Screenshot 2020-10-08 at 16.13.58

The Blockbuster Named NOLLYWOOD

The 2020 Emmy Awards aired Sunday night, celebrating what has, to many, been a bright spot during a gloomy year: television. While the big winners offered few surprises—&nbsp;Succession&nbsp;and&nbsp;Watchmen&nbsp;were favorites entering the night—the broadcast delivered: The heartwarming father-son shots of the<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kemberliespivey/2020/09/20/schitts-creek-star-eugene-levy-wins-his-first-emmy-in-37-years-along-with-his-son-daniel-levy/#286702222a70">&nbsp;Levys winning award after award</a>&nbsp;for their roles in the comedy&nbsp;Schitt&#8217;s Creek, the thrill of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kemberliespivey/2020/09/20/zendaya-becomes-youngest-emmy-winner-for-lead-actress-in-drama/#6307314b742d">Zendaya’s bombshell win</a>&nbsp;for&nbsp;Euphoria&nbsp;and all of it packaged in the first live award show put on during the pandemic that managed to run smoothly.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2020/09/20/emmy-awards-2020-the-winners-list-updating-live/#7537639449b5">Emmy Awards 2020: The Winners List</a>



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Surprise:&nbsp;Schitt’s Creek’s&nbsp;sweep</h3>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">🎵 took a long time to come 🎵 <a href="https://t.co/SN7ZKsCH82">pic.twitter.com/SN7ZKsCH82</a>&mdash; Schitt&#39;s Creek (@SchittsCreek) <a href="https://twitter.com/SchittsCreek/status/1308233064405966854?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



While everyone expected&nbsp;Schitt’s&nbsp;Creek&nbsp;to take home a number of trophies, the Canadian series’ sweep of the seven top comedy awards was unprecedented in the Emmy’s 72-year history. The show took home all four comedy acting awards, Best Writing and Directing of a Comedy, and Best Comedy Series. The show also produced father-son wins for Eugene and Daniel Levy, who won for both writing, directing and acting. The unspoken winner behind it all?&nbsp; Pop TV: The cable network walked away with more Emmys than Netflix&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/netflix" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFLX</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/netflix">+3.7%</a>.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Snub: Every other comedy</h3>



Sure,&nbsp;Schitt’s Creek&nbsp;was expected to take home comedy’s big wins, but a seven-for-seven streak was not—and it meant a number of shows and actors got completely locked out of the winners’ circle, including&nbsp;Ramy’s Ramy Youssef,&nbsp;Dead to Me’s Linda Cardellini and&nbsp;The Good Place’s D’Arcy Carden.&nbsp;What We Do in the Shadows,&nbsp;an underdog favorite for Best Comedy Series, also walked away empty handed.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Surprise: The 2020 Emmy Awards Broadcast</h3>



The 2020 Emmy Awards were a gamble. As the first awards show to go completely live during the coronavirus pandemic, they relied on flexibility, an unflappable host and reliable wifi. Insiders and outsiders raised their eyebrows in skepticism when the Television Academy announced its plan. But the night seemingly went off without a hitch. Despite the fact that the Emmys dispatched more than 100 cameras to nominees all over the country, there were no technical glitches to speak of, and host Jimmy Kimmel handled the delicate task of hosting the show during a global pandemic, raging wildfires and political division with grace, aided by quarantine-favorite DJ D-Nice.



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Snub: Netflix</h3>



Netflix may have had more nominations than any other network or streaming service with a record 160 nods, but still walked away from Sunday’s show nearly empty handed. The only awards the streamer won during the Primetime Emmy ceremony were for Best Supporting Actress, Drama (Julia Garner of&nbsp;Ozark) and Best Directing, Limited Series (Unorthodox). Including the creative arts Emmys, Netflix won a total of 21 awards.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonifitzgerald/2020/09/20/in-prestige-tv-vs-streaming-emmy-showdown-prestige-wins-by-a-mile/#1af74f1b2508">HBO took home</a>&nbsp;30 awards out of its 107 nominations, including 12 at the primetime ceremony with&nbsp;Succession&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kemberliespivey/2020/09/20/yahya-abdul-mateen-ii-wins-his-first-emmy-dedicating-statuette-to-all-of-the-black-women-in-my-life/#14671e1e6f2e">Watchmen</a>&nbsp;scoring big wins in the Drama and Limited Series categories. Meanwhile Disney+,&nbsp; Amazon Prime&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/amazon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AMZN</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/amazon">+0.2%</a>&nbsp;and Apple&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/apple" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AAPL</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/apple">+3%</a>&nbsp;TV+ are still far behind the big two; those streaming services took home eight, three and one awards, respectively, with Apple TV+ the only one to win a prize on Sunday night.&nbsp;



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Surprise: Diversity&nbsp;</h3>



The Emmy Awards—like Hollywood itself—are notorious for their lack of diversity, but the issue took center stage on Sunday. Throughout the broadcast, the Emmys brought attention to the issue of the need for diversity in television with&nbsp;Insecure’s Issa Rae,&nbsp;Ugly Betty’s&nbsp;America Ferrara and&nbsp;The Chi’s Lena Waithe sharing their experiences as women of color in the industry. This year’s acting nominees, which were announced at the height of the protests for racial equality this summer, were notably diverse. A record 39 people of color were nominated out of the 102 acting nominations. It is rare that those nominations translate to wins; this year a total of seven acting awards went to Black performers, a new record. On Sunday’s ceremony Black actors took home four of 16 awards, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kemberliespivey/2020/09/20/regina-king-wins-her-fourth-emmy-for-lead-actress-in-a-limited-series-or-movie/#502711a967b1">Regina King taking home her fourth Emmy</a>—she now ties with Alfre Woodard for the most Emmy wins for a Black performer—and Zendaya became the second Black woman to ever take home the award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama. But there is work to be done. The winners, behind and in front of the camera, are still overwhelmingly white, and Latinx and disabled people were completely shut out of the nominations. “I love being a Black woman, I loved being a Black girl,&#8221; King said in the press room following her win.&#8221;I love being American, and it&#8217;s important that people see all of those things together.”



<h3 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading">Snub: Jennifer Aniston</h3>



Going into the night, Jennifer Aniston was the favorite for Best Actress in a Drama Series. America’s sweetheart returned to television in a starring role for the first time since&nbsp;Friends&nbsp;wrapped in 2004. She never won an Emmy for her breakout role as Rachel, and her dramatic turn in Apple TV+’s&nbsp;Morning Show&nbsp;seemed like a natural winner. While critics unanimously praised Zendaya’s performance as a struggling teenage drug addict in HBO’s&nbsp;Euphoria,&nbsp;her win for Best Lead Actress in a Drama seemed to shock her as much as it did the viewers. The youngest woman to ever win the award at age 24, she spoke to her generation as she accepted the award.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I just want to say to all our peers out there doing the work in the streets: I see you, I admire you, I thank you.”<cite>-Zendaya</cite></blockquote>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Still don’t really have any words&#8230;.feeling so much love right now, thank you. <a href="https://t.co/ZKpn46lLiW">pic.twitter.com/ZKpn46lLiW</a>&mdash; Zendaya (@Zendaya) <a href="https://twitter.com/Zendaya/status/1308106132590792704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 21, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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By Madeline Berg, Forbes Staff

Emmy Host Jimmy Kimmel laughs with stage Manager Gary Natoli during rehearsals Friday for the 72nd Annual Emmy Awards taking place at Staples Center this Sunday.

Emmy Awards 2020: Zendaya And ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Shine, While Netflix Gets Snubbed

Latest Consumer Technology Products On Display At CES 2016

How Netflix’s Reed Hastings Rewrote The Hollywood Script

When Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra launched early this year, it enjoyed all the attention a snazzy new smartphone on the market deserves.



And this one has some monster specifications to boot: such as 8K video support, 5G connectivity, up to 100x Space Zoom, powerful processor, 5,000mAh battery, 108-megapixel camera and the most dazzling of it all – a 6.9-inch screen with a 120Hz display and refresh screen rate.



The Samsung S20 Ultra certainly ticks many global firsts in terms of features, but now that the post-pandemic world has taken the sheen off retail and consumer spending, let’s be honest. The S20 Ultra may be packed with the coolest specifications, but it’s neither friendly to your wallet nor your pocket – as it’s both pricey and weighty (taller and thicker than most).



While the S20 has the best range and its other models offer value for money, you will need to take a long, hard look at the specifications of the S20 Ultra to convince yourself that it justifies the price tag, as this latest flagship Samsung device costs from $1,400.



But if you are in the game for the latest tech tool, the Samsung S20 Ultra definitely breaks the monotony of smartphones and is an upgrade if you can afford it.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/03_galaxys20ultra_cosmic_gray_l30-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-46790" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/03_galaxys20ultra_cosmic_gray_l30-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/03_galaxys20ultra_cosmic_gray_l30-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/03_galaxys20ultra_cosmic_gray_l30-1-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/03_galaxys20ultra_cosmic_gray_l30-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/03_galaxys20ultra_cosmic_gray_l30-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/03_galaxys20ultra_cosmic_gray_l30-1-2048x1366.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Its dimensions apart, it has more features than its curvier peers. If you are looking for more bang for your buck, think of the new work-from-home reality that has also created some new demands for the business professional, one of which is more sophisticated technology in your palm and pocket.



The S20 Ultra comes with 5G, and on its rear, features a large rectangular camera module with four lenses including a telephoto camera for depth vision. High-resolution photographscan be uploaded and downloaded quickly.



The 120Hz display could be a boon for gamers as it enables smooth gaming. Samsung has also partnered with Spotify and Netflix to bring personalized entertainment; a prerequisite for any smart device at a time when the world needs at-home recreation the most.



The camera system is powered by artificial intelligence (AI). With a 108-megapixel rear camera and 40-megapixel front camera, you may switch between the two so the recording is seamless.



The S20 Ultra also uses AI to recommend good shots. With the 8K video recording (apparently the only smartphone in South Africa to offer this), the images you shoot are quite true-to-life in color and quality. And then you also do have a custom filter to customize your own personal photo filters.&nbsp;



The 128GB of storage seems small, given its 8K video capabilities, but you can choose to increase it to 1.5TB with a microSD card and a 12GB RAM allocation. Knox-Knox is Samsung’s defense-grade mobile security platform in the device providing real-time device protection too.



It may take a while to get used to the spatial features of this heavier smartphone, but users, including iPhone converts, have admitted to being drawn by its cool core technology. Hard to ignore it, online or on retail shelves.

01_galaxys20ultra_mainkv_h_2p_rgb

Daring In Display And Design

Whilst other industries succumb to the coronavirus pandemic, Netflix is reigning supreme.



With almost half the planet in lockdown, the streaming giant is cashing in on a captive home audience, even in Africa.



Pushing more international content on its platform as it takes on competitors Disney+, Hulu (majority-owned by Disney), Amazon and Showmax, Netflix has been vocal about making Africa a new hub for generating original content.



In February, it premiered its first African original series, Queen Sono, a South African crime drama starring Pearl Thusi, which is now going into its second season after receiving rave reviews.



Netflix has also just announced its second African original series, titled Blood &amp; Water.



The series, focusing on “a world of mystery, raw family dynamics and light-hearted relief”, is directed by Nosipho Dumisa. The female cast includes Ama Qamata, Khosi Ngema,&nbsp;Gail Mabalane, Natasha Thahane, and Cindy Mahlangu.



Blood &amp; Water is set to hit your personal screens in May.



Netflix has also announced its next African original series, JIVA!, currently in production. It will be “a fun and energy-packed drama series” on a talented street dancer, and will be a local African production, from script to screen, with an all-African cast and crew.

gettyimages-1208729742-594×594

Netflix To Debut Second African Original Series

TOPLINE Netflix is one of the few companies actually thriving during the coronavirus, hitting an all-time high in the market Thursday after becoming more valuable than rival entertainment giant Disney.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="960" height="735" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Tiger-King.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-44391" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Tiger-King.jpg 960w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Tiger-King-300x230.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Tiger-King-600x459.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Tiger-King-768x588.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" /><figcaption>&#8216;Tiger King&#8217; has been a huge boon for Netflix, drawing more than 34 million viewers in its first 10 days on the platform, according to Nielsen. NETFLIX</figcaption></figure></div>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



The streamer’s stock climbed 5% by midday, after closing at a record price of nearly $427 per share on Wednesday.



With viewers turning to hits like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielshapiro/2020/04/08/34-million-people-watched-tiger-king-in-its-first-10-days-on-netflix/#56e0cff52a9a">true-crime documentary&nbsp;Tiger King</a>&nbsp;and comfort-food reruns like&nbsp;The Office&nbsp;and&nbsp;Cheers,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielshapiro/2020/03/23/exclusive-disney-sees-huge-subscription-spike-as-homebound-audiences-clamor-for-content/#7f50f02e17c4">Netflix is seeing a spike in new subscriptions</a>, according to streaming analytics firm Antenna.



Aside from increased viewership, Netflix is seeing another benefit from the crisis: like the rest of Hollywood, it has had to halt production, says Lightshed partner and analyst Rich Greenfield, freeing up its cashflow as it accumulates revenue.



What’s good for Netflix is also good for its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/reed-hastings/#73a62bcd2782">cofounder and CEO Reed Hastings</a>&nbsp;— his net worth is now $4.9 billion, a $1.2 billion increase since the end of March.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$194 billion. That is how much Netflix&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/netflix">NFLX</a>&nbsp;is now worth, having increased its market value more than $50 billion so far this year. Disney&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/walt-disney">DIS</a>, having been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus, is valued below $184 billion, down from nearly $258 billion at the end of 2019. Disney and Netflix are two of the heaviest hitters in entertainment, but they have opposite approaches. While Netflix is entirely dependent on paid subscriptions for revenue, Disney is much more varied, as reliant on tourism and merchandise sales as it is on the content it puts out. While that diversity has traditionally been its strength, it has become a liability as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielshapiro/2020/04/14/saving-disney-iger-returns-as-coronavirus-batters-the-company-on-all-sides/#37412867e64f">the pandemic forces Disney to shut down theme parks and delay film releases</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



While that pause in production may be good for Netflix’s bottom line now, it could result in significantly less new content in the fall than planned. Even so, Netflix may still be better off than its competitors. “The reality is they have much more content in the pipeline than anyone else right now,” says Greenfield.



&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielshapiro/">Ariel Shapiro, </a>Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/business">Business</a>

gettyimages-1215343881-594×594

Netflix Stock Hits Record High, Is Now Worth More Than Disney

Gripping a lukewarm Heineken, Jim Gaffigan hunches his six-foot-one frame over a peeling table in the green room of the An Grianán Theatre in Letterkenny, Ireland. Summer nights are never terribly hot in these parts, but this one is warm enough to need some air conditioning, which the theater almost never uses. It’s hardly a glamorous moment. But then again, glamour isn’t really his thing.



“There’s nothing sexy about Jim Gaffigan,” he says, sweat dotting his brow. “I’m not young. I don’t have a full head of hair. I’m out of shape. I don’t talk about having dinner with Kanye.”



Fortunately for him, he is funny. Just ask the more than 300,000 people in 15 countries who’ve paid an average of $56 to see his latest routine. For the 53-year-old father of five, it’s been a grueling schedule: more than 75 cities in the past year, including whistle-stops like Letterkenny, a northern community of 20,000 that was once lauded as the Republic’s “tidiest town.”



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Trevor Noah Is Laughing All The Way To The Bank (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/arts/2019/08/20/trevor-noah-is-laughing-all-the-way-to-the-bank/" target="_blank">Trevor Noah Is Laughing All The Way To The Bank</a>



They may not offer much sizzle, but places like this are the lifeblood of Gaffigan’s business. He has raked in $30 million this year, putting him at No. 3 on&nbsp;Forbes’ list of the highest-earning stand-up comedians. Half of that was earned by putting “butts in seats.” 



The rest comes from spreading his punch lines far and wide. And in this business, if those jokes are funny enough—and your reach wide enough—you can fill a lot of seats with a lot of butts. With the right distribution deal, those jokes can deliver exponential returns. But that’s where it gets a bit tricky.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“In the entertainment industry, every house is made of ice and it’s melting,” Gaffigan says. “So you’d better be building a new house.” &nbsp;</blockquote>



Gaffigan’s been building. In 2016, he agreed to partner with Netflix, the industry’s dominant force and home to original specials from all but one of the comedians on&nbsp;Forbes’ ranking. Last year he cut loose from the kingmaker and placed a bigger bet on himself, pairing up with Comedy Dynamics, an independent producer, to release his next special everywhere&nbsp;but&nbsp;Netflix.&nbsp;



Gaffigan will star in the first original stand-up special on Amazon, which is going after the streaming giant with a push into comedy.&nbsp;Quality Time&nbsp;goes live today, and it can be shopped on the open streaming market when its exclusive run with Amazon Prime Video is up in two years. And that market is only expanding.



Gaffigan has learned a bit about home building in the entertainment industry. He cut his teeth on the club circuit in the early 1990s, when HBO was the primary destination for stand-up specials and Comedy Central was a fledgling cable network. 



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Executive Travel: Mpho Popps’ Ghana (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/travel/2019/07/25/executive-travel-mpho-popps-ghana/" target="_blank">Executive Travel: Mpho Popps’ Ghana</a>



In 2000, he landed what was then the holy grail of comedy success—a broadcast sitcom—which was the source of the fortunes the creators of&nbsp;Seinfeld&nbsp;and&nbsp;Roseanne&nbsp;minted once they had enough seasons on the air and could sell the series into syndication.



Gaffigan’s shot proved to be short-lived, but six years later he scored a second chance and headlined a Comedy Central special called&nbsp;Beyond the Pale. This time it paid dividends, landing him his first theater show a month later. The butts were now coming to the seats, and while his rise was live, in person, with microphone in hand, his breakout was digital.



At the time, YouTube was changing the rules of the game, providing comedians a global platform with unprecedented distribution. Then Twitter emerged, giving comedy bookers a real-time assessment of who was attracting audiences. 



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="The World’s Highest-Paid Comedians Of 2018 (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/lists/2018/12/21/the-worlds-highest-paid-comedians-of-2018/" target="_blank">The World’s Highest-Paid Comedians Of 2018</a>



Then came the debut of streaming on Netflix, which latched onto comedy as a cheap and effective way to lure subscribers, while some, notably the now disgraced Louis C.K., used streaming to control their own distribution, making their shows available for fans to purchase directly.



“It was a technological wave that crashed over the stand-up world,” says Wayne Federman, a comedian and professor of the history of stand-up at the University of Southern California. “And we’re still all trying to figure out what’s going on.”



Gaffigan’s first original Netflix special aired in 2017, long after the company had reshaped the industry. It was a promising place to be: Aziz Ansari and Ali Wong were propelled into superstar status through their Netflix specials, while household names like&nbsp;Dave Chappelle&nbsp;and&nbsp;Jerry Seinfeld&nbsp;reportedly cashed in with $60 million (Chappelle) and $100 million (Seinfeld) paydays in exchange for long-term, multi-program deals. Gaffigan’s first special,&nbsp;Cinco, sold for a more modest seven-figure sum.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5d56bc6f95808800097cfe79/960x0.jpg?fit=scale" alt="Jim Gaffigan stand up comedy specials for Netflix and Amazon Original"/><figcaption>COURTESY</figcaption></figure>



It was more than just a check; it was access to a potential audience of nearly 94 million. Although Netflix’s subscriber base has grown since then, so has its stand-up library. The platform now shops nearly four times the number of original stand-up specials than when&nbsp;Cinco&nbsp;debuted. 



That makes it harder to stand out in the scroll. Plus, the streamer often holds onto specials in perpetuity, including&nbsp;Cinco. The up-front money is nice, but there is no ability to earn on the back end.&nbsp;



Gaffigan used his next special, 2018’s&nbsp;Noble Ape, which was directed and cowritten by his wife, Jeannie Gaffigan, to test the waters. Comedy Dynamics bought the rights and made it available everywhere Netflix wasn’t. It had a theatrical release and could be purchased and rented on multiple services, including&nbsp; iTunes, YouTube and Walmart’s VUDU. 



Later, there were short streaming windows on Comedy Central and Amazon Prime. According to Comedy Dynamics CEO Brian Volk-Weiss, it was even syndicated to planes and cruise ships. The up-front payment to Gaffigan from Comedy Dynamics was lower than at Netflix, but the wide distribution allowed him to earn on the back end, bringing in a total of $10 million, according to&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;estimates.



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Burna Boy’s The African Giant Debuts On The Daily Show With Trevor Noah (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/arts/2019/08/14/burna-boy-the-african-giants-debuts-on-the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah/" target="_blank">Burna Boy’s The African Giant Debuts On The Daily Show With Trevor Noah</a>



And new services are on the way from Apple,&nbsp;WarnerMedia, NBCUniversal and&nbsp;Disney, any one of which could choose to pursue cheap-to-produce and popular stand-up specials.&nbsp;



Because of this widening field, stand-up specials may have more life (and revenue) in them, and that could be good for comedians looking to gamble on their success with deals that offer back-end participation. “We have titles in our library that are making more in year 12 than they made in year one,” says Volk-Weiss, whose company also owns specials by Bob Saget, Iliza Shlesinger and Janeane Garofalo.



Still, leaving Netflix means walking away from a partner that has now established itself as a formidable entertainment company. Netflix has some 180 original hour-long stand-up specials and is singularly focused on exploiting content around the world. Gaffigan, though, is content to keep the bet on himself.



“In the entertainment industry, every house is made of ice and it’s melting. So you’d better be building a new house.&#8221;



In the stuffy backstage room in Letterkenny, Gaffigan reviews some of the new material he tried out on stage. A joke about Ireland’s nonsensical roads killed it. He stumbled with a bit about the English. The classics played well—“My dad never went to a parent-teacher conference; my dad didn’t know I went to school.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



And he’s well aware that Amazon’s core mission is to sell stuff, even though it&nbsp;has won critical acclaim&nbsp;for shows like&nbsp;The&nbsp;Marvelous Mrs. Maisel&nbsp;and&nbsp;Transparent. With plans to deliver three more specials over the next five years, he’s got time to see just how good a partner the retailer might be. Along the way, he may decide it’s time to find a new neighborhood.



“The reason I went to Amazon is to expand my audience,” he says. “I don’t know what they’re gonna do and I don’t fully understand their marketing might. I might be pleasantly surprised. I mean, it’s a huge corporation. They could probably make more selling socks.”



-Ariel Shapiro; Forbes

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Comedian Jim Gaffigan Rakes In $30 Million By Ditching Netflix And Betting On Himself

South African Comedian Trevor Noah Is The Fourth Highest Paid Comedian In The World. Here&#8217;s how he did it.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



With earnings of a staggering $28 million Trevor Noah has become the
fourth highest paid comedian in the world.



According to Forbes the Daily Show host, “earned
the bulk of his income this year through stand-up, making him eligible for our
list”.



Forbes’ methodology is using all earnings estimated from June 1, 2018 to June 1, 2019. 



<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/arts/2019/08/14/burna-boy-the-african-giants-debuts-on-the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Burna Boy’s The African Giant Debuts On The Daily Show With Trevor Noah (opens in a new tab)">Burna Boy’s The African Giant Debuts On The Daily Show With Trevor Noah</a>



“Figures are pretax; fees for agents, managers and lawyers are not
deducted. Earnings estimates are based on data from Pollstar Pro as well as
interviews with industry insiders,” they said.



He is signed to host the Daily Show until 2022.



On the show, Noah usually sits down with the biggest headline-grabbers
in politics and entertainment.



Noah also covers the biggest news stories in politics, pop culture and
more.



Recently he trended after devising a viral conspiracy theory that
President Donald Trump is targeting first lady Melania Trump with his
immigration policies.



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Is Donald Trump trying to deport Melania? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DontDeportMelania?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DontDeportMelania</a> <a href="https://t.co/aWoNOErfbV">pic.twitter.com/aWoNOErfbV</a>&mdash; The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheDailyShow/status/1161811745792544770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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The Daily Show with Trevor Noah currently has over 5,3 million
subscribers on YouTube alone and has had 1,9 billion views.



But apart from the show, the South African born comedian made more than
70 stops across the world and had his second Netflix special last fall.



His book Born A Crime, published in 2016, is still ranked as No.1 on the New York Times’ bestseller list for paperback nonfiction.



Africans across the globe celebrated Noah’s listing on social media with
some expressing how inspired they are by him.



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><a href="https://twitter.com/Trevornoah?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Trevornoah</a> is officially the 4th highest paid Comedian in the world, and he’s African &#8230; Oh lord, if this doesn’t inspire me .. I don’t know what will.. do you know he can sponsor himself to do an East African comedy tour .. and even pay the organizers of the shows 😂😂😂&mdash; Patrick Salvado 👑 (@idringp) <a href="https://twitter.com/idringp/status/1163733016382005249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">Izinja Madoda!!! Crazy shit!!! Inspiring!!! <a href="https://t.co/kPw44muRLp">https://t.co/kPw44muRLp</a>&mdash; Don Billiato (@casspernyovest) <a href="https://twitter.com/casspernyovest/status/1163521956156772352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">This is really a big deal! We are proud of you <a href="https://twitter.com/Trevornoah?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Trevornoah</a>&mdash; yourpartycupsng (@yourpartycups) <a href="https://twitter.com/yourpartycups/status/1163716145863626753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 20, 2019</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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On the Forbes list, Noah follows after Jim Gaffigan earning $30 million,
Jerry Seinfeld earning $41 million and Kevin Hart being the highest earner with
$59 million.



On the top ten list the only woman on the list is Amy Schumer at the
seventh spot with $21 million.

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Trevor Noah Is Laughing All The Way To The Bank

According to Netflix,&nbsp;Stranger Things 3&nbsp;smashed the streaming giant’s&nbsp; previous ratings record, with over 40 million households streaming the 80s-tastic adventures of Eleven and friends since the&nbsp;July 4 season premiere.



<ul><li>Over 18 million (or about 45%) of the households streaming&nbsp;Stranger Things 3&nbsp;completed the eight-episode season in the same four-day period.</li><li>The previous record holder was&nbsp;Murder Mystery, an Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston comedy, with over 30 million households streaming during its June opening weekend.</li><li>Netflix’s ratings are&nbsp;voluntarily reported&nbsp;by the company and not available to Nielsen or other traditional third-party audience measurers. Meaning there’s no additional, outside verification of Netflix ratings.</li><li>Although Netflix reigned supreme for years in entertainment streaming, competition from Hulu, Amazon, YouTube and others will crowd the playing field and potentially curb subscriber growth across the board, according to The Street.</li><li>Stranger Things 3&nbsp;is a proven cash cow for Netflix. In addition to beating streaming records, the latest season boasted 75 different product tie-ins as&nbsp;brands jockey for association&nbsp;(and dollars) with hot entertainment properties.&nbsp;</li></ul>



<figure><iframe src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?type=text%2Fhtml&amp;key=cfc0fb0733504c77aa4a6ac07caaffc7&amp;schema=twitter&amp;url=https%3A//twitter.com/netflix/status/1148359444188712960&amp;image=https%3A//i.embed.ly/1/image%3Furl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fpbs.twimg.com%252Fprofile_images%252F1089957236221329409%252FrsMZ82D3_400x400.jpg%26key%3D8804248494c144f5b4765c41f66c6ed5"></iframe></figure>



What to watch for:&nbsp;Disney. The House of Mouse, with its 2017, $53 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox, controls a wide swath of successful intellectual property outside of princesses and anthropomorphic animals:&nbsp;Star Wars,&nbsp;Avatar,&nbsp;The Simpsons, Marvel superheroes, Pixar and more are under its purview. Which means Disney may be the biggest media empire in history. Combined with having full control of Hulu and the scheduled November launch of Disney+, its own streaming service (targeted to cost half of a monthly Netflix subscription), Disney is poised to&nbsp;steal Netflix’s streaming spotlight.



-Lisette Voytko;&nbsp;Forbes Staff

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Netflix: ‘Stranger Things 3’ Smashes Its Ratings Record

WarnerMedia revealed the name of its new streaming service, HBO Max, and said it will lay claim to exclusive streaming rights to the hit sitcom&nbsp;Friends, a blow to rival Netflix.



The service, which launches commercially in the spring of 2020, will be anchored in HBO’s premium content, as the name implies. But it also will feature exclusive originals, such as a one-hour thriller series starring&nbsp;The Big Bang Theory’s&nbsp;Kaley Cuoco, and a ten-episode romantic anthology series featuring&nbsp;Pitch Perfect’s&nbsp;Anna Kendrick.



Though original programming may attract subscribers, popular shows likeFriends&nbsp;have the enduring, comfort-food appeal of the familiar. HBO Max will be home to all 236 episodes of&nbsp;Friends,&nbsp;the long-running situation comedy about a group of friends in Manhattan that debuted in 1994 but remains popular long after the last episode aired on NBC in 2004. Netflix paid a reported $100 million last December to keep Ross, Rachel and the rest of the crew on for another year.



WarnerMedia didn’t reveal pricing for Max. The network’s stand-alone subscription streaming service, HBO Now, costs $15, more than Netflix’s standard plan ($12.99) and the recently announced Disney+ streaming service ($6.99). It declined&nbsp;Forbes’&nbsp;request for an interview.



The announcement follows a tumultuous period at WarnerMedia, as AT&amp;T entertainment division&#8217;s chief executive, John Stankey, reorganized business units and installed new leadership.



Eager to lay claim to a corner of the rapidly evolving streaming media landscape, Stankey announced plans last fall to launch a three-tiered service, with a variety of pricing and content offerings. He promised the service would debut in “beta” by the end of 2019—matching the planned launches of the Walt Disney Co.’s streaming service and the anticipated debut of Apple TV+. The newly christened HBO Max will exist alongside HBO Now and HBO Go, the streaming service offered free to the network’s TV subscribers.



Under the details made public today, HBO Max will feature seven original series and draw from HBO’s programming slate, which includes an adaptation of Stephen King’s mystery,&nbsp;The Outsider,&nbsp;starring Ben Mendelsohn;&nbsp;Lovecraft Country,&nbsp;a horror series based on a novel by Matt Ruff, and executive produced by Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams; and&nbsp;The Undoing,&nbsp;a psychological thriller from noted television producer David E. Kelley, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant.



The forthcoming service will also draw from Warner Bros. Television’s extensive library, claiming popular past shows like&nbsp;The Fresh Prince of Bel Air&nbsp;and&nbsp;Pretty Little Liars.&nbsp;It will also get dibs on the new shows Warner TV produces for The CW network, including the forthcoming DC Entertainment series&nbsp;Batwoman.



WarnerMedia said HBO Max reached exclusive deals with Hollywood producer Greg Berlanti (The Flash, Supergirl, Arrow) and award-winning actress and producer Reese Witherspoon. Berlanti will produce an initial four movies focused in the young adult space, while Witherspoon&#8217;s Hello Sunshine will produce at least two films.



-Dawn Chmielewski; Forbes Staff

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Netflix Rival HBO Max To Launch Next Year With ‘Friends’

Apple’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48110709" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">iPhone sales have dropped</a>&nbsp;in recent quarters, particularly in China, where cheaper rivals Huawei Technologies and Xiaomi have gained traction. Smartphone revenue fell 17% for the latest three months to $31 billion, but the stock jumped 5% on the results. One big reason: record-high services revenue.



The company’s services division includes its App Store, Apple Pay, iTunes, cloud services and more. It is now the second biggest segment for Apple after the iPhone, with revenue of $37 billion in 2018, and Morgan Stanley expects it to&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/11/08/apples-services-will-grow-to-over-100-billion-per-year-in-2023-says-analyst" target="_blank">top $100 billion in 2023</a>. The projected growth speaks to the power of the Apple brand.



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/list/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click here for the full list of The World&#8217;s Most Valuable Brands</a>



Apple tops&nbsp;Forbes’ annual look at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/list/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">world’s most valuable brands</a>&nbsp;for the ninth straight time.&nbsp;The brand of the tech giant is worth $205.5 billion, up 12% over last year. It is the first time a brand crossed the $200 billion threshold.



Apple has made an art form of moving its customer base from one product category to another. Mac users adopted the iPod, followed by the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Customers trust the brand will work seamlessly across all categories in the Apple ecosystem, which has helped make the Cupertino, California-based company the most valuable in the world. Services is the next frontier for the company and brand.



While Apple maintains its spot at the top, Google is closing fast with a value of $167.7 billion, up 23%. The Apple brand was worth more than twice as much as the ubiquitous search brand just four years ago.



READ MORE | <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="The World’s Most Reputable CEOs 2019 (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/lists/2019/05/22/the-worlds-most-reputable-ceos-2019/" target="_blank">The World’s Most Reputable CEOs 2019</a>



Google has cornered the global search engine market with a 92% share over the past 12 months,&nbsp;<a href="http://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to StatCounter</a>&nbsp;(Bing, 2.6%, and Yahoo, 1.9%, are miles behind). Like Apple, Google has used its brand to move into other categories of consumers’ everyday life from email to Web browsing to maps to cloud storage.



While many global consumer brands struggle with the changing habits of their customers, the biggest tech brands continue to be juggernauts. Microsoft ($123.5 billion) and Amazon ($97 billion) round out the top four and both jumped more than 20% in value.



One tech brand that was dinged over the past 12 months is Facebook, which ranks fifth overall. It was the only brand in the top ten to fall in value, to an estimated $88.9 billion, down 6% from last year. The number of active Facebook users reached 2.4 billion this year, but the social media brand has been hampered by concerns around data protection, privacy policies and fake news.



Coca-Cola is the top brand outside of tech, with a value of $59.2 billion, up 3%, and ranked sixth overall.



Brands: By The Numbers



The 100 most valuable brands are worth a cumulative $2.33 trillion, up 8% over last year. Tech brands were the top gainers, led by e-commerce giant Amazon, up 37% to $97 billion. Other big winners: Netflix (+34%), Google (+27%) and Adobe (+27%). H&amp;M had the biggest fall, down 12% to $11.5 billion. The Swedish retailer has struggled and cut prices last year on clothing to clear excess inventory. More than 20 brands declined in value, including ESPN (-10%), GE (-8%) and Hyundai (-8%).



U.S. companies landed 56 brands among the top 100, as well as 80% of the top 10. Germany (11 brands), France (7) and Japan (6) were the next most prolific countries of origin. Brands from 16 countries made the final cut.



In addition to the proliferation of tech brands (20 of the top 100), financial services (13), automotive (11), consumer packaged goods (10) and retail (8) were the most common industries.



Methodology



We began with a universe of more than 200 global brands, which include both corporate and product brands. We required brands to have more than a token presence in the U.S., which eliminated some large brands like multinational telecom firm&nbsp;Vodafone&nbsp;and Chinese e-commerce behemoth&nbsp;Alibaba.



Our first step in valuing the brands was to determine revenue and earnings before interest and taxes for each one. We gathered these from company reports, Wall Street research and industry experts.&nbsp;Forbes averaged earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) over the past three years and subtracted from earnings a charge of 8% of the brand’s capital employed, figuring a generic brand should be able to earn at least 8% on this capital.



Forbes&nbsp;applied the corporate tax rate in the parent company’s home country to that net earnings figure. Next, we allocated a percentage of those earnings to the brand based on the role brands play in each industry. Brands are crucial when it comes to beverages and luxury goods, but less so with airlines and fuel, when price and convenience are more important.



To this net brand earnings number, we applied the average price-to-earnings multiple over the past three years to arrive at the final brand value. For privately held outfits we applied earnings multiples for comparable public companies.



-Kurt Badenhausen; Forbes Staff

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The World’s Most Valuable Brands 2019: Apple On Top At $206 Billion

Africa’s biggest pay-TV group MultiChoice debuted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Wednesday with shares opening at 95.50 rand, giving the company a market capitalization of 42 billion rand ($3.03 billion).



South African ecommerce giant Naspers decided to spin off MultiChoice after coming under pressure in recent years to find ways to narrow a valuation discount between its market value and that of its one-third stake in Chinese internet group Tencent.



As of 0727 GMT, the stock was trading at 105.04 rand, adding to opening gains.



Naspers did not raise any money from the listing with the 439 million shares instead being distributed to current Naspers shareholders on a one-for-one basis for its listed shares and one for five unlisted A class shares



Founded 30 years ago, MultiChoice reaches around 14 million households in 50 African countries, offering both paid-TV products and a fledging streaming service called Showmax.



The company has said there are more than 25 million households across the continent yet to be captured by its traditional pay-TV business.



The spin off leaves MultiChoice — whose strong cash flow helped Naspers evolve into one world’s biggest players in e-commerce &#8211; free to fend for itself in an increasingly competitive market where Netflix is already supplying viewers with TV content and Hollywood hits.



“This is a momentous time for our business&#8230; This marks the next chapter in our development and growth,” said MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela.-Reuters



-Emma Rumney

NIGERIA-SAFRICA-TELECOMMUNICATION-TV

Africa’s Top Pay-TV Group Multichoice’s Market Cap Tops $3 Billion On JSE Debut

It was a night of upset in Hollywood, as&nbsp;Green Book&nbsp;took home Best Picture&#8211;and dashed Netflix&#8217;s $30 million&nbsp;bet on scoring a win in the hotly-contested category with&nbsp;Roma.



The Universal buddy drama, starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen, overcame stiff competition from superhero movie&nbsp;Black Panther, racially-charged comedy&nbsp;BlacKkKlansman, Queen historyBohemian Rhapsody, off-kilter period drama&nbsp;The Favourite, black-and-white autobiography&nbsp;Roma, musical tragedy&nbsp;A Star Is Born&nbsp;and Dick Cheney biopic&nbsp;Vice.



READ MORE |<a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2019/02/22/want-to-win-an-oscar-spend-millions-on-the-film-campaign-trail/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Want To Win An Oscar? Spend Millions On The Film Campaign Trail (opens in a new tab)">Want To Win An Oscar? Spend Millions On The Film Campaign Trail</a>



The&nbsp;film tells the tale of a black concert pianist Don Shirley and his Italian-American driver Tony Vallelonga traveling through the racist deep South.&nbsp;It overcame&nbsp;criticism for its portrayal of Mortensen&#8217;s character, Tony Vallelonga, as a white savior. The backlash was furthered by the Shirley family,&nbsp;who claimed it misrepresented the prodigy&#8217;s relationship with them.&nbsp;



Green Book&nbsp;was not the only controversial film to emerge triumphant.&nbsp;Bohemian Rhapsody&nbsp;led the awards scoreboard&nbsp;with&nbsp;four statuettes, including Best Actor for Rami Malek, despite a damning investigation by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/bryan-singers-accusers-speak-out/580462/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Atlantic</a>&nbsp;into sexual conduct by its director, Bryan Singer. (Singer has denied the accusations.) Black-and-white Spanish-language film&nbsp;Roma&nbsp;and&nbsp;blockbuster&nbsp;Black Panther&nbsp;were close behind&nbsp;with three apiece.



&#8220;I think to anyone struggling with their [identity] and trying to discover their voice, we made a film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life just unapologetically himself,&#8221; said Malek, as he accepted his award. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&#8220;And the fact that I’m celebrating him and this story with you tonight is proof that we’re longing for stories like this.&#8221;&nbsp;</blockquote>



Beyond scandal, it was also an evening of firsts: Auteur Spike Lee landed his first Oscar in his three decade-plus career for race comedy&nbsp;BlacKkKlansman,&nbsp;though he lost out on Best Picture.&nbsp;Lee, who was also snubbed years ago because of&nbsp;Driving Miss Daisy, had a few words to say. &#8220;Every time somebody is driving somebody, I lose,&#8221; Spike Lee told the press, while sipping champagne backstage.



Superhero smash hit&nbsp;Black Panther&nbsp;won&nbsp;Marvel the studio&#8217;s first statuettes ever, nabbing&nbsp;costume design, production design and best original score. And Mahershala Ali became the first Black actor to win two Oscars in the Best Supporting Actor category, following his performance in interracial roadtrip movie&nbsp;Green Book.



The biggest&nbsp;shock of the night, besides&nbsp;Green Book: Best Actress, which was won by Olivia Colman for&nbsp;The Favourite. She beat out Glenn Close (The Wife), who was widely&nbsp;expected to&nbsp;take the category.



&#8220;When I used to work as a cleaner&#8211;and I loved that job&#8211;I did spend quite a lot of my time imagining this,&#8221; Colman said onstage.&nbsp;



Critically-acclaimed period comedy&nbsp;The Favourite&nbsp;and Netflix&#8217;s autobiographical drama&nbsp;Roma&nbsp;had the most nominations going into the show,&nbsp;with 10 nods apiece.



Oscars 2019: Full&nbsp;List Of Winners:



BEST PICTURE



Green Book



DIRECTING



Alfonso Cuarón,&nbsp;Roma



ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE



Rami Malek,&nbsp;Bohemian Rhapsody



ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE



Olivia Colman,&nbsp;The Favourite



ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE



Regina King,&nbsp;If Beale Street Could Talk



ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE



Mahershala Ali,&nbsp;Green Book&nbsp;



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY



Green Book



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY



BlacKkKlansman



ORIGINAL SCORE



Black Panther&nbsp;



ORIGINAL SONG



&#8220;Shallow,&#8221;&nbsp;A Star Is Born



DOCUMENTARY FEATURE



Free Solo



DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT



Period. End of Sentence.



MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING



Vice



COSTUME DESIGN



Black Panther



PRODUCTION DESIGN



Black Panther



CINEMATOGRAPHY



Roma



SOUND EDITING



Bohemian Rhapsody



SOUND MIXING



Bohemian Rhapsody



FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM



Roma



FILM EDITING



Bohemian Rhapsody



VISUAL EFFECTS



First Man



ANIMATED FEATURE FILM



Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse



ANIMATED SHORT FILM



Bao



LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM



Skin



-Natalie Robehmed;Forbes Staff

Tag: Netflix

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA