This Week's Handful of Must-See Headlines

Don’t forget to check out our Friday Fivecast, the audio version of our weekly Friday Five blog. Listen in your car, at your desk, and anywhere you take your podcasts. Find it here, then click on our Spotify profile to subscribe.

Streaming

Embracing Ads: More Individuals Choosing Ad Tiers
Ad-supported streaming now accounts for 46% of SVOD subscriptions (where both ad and ad-free options exist), driven largely by new users and making up 71% of net subscriber growth over the past nine quarters.

International

Supporting London Filmmakers: New Mid-Budget Co-Production Initiative
Arts Alliance, parent of Garden Studios, has launched a co-production initiative to support indie films with £5–10M budgets, offering equity and cashflow support via a £17M revolving credit facility. The goal: back 5–8 films a year.

Diversity

More Writers of Color: New WGA Report Shows Increase in TV Diversity
From 2020 to 2024, the percentage of BIPOC writers in television grew to 40.4% of TV writing staff, while white writers declined to 45.4%. Gains were strongest among BIPOC women and men in mid- and lower-level roles.

Television

TV Trends: Popular Series Revolve Around World Building
Today’s TV series focus on rich world-building with interconnected stories and characters, deepening engagement. Shows like Andor, The White Lotus, and Severance lead the trend.

Unions

SAG-AFTRA and AI: Commercial Contracts Limit AI Trainings
Following the 118-day 2023 strike over AI concerns, SAG-AFTRA's new commercial contracts now ban using members’ performances to train generative AI without consent and add fees to deter replacing actors with AI.

High five! Another Friday Five is going live next week—same time, same place. We know what caught our eyes, but we’re all ears. Tell us what you’d like to learn more about in our upcoming editions by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Be sure to tag #FridayFive in your comments.

Want an even more convenient way to stay in the know? Get Friday Five sent right to your inbox each week by signing up for our direct newsletter below.

See you next Friday at 10 a.m. (PT).

INDUSTRY NEWS, FRIDAY5