YOUTUBE PLANS SCRIPTED 

1. youtube

1. SERIES FOR INTERNATIONAL MARKETS INCLUDING INDIA AND JAPAN AND JAPAN

Alphabet Inc’s YouTube is creating scripted series and other original programming for international markets including France, Germany, Japan, Mexico and India to try to draw new customers to its paid subscription service, a senior executive said on 27 July.

The programming will come in the form of multiple genres such as music documentaries, reality series, talk shows and scripted series, Susanne Daniels, YouTube’s global head of original programming, said in an interview. It will be produced in local languages and subtitled or dubbed for other markets.

Some of the programming will appear on YouTube Premium, the monthly subscription service formerly called YouTube Red. Other content will be available on YouTube’s free service with advertising.

YouTube Logo. Image: YouTube Creator Academy

“We are targeting markets where we believe we have a tremendous upside in potential subscribers,” Daniels said.

YouTube already has released a handful of original shows in South Korea and one in India, a talk show in Hindi about cricket. Called “UnCricket,” the show has performed “beyond expectations,” Daniels said.

Daniels also said a reality show starring South Korean pop band Big Bang had boosted subscriptions, and that 50 percent of the new customers came from outside of Korea.

More details about the new international slate will be released in the coming weeks, she said.

YouTube will be competing with companies including Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc that are investing in local language programming for online audiences around the world.

The first original shows from YouTube debuted on its premium service in 2016, starting with series from some of the platform’s most popular video creators. It added programming from Hollywood stars and also released a batch of children’s shows including Emmy-winning “Fruit Ninja Frenzy Force.”

There are no current plans for more original children’s programming, Daniels said. The YouTube Kids app serves that younger audience, she said, and the company does not believe children’s content will drive subscriptions to YouTube Premium at this time.

2.FACEBOOK, MARK ZUCKERBERG SUED OVER LOW EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENT THAT 'SHOCKED' MARKET

Facebook Inc and its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg were sued on 27 July in what could be the first of many lawsuits over a disappointing earnings announcement by the social media company that wiped out about $120 billion of shareholder wealth.

The complaint filed by shareholder James Kacouris in Manhattan federal court accused Facebook, Zuckerberg and Chief Financial Officer David Wehner of making misleading statements about or failing to disclose slowing revenue growth, falling operating margins, and declines in active users.

Kacouris said the marketplace was “shocked” when “the truth” began to emerge on 25 July from the Menlo Park, California-based company. He said the 19 percent plunge in Facebook shares the next day stemmed from federal securities law violations by the defendants.

Reflection of the Facebook logo on a woman's spectacles. Image: Reuters

The lawsuit seeks class-action status and unspecified damages. A Facebook spokeswoman declined to comment.

Shareholders often sue companies in the United States after unexpected stock price declines, especially if the loss of wealth is large.

Facebook has faced dozens of lawsuits over its handling of user data in a scandal also concerning the UK firm Cambridge Analytica. Many have been consolidated in the federal court in San Francisco.

The plunge on 26 July also hit Zuckerberg’s bottom line.

Zuckerberg had been tied with Warren Buffett as the world’s fourth-richest person, but the Berkshire Hathaway Inc chairman’s current $83 billion fortune tops Zuckerberg’s $66 billion, Forbes magazine said.

Buffett now ranks third among the world’s billionaires, while Zuckerberg is sixth.

Facebook shares fell another 0.8 percent on Friday, closing at $174.89 on the Nasdaq.

The case is Kacouris v Facebook Inc et al, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 18-06765.

FACEBOOK, MARK