The Columbian

In order for a virtual helpmate to run your life, it needs to engage with the providers of all the services you rely on, from your calendar app to your Uber ride. Those providers must either partner with the company operating the assistant, or design their app to integrate with the assistant. So Spotify will stream music upon request via Alexa, and Honeywell’s smart-home thermostat, via Assistant, will bump up the temperature 15 minutes before Grandma’s expected arrival.

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By launching its own marquee shows, Hulu hopes to keep subscribers on its service longer. That’s important because Hulu has high turnover rate. A report from Parks Associates found that 7 percent of U.S. broadband households had canceled their Hulu subscription in the last 12 months, a figure that represents about one-half of Hulu’s current subscriber base, according to Parks.

From the article "Hulu is becoming a player in streaming" by Yvonne Villarreal.

The CW has seen the effects. The network has steadily witnessed the median age of its traditional TV audience rise to 42. By contrast, the median age for CW Seed is 23.

But CW Seed faces plenty of competition. In addition to streaming pioneers such as Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, traditional media companies including HBO, Showtime, CBS and NBC, have augmented their strategy to more fully embrace the digital realm that had long been viewed as a threat.

Household penetration ...read more