Can Data Help Maker Studios Guarantee a Hit for The Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman?

In a heated exchange before a judge, YouTuber Commander Holly (real name: Holly Conrad) faces off against actress Tina Huang. The issue at hand is one that has divided many a Trekkie: William Riker, yay or nay? Welcome to Nerd Court, where arguments that one might normally witness at a comic book store instead are heard in a "court of law," à la The People's Court or Judge Judy. (Other raging debates include Star Wars vs. Star Trek, and which film series features better magic, The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.) The six-episode Web series, which premiered March 4, is a passion project of Maker Labs, a division of Disney-owned multichannel network Maker Studios, and Skybound Entertainment, the media company owned by Robert Kirkman, executive producer of AMC's hit zombie thriller The Walking Dead and creator of the comic book series on which the show is based. "It's a whole tongue-in-cheek show, but it's a lot of fun," says Kirkman. The combination of Kirkman, the creative force behind one of television's top series, and Maker Studios—which, with more than 11 billion monthly views, is the largest content distributor on YouTube—pretty much ensures Nerd Court will attract a degree of viewership. And yet neither side wants to leave that to chance. The Maker Labs model will give Skybound, on whose YouTube channel the show runs, an expansive layer of data based on social media insights to inform its creative decisions. Maker believes that formula will enable Kirkman's... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'

[ AdWeek | 2015-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Clinton Cash,' 'Selfish' Hit the List

'Clinton Cash' and 'Selfish' both landed in the top 15 adult nonfiction bestsellers, according to data released by Nielsen BookScan on Wednesday. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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iBooks Bestsellers: ’14th Deadly Sin’ at #2

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro’s '14th Deadly Sin,' released May 4, made its first appearance on Apple’s iBooks bestseller list at #2. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sin Is In: 7 (Deadly) Sin Books for Spring and Summer

Sun, sand, and--sin? Shelve the beach reads for books that explore the shadows of evil-doing and guilt. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hachette UK sales hit by VAT change

Sales at Hachette UK fell 4% year-on-year for the first quarter of 2015, partially due to an “unfavourable” VAT effect on ebooks, parent company Lagardere has said. Hachette UK said it had “steady sales in print and digital” in the first quarter of the year, with its performance “broadly in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Exploring New York in a Dozen Dishes: PW Talks with Robert Sietsema

Scrambled brains, guinea pig, and the humble pizza pie: veteran food critic Robert Sietsema discusses the story behind his new book, 'New York in a Dozen Dishes.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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App glitch hits Deyes promo

A "Golden Ticket" competition launched by Blink and Alfie Deyes on Friday night (8th May) had to be cancelled on Sunday (10th) after a technical problem that informed hundreds of entrants that they had won. Deyes announced the competition on his YouTube channel on Friday evening. Viewers who... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Print drop hits S&S first quarter

A fall in physical book sales led to a decrease in revenue in the first quarter of 2015 for Simon & Schuster. Results released by the publisher’s parent company CBS Corporation were not broken down geographically, but gave publishing revenues for the first three months of this year at... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple reportedly wants free Spotify dead to pave way for Beats relaunch

As Apple works toward a relaunch of its Beats Music streaming service, it’s reportedly pushing labels to kill off the free version of Spotify.It’s a bold move by Apple if The Verge’s unnamed sources are accurate, coming less than two years after a judge found that the company colluded with... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2015-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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SurveyMonkey CEO David Goldberg, who grew up in Twin Cities, dead at 47

SurveyMonkey CEO David Goldberg, who grew the company to a $2 billion valuation, died suddenly on Friday night. He is survived by wife Sheryl Sandberg, the COO at Facebook Inc., and two children. Sandberg married Goldberg in 2004 and credited him in her book "Lean In" for his role in creating a... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2015-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harper360 Turns U.K. Cookbook Into U.S. Hit

In March 2015, British singer Sam Smith took to Instagram to tell his 3.6 million followers that one woman, Amelia Freer, had changed his life with her book, "Eat. Nourish. Glow.," which he credited with his recent weight loss. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dead Good Books creates crime awards

Penguin Random House’s crime community Dead Good Books has created six awards to be presented at this year’s Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival by authors including Lee Child and Val McDermid. Each award has been created in collaboration with the Dead Good Facebook community and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gannett bosses' Lego Movie spoof hits bum note

Video of Newsquest owner’s Gracia Martore and her team lip-synching Everything is Awesome are unlikely to comfort journalists facing redundancySpirits among staff of Newsquest owner Gannett may not be high as it lines up another round of redundancies. But their mood will no doubt have been... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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MH Abrams, Norton anthology founder, influential critic, dead at age 102

Esteemed critic, teacher and tastemaker helped shape the modern literary canon and wrote one of the 20th century’s most acclaimed works of criticismMH Abrams, an esteemed critic and teacher who helped shape the modern literary canon as founding editor of the Norton Anthology of English... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google Builds a Data Platform That's the Last Piece of Its Ad Empire

Google is testing a new advertising product seen as the last piece it needs to complete its ad tech superstructure. The search giant is building a data management platform to help target ads and connect brands with people online more effectively, according to sources familiar with the plans. ... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-04-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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O'Reilly hits the US top spot

Bill O’Reilly’s Legends and Lies (Henry Holt) becomes the sixth title to top the US book chart in 2015. It is the fifth full-length Non-fiction title focussing on the lives of historical figures written by the political commentator for publisher Henry Holt to have reached the summit since 2011.... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Winners of the Cartoonist Studio Prize

The Slate Book Review and the Center for Cartoon Studies are proud to announce the winners of the third annual Cartoonist Studio Prize. The winners were selected by Slate Book Review editor Dan Kois; the faculty and students at the Center for Cartoon Studies, represented by CCS fellow Sophie... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2015-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Breakout Hit Outlander Is Finally Attracting Women to Starz

Game of Thrones isn't the only highly anticipated returning premium cable program based on a hugely popular book series with a rabid fan base. Starz has its own budding hit in Outlander, based on Diana Gabaldon's historical/fantasy/romance novels, which will launch the second half of its debut... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook to Help Mobile Apps Auction Off Their Ads Using Facebook Data

For years Facebook has considered itself a mobile-first company, so it's perhaps not surprising that the company's first attempt to automate the sale of ads running outside of Facebook will be limited to mobile.Mobile app publishers can now sell their in-app display and video ad inventory... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook wants its audience data to replace the cookie

On Wednesday afternoon, Facebook announced its video advertising platform LiveRail will enable publishers to use anonymized Facebook user data to target ads on their sites and mobile apps. It will provide assurance that media buyers are indeed buying the audience segments they want to reach,... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hocus Pocus! Your Data Has Been Anonymized! Now They'll Never Find You!

I read a great book the other day. It was about an alcoholic writer who slowly goes crazy inside this creepy haunted hotel in Colorado, then tries to murder his family. I'm not going to tell you the book's name. But it was turned into a decent movie starring Jack Nicholson. And I'm not going to... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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