iWorld
BBC Worldwide to provide 600 hours of content to Amazon India
MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide announced a licensing deal with Amazon that will give Amazon Prime members in India access to over 600 hours of factual and pre-school content from BBC.
“In the last year or so, we have seen digital consumption in India increase exponentially. We are very excited to be partnering with Amazon Prime Video India to satisfy viewers’ demands for quality, premium programmes from the BBC,” said BBC Worldwide SVP and GM Myleeta Aga.
Indian subscribers to Amazon Prime Video now have access to CBeebies programs, which have never been broadcast before in India, including Clangers, the pink, long-nosed, inventive and lovable mouse-shaped creatures who live on a little blue planet, out in the starry stretches of space, not far from Earth; Dinopaws, an animation series about the delightful adventures of a trio of very young, inquisitive dinos; and Hey Duggee, the animated series narrated by award-winning comedian Alexander Armstrongo.
Subscribers to the service will also able to watch award-winning and highly-rated BBC factual programs such as Gandhi, The World’s Weirdest Weapons, and The Genius of Inventions.
Amazon Prime Video India director and country head Nitesh Kripalani added, “We are pleased to work with BBC Worldwide to avail premium quality pre-school and documentary programmes to our Prime Video customers. We are very humbled by the positive response from customers to Prime Video and we are confident that the BBC’s programmes will resonate with customers. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with BBC Worldwide.”
iWorld
Snapchat parent Snap cuts 16 per cent of workforce in AI-driven restructuring
The Snapchat parent is axing around 1,000 jobs and closing 300 open roles to save $500m, as artificial intelligence makes smaller teams the new normal
CALIFORNIA: Snap is snapping. The Snapchat parent has confirmed plans to cut around 1,000 employees, roughly 16 per cent of its full-time workforce, as it bets that artificial intelligence can do what headcount once required. Shares jumped more than 10 per cent in premarket trading on the news, a brisk vote of confidence from a market that has watched the stock shed about 31 per cent this year.
The restructuring, which also closes more than 300 open roles, follows pressure from activist investor Irenic Capital Management, which holds an economic interest of about 2.5 per cent in the company and has been loudly pushing Snap to tighten its portfolio and lift performance. The firm got what it asked for, and then some.
Chief executive Evan Spiegel told employees the cuts would reduce annualised expenses by more than $500m by the second half of the year. The company expects to incur charges of between $95m and $130m related to the layoffs, mostly severance, with the bulk landing in the second quarter. Staff in Snap’s North America team were asked to work from home on the day of the announcement.
The financial backdrop is not without bright spots. Snap expects first-quarter revenue to rise around 12 per cent to approximately $1.53 billion, broadly in line with analyst estimates. Adjusted core profit for the January to March quarter is forecast at about $233m, comfortably ahead of Wall Street’s expectation of $186.8m.
The harder question surrounds Specs, Snap’s augmented reality smart glasses subsidiary, which Irenic has urged the company to spin off or shut down entirely. The unit has absorbed more than $3.5 billion in investment and burns through approximately $500m in cash annually. Snap is pressing ahead regardless, with a consumer product expected later this year, even as Meta leads the market in the segment.
Spiegel is betting that leaner teams, smarter machines and a consumer AR play can restore Snap’s credibility with investors who have run out of patience. The redundancy notices have gone out. The harder restructuring, the one that requires a hit product rather than a headcount reduction, is still very much pending.
