State of the Art for Movie and TV Pilot Testing

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the broadcast brass hunkered down in their respective headquarters reviewing pilots last week are getting their annual reminder of where true power lies at this time of year.

It's not with parent-company power brokers like News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, who are known to partake in the occasional pilot screening. Nor is it the lowly twenty-something assistants just lucky enough to be in the room -- though their opinion often matters more than the chairman's because they're in the target demographic.

In many cases, what really matters in the screening rooms is research. Scores gleaned from audience samples, whether from outsourced test facilities or cable-system narrowcasts, become valuable currency as broadcasters decide which shows merit series orders for the schedules, set to be announced next week.

Beverly Bolotin, president of testing company ASI Entertainment, believes that data grading viewer feedback on everything from specific characters to their overall impression of a show helps evaluate a program's prospects. However, when you visit ASI's corporate website, you can't help but wonder -- this is the leading 'state of the art' company that's helping to guide the multi-billion dollar U.S. entertainment industry? Amazing, but apparently true.

Global Digital Business and IT Consulting Outlook

Across the globe, CEOs and their leadership teams continue to seek information and guidance about planned Digital Transformation initiatives and the most effective enterprise organization change management practices. Worldwide IT and Business Services revenue will grow from $1.13 trillion in 2022 to $1.2 trillion in 2023 -- that's a 5.7 percent year-over-year growth, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The mid-term to long-term outlook for the market has also increased -- the five-year CAGR is forecast at 5.2 percent, compared to the previous 4.9 percent. Digital Sevices & Consulting Market Development IDC has raised the growth projection despite a weak economic outlook, because of vendor performances across 2022, growth indicators from adjacent markets, increased government funding, and inflation impacts. The actual 2022 market growth was 6.7 percent (in constant currency), which was 87 basis points higher than forecast last year, alth

Open Banking Usage to Grow by 470 Percent

The Open Banking business model has been advantageous for Third-Party Providers (TPPs), helping them to extend their offerings into other areas of financial services with new capabilities. Open Banking is also advantageous for traditional banking institutions, despite the perceived loss of custodianship over their data, by providing greater accessibility to more bank services. Furthermore, Open Banking can help serve Mobile Internet providers that are able to leverage it to create tailored services according to customers’ preferences and/or economic limitations. Open Banking Market Development Since traditional banking services are made more convenient by TPPs via greater data access, customers can proactively manage their finances and shape the development of new financial offerings. This is particularly noticeable in the realm of Digital Payments, where retail merchants and customers transact through eCommerce, which has the greatest number of use cases for Open Banking. These includ

Why Instant Issuance Payment Cards Evolved

The global financial services sector continues to grow as more progressive organizations seek to gain a meaningful competitive advantage from their digital transformation initiatives. Across the globe, many regions are seeing a significant rise in 'instant issuance' activity from a physical and digital perspective, from both traditional and emerging innovative banking institutions. Digital Payments Market Development Customers increasingly demand instant access to banking services, with physical instant issuance enabling them to leave their branch equipped with a ready-to-go payment card. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, the market for instantly issued physical payment cards will increase from 243.2 million shipments in 2022 to a forecast of 471.1 million in 2027. "Critically, instant issuance of payment cards is no longer limited to the physical," said Sam Gazeley, industry analyst at ABI Research . Indeed, the growing digitization of p

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