Brock Lesnar after losing his championship in the main event of Wrestlemania 31.; Credit: WWE

World Wrestling Entertainment held their annual Wrestlemania show last weekend in Northern California, the culmination of another year's worth of spectacle. According to the company, it was their highest grossing event of all-time, drawing $12.6 million, with an official attendance placing it fifth on their list of all-time crowds for the event. The show was headlined by former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar going up against up-and-coming star (and a relative of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) Roman Reigns.

WWE Network

It comes at a time when the company has embarked on a new way of making money: their over-the-top online programming provider, the WWE Network, where fans can pay $9.99 a month to see programming including what formerly used to cost $45 for most shows and $60 for Wrestlemania. They're one year in now on gambling that enough fans will want the Network that it will ultimately make them more money in the long-term, despite losing that pay-per-view revenue. Wall Street doesn't appear to be buying it — after announcing the day after Wrestlemania that they'd hit 1.3 million subscribers, WWE's stock took a significant loss.

"The point is not whether it's real or if it's staged. The point is, are you entertained by it, or not?" former WWE announcer Jim Ross told KPCC in an interview. WWE is looking for more fans to be entertained enough to plunk down $9.99 for all the pro wrestling content they want.

NXT

They're also in a transitional period with their audiences. They've launched a new show that's only on the Network called "NXT," turning their minor league into a program targeting hardcore pro wrestling fans with a different style of show than the more family-targeted "Raw" and "Smackdown." It's also where they groom potential future stars, many of whom seem to break the mold of some of the traditional stars on WWE's main roster.

They're signing up talent that's been getting buzz on the independent circuits, trying to create their own underground movement that hopefully spells money, and taking the NXT brand on tour for the first time. On the Raw after Wrestlemania, several NXT stars made their debut on the main roster. That follows a sell-out crowd (albeit at a smaller 5,000 seat venue) on the Friday night before Wrestlemania for a non-televised NXT show.

Give Divas a chance

WWE also faces cultural forces pushing them in new directions, including a difference in how society deals with gender. When WWE executive Stephanie McMahon, daughter of the famed Vince McMahon, tweeted in support of Patricia Arquette's speech calling for greater equality for women at the Academy Awards, one of their own wrestlers, AJ Lee, responded by publicly calling Stephanie McMahon out on Twitter for not promoting the women in her own company equally and paying them less than the male stars.

AJ tweet 1

AJ tweet 2

Of course, the women in the company aren't given the same prominence as the men in part because it's felt that they won't make the company as much money. Still, it forced WWE's hand and Stephanie McMahon and the company as a whole publicly embraced the idea of giving the women (who WWE brands as "divas") a chance with the Give Divas A Chance movement (and accompanying trending hashtag).

What's next

The women have been promoted nearly equal to the men in that underground NXT league, but only time will tell if it continues to trickle upward. Wrestlemania didn't seem to show huge promise of that happening, with the one women's match of the show only getting a few minutes in the ring. However, the show also included a high-profile storyline with UFC female fighter and champion Ronda Rousey alongside the Rock, going up against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, so there appears to be the room for women in prominent positions when they have the right storyline.

Whether WWE is able to wade through these forces of change to make more money — and perhaps regain some of the cultural currency that they've lost since becoming a monopoly and purchasing their top competition in 2001 — remains to be seen. They've stayed relatively steady despite a challenge from UFC, which many see as being what pro wrestling would be like if WWE didn't present fictional  They'll have to hope that giving new stars, including "divas," a chance will take them to another level.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Building capacities of Ukrainian gender equality advisors was the focus of the workshop Mainstreaming Gender into Communication, organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Equal Opportunities Caucus of the Parliament of Ukraine in Lviv, western Ukraine, on 24 June 2016.

Twenty-five participants from government and civil society, representing seven regions of Ukraine, had the opportunity to learn about effective ways to include a gender perspective into their internal and external communication.

Oksana Yurynets, a Member of Ukrainian Parliament and the Equal Opportunities Caucus, said: "The workshop focused on enhancing the abilities of regional state-administration gender advisors to communicate clear, strong messages to general public. Such communication helps to create an environment where dialogue about gender equality is possible. Working on these issues is very important for Ukraine as a country where equality remains a strategic target."

Kateryna Ryabiko, Project Co-ordinator at ODIHR, said that in accordance with the 2004 OSCE Action Plan for the Promotion of Gender Equality, ODIHR is tasked to promote equality between women and men throughout the OSCE area, including through education in gender awareness. "Promoting gender mainstreaming is essential to recognizing gender equality as a vital element of democratization of society."

Participants also discussed findings of the recent report by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women that urged Ukraine to intensify its efforts to overcome persistent stereotypes that are discriminatory against women and to improve national capacity for promoting gender equality.

The event was organized as part of ODIHR’s project on “Strengthening dialogue among civil society and with key government stakeholders in Ukraine on human dimension issues”. It was launched in April 2015 with the aim of enhancing effective mechanisms for dialogue to address key human rights issues in Ukraine, in line with OSCE commitments and international standards.

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Depending on which country you live in, the first Harry Potter movie features Harry, Ron, and Hermione talking about a different magical object.

Plus: "9-1-1" kicked off season eight with an action-packed three-episode story arc rising +156% in Total Viewers (12.64 million vs. 4.93 million) and +519% in Adults 18-49 (2.91 rating vs. 0.47 rating) over its initial Live+Same Day audience.

DeepIntent applies AI to data to identify medical and patient audiences for healthcare marketing, track them across devices, and deliver impactful messages

Reflecting the fact that 75% of UK advertisers are upping spend in podcasts, Nielsen has unveiled a measurement tool to gauge effectiveness in this growing ad space.

Nielsen believes that the UK’s 6 million weekly podcast listeners will double in the next three years. It is putting the tools in place for brands to “quantify the impact and effectiveness of their podcast ads” with the Nielsen Podcast Brand Effect.

The tool has already been running in the US and so far the results have found that 57% of podcast ads tested outperformed pre-roll video in driving purchase intent and 70% of respondents agreed that the podcast ads increased their awareness of products and services.

complete article

Academia and podcasting have a similar problem: unless you’re involved in them, they seem incredibly intimidating to get into. With academia that is mostly true; a number of economic, systemic, and personal reasons make it inaccessible for a lot of people. With podcasts, however, that is not the case — to the same extent. If you have access to a recording device, editing software, and an internet connection, that is all you need to share your work with the digital world.

Podcasting and audiobooks have become increasingly popular in recent years – especially for entrepreneurs and in the business community. For many, these audio formats are a great way to educate people about your product, grow brand loyalty, and help bring in additional revenue for your company. But, a podcast or audiobook is only as good as its technical quality and distribution, both of which can be difficult to master.

Soundwise is an all-in-one platform that helps you create and sell audio products like audiobooks, podcasts, audio courses, and albums directly to your customers.

After months of working from home, and with many more months to go for most companies, keeping employees, customers and partners connected is more important now than ever before. One way brands are looking to stay engaged is through podcasting.

Podcasts are an intimate medium that allow listeners to feel more connected to the host and engaged with the topic. Here are four best practices for how to make company podcasts effective and engaging for the long run:

1. Empower your team.
2. Provide consistent, accessible and digestible content.
3. Pay attention to feedback.
4. Put in the work.

Podcasting News: Podcast Doubles NPR Show's Online Audience: "CyberJournalist.net reports that podcasting has doubled the number of online listeners WNYC's On the Media reaches, in just four weeks."Another example of what podcasting can do for your business. I'll have the free ebook on podcasting coming out in a few weeks, so make sure you're subscribed to the feed for updates.

(Telecompaper) ...

HBO’s latest hit, the video game adaptation The Last of Us, has been making waves even beyond the streaming universe.

In terms of top-grossing Wednesday openers, the month of April has never been a super place to launch a movie. That is, until now with The Super Mario Bros Movie. 

If you took away one thing from this year’s UpFronts it was likely about the growing popularity of connected TV. 

From June 2022 to June 2023, there was a 22% increase in the number of females aged 18-24 who visited a sports website or app, more than any other age and gender breakout¹. This is happening as women's sports are becoming more mainstream, with new leagues, more investment, and increased screen time. It's also a major trend to watch during the 2023 Women's FIFA World Cup.

The post Engaging Your Audience: How Building on Reader Comments Can Fuel Your Blog’s Growth appeared first on ProBlogger.

Maintaining Momentum in Blogging Series Blogging thrives on conversation. It’s not just about broadcasting your ideas; it’s about sparking dialogue and engaging with your community. One of the most vibrant places for these interactions is often overlooked—the comment section. As we continue “maintaining momentum” on your blog, let’s explore a ...more

The post Engaging Your Audience: How Building on Reader Comments Can Fuel Your Blog’s Growth appeared first on ProBlogger.

Fr. Evan discusses the audience of the Gospel of St. Mark.

Many higher education institutions are moving towards blended learning environments that seek to move towards a student-centred ethos, where students are stakeholders in the learning process. This often involves multi-modal learner-support technologies capable of operating in a range of time and place settings. This article considers the impact of an Audience Response System (ARS) upon the ongoing development of an Information Systems Professional course at the Masters level in the College of Business at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. The course allows students to consider ethical issues faced by an Information Systems Professional. Given the sensitivity of some of the topics explored within this area, an ARS offers an ideal vehicle for allowing students to respond to potentially contentious questions without revealing their identity to the rest of the group. The paper reports the findings of a pilot scheme designed to explore the efficacy of the technology. Use of a blended learning framework to frame the discussion allowed the authors to consider the readiness of institution, lecturers, and students to use ARS. From a usage viewpoint, multiple choice questions lead to further discussion of student responses related to important issues in the unit. From an impact viewpoint the use of ARS in the class appeared to be successful, but some limitations were reported.

This paper identifies areas in the design science research (DSR) subfield of the information systems (IS) discipline where a more detailed consideration of practitioner audiences of socio-technical design artifacts could improve current IS DSR research practice and proposes an initial conceptualization of these audiences. The consequences of not considering artifact audiences are identified through a critical appraisal of the current informing science lenses in the IS DSR literature. There are specific shortcomings in four areas: 1) treating practice stakeholders as a too homogeneous group, 2) not explicitly distinguishing between social and technical parts of socio-technical artifacts, 3) neglecting implications of the artifact abstraction level, and 4) a lack of explicit consideration of a dynamic or evolutionary fitness perspective of socio-technical artifacts. The findings not only pave the way for future research to further improve the conceptualization of artifact audiences, in order to improve the informing power – and thus, impact on practice and research relevance – of IS DSR projects; they can also help to bridge the theory-practice gap in other disciplines (e.g. computer science, engineering, or policy-oriented sociology) that seek to produce social and/or technical artifacts of practical relevance.

We study the effects of actors' audience-specific reputations on their levels of success with different audiences in the same field. Extending recent work that has emphasized the presence of multiple audiences with different concerns, we demonstrate that considering audience specificity leads to an improved understanding of reputation effects. Using data on emerging artists in the field of contemporary art from 2001 to 2010, we investigate the manner in which artists' audience-specific reputations affect their subsequent success with two distinct audiences: museums and galleries. Our findings suggest that audience-specific reputations have systematically different effects with respect to success with museums and galleries. Our findings also illuminate the extent to which audience-specific reputations are relevant for emerging research on the contingent effects of reputation. In particular, our findings support our predictions that audiences differ from one another in terms of the extent to which other signals (specifically, status and interaction with other audiences) enhance or reduce the value of audience-specific reputations. Our study thus advances theory by providing empirical evidence for the value of incorporating audience-specific reputations into the general study of reputation.

Karla Sofia Gascon responds to 'Emilia Pérez' audience's unexpected reaction

Emilia Perez actress Karla Sofía Gascón opened up about how the audience did not recognize her in the movie.

In the movie, the 52-year-old actress plays the role of Mexican cartel...

Shaw Floors announces its new partnership with the American Kennel Club (AKC), broadening Shaw Floors’ exposure to pet owners nationwide. 

Dallas Jenkins, creator of "The Chosen," shares how his new film, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," brings the Gospel story to a mainstream audience.

Scuti's gCommerce and Advertising platform is Key to Distribution and Brand Awareness Strategy for GummiShot's Innovative Energy Gummies

Repurposing webinar content was a major hassle—until now

Celebrity Influencers Like M2THAK Step into the Ring alongside Pro Boxers Like Hasim Rahman Jr. for a Night of Thrilling Entertainment and Unforgettable Showdowns.

Rabbit TV selling at major retailers nationwide, sets stage for Internet-based 'a la carte TV'.

Hemp is Increasingly Recognized as a Sustainable Superfood

Ai-Driven Innovation In Interactive Polling Empowers Publishers with 1st-Party Data

MOWRATOR S1: Do It Yourself, Better but Easier

From Hosting Sports Stars at the Pre-ESPYs Luxury Lounge to Co-Hosting a Podcast, XOIE Continues to Impress.

The Shincheonji Word Seminar in South Korea recently concluded with a spectacular finale, drawing over 16,000 attendees, including more than 250 pastors in person and over 200 online participants, including viewers from Australia.

Enhanced Mobile App Experience: AirKast and Audience Forge Collaborate on Contest Integration

Award-winning fashion designer and fitness entrepreneur Victoria Napolitano is set to release her inspirational film, Ageless, which chronicles her remarkable journey of resilience and perseverance.

Does this scenario sound familiar? You’ve poured countless hours into creating something amazing—perhaps a product, website, artwork, or work presentation. With anticipation, you release it to the world, sharing it with your intended audience. Then… silence. No response, no engagement. It’s as if no one cares. Frustrated, you might find yourself enviously eyeing other creators, wondering how they manage to gain traction while your equally impressive work struggles for attention. You review your process, searching for mistakes, but find none. After all, you followed advice from experts, books, and industry gurus. You meticulously planned, designed, and executed your strategy. Moreover, you promoted extensively, creating accounts on every social platform and using all the right hashtags—yet still, crickets. So what’s the missing piece? Why are others succeeding where you’re not?While it’s tempting to blame factors like bigger budgets or larger teams, these aren’t the real culprits. Although such resources can be helpful, the true key to gaining traction is simpler: building an audience.Fortunately, I’m here to help. Let’s explore five crucial steps to effectively build and grow your audience: 1. Balance Creation and Promotion As creators, we often focus solely on producing content. However, to make a real impact, it’s essential...

The post Build Your Audience with These 5 Key Strategies first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Build Your Audience with These 5 Key Strategies appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Converting website visitors into subscribers may be even harder than getting traffic in the first place. The key to customer retention is the ability to grow an engaged audience. It’s a constant struggle to maintain interest, and if you can’t convert casual visitors into loyal customers you may as well close the virtual shutters. If you’re […]

ETSI virtual Security Week 2020: a record audience for first sessions

Sophia Antipolis, 12 June 2020

Register for next week.

Our virtual Security Week started this Monday, 8 June and will end on 19 June with nearly 50 speakers discussing the latest updates and challenges of four different key topics around cybersecurity in 14 webinars.

Read More...

AMERIPEN’s Dan Felton recently told a U.S. Senate committee that more data is needed to build consensus among industry, environmental, and government stakeholders in order to develop comprehensive packaging EPR policy.

Washington, D.C. -- PILOT, the innovation arm of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), today announced it is conducting a program with support of the Google News Initiative to improve direct-to-consumer audience engagement to better serve local audiences. The six-month program is designed to support broadcaster education as well as the implementation of first-party data and direct-to-consumer business models.

Washington, D.C.— The future of the film industry is more democratic. That’s the idea behind a Main Stage panel discussion at the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The team behind “Holy Smokes,” the winner of the Decentralized Pictures Kevin Smith Comedy Short Film Screenplay Award, will dive into the challenges aspiring filmmakers face and explore the groundbreaking shift towards audience-driven filmmaking. The panel features Decentralized Pictures (DCP) Co-founder Roman Coppola (“Moonrise Kingdom,” “The French Dispatch,” and “Darjeeling Limited”), and Actor Mena Suvari (“American Beauty,” “American Pie,” HBO’s “Six Feet Under”), followed by a screening of “Holy Smokes.”

HSTP-IPTV-AM101 - Introduction to the ITU-T H.741-series - A new video engagement audience measurement standard

Location: Electronic Resource- 

Location: Electronic Resource- 

As Netflix continues to invest more in games, it is expanding its titles based on its popular reality shows including 'Too Hot to Handle' and 'Selling Sunset.'