1. Frozen is still very hot.
In case you missed it, Disney’s Frozen is more than a movie, it has already become a major Disney franchise and is currently having a big cultural moment. As of today, Frozen has earned over $669 million in the box office globally, making it the second highest grossing Disney Animated film of all time, after The Lion King. Meanwhile, the soundtrack has reached No.1 on the Billboard 200, and the ballad “Let It Go”—the pop version of which is sung by Demi Lovato—is reportedly resonating with tweens in a big way. It has already been announced that the film will be turned into a Disney Broadway musical, news that Billboard calls, ”yet another sign that Disney is no longer in the shadow of animation rival Pixar,” so be prepared for Frozen to stay in the spotlight and continue to be a part of the tween, young Millennial, and Plural world for some time.
2. Girls is on YouTube
HBO is bucking their long-standing trend of keeping their content to themselves and posting the first episodes of Girls season 3 on YouTube for all to see, just 12 hours after their original broadcast. Telling Mashable that, “For us, this is an increasingly challenging demographic to reach with traditional means,” the network is experimenting with social media to reach out to younger viewers. The show has also been given a Snapchat account, which sends out images that act as inside jokes to fans, behind the scenes info, and sneak peaks of episodes. Those fleeting snaps are also being turned into GIFs to be shared on other networks whose missives have longer staying power.
3. Music fests could be deflating.
In the last decade the music festival industry has exploded, as small festivals have condensed into fewer mega-fests like Coachella, and festivals have become not just major business, but also an influence on fashion, as well as virtual marketing playgrounds. But have they gotten too big and commercial to last? Flavorwire posits that because festivals bank on attracting a big audience, their mainstream choices might make them less attractive than they once were, and the entire industry could deflate. Since younger Millennials have, according to Flavorwire’s Tom Hawking, “grown up in a world where festivals are big commercial crapfests,” their interest in attending is not as intense as it was for their older counterparts. Coachella’s 2014 lineup has been called “an epic ‘90s reunion,” which could entice older Millennial attendees, but might not appeal as much to younger concert-goers, who don’t know who N’SYNC is, never mind who Outkast might be. However, the Coachella tickets did sell out in under three hours, so the music fest industry isn’t likely to fully deflate any time soon.
4. Lonely Island is making TV.
Andy Sandberg’s show Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s win for Best Comedy at the Golden Globes (which broke ratings records, and is managing to draw in Millennial viewers) might have surprised some, but it could be just the start of Sandberg’s Fox domination. His comedy trio Lonely Island, the group responsible for 2009 Millennial-favorite “I’m On a Boat,” has struck comedy development deal with the network. The partnership will create a multi-platform system, allowing Lonely Island to develop projects that will be “nurtured” on streaming platforms like Hulu, and eventually brought to the small screen on a Fox network. The plan continues the trend of digital and streaming shows being used as testing grounds for material that could end up on air, a pattern that for Millennials will only continue to blur the already very fuzzy lines between entertainment sources.
5. Beats is going streaming.
After finding massive success as the go-to headphones (that have seemed to be on the head or wishlist of every young Millennial these last few years) Beats by Dr. Dre is expanding their reach with an entry to the subscription streaming music market: Beats Music. The Spotify, itunes Radio, and Pandora competitor will be using its own algorithm to help users decide what to listen to next. Beats music will launch on January 21st and cost $10 a month. That $10 will give users access to a catalog of 20 million songs from major labels, which can be downloaded to listen to offline. Beats Music has stiff competition, and some experts don’t think that the platform differentiates itself enough to stand out, despite a hefty marketing plan in place. But regardless of whether Beats Music rises to the top, the fact that it is launching to begin with shows how far streaming music has come to dominate the market. For younger Millennials and Plurals, the idea of owning music might be a foreign one, and as long as streaming music tech continues to innovate we could continue to see young consumers shy away from buying songs.
