Saudi Money in Hollywood & Are We All Content Addicts? - Episode. 22

There is a new revenue stream in tinsel town... Saudi money is on offer to finance films and many are beginning to ask; is this a form of PR via entertainment? Are we at the mercy of the 'dopamine cartels' aka big tech? Plus, GBNews - TV ratings or social media stats - where does their power lie?
00:00 - Intro
00:24 - Saudi Money in Hollywood
14:42 - What are watching/What are the most popular UK shows?
27:25 - Are we becoming content addicts
Twitter: @restisents
Email: [e-mail]
Producer: Neil Fearn
Executive Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport

[@spooony2714]

I like Richard's optimism tempering Marina's cynicism. It's a great combonation.

[@oliverschneider7489]

I find Marina's tone more like bitterness rather than cynacism. I keep hearing "why won't MBS give ME money"

[@KeithJFisher]

What’s cynacism?

[@palmeraj70]

That's where we differ. I particularly like Marina's cynicism tempering Richards optimism 😁 It's a good pairing, both of who I've always enjoyed listening to, now in one nice package.

[@lakrids-pibe]

@@KeithJFisher _Cynicism_ with a minor error. Cynicism (Ancient Greek: κυνισμός) is a school of thought in ancient Greek philosophy. The term is related to _kyon_ = dog in greek. By the 19th century, emphasis on the negative aspects of Cynic philosophy led to the modern understanding of cynicism to mean a disposition of disbelief in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions.

[@AlmostYearly]

What's combonation? I like Richard's baldness and terrible first book ending, and Marina will eventually follow her nose to the right. It ain't The Rest Is Politics, is it.

[@sl1msn1per]

You may not like to hear this, but this podcast is perfect second screen content and its one of the reasons I'm a regular listener.

[@nattieCSH]

😅

[@angelica351a]

im american dont even know these shows but love their banter

[@finneganwoolley6557]

sorry, what was that?

[@juliansydney9819]

I watch this with TV as my second screen…

[@rextitan]

Content addiction feels like a genuinely overlooked problem and it’s frightens me. There’s no actual official advice for people who want to exit the social media space other than “just delete it.” Any other form of addiction the advice is much more complicated than “just don’t use the thing.”

[@timothygraham4304]

I mean, we could be going for a walk, but that's not enough stimulation nowadays. People still do, myself included, but I also find that I watch things at 2X speed, because I want to get the content as quickly as possible. It's an odd dichotomy.

[@TonyP_Yes-its-Me]

My brother's friend once just wouldn't shut up about GB News, and kept saying that at least they "tell you the truth". So I said: "How do you know? How do you know it's the truth? How do you know that they aren't lying to you just as much, but in a different way?". His answer? "At least they tell you the truth".

[@viperion_nz]

I have never gained and then lost respect for a person faster than that Gerard Butler sentence

[@alangreenway6695]

From someone that used to sell Pick n’ Mix, Haribo is gradually taking over all of it.

[@Diegesis]

This is my new favorite podcast. Theyre so unfettered by publicist handler concerns.

[@biscuittballs]

tik tok ruined my attention span when I used it, I deleted after I wasn't able to filter out content about drugs and alcohol that it was serving me, I was in recovery at the time and found it super triggering so ended up deleting my account as well as all forms of algorithmic social media, I now only watch KZbin where I can safely indulge in content about my hobbies and interests and have 0 regrets.

[@claudiamueller5475]

„aaaaah, uuuuh, you dismember ONE guy“ wonderful

[@gunark]

I recall during the first Gulf War that the big TV success was The Darling Buds of May. The rule of people flocking to escapism during depressing times still holds fast.

[@Balbadeno]

Fun thing I've noticed about phone addiction is some people can't even put them in a bag or pocket! They have to be holding it, just see next time Ur out & about how many people do it! I genuinely watched somebody pack 3 shopping bags one handed because couldn't bare to put her phone down! It's both sad & hilarious

[@costeris35]

The Saudi discussion reminded me of a great satirical book about SA and people’s willingness to compromise themselves for money. A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers, about an American IT representative trying to get a project off the ground in the dessert.

[@lakrids-pibe]

Richard Osman's House of Games - sponsered by Visit Riyadh

[@ZeoR95]

On the subject of TV ratings and "the cultural conversation", it doesn't surprise me that the 3 top shows are Call the Midwife, Death in Paradise and Antiques Roadshow. From what I can tell, these shows are all super popular amongst the older generation, who are the least likely to be on social media etc. Also, I would imagine that this is the generation who get the largest proportion of their entertainment from linear TV, as opposed to the internet, podcasts, games, etc. so the effective audience is going to be larger than other generations. Also the ITV Sunday night block isn't much to write home about either, so relative lack of competiton is going to be a factor.

[@juliansydney9819]

And they’re pleasant and “comfort television”. Nothing to cause anxiety

[@user-tw7bp3nr4d]

This partnership is so good! Love this channel! xx

[@julyanjohns1237]

that was a spicy one! thanks for sharing. i'm off to think about pick and mix now

[@AlbertSquareAfterDark]

I would say this (I’m an EastEnders podcast after all 😅) but to be fair, EastEnders is now directly opposite Emmerdale every episode since ITV extended their news programming in the evening and they upload that day’s episode to Iplayer every morning. I’m not denying it’s lower than it should be, especially in relation to the set cost, but I feel like that context is important to note. It also did incredibly well over Christmas; the big day’s episode got nearly 6m all in and it is going through a bit of a renaissance due to a new producer and the BBC seem very happy with where it is.

[@DrCalamityJan]

Holy moly this podcast started with a bang. I had to stop after 4 minutes to catch my breath.

[@Azeria]

35:35 it isn’t the expense either, because look at gaming, those are incredibly expensive to produce but vastly more popular than ever before

[@PastPresented]

Looking at overnight TV ratings is rather going against current trends. For example, although "Call the Midwife" and "Death in Paradise" topped the overnights for 25 February and ITV's big drama "Trigger Point" was down in 7th place, when 7 days-worth of catch-up viewing was added in the BARB chart published yesterday, "Trigger Point" had gained millions of viewers to overtake them both (and indeed, "Paradise," which had suffered from being in the same slot as "Trigger Point," also gained enough viewers to beat "Midwife"). [EDIT: There may be a complication here; see my response comment below] An interesting thing about the charts including catch-up is that they include 7-day totals for TV viewing of shows on streaming services like Netflix and Disney+. The slight catch is that unless you're quite a patient reader, you'd never notice, because their biggest shows are way down the list, routinely beaten by every 5pm episode of "The Chase"

[@TheDandonian]

Weirdly, Trigger Point season 2 has been on ITV player for months... I was surprised to see it trending on twitter last week and thought I'd missed season 3 first episode or something.

[@PastPresented]

@@TheDandonian Even more weirdly, the Thinkbox TV version of the 7-day TV chart does not have a massive catch-up boost for "Trigger Point"- which puts it quite a long way down the chart at 24, with 3.69 million viewers, as opposed to the BARB version's 7.38 million. Given those particular figures, I'm inclined to suspect that the compiler of the public version of the BARB chart accidentally double-counted!

[@juliansydney9819]

I worry about my attention span shrinking terribly, but then when there’s something gripping to watch. I can’t take my eyes off the TV screen.

[@QmunkE]

It's amazing something like Shōgun was comissioned - that is pretty much the antithesis of "second screen" viewing

[@digbyfox]

Gold star dear editor! 👍

[@Robalogot]

Why is the game industry being ignored when we talk about entertainment? I get that Marina and Richard are of the last generation that hasn't grown up with video games, but for anyone under 40, it has become a major form of entertainment. Sure TV and movie numbers are down, but the average entertainment budget has gone up per person, and it hasn't just gone to the Netflix of this world. When we talk about 2nd screen content, we're talking about twitch streaming for example, which isn't even the first-hand consumption of a piece of entertainment.

[@CryptikConstruct]

Richard's generation are the first to grow up with video games. Space invaders ring a bell? Too much gaming, not enough history.

[@juliansydney9819]

Richard plays games with his son

[@eflbkk1]

You can get addicted to anything. Key is selecting what you view or read carefully. I think that’s always been the case but these days we have a far bigger choice which is far more difficult to regulate. There are dangers but most of the content is probably harmless except that it will ruin your life if it’s all you consume. We should drink responsibly and we need to make sure we filter our content responsibly.

[@stewartkerr7623]

Loving the podcast and also the Q & A episodes. Would love to go for a beer with Richard and discuss his experiences in TV

[@debbiecarter6430]

I suspect there would be a queue for that 😊

[@johnpotts8308]

GB News can't be that influential, or Labour wouldn't have a 20 point lead in the polls! Of course, I was only half listening to this podcast as I was typing this comment...

[@FEBear1]

This is always the highlight of my week, but good grief the future looks grim. I'm also worried that Richard suggests he's part of the fightback. If the gov't has its way, he'll be accused of being an extremist.

[@pdfarrelly]

Always fascinating stuff. Hope this doesn't sound like a bot comment. I'm real, honest.

[@neilcampbell8499]

Exactly what a bot WOULD say 🤔

[@NickDusting]

One thing you didn't mention is the fact the younger generation have never known a world without "the internet"... so for themnit isnt an addiction as there is no experience of not having it to hand.nits how they live.

[@1pauljs]

34:16 Richard won the pronunciation war.

[@richardlyth]

If Legend does House Of Games and stays in character throughout it will be a must-watch!

[@felinetherapy4782]

Whoever designed the thumbnail needs an award. 🤣

[@TheDandonian]

Eastenders comes out on iPlayer at 6am and airs at 7:30pm, which means you have the whole day to watch it before it airs but last week, it was FA cup week, which means some of the episodes were on iPlayer, 3 full days before they aired on TV. I wonder if that accounts for why the TV ratings are so low.

[@cameronallen7422]

Do you have any idea why the KZbin version is 9 minutes shorter than the Apple Podcast version... can't imagine there was 9 minutes of ads

[@bernster123]

Here for the pick n mix content 😉

[@Snoodlehootberry]

The Franchise looks like an interesting show, hopefully it will be Marina

[@BrunoEdwardFrancisco]

"Angry people stay longer on their platforms." so it benefits social media to put out stuff they know is going to annoy their user. THIS INSIGHT needs to get out to the masses more! They/ (WE!) are being emotionally manipulated on loop. We need to find content that gives perspective like this gem of a podcast. *everyone comment and like this video!! Let's spread good content :)

[@EveryoneWhoUsesThisTV]

It applies to all media and the marketing jocks call it 'FUD' or 'angry clicks'

[@tbz1551]

Anyone planning to watch the F1 race this week ...in Jeddah? 😏

[@lakrids-pibe]

Saudi Arabia has a really .. uhm... unique opportunity with the ... uhm...

[@joetrent4753]

Anyone who does will get to see Red Bull ace all of the competition as usual 😴.

[@armsiee]

GMB Keeps turning up on my Google News feed and I don't see anyway of turning it off!

[@MPsNewswatch]

GB News's massive debt pile isn't a "success", the market for right of centre opinion isn't there for television, which is why Talk TV are pulling out of linear.

[@kpwand]

With regards to the snooker "167", Ronnie O'Sullivan has always championed for greater 147 prizes, so it's not quite a Saudi creation.

[@Ulleskelf]

This episode dropped on the day that TalkTV have announced that they're going online only.

[@epsleon]

There are some companies that are too big to fail. Obviously things would bounce back, but if Amazon shut up shop there's going to be a very rough year ahead of us. The UK government recently migrated a lot of their operations to Amazon Web Services. A lot of governments have. That's part of the reason why no one wants to break them up. They could pull out and bring a world of hurt.

[@sarahadam8334]

Love you both

[@hazy33]

Part of the fun of House of Games these days is trying to guess who the hell the contestants are. At least give us a description please Richard.

[@juliansydney9819]

Richard has said the idea is the average viewer will know 2 out of the e contestants…

[@hazy33]

@@juliansydney9819 that's a bit optimistic these days. But anyway more proof that everyone needs a proper introduction.

[@HJV24]

Wolf of Wall Street being funded by dodgy money is always an amusing one

[@themattitude]

Do I look like Deirdre Rachid?!

[@7zark785]

except for news II haven't watched free to air TV for years.

[@lakrids-pibe]

I watch the Eurovision Song Contest with friends. It's not the same if you don't see it as it happens.

[@finneganwoolley6557]

Richard Osman is John Connor

[@walkingandadventures6114]

Have Marina on House of Games

[@TCJones]

If i see any brand sponsered by Saudi it taints the brand for me, but then i dont watch, golf, f1 or and sport.

[@2nd3rd1st]

494% growth from the first GBNews viewer is still only 5.94 viewers, hardly a massive viewership.

[@seanfaherty]

There has been Saudi money in Hollywood since the 70s That’s what happens when they are the only ones with money

[@peterdanielman]

Come make movies in Australia, we’ll let you hold a Koala!

[@juliansydney9819]

Australians always think they’ve got something special. Mate it’s too far to fly everyone and everything to Australia. Also, lots of countries have cute animals - not just Australia. Lastly, spend sometime in Europe (or anywhere overseas) - Australia is too,far away to be on anyone’s radar

[@peterdanielman]

@@juliansydney9819 I was writing with "tongue in cheek". I don't think Australia is better than anywhere else. I have traveled all around Europe. TV and movies have been filming here regularly for decades. You need to get over yourself.

[@ChrisH78]

Saudi money ruins everything it touches.

[@babettesfeast6347]

Sorry I was distracted on Twitter, what were you saying?

[@mattcoxonline]

I wish this podcast had a Mastodon account.

[@MrEwragg]

So what’s the point of this gold ball in snooker? Those extra 20 points just seem arbitrary from where I am because you’ve already won the game at that point. You only need 80 points to win a game and past that there’s no competitive advantage. It’s like telling a team in football that, if they win by 5 goals or more, when the match is over they’ll give them 3 opportunities to score in an open goal. Great but why?

[@dannydanny2093]

NEW CONTENT! I just had a content-gasm, shall we call it that?

[@hellostckhlm1419]

This was a depressing episode. I was going to say it needed a trigger warning, but we’ve learned I’d have been more likely to listen! 😂

[@DrCalamityJan]

I concur. I suspect Richard realised it too, hence the disclaimer at the end which, I noticed, Marina was not inclined to accept.

[@Alo4321]

Careful how you read statistics

[@artiezonk]

If Saudi Arabia was paying for the trial comments, then who do I send a bill to? Because I actually just watched the trial and made my decision of that, for free.

[@nickrobertsN7]

Second screening is a horrible thing, mybwife and kids do this.

[@miketrebert7788]

Deep cuts to the salaries of CNN's most expensive anchors recently. Other cable news channels to follow, it seems.

[@checkchequers]

Hilarious editing, juxtaposing actors with saudi money

[@Streetsy]

Love the show. But could you look at your framing of the wide shot. Having your faces just touch the edge of the tv is distracting.

[@stefan8303]

Bit naughty comparing GB news viewing figures to other shows and not to other news channels, most of which also have low figures.

[@stefan8303]

@@Est-os9yc Yes, that's correct they are lower. However, I'm not sure I'd call them much lower. Barb Monday average figures: GB news 58k, Sky 62.5k, BBC 76k. All outperformed Talk TV on only 11K, though they are mainly focused on digital which is eroding gb news digital. There's obviously a huge gap between gb compared to other non news TV shows but there's also a large gap between sky etc and other TV shows, which was not mentioned. Some figures would have been nice. There's also some gb news shows such as Farage, which was highlighted, that regularly outperforms Sky and BBC news.

[@stefan8303]

@@Est-os9yc Thanks, I will track it down and have a look 👍

[@npe9483]

Sky News and BBC News also have very low day-to-day ratings. Not defending GB News, it's mostly tosh, just saying 126,000 viewers per day isn't that abnormal for 24/7 news channels.

[@dunquinho9706]

I think the point was not that GB news is doing poorly, just that channels of this type aren't the cultural phenomenom they're made out to be.

[@walkingandadventures6114]

Ricky Gervais was correct..

[@gcrosheffielduk]

Bring on the AI actors and get rid of all the Hollywood luvvies. 👍👍👍 Who watches broadcast tv anymore? Hardly anyone that’s who.

[@stephenevans9248]

Richard, give it up, GBNews is winning.

[@PaulMcCaffreyfmac]

The more I hear about Depp the less I like him.

[@dunquinho9706]

There's lots of other people to like, I wouldn't get too worried about Depp.

[@richardcook1987]

marina is unfiltered today. Fucking hell

[@debbywillan5165]

Liberal snobbery, wow who would have thought?

[@andy2950]

Is Marina issuing a come and get me plea to GBEEBIES.

[@SuperPorchswing]

I love "inside baseball," and you guys do it so well! Thank you! (I hated to hit "like" on this episode because it was at 666 - hahahaha - but I did anyway.)

[@polyglotuk]

Godfather. Coutresy (sic) Paramount. Question: what is this new and exciting form of acknowledgement, and does it still count as one?

[@stephenevans9248]

Richard, give it up, GBNews is winning.