The Cultural Algorithm

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FCAT Demise Makes Releasing Content in India More Challenging

ndia is the fourth largest film market on the planet. Besides Hollywood releases, the country’s Bollywood industry churns out film and TV shows at a prodigious rate, adding $2.4B annually to the Indian GDP. As readers of this blog are aware, India is one of 53 countries that have governmental film review or censorship boards. India’s regulator is known as the Central Board of Film Certification ( CBFC ). The CBFC reviews content intended for release for compliance and cultural appropriateness. If they find something they don’t like, they can mandate cuts, edits, change classification ratings and, in extreme instances, ban titles altogether. Up until April 4, 2021, content creators who did not agree with the CBFC rating or decisions could appeal to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) for redress.
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Accelerate Your Global Title Releases with Spherexratings™

In two previous posts, “ Worldwide Content Classification – What Happens When You Get It Wrong ,” and “ Worldwide Content Classification – How Hard Can It Be? ” we’ve laid out the challenge facing content creators and distributors who want to market their content globally. In this post, we will discuss how to avoid making mistakes that can be costly either economically, legally or reputationally, and get your content released in international markets faster than ever before.
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Sri Lanka Implements Singapore Style Law to Control Fake News

In a recent announcement , Sri Lanka’s Information Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella, shared that the country is drafting a new law to check the spread of fake news on social media platforms. “The spread of false information on the internet poses a serious threat and is seen as being used to divide society, to spread hatred and to weaken democratic institutions.”
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Indian Supreme Court Asks Big Streamers to Review Content

The Justice for Rights Foundation, an Indian non-government organization (NGO), filed a plea “seeking regulation on the functioning of” over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ Hotstar, among others before the Supreme Court.
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Worldwide Content Classification -- What Happens When You Get It Wrong

In our previous blog post, “ Worldwide Content Classification – How Hard Can It Be? ” we examined how the exponential growth of the OTT and VOD markets, along with the annual release of hundreds of thousands of new titles, places pressure on content regulators and platforms to obtain in-country age-ratings before release. In this post, we’ll explore what happens when content providers attempt to short-cut the process.
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Why Culture Matters for Global Content Distribution | Spherex

By 2025, eighteen years after Netflix became the first company to stream content into people’s homes, the expected global value of the Over-The-Top (OTT) market is expected to exceed $167B and reach two billion subscribers. These subscribers have access to hundreds of OTT and various flavors of Video-on-Demand (VOD) providers, serving dozens of countries and territories. While most enterprises focus on the sales value, they overlook what these two billion consumers are looking for – content.
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Why Culture Matters to Globalization

Leading a team of data scientists, AI engineers and product developers, Phillips and her team are making sense of the crowded content landscape worldwide so media and entertainment companies don’t get lost in translation. Collaborating with major studios, networks, streamers and content creators, they are transforming how media and entertainment enterprises create, adapt, and deliver film and television to audiences worldwide through AI and machine learning. By matching TV and film content with their local audiences worldwide, Spherex’s expertise and technology offers media and entertainment companies the ability to adapt all of their content for every market and culture around the world.
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Mouse House Charges More for Disney+

Everyone’s favorite rodent has been killing it in the streaming wars. Ole Mickey and friends are dominating the OTT game with recent title releases like “WandaVision” and “Falcon and The Winter Soldier.”
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Worldwide Content Classification -- How Hard Can It Be?

The explosion of direct streaming and OTT services worldwide on a wide range of platforms e.g., online, mobile, and Connected TV (CTV)means content creator’s products have global potential. That means films, TV shows, documentaries, and live events can reach new markets and generate additional revenue for everyone in the production chain. The only challenge is it isn’t a simple process. The good news is Spherex offers a solution to assist creators in reaching those markets quickly, properly, and cost-effectively.
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