Fox Bets Big on Blockchain

Fox plans to double down on its investments in blockchain technology by introducing more NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and digital collectibles for its shows and franchises in the coming months, a top executive tells Axios. From a report: Fox Entertainment was the first major TV studio to debut its own blockchain division in May. At the time, the company said it would put at least $100 million behind the effort to build what it hopes will become a major part of its top line revenue growth in the years ahead. "This is a revenue generating business," said Scott Greenberg, the CEO of Fox's Blockchain Reality Labs division. "There's a huge opportunity in tokenizing content."

Citing the success of gaming companies like Fortnite parent Epic Games and Roblox, he also noted, "there's a notion of creating digital economies around brands that we think that can apply." "Imagine earn-to-watch," he said. What the gaming world has shown is that "you can turn your time spent into earnings." Greenberg came to Fox in 2019 through Fox's acquisition of Bento Box Entertainment, the animation studio behind major animated hits, including "Bob's Burgers" and "The Great North." Fox put Greenberg in charge of its blockchain division, given Bento Box's expertise in digital art.

Makes total sense

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean Fox is out to watch the world burn so why not add this to their toolbox.

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[Ostracus]

MMORPGS have demonstrated what people will go though to have virtual things.

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[evanh]

Only sense it makes to me is money laundering ... and obfuscation of transactions.

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[kwalker]

Yep. Now Gen X gets to explain to their parents how useless this is. Fortunately they also have some experience telling their children the same thing.

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[Torodung]

An impending complete and total implosion, if I take your meaning?

Yes. It does.

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[rickb928]

It means they can sell* their games to each user over and over and over....

Gone the days when you could actually 'buy' something and even own a 'license' to use it. Now you'll have to pay more and more to actually be able to use that game in a meaningful way.

And I did not use the word 'play'. We're past that.

* - sell meaning 'derive revenue from a participant'.

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[Local ID10T]

Earn-to-watch is a simple (yet horrible) concept.

You can "earn credits" by watching commercials, infomercials, or baseline/unpopular programming. You then "spend credits" to view premium/popular shows.

Think of it as a progression in the growth of embedded commercials in programs. No longer is it enough to have popular programs interrupted with commercials, you must watch a minimum amount of additional commercials to earn the right to watch this show!

How innovative! It's like cancer for your mind..

What is with NFTs?

[NFN_NLN]

At least with Beanie Babies you can use them to fuel a campfire. Any NFT that isn't linked to a tangible asset is effectively useless.

At the same time it's not like anyone is mandating 5-11 year-olds have to have an NFTs so they aren't the most evil product being shilled right now.

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[Ostracus]

Any NFT that isn't linked to a tangible asset is effectively useless.

Maybe have them pegged like stablecoin [investopedia.com]?

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[NFN_NLN]

If stablecoin has enough assets to back the crypto then you're all set. But if they don't...

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[ctilsie242]

Even with stablecoin, if there is a run on the coins, where there are not enough real coins to trade for virtual ones, what happens? Runs on banks fueled helped fuel the Great Depression, and now we seem to be learning that lesson all over again, especially with deregulation, where a bank can loan out almost all the cash its sitting on, which means a run on banks can be devestating.

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[timeOday]

But seriously, what is the rationale?

Anybody could take a Bart Simpson screenshot and then compute a checksum for it.

Is it because there is a verifiable chain of ownership back to the signing key of Fox Corporation that might give it value? Does it give your avatar in gaming or social media a logo that nobody else can forge (through to DRM)?

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[jythie]

The investment market has flush with cash but lacks enough places to put it. So kinda like how we saw with the subprime mortgage stuff, if there is demand for investments, someone will figure out how to start meeting it. NTFs are essentially 'you want to get rich quick, but all the other good ideas are already saturated? here is the next big thing!'.

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[tlhIngan]

The investment market has flush with cash but lacks enough places to put it. So kinda like how we saw with the subprime mortgage stuff, if there is demand for investments, someone will figure out how to start meeting it. NTFs are essentially 'you want to get rich quick, but all the other good ideas are already saturated? here is the next big thing!'.

Or you mean "a fool and his money are soon parted"? Because that's all what buying NFTs are - there's no intrinsic value to them, they're only money from hype,

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[istartedi]

Yep, it's part of what's been looking like a liquidity trap [wikipedia.org], except that we're seeing inflation now too so the trap appears to be breaking down. If there were not all these weird new things to take up the money, the Fed might have had to raise rates months ago.

One more cheat

[Xylantiel]

They have already cheated their viewers out of their sanity, health, civility, and their democracy, why not their cash too?

What "investment"

[rsilvergun]

it literally costs nothing and you can sell it to Money Launders / suckers for real money. How is that an investment?

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[Frank Burly]

I was going to say exactly this. The big bet is tasking a guy to do it. The up-front expense is low, the continuing expense is nil, it won't cannibalize other products, and it gets your name in the papers. Its like saying that "Disney Bets Big On Commemorative Plates"--except there is no manufacturing involved and no inventory to get stuck with.

Success measurement:

[Verdatum]

"Greenberg says that so far, the 'MaskVerse' has driven over 120,000 digital wallet installs and fans have claimed over 120,000 'Masked Singer' NFTs."

Translation: 2% of the 6 million viewers of our TV show downloaded our related app. They each got their one free sample NFT "collectible" and then never opened the app again because they all thought it was stupid and pointless.

Reading between the lines is fun.

Fools and their money

[presearch]

And Fox certainly has plenty of fools to fleece.

Big media laggards as usual.

[thegarbz]

First they double down on TV when the VCR is released and simply try to sue pirates.
Then they double down on cable when internet is released.
Then they double down on stolen election despite election not being stolen.

And now they double down on blockchain when most of the rest of the world has moved onto the metaverse. NFTs are sooo mid-2021.

Fox?

[awwshit]

You could not pay me to watch Fox. Blockchain or not. Its really the Jerry Springer of news. They even have Geraldo which says a lot and they'd have Jerry too if they could get him.

And even yet...

[wakeboarder]

Another blockchain! Of course it's the way to make money! Well, it worked out well for Kodak so it should work well for Fox.

NFT =

[oldgraybeard]

Nothing Fracking Tangiable

Party like it's 1999

[thesjaakspoiler]

Welcome to the Blockchain party when the party is already over.

Good

[jvkjvk]

I can't wait until the world is full of NFT garbage and it is worth nothing. The faster more big companies implement NFTs the faster this will happen, so I applaud this announcement!

NFT

[sir_smashalot_3rd]

The digital certificate that says you own a digital item which everyone can view, download and copy. How is that even a thing ?