Demand for Netflix originals was 8–9 times higher than demand for Amazon Video and Hulu originals in 2016, according to Parrot Analytics, a research company. And the gap got bigger as the year went on, with second-half Netflix hits like "Stranger Things," "Luke Cage," "The Get Down," and "The OA."

Check the chart:

Also interesting: Amazon seems to be emerging as the top competitor.

Parrot measures demand by tracking a range of factors from file-sharing to social-media chatter.

Netflix and co. are focused on building up originals to stand out in a crowd of streaming services and to avoid overpaying for other people’s content. One bit of analysis from Parrot suggests that this approach is working, with a 0.51 correlation between demand for Netflix originals and Netflix stock.

SEE ALSO: The 20 most popular TV shows in the world

DON'T MISS: Russia is obsessed with "BoJack Horseman"

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NOW WATCH: Mark Hamill is reading Trump’s tweets in his iconic Joker voice — and it’s hilarious

Audi is launching its ninth straight Super Bowl ad during the big game this weekend and the automaker hopes this year's spot will help drive gender pay equality in the US.

The 60-second ad, entitled "Daughter," tells the story of a girl competing in a downhill cart race.

As she bombs around the course, her father looks on and thinks about whether her daughter is being judged based purely on her gender.

The dad says in a voiceover: "What do I tell my daughter? Do I tell her her grandpa is worth more than her grandma? That her dad is worth more than her mom? Do I tell her that despite her education, her drive, her skills, her intelligence, she will automatically be valued as less than every man she meets?"

The daughter is then seen clearly winning the race, and then being embraced by her father as the crowd of onlookers cheer.

The voiceover continues: "Or maybe I'll be able to tell her something different."

The tagline for the campaign then appears on screen: "Progress is for everyone."

Audi says in a press release that it has publicly committed to supporting women's pay equality in the workplace. Its graduate internship program also states that 50% of candidates must be female.

Loren Angelo, Audi of America vice president of marketing, says in the release: "With ‘Daughter,’ Audi continues to push the envelope with compelling storytelling on a national platform. Pay equality is a big message for a big stage. As a business built on bold innovation — from LED lighting to Audi quattro — progress is at the heart of what we do. We’re a brand that’s ahead of the curve and looking towards the future, just like our next generation of buyers."

The spot was created by ad agency Venables Bell & Partners. It will air in the third quarter of the big game, which takes place on February 5.

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NOW WATCH: Watch Budweiser’s Super Bowl ad — it makes a strong statement on immigration

The new HBO documentary "Becoming Warren Buffett" (now available on HBO Go/HBO Now) shows the multitude of ways that the richest man on earth earned the title and how he keeps it — right down to what he eats for breakfast each day.

"Becoming Warren Buffett" features Warren Buffett, his family, friends, and closest business associates discussing how he acquired his reported $74 billion net worth, his romantic relationships to two women (which overlapped each other), and his huge decision to give away most of his fortune to charitable causes.

At the beginning of the documentary, the 86-year-old Buffett takes the camera crew through his daily routine going on more than 50 years, including the five-minute drive from his home to to the offices for his holdings company Berkshire Hathaway in Omaha, Nebraska. On that short drive, he makes a daily pit stop.

"One of the good things about this five-minute drive is that on the way there's a McDonald's," he says in the documentary.

This is where he reveals how he determines which breakfast sandwich he'll purchase. Every morning, Buffett tells his current wife, Astrid, how much exact change to place in the center cup holder of his car. It's either in the amounts of $2.61, $2.95, or $3.17. 

"When I'm not feeling quite so prosperous, I might go with the $2.61," he explains. "That's two sausage patties and then I put them together and then pour myself a Coke. $3.17 is a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. But the market's down this morning, so I think I'll pass up the $3.17 and go with the $2.95."

The $2.95 option is a Sausage McMuffin with egg and cheese.

After buying his breakfast, he eats the meal at his desk with his Coke. If you're thinking that Buffett ingeniously inserted a commercial for a company he own shares in, it does appear that in 1997, Buffett held a large share of the McDonald's Corporation, but it doesn't currently appear among the reported stocks in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio.

As for how Buffett supplies his roughly five cans of Coke per day, his daughter Susan Buffett recently told Business Insider that he pays retail, even though he's the largest shareholder in the Coca-Cola company.

"It was stockpiled more when my mother lived there," she said, "probably because she figured it was cheaper to buy a whole big bunch at once than to go into the grocery store frequently. Astrid is more likely to try to find out where it's on sale and buy it on sale."

SEE ALSO: Susan Buffett reveals the surprising way she found out that her dad, Warren Buffett, was rich

DON'T MISS: 5 things you didn't realize about Warren Buffett, according to his daughter

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NOW WATCH: HBO's new documentary dives deep into the daily life of billionaire Warren Buffett

Taylor Hackford is a veteran director who, over his 45-plus-year career, has created some of Hollywood's most memorable works.

Finding notice in the late 1970s by winning an Oscar for his short film “Teenage Father,” he’s gone on to direct notable titles including “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “Ray.” But he’s also been able to work with two of the best living actors of all time.

His latest movie, “The Comedian” (in theaters nationwide on Friday), stars Robert De Niro as an aging insult comic trying to stay relevant. This comes 19 years after he worked with Al Pacino in the steamy thriller “The Devil’s Advocate,” in which Pacino plays the devil.

Not many directors have had the distinction of working with both De Niro and Pacino in their careers.

Hackford talked to Business Insider about working with the two legends.

SEE ALSO: The best movies and TV shows coming to iTunes, Amazon, and HBO Go in February

Taking charge of a De Niro passion project.

Robert De Niro had been trying to make “The Comedian” for years. Martin Scorsese was even going to direct it at one time. But last year, after another project fell through for Hackford, he got the call to come on and shoot “The Comedian.”

He admits he wasn’t instantly sold since he knew it was a De Niro passion project, but he accepted and found out working with the actor was “a dream.”

“De Niro really respects directors,” Hackford said. “He encouraged me every step of the way to take charge. That’s a gift. He wants direction.”

Pacino gave him the greatest improv performance he’s ever seen.

Hackford notes that both De Niro and Pacino are very dedicated in their preparation before filming begins. But there’s also room for spontaneity.

Before shooting the end of "The Devil's Advocate," in which Pacino’s character reveals he’s the devil, Hackford asked Pacino and his costar Keanu Reeves to improv the scene.

“I told them to forget the text, just feel the room, and I saw Pacino walk in and do the most incredible improv I’ve ever seen in my life,” Hackford said. “Out of the middle of nowhere he stars to sing, ‘I met her in Monterey, in old Mexico,’ and that’s from an old Frank Sinatra song I hadn’t heard in 30 years. I said, ‘Where the hell did that come from?’ and he said, ‘I don’t know, I just felt like singing it.’”

Hackford put that moment in the final version of the scene, but instead of Pacino singing, he dubbed it with Sinatra singing.

“I thought, the devil could sound like Sinatra if he wants to,” he said.

De Niro is no slouch at improv, either.

In “The Comedian,” Hackford points out that De Niro had to be quick on the draw, as he was placed in situations with major comedians who never stayed on script.

“We made the film in 27 days and I didn’t do a lot of takes. I wanted spontaneity,” Hackford said. “Bob had to respond, and there’s some real moments I’m so proud of. The Friars Club scene with Cloris Leachman, she was throwing zingers that De Niro wasn’t ready for, but he responded right on the spot. Then the scene with comic Jessica Krison, the general framework was that De Niro and Leslie Mann were going to walk through the shot, but what Jessica and Bob did was all riffing, that scene is all improv.”

HBO has given "Girls" a lot of freedom when it comes to scenes that push the boundaries of taste, and the network is certainly known for its bounty of sex-filled material. But there was one "Girls" scene that the network wouldn't allow to reach the small screen.

(Warning: Some of the quotes below get a little lewd.)

As "Girls" approaches its sixth and final season premiering February 12, the Hollywood Reporter interviewed the network executives, creators, and stars involved to piece together a wide-ranging oral history of the popular show. In it, they discuss the sexually explicit scene that brought HBO and the show's producers to a roadblock.

Cocreator Judd Apatow referred to the sex scene as a "conclusion shot" in a sex scene.

Cocreator and star Lena Dunham was less delicate in her description, saying it involved semen "arcing through a shot."

HBO's then-programming president, Michael Lombardo, drew a line in the sand.

Apatow recalled, "HBO said, 'If this is in the show, we could lose our license.' We were like, 'Oh my God, we've actually found the line at HBO.'"

HBO's then-entertainment president Sue Naegle defended the network's stance, referring to the climax shot as a "fire hose." In the end, the show's creators relented.

"When Mike fought us on stuff, which wasn't often, he was always right," cocreator Jenni Konner said.

But in the end, "Girls" would get its "conclusion shot" after all, and it generated plenty of conversation during its second season. Viewers and media debated if it was too graphic.

"It was conditioner and Cetaphil, by the way — it was just with Adam and Shiri Appleby instead," Dunham said.

Read THR's full oral history of "Girls."

SEE ALSO: Lena Dunham reveals Amy Schumer auditioned for a role on 'Girls' and why she didn't get it

DON'T MISS: The 6 biggest things that are shaking up the TV industry right now

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NOW WATCH: HBO's 'The Young Pope' is inspiring lots of hilarious memes — here are the best ones

Following Johnny Depp’s $25 million lawsuit last month against his former longtime business managers the Mandel Company for “gross mismanagement” of his affairs leading to the actor's troubled financial state, the company filed a cross-complaint on Tuesday in LA Superior Court.

“TMG [Mandel Company] did everything within its power over the last 17 years to protect Depp from himself and to keep Depp financially solvent,” the complaint says. “However, ultimately TMG did not have the power or ability to control Depp’s spending or his numerous other vices, or to force Depp to make wiser financial decisions.”

Depp claims Mandel has taken him for tens of millions of dollars and kept him in the dark about his financial condition, which he says he only became aware of in March of last year. Mandel, in its filing, states “that allegation is absurd and untrue.”

The 31-page countersuit notes a bevy of outrageous alleged spending by Depp that comes out to a rate of $2 million a month. Some of the high-priced spending Mandel claims includes $75 million to "acquire, improve, and furnish 14 residences;" $3 million to fulfill friend Hunter S. Thompson’s dream to have his ashes shot out of a cannon, following his death in 2005; full-time personal security and “45 luxury cars;” $10 million a year to support his entourage, friends, and family; and $30,000 a month alone on wine.

“For years, TMG repeatedly informed Depp and [personal manager/Depp’s sister Elisa Christie] Dembrowski and personal lawyer, Jake Bloom, that Depp was living beyond his means, and urged him to spend less and to sell certain expensive but unnecessary assets to repay loans and pay his taxes and living expenses,” the Mandel filing states.

SEE ALSO: This Oscar-winning director reveals the secrets of working with De Niro and Pacino

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NOW WATCH: Shia LaBeouf got into a shouting match with a white nationalist on his anti-Trump live stream

Earlier this week, Facebook seemed poised to take on traditional TV and Netflix by reportedly planning to license "long-form, TV-quality programming," to be housed in its own set-top box app, and on your phone.

But on its Q4 earnings call, Facebook execs played down the company's TV aspirations and presented a vision of Facebook's video future that seemed more in line with YouTube's present.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that while the introduction of mid-roll video ads would take Facebook's video offerings "to the next level," as video creators become able to make real money, the focus for Facebook is still very much on short-form content, rather than the longer programs typical of Netflix.

Zuckerberg said people would "experiment" with longer stuff on Facebook, but it would not be the main event — especially because mobile viewers, with small-screened smartphones and costly wireless data plans, would still be the anchor of its video business.

Chill ... 'til the next episode

Facebook CFO David Wehner went further in distancing Facebook from companies like Netflix, by dispelling the notion that Facebook would buy a bunch of TV shows.

"Our focus is on kickstarting the ecosystem here," Wehner said. To the extent that Facebook would license any shows, it would only be to seed the ecosystem. Facebook wouldn't be "doing big deals," he said. One reason is because Facebook, like YouTube, is committed to a revenue-share model, according to Wehner.

Still, Facebook's video ambitions could bring it into competition with TV networks and streaming services like Netflix.

Zuckerberg described an explosion in the amount of video on Facebook, especially of the "premium" variety. He said he sees "much more video inventory and content coming in, as we make the business model click."

At one point, Zuckerberg described some of that premium video as "episodic," though its unclear how long those episodes would be, and whether that just means a regular release schedule for videos like we have seen for years from many creators on YouTube.

But even if Facebook isn't going to look like Netflix, or traditional TV, Zuckerberg's focus on "premium" and episodic content feels like a direct move to attract TV ad budgets.

SEE ALSO: There’s a big spike in dating app activity around February 7, as people scramble for a Valentine’s date

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NOW WATCH: Trump’s executive orders are being turned into hilarious memes

The Mar-a-Lago Club is Trump's Florida resort and home base outside of Manhattan.

The former home to the heiress of Post Cereal, Marjorie Merriweather Post, Trump turned it into a luxury resort in the '80s.

Trump frequently visits the compound, and will continue to do so throughout his presidency. White House press secretary Sean Spicer called it the "winter White House" when he informed reporters that the president would be visiting over the weekend of February 3.

Here's what it's really like to stay at the president's favorite retreat, where the initiation fee for membership was just doubled to $200,000.

Raisa Bruner contributed reporting to an earlier version of this post.

SEE ALSO: Trump's childhood home in New York City is going up for auction — take a look inside

Mar-a-Lago is a beach and pool club and spa, with rooms, suites, and cottages spread over 20 acres.

Source: Mar-a-Lago Club

The club has been the site of everything from Trump's most recent wedding, to Maya Angelou's 80th birthday party (hosted by Oprah Winfrey), to various victory parties and events throughout Trump's campaign for president.

The 118-room resort was built in the 1920s by Marjorie Merriweather Post, at the time America's richest woman. She bequeathed it to the US government when she died, in the hopes that it would be the future home of presidents.

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Source: The New York Times

Winning the best picture Oscar doesn't just signal that a movie is regarded by Hollywood as the top achievement in the medium for the year; it can help cement a movie's status, with past winners that have gone on to become classics like "The Godfather," "Lawrence of Arabia," and "On the Waterfront."

But the Academy voters don't always get it right. Tucked away in the 88 years of Oscar ceremonies are best picture winners that quickly vanished from the zeitgeist, never to be heard from again. That's often because they weren't as good as originally thought.

It's probably too early to say which of the nine best picture nominees in 2017 — including critical favorites "La La Land," "Moonlight," and "Manchester by the Sea" — will live on in our memories, but here's hoping the Academy doesn't screw this one up when the Oscars air February 26.

Here we look back on the 10 most disappointing best picture winners and choose the nominees that should have won:

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 12 greatest movies to win the best picture Oscar

10. "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956)

Based on the Jules Verne novel, this film used all of Hollywood's resources (a $6 million budget in the 1950s was far from cheap) to create a sprawling look at the world, but the story of a super-rich English gentleman Phileas Fogg (David Niven) who attempts to win his wager to navigate the globe is silly and far from memorable. 

SHOULD HAVE WON: "The Ten Commandments"

Cecil B. DeMille's final directing effort still holds strong today. With its all-star cast, particularly the incredible performance by Charlton Heston as Moses (he didn't even get an Oscar nomination for the role), and its remarkable effects for that era, it's a movie that should have been recognized with the top prize.  

9. "Ordinary People" (1980)

The late 1970s and early 1980s were when the melodrama was at its zenith in movie theaters, and "Ordinary People" came around at the perfect time. The film didn't just win best picture — it also achieved best director for Robert Redford and best actor for Timothy Hutton. Granted, the film has explosive performances in it, but there needs to be more than great acting to win best picture.

President Donald Trump took a moment during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday to poke fun at the ratings of his former television show.

At the 65th annual event organized by The Fellowship Foundation and hosted by members of Congress, Trump joked that he would be praying for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has taken over hosting the new "Celebrity Apprentice," Trump's claim to broadcast fame.

"They hired a big, big movie star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, to take my place. And we know how that turned out," Trump said, as the crowd laughed. "The ratings went down the tubes. It's been a total disaster. And Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again. And I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings."

The show's ratings this season have sunk. According to Nielsen, 4.9 million live viewers tuned in for Schwarzenegger's premiere on January 2, whereas Trump's last season premiere in 2015 boasted 6.8 million viewers.

It's not the first public dig Trump has taken against Schwarzenegger since being elected president, though he's still listed as an executive producer on the show.

On January 6, the then-president-elect tweeted that Schwarzenegger "got 'swamped' (or destroyed) by comparison to the ratings machine, DJT."

"But who cares, he supported Kasich & Hillary," Trump continued, referring to Republican and Democratic presidential candidates John Kasich and Hillary Clinton.

"I wish you the best of luck," Schwarzenegger fired back on Twitter, "and I hope you'll work for ALL of the American people as aggressively as you worked for your ratings."

Watch the clip from the prayer breakfast below:

SEE ALSO: Arnold Schwarzenegger's 'Celebrity Apprentice' ratings sink after Trump exit

DON'T MISS: Schwarzenegger snaps back at Trump: 'I hope you'll work for ALL' Americans 'as aggressively as you worked for your ratings'

Join the conversation about this story »

Samantha Bee focused on the refugees affected by President Donald Trump's controversial travel ban and dared him to admit that it's a discriminatory ban on Muslims.

"I will shut up about immigrants now, because I want to talk about refugees. Not the same thing," Bee said on Wednesday's episode of TBS's "Full Frontal." "Immigrants are people who leave their country hoping for a better life. Refugees are people who flee their country hoping just to stay alive. Also, refugees don't get to pick where they go — they wait patiently for any country to take them, kind of like how some people spent prom season."

While Trump'sexecutive order temporarily blocked travelers from entering the US from seven predominately Muslim countries, it also banned all refugees from entering for the following 120 days and banned all Syrian refugees indefinitely.

In order to express the full consequences of the US refusing to admit refugees, Bee took us back to World War II and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's denial of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Coincidentally, Roosevelt and Trump have used the same reasoning to defend their refugee bans: a desire to avoid a "Trojan horse" — enemies of the US who gain entry as refugees.

"F--- you, F.D.R., they weren't Trojans or Nazis, they were Jewish refugees," Bee said. "And they definitely did have something to fear besides fear itself... The way America welcomed the last non-Christian war refugees to knock at our door was one of the most shameful stains on our history, which is saying a lot." 

Bee said she wouldn't harp on last week's controversy over the White House statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day that didn't mention the Jewish people, a complaint it said was "nitpicking."

"I'm talking to people who frog-whistle the Holocaust," Bee said. "Fine, I won't mention this refugee ban is immoral, embarrassing, and inhuman. I'll just point out that it is the act of a giant p----."

She then called on Trump to be brave enough to admit that the refugee ban is a strike against Muslims, not potential terrorists.

"You want a Muslim ban? We know you do," Bee said. "So say it already, Mr. Straight-talker. Slap your meat on the table and face the legal consequences like a man. Don't puss around by banning territories that just happen to be Muslim... Own your pointless cruelty. That is why America voted for you, except for the majority of Americans who didn't."

Watch Samantha Bee in the video below:

SEE ALSO: Ellen DeGeneres hit back at Trump's immigration ban using the plot of 'Finding Dory'

DON'T MISS: Stephen Colbert reviews President Trump's first week: 'He really got a lot of stuff undone'

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NOW WATCH: Trump’s executive orders are being turned into hilarious memes

During an interview for BBC’s “The Andrew Marr Show” to promote his new movie “Gold,” Matthew McConaughey was asked if it was time Hollywood and those who oppose President Donald Trump give him a break.

“Well, they don’t have a choice now,” McConaughey said. “He’s our president. And it’s very dynamic and as divisive of an inauguration and time as we’ve ever had. At the same time, it’s time for us to embrace and shake hands with this fact and be constructive with him over the next four years. So even those who may disagree with his principles or things he’s said and done — which is another thing, we’ll see what he does compared to what he has said — no matter how much you even disagreed along the way it’s time to think how constructive can you be because he’s our next president for years, at least.”

It’s a surprise not just because McConaughey is in an industry that has widely and loudly voiced its displeasure with the new president, but also because, as People points out in the wake of Trump's immigration ban, his wife, Camila Alves, is an immigrant from Brazil who came to the US when she was 15 and became a US citizen in 2015.

Then again, it is also not clear exactly when the interview was recorded and if it was prior to Trump's executive order placing a controversial temporary ban on refugees and immigrants from several predominantly Muslim countries.

Representatives for McConaughey did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Watch McConaughey’s thoughts on Trump from “The Andrew Marr Show” below:

SEE ALSO: Inside the shooting of Matthew McConaughey's new movie that became plagued with disaster

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NOW WATCH: How to use Meitu — the Chinese selfie-enhancing app that the Internet is obsessed with

Following president Donald Trump's remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, in which he took a swipe at Arnold Schwarzenegger for his ratings as the new host of "Celebrity Apprentice" (which Trump previously hosted), the action idol has rapidly taken to Twitter in a video to respond.

In his remarks, Trump said he wanted "to just pray for Arnold" to have better ratings.

"Hey Donald, I have a great idea," Schwarzenegger said in the video. "Why don't we switch jobs? You take over TV, because you're such an expert in ratings, and I take over your job. Then people can finally sleep comfortably again."

This is not the first time Trump and Schwarzenegger have traded jabs at one another about "Celebrity Apprentice."

After ratings numbers came out showing that the first episode of the Schwarzenegger-hosted "Apprentice" proved to be lower than Trump's last season on the show, Trump tweeted:

Schwarzenegger responded in a more diplomatic approach in that instance, giving some words of advice to the then-president-elect Trump by tweeting a video of himself quoting Abraham Lincoln:

Looks like Arnold isn't playing nice anymore.

SEE ALSO: Samantha Bee compares Trump's '"Muslim ban" to a "shameful" moment in US history

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NOW WATCH: The story of 'Slender Man' — the internet’s creepiest urban legend

After successfully establishing himself as a social media star, 23-year-old Canadian Christian Delgrosso wants to conquer streaming television.

Delgrosso has built his fame as a part of a group of social media stars that includes Logan Paul, King Bach and Cameron Dallas, with whom he starred in the Netflix documentary series "Chasing Cameron."

He is known among his 22 million social media followers for his exaggerated facial expressions and wacky comedy.

Delgrosso is currently filming a series for the upcoming streaming platform Blackpills. The mobile-specific entertainment platform was created out of a partnership between French telecoms entrepreneur Xavier Niel and Daniel Marhely, the founder of music streaming service Deezer. A Blackpills representative said the platform would be launching around March.

The mobile streaming service has kept a low profile but it looks like it will soon set its targets on the United States as one of its main markets. It acquired a series that premiered at the American film festival Sundance and signed up Zoe Cassavettes, director and daughter of actor John Cassavettes, to direct a series. French director Luc Besson will also be creating a series for the platform. In October it released one of its first shows about US President Donald Trump, You Got Trumped, on YouTube and Facebook. Logan Paul, who often appears in social media videos with Delgrosso, is also working on a series for Blackpills.

Business Insider caught up with Delgrosso over the phone as he was on the set of a show he is currently shooting for the platform. His character in the show has to live with his mom who comes back from the dead and discovers modern society.

SEE ALSO: Tough Mudder is generating $100 million in revenue and is about to launch a TV show — here's how it began

"It's currently called 'MOOOM' but they're changing the title," Delgrosso explained. At 8 a.m. he was still in bed, having shot scenes for the show the day before. "I've been pushing for 'Paranormom'."

Delgrosso has a busy schedule. Aside from his "MOOOM" shoot, Delgrosso is also working on another series that's currently in pre-production, which may also find its way onto the streaming service. And he is preparing a feature film that will start production in May.

These are not his first large-scale productions, either: he previously starred in the iTunes exclusive teen comedy "Mono," as well as the Maker Studios mockumentary "Internet Famous."

Delgrosso doesn't limit himself just to acting. He's also working with the writers of his show to help improve the script and even gets asked for his input on the streaming platform itself.

"I'm getting to collaborate with some really, really heavy hitters on the business side and they're going to be investing a lot of money which is going to get this thing off the ground," he said.

Speaking to Delgrosso, you feel he has the drive to be seen as an entrepreneur rather than just a goofy social media star.

"I feel like I've naturally been an entrepreneur since I was young. I was buying and flipping iPhones and other ridiculous stuff when I was young," he explained with a laugh. "So I've been very hands-on and interested in directly working with a lot of the business opportunities that come my way."

Delgrosso said he made seven figures in 2016 and so far in 2017 he's brought in over $500,000 in revenue.

"There's tons and tons of stuff coming through, so this year is going to be more lucrative, my most lucrative year so far," Delgrosso said.

Creating branded content to target the younger audiences to whom social media influencers appeal is one of the main ways that influencers monetize their content.

Delgrosso has followed the same pattern. He has previously worked with brands including Microsoft, Coca Cola, and McDonald's — one of his sponsored Vines for Amazon, from 2015, got 4.9 million views.

Delgrosso is part of a group of the top social influencers who left Vine a year before the October 2016 announcement that the Twitter-owned 6-second video app was shutting down. According to Mic.com, the group of influencers were asking Vine for up to $1.2 million a year to produce 12 pieces of content a month, which would help keep users coming back to the platform. Vine declined.

"Vine didn't care about its creators at all. So all of the big Viners, we all collectively left," he said. It wasn't just about money: Delgrosso had wanted a closer relationship with the Vine team and the possibility to have an active say in developments and updates to it.

Along with many other influencers, Delgrosso lived in a Los Angeles building at the crossroads of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. Since Vine shut down, many of the group have moved out as they look to bigger platforms and longform content.

A 40-minute long YouTube compilation of Delgrosso's Vines has racked up nearly 10 million views:

"When I started out on social media, I gained 10 million followers in my first year. I became way more in tune with tech than I wanted to and it became a big interest of mine," Delgrosso said.

It's not just about filming videos anymore for Delgrosso, his growing interest in technology is evident when he explains how he's looking forward to virtual reality and everything he could do with it creatively.

That interest has been channelled into a new job. One of Delgrosso's latest activities has been working as a consultant for a variety of tech companies. He tests new apps and technology products, helps improve them, and works to define their launch strategies for younger consumers.

If you need to see more of Scarlett Johansson as the butt-kicking part-human, part-cyborg in "Ghost in the Shell" before its Super Bowl spot airs, Paramount has hooked you up.

The studio put its Super Bowl Sunday teaser of the highly anticipated live-action feature adapted from the popular Japanese anime online Thursday.

In the movie, Johansson plays the Major, a cyborg policewoman in a near-future Japan who is on the hunt for cyberterrorists. 

This latest teaser shows off the CGI-fueled action that we hope is only a glimpse of what we'll experience when the movie comes out March 31. 

Here's the "Ghost in the Shell" Super Bowl spot:

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 10 worst movies to win the the best picture Oscar — and what should have won

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This prank promoting the new 'Rings' movie is genuinely frightening

Nintendo's next major mobile game, which arrives on iOS and Android devices on Thursday, is free. You can download "Fire Emblem Heroes" and play as much as you want as soon as it's available in your region on iTunes and Google Play. 

That stands in glaring contrast to Nintendo's first major mobile game, "Super Mario Run," which is still only available on iOS and costs $10 to unlock the full game (you can play the first three levels for free).

Even though $10 is likely what you pay for lunch most days, it's a lot to ask for a smartphone game — the most popular smartphone games, with few exceptions ("Minecraft"), cost a whopping zero dollars.

Games like "Clash Royale" and "Pokémon GO" and "Game of War" can be played near-endlessly for the low, low cost of nothing. They make money by running ads, or by limiting the amount of time you can spend playing a game (and then charging money to play more without having to wait for a timer to expire). 

As a result, a tiny fraction — just 5% — of the tens of millions of people who downloaded "Super Mario Run" actually paid the $10 Nintendo charged for the new game. But with Nintendo's second mobile game, the Japanese game maker is taking a different approach: It's free-to-play, but has slot machine-style microtransactions. 

The idea is simple: You pay anywhere from $1.99 to $74.99 to receive "orbs," that you can use in-game to unlock characters in "Fire Emblem Heroes." But rather than knowing what you'll get, Nintendo shrouds the payment in a cloud of mystery. Maybe you get a new character, maybe you get a duplicate.

It's literally the same concept as a slot machine: Put in your money, pull the lever, and see what comes out. Maybe you win, maybe you don't. 

It is, of course, your decision to buy in or not. The orbs can be earned in-game, but you can acquire them much faster by purchasing them. 

Regardless of that, this method of charging players for a chance at getting something new is often received poorly by game players. In Japan, where the concept is more common, the government has outright regulated its implementation. How it'll be received in the US is another question — some popular games in the US have a similar system. For example, in the popular game "Overwatch," players can purchase in-game "loot boxes" that contain randomized items. The boxes can be earned in-game through play, or you can purchase them with real money. 

The difference in that instance is that the loot boxes contain cosmetic items only — stuff that has no impact on how the game actually plays, just how your characters look and sound. In the case of "Fire Emblem Heroes," you're buying playable characters — and that has a distinct effect on how the game plays. 

SEE ALSO: Just 5% of people who downloaded 'Super Mario Run' paid $10 for the full game

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The creators of "South Park" say they're backing off of satirizing the Donald Trump administration because they can't compete with real events.

During the presidential election, "South Park" certainly turned to Trump for some scathing plotlines. But the men behind the Comedy Central show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, now say that they're wary of wading too much into material about the president.

"It's tricky now because satire has become reality," Parker told the Australian current-affairs program "7.30." "It's really hard to make fun of and in the last season of 'South Park,' which just ended a month and a half ago, we were really trying to make fun of what was going on, but we couldn't keep up. And what was actually happening was much funnier than anything we could come up with. So we decided to kind of back off and let them do their comedy and we'll do ours."

Stone said that the controversial events coming out out of President Trump's administration don't make their jobs easier as some imagine.

"People say to us all the time, 'Oh, you guys are getting all this good material,' like we're happy about some of this stuff that's happening," Stone said. "But I don't know if that's true. It doesn't feel that way."

Watch the interview with "7.30" here.

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James Corden helped Aaron Paul's search for redemption following an epic loss on "The Price Is Right" 17 years ago.

In 2000, when Paul would've been about 20 years old (and long before his "Breaking Bad" fame or even many acting jobs), he got the chance to play "The Price Is Right." It turned out that his knowledge of what items were worth was pretty good and he made it all the way to the show's final game, the Showcase. That's when his luck changed, though. He ended up overbidding on the prize package, a sports car, by a mere $132.

"I got to be honest," Paul said on Wednesday's episode of Corden's "Late Late Show," "When I did the show, I was struggling, had no money, and it was really a source of possible income. When I lost that damn car, I was so depressed for so long."

Corden gave Paul an opportunity for a do-over. In the sketch, the pair breaks in to the game show's set and then goes through the various motions of the show.

"The Price Is Right" host Drew Carey also drops in and agrees to help Paul in his quest to redeem his former Showcase blunder. Will Paul accomplish his goal and walk away with one less life regret?

Watch the "Late Late Show" video of Paul's new "Price Is Right" adventure below:

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In the 1920s, British officer Percy Fawcett led an expedition deep into the forests of the Amazon to find an indigenous lost city where a civilization once flourished in the mid 1700s. The city was thought to have contained large statues and a temple with hieroglyphics. Fawcett called it the Lost City of Z.

His first attempt to find the city failed, as Fawcett had to return after getting a fever in the jungle. For his second attempt, in 1925, he took along his son, Jack, and the two were never seen again.

Since then, hundreds of explorers and scientists have died or disappeared after going out to the Amazon to find traces of Fawcett's expedition or the lost city.

Fawcett's remarkable story was the basis of the 2009 best-selling book "The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon," and now Amazon Studios has made it into a movie.

"The Lost City of Z," directed by James Gray ("The Yards," The Immigrant") and starring Charlie Hunnam ("Sons of Anarchy") as Fawcett, along with Tom Holland as Fawcett's son Jack and Robert Pattinson, retells Fawcett's journey. And by the looks of the trailer, the film is going to be a visually lush and thrilling look at the legend.

With glimpses of Fawcett and his team battling natives as well as the elements, if the movie is as intense as the footage in the trailer, Amazon has another hit on its hands.

"The Lost City of Z" opens in theaters April 21 nationwide. Watch the trailer below:

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On Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg laid out his vision for the future of Facebook video, and he seems to be copying YouTube's battle plan.

Zuckerberg said that, despite chatter about longer videos, short-form video would be the focus for Facebook. 

This makes sense, according to Pacific Crest analysts led by Andy Hargreaves.

"Short-form video strategy maximizes Facebook's competitive advantages," Pacific Crest wrote in a note distributed Thursday. "It should allow the company to take advantage of its massive user base and personalization tools to drive consumption in a way that fits with how people use the platform."

In short: it fits in with how people use Facebook.

It's no Netflix

The focus on short-form video distances Facebook from the likes of Netflix, HBO, and cable TV. But Zuckerberg did say he thought there was a big future for "premium" video on Facebook, which signals he is eyeing the large pool of money dedicated to advertising on TV. 

And it could work.

"The biggest incremental budgets up for grabs are the massive TV budgets," Pacific Crest wrote. "Given declining viewership, we believe TV advertisers are hungry for alternate forms of scaled video ad inventory." A key here, according to Pacific Crest, is having good monetization produce a flywheel that gets longer and better video onto Facebook over time.

The barrier to that is the way Facebook wants video creators to make money: a share of the ad revenue. 

"Facebook seems mainly focused on video revenue share agreements rather than acquiring/licensing rights (more like YouTube than Netflix)," Morgan Stanley analysts led by Brian Nowak wrote on Thursday. It's not going to be easy for Facebook to get TV-quality programming on its platform by just splitting the ad revenue. It's much more likely to get the type of "premium" content that lives on YouTube, which sits somewhere in-between an amateur production and a TV show. And that kind of video is not as attractive in stealing away TV ad dollars.

The other option for Facebook would be to go out and buy TV-quality shows to put on its platform, as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon do. But Facebook CFO David Wehner threw cold water on this path on Wednesday's earnings call by saying Facebook wasn't looking to do "big deals," and that insofar as it would license shows, it would just be to seed the ecosystem.

An attack on YouTube

Still, sticking to splitting ad revenue has its advantages. "This revenue share model is important because it limits the near-term margin pressure as FB continues to work to build this business (they only pay if it monetizes)," Morgan Stanley wrote. Facebook only has to pay up when it gets paid.

This strategy is "likely to increase FB's direct competition with YouTube for ad budgets," Morgan Stanley continued.

So will it work?

"Facebook's video opportunity for a legitimate YouTube competitor is a significant one," Macquarie analysts wrote on Thursday. "And we would expect should it be successful, for the new video tab to eventually morph into its own standalone app similar to Messenger."

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg gave his vision of Facebook's video future, and it doesn't look like the new Netflix

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