President Trump's first State of the Union on Tuesday didn't help calm down the rumors that the president and first lady, Melania Trump, are at a rocky moment in their marriage. 

First there was the story that came out alleging Trump's lawyer paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 presidential race so she would stay quiet about their alleged sexual encounter in 2006. 

The news reportedly "blindsided" the first lady, and she did not accompany her husband on his trip to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. Melania's communications director stated that she did not go to Davos due to "scheduling and logistical issues."

And then on the night of the State of the Union, Melania arrived without her husband, and wore an all-white pant suit, leading to a theory that she was supporting the #MeToo movement.

So on Wednesday, Stephen Colbert had Melania Trump on "The Late Show" to get to the bottom of all this. Well, he had the show's regular Melania Trump impersonator, Laura Benanti, on the show. And once again, she just killed it as Melania.

Coming on the show, "via satellite" from The White House, sporting a all-white pant suit, "Melania" addressed if she purposely wore the outfit in support of women's rights and suffrage.

"Yes, everyday I'm suffraging," she told Colbert, who pointed out that suffrage means the right to vote. 

"I know," she replied. "I cannot wait to vote in the next presidential election."

Colbert asked if she would vote for her husband. 

"Of course," Benanti as Melania replied. "Unless I have a scheduling and logistical issues."

Colbert then asked what she thought of her husband's State of the Union address. 

"I was glued to my seat," she said, then added, "No, no, Stephen, I was literally glued to my seat. That General Kelly is quite the prankster," referring to White House chief of staff John Kelly. 

Then Colbert brought up the rumors of Trump's infidelity. 

"It's fake news, Stephen," said "Melania." "I do not believe my husband slept with this woman, Spank Banjos," referring to Stormy Daniels. "I mean what kind of disgusting pig monster would cheat on his wife with a porn star right after she gave birth, and then would pay hush money to this Cranky Ponchos. Everyone here thinks it’s a lie and I agree. Hashtag me too.”

Colbert then asked if she was angry at all, and she said she wasn't.

“If my husband is watching, I have a message," she said. "Donald, time’s up — on your cheeseburger it’s ready, happy anniversary sweetheart.”

Colbert asked if the president got her anything. She said a hat. “He paid for it, but I picked it out.”

Benanti as Melania then put on a pink winter cap, which many women wore during the Women's March the last two years.

Watch the entire bit below:

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NOW WATCH: Here's how the map of the United States has changed in 200 years

• Rockstar Games, the folks behind "Grand Theft Auto," are working on a huge new game called "Red Dead Redemption 2."
• The game was planned for a spring launch on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
• Fans are going to have to wait a bit longer — the game was just delayed to October.

The long-awaited follow-up to the beloved western "Red Dead Redemption" just got a release date: October 26, 2018.

The bad news, of course, is that the launch date is a pretty hefty delay.

"Red Dead Redemption 2" was scheduled for a spring launch. It's now set for a holiday launch window, alongside annual blockbusters like "Call of Duty."

Rockstar Games isn't giving much of an explanation for the delay.

"We apologize to everyone disappointed by this delay," a blog post on Rockstar's site reads. "While we had hoped to have the game out sooner, we require a little extra time for polish."

Only so much is known about the game thus far.

Like the first "Red Dead Redemption," the sequel is set in the American frontier — a massive open-world environment not unlike those of the "Grand Theft Auto" series. Of course, instead of carjacking, you're more likely to steal someone's horse and ride off in the "Red Dead" series.

One thing's for sure: The game looks absolutely stunning from a visual perspective.

Take a look at the latest trailer for "Red Dead Redemption 2" right here and see for yourself!

SEE ALSO: The next game from the team behind 'Grand Theft Auto' is drop-dead gorgeous

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• HBO has reached over 5 million online subscribers in the US, according to Bloomberg. 
• The company has more than doubled its online subscriptions in the past year, in part by making its content available to Amazon and services like DirecTV Now.
• HBO's subscription revenues increased 11% in 2017, according to a year-end earnings report from its parent company, Time Warner Inc.

HBO has more than doubled its number of online subscriptions in the past year, reaching over 5 million online subscribers in the US, according to a report from Bloomberg's Gerry Smith.

The network's online growth has reportedly been driven in part by making its content available to Amazon users and online-TV streaming services like DirecTV Now. 

While around half of the network's subscriber growth in the past year came from its standalone streaming service, HBO Now, the other half came from new users to the network who signed on to HBO through its Amazon channel or application add-ons to streaming TV packages like DirecTV Now.

Time Warner Inc., which owns HBO, saw its revenue increase 7% in 2017, while HBO's subscription revenues increased 11% over the year, according to a year-end earnings report. 

"Led by its great content, Home Box Office delivered its highest increase in domestic subscribers ever in 2017 and its best subscription revenue growth in over 20 years," Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes said in a statement for the earnings report. 

HBO Now, the company's direct-to-consumer streaming service, is currently outpacing the products of its cable and legacy media competitors in domestic subscribers, according to a recent report from Morgan Stanley.

Here is a chart that shows how it stacks up against the competition: 

SEE ALSO: The 50 best TV show seasons of all time, according to critics

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• Last week Univision brought on digital veteran Lisa Valentino from Conde Nast to help ramp up ad sales.
• The former ESPN and Yahoo executive wants to help push more big advertisers to shift resources and marketing dollars toward targeting Hispanic consumers. 
• Valentino is also urging Facebook and Google to support quality journalism, and wants the industry to tackle its various measurement challenges.

Over the past few years, the Spanish language broadcasting giant Univision has moved aggressively to expand both its digital, and its non-Spanish media footprint.

In 2016 alone the company acquired the humor brand The Onion and the remaining assets from Gawker Media (minus the now defunct Gawker.com), while also taking full control of Fusion, the millennial-aimed media property the company launched with Disney in 2013. 

At the same time, like every other traditional media powerhouse, Univision has been trying to deliver its content to various digital platforms while making money and protecting its still lucrative TV business along the way.

To help lead that push forward, last summer, Univision installed Tonia O’Connor as its first chief revenue officer. And last Friday, the company introduced digital ad veteran Lisa Valentino as its new executive vice president Revenue Innovation.

Valentino was most recently chief revenue officer for industry and agency at Condé Nast. Prior to that role Valentino logged stints at both ESPN and Yahoo. Business Insider caught up with the sales executive to talk about her new gig and the state of the ad business.

Mike Shields: What don't people realize about the media habits of the US Hispanic audience? Are advertisers spending enough to reach this demographic given its size and growth?

Lisa Valentino: I think it’s fair to say that many advertisers and buyers aren't fully aware of the enormous buying power this segment represents, how and where it's growing, and how Hispanics tend to be more loyal and attentive to brands that respectfully and effectively communicate with them as consumers. Even in 2018, there's still a huge learning curve in our industry. In my last role, I listened to many of our Fortune 100 partners speak to the need to reach a more culturally diverse consumer in an authentic way. That presents a tremendous opportunity for us.

Shields: What do you think are some of the most glaring areas of need in the ad industry right now?

Valentino: Some of the biggest challenges we face include updating our measurement system – i.e. Nielsen – to more accurately reflect consumer behavior especially as it relates to video.  As you know, video viewing is up, it’s just occurring differently across multiple platforms especially with younger consumers.

Shields: What about taking on Google and Facebook for digital ad budgets? It seems harder than ever. Are they a friend to media companies?

Valentino: I believe we will see a commitment towards quality journalism and premium storytelling.  The ecosystem and business models have to support the continued creation of a high quality product and the duopoly hasn’t gotten there yet. I also believe we will see continued consolidation and new forms of partnership emerge which will create less reliance on one or two platforms.  It’s a great time to be attached to a brand that stands for something and we want to help lead the change.  

Shields: We haven't heard as much noise regarding the big Hispanic broadcasters in terms of doing things like Snapchat Discover or shows on Facebook Watch or even getting distribution on new digital cable alternative (e.g. 'skinny bundles.') Will we see a more aggressive push on these fronts?

Valentino: Well, that's the unfortunate thing that some in our industry are unaware. Univision has already been among the first of any traditional media to jump onto Sling TV, develop co-productions with Netflix, introduce direct to-consumer subscription linear and library services, stream live sports on Facebook and more. The company’s leadership in experimentation and pressing the digital envelope is another reason I felt this was a great fit for me.  And, we’re just getting started in terms of innovative partnerships.

Shields: You're coming back to a big TV-centric company that's trying to get more digital after several years at Conde Nast. What do you think about that kind of shift?

Valentino: These are rapid days of transformation for all of media and I’ve always been drawn to premium brands that have strong credibility with consumers. I began to notice that Univision has not been sitting idly by as they navigate the complex sea change in consumer consumption. Whether it's been their embrace of digital-first brands like Gizmodo and The Onion or their partnerships with Netflix and Facebook, they clearly are looking at new ways to leverage their strong brand. Quite simply the invitation to help them innovate the business model in this dynamic space was just too exciting to pass up.

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NOW WATCH: A Georgetown professor explains how Martin Luther King Jr. 'has been severely whitewashed'

• Nikki Haley, the US's ambassador to the United Nations, has been embroiled in a controversy over an unsubstantiated rumor she had an affair with President Donald Trump.
• The rumor began when Michael Wolff, the journalist who wrote an explosive tell-all book about Trump's early days in the White House, suggested the president was having an affair.
• Readers assumed he was alluding to an affair with Haley, who has denied the rumors and called them "highly offensive" and "disgusting."

Nikki Haley, the US's ambassador to the United Nations, has been the subject of heated debate in recent days over flimsy rumors that she had an affair with President Donald Trump.

The controversy has been escalating for days but came to a head on Thursday morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" when Mika Brzezinski threw Michael Wolff, the journalist at the heart of the rumors, off her show in the middle of an interview, saying he was "slurring" Haley.

Wolff teased a scandalous passage in his book

Wolff, who wrote the explosive and highly disputed tell-all book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," told HBO's Bill Maher in mid-January, "There is something in the book that I was absolutely sure of, but it was so incendiary that I just didn't have the ultimate proof."

Wolff then responded affirmatively when Maher asked him whether it was "about a woman" and whether it was about someone Trump was "f---ing now."

"You just have to read between the lines," Wolff said. "It's toward the end of the book."

He added: "You'll know it ... When you hit that paragraph, you're going to say, 'Bingo.'"

Viewers and internet sleuths instantly began combing through the final chapters of the book, landing on a passage that read in part: "The president had been spending a notable amount of private time with Haley on Air Force One and was seen to be grooming her for a national political future."

Others, however, pointed to a separate passage mentioning Hope Hicks, the White House communications director who got her start working in communications on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign:

"The relationship of the president and Hope Hicks, long tolerated as a quaint bond between the older man and a trustworthy young woman, began to be seen as anomalous and alarming. Completely devoted to accommodating him, she, his media facilitator, was the ultimate facilitator of unmediated behavior. His impulses and thoughts — unedited, unreviewed, unchallenged — not only passed through him, but, via Hicks, traveled out into the world without any other White House arbitration."

Haley shot down the 'disgusting' rumor

About a week later, Haley, in an interview with Politico, called the rumor about her "highly offensive" and "disgusting." She added that she had never been alone with Trump, let alone on Air Force One, or discussed her political future with him.

"But it goes to a bigger issue that we need to always be conscious of," Haley said. "At every point in my life, I've noticed that if you speak your mind and you're strong about it and you say what you believe, there is a small percentage of people that resent that and the way they deal with it is to try and throw arrows, lies or not."

Haley received further backlash after she tweeted criticisms of a sketch at the Grammys on Sunday in which Hillary Clinton and several celebrities performed a dramatic reading of Wolff's book.

Haley's tweets drew the ire of some liberals and Trump critics who said she had expressed selective outrage against mixing entertainment and politics when Trump himself frequently blurs lines between the two.

But at this point, many had become enraged by the perceived hypocrisy among liberal feminists, saying they have long decried misogynistic rumors and attacks on Democratic women but did not spring en masse to the defense of Haley, a Republican.

Wolff argued that Haley 'embraced' the controversy

Wolff, meanwhile, has done little to confirm or deny if Haley was indeed the subject of the rumor he started. Instead, he told theSkimm on Wednesday that he believed Haley had "embraced" the controversy.

"All she does is hammer on this fact," he said. "I mean, if I were being accused of something — and I am not accusing her of anything — I mean, she hasn't tried to avoid this, let's say."

Then on "Morning Joe" on Thursday, Brzezinski asked Wolff to explain why he triggered the rumor on Maher's show without providing any evidence.

"I'm gonna go as far as to say that you might be having a fun time playing a little game dancing around this, but you're slurring a woman," Brzezinski said. "It's disgraceful."

"She has been accused of nothing," Wolff replied. "She has decided to deny what she has not been accused of."

"Are you kidding?" Brzezinski fired back. "You're on the set of 'Morning Joe.' We don't BS here."

She added: "I'm sorry, this is awkward — you're here on the set with us, but we're done."

The show then abruptly cut to a commercial break.

Eliza Relman contributed reporting.

SEE ALSO: Mika Brzezinski abruptly ended an interview with 'Fire and Fury' author Michael Wolff after they argued over Nikki Haley rumors

DON'T MISS: Journalist Michael Wolff claims Nikki Haley embraced rumors that she and Trump are having an affair

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NOW WATCH: A Georgetown professor explains how Martin Luther King Jr. 'has been severely whitewashed'

• Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" is less than two years old and yet is consistently one of the top podcasts across all subjects.
• Its success has come despite its lack of association with a large traditional media outlet.
• With The Chernin Group's additional $15 million investment in Barstool late last month, it's unlikely the podcast's success will end anytime soon.

Though Super Bowl media day is a time for the teams to answer both serious and playful questions from dozens of media outlets from across the globe, Barstool Sports, one of the fastest-growing in the US, continues to find itself on the outside looking in.

The site, which controversial but incredibly popular among men aged 18 to 34, has frequently clashed with the NFL over the past few years.

In 2015, four employees, including the company's president, were arrested while protesting Tom Brady's suspension. Barstool produces shirts depicting the league's commissioner, Roger Goodell, as a clown. And it recently accused the NFL of trademark infringement by selling shirts that say "Saturdays are for the boys."

It shouldn't be a surprise that the league is trying to distance itself from Barstool.

The league's excluding it from media day hasn't stopped Barstool, though — the company's president, David Portnoy, snuck in this year, while the podcast host known as PFT Commenter did so last year. Getting to the press area isn't difficult, according to the host, who told Business Insider that "the dog show had tighter security last year."

PFT hosts perhaps Barstool's most popular entity, "Pardon My Take," along with Daniel "Big Cat" Katz. The podcast is a comedy show disguised as a sports show where the pair dive int0 the day's top sports stories by making light of the hot takes typically made by talking heads across the industry.

The show does this through satirical segments such as "Mount Rushmore," in which the two, their producer Henry Lockwood, and a guest pick a "top four" in a random topic, like road-trip activities or hangover cures. They say the idea is to poke fun at all the contrived debates that sports talk shows use to fill time.

They'll also frequently dive outside of the sports world into entertainment, with segments like "Bachelor Talk for People Who Don't Watch 'The Bachelor'" and a "Game of Thrones" recap (though neither has a clue what's going on in the show) designed to satirize the many sports shows that feel the need to dive into pop culture.

The podcast is known for having loyal listeners who frequently "subscribe, unsubscribe, then resubscribe," which is why "Pardon My Take" is consistently at or near the top of the charts for sports podcasts.

But how did the podcast get here less than two years after debuting? Katz and PFT Commenter told Business Insider how "Pardon My Take" came to be.

Katz was working in real estate in Chicago when he had a quarter-life crisis and decided he wasn't cut out for the corporate world. He wanted to switch to the "fun thing," which for him was talking about and writing about sports.

It started out as just an email to his friends, but in 2012, Katz started blogging for Barstool Sports from his apartment — long before it had hit the mainstream and when it had about five people.

PFT started out as a comedy writer but temporarily gave it up for an office job in Austin. He got bored with his days, so he made a Twitter account to make himself laugh.

He began to gain notoriety for his Twitter account and comments on sports sites such as ProFootballTalk and started to get contracted to contribute to various blogs under his pseudonym.

The two got hooked up through people who read them online. They met for beers in Chicago and remained in contact with each other for the next couple of years.

In early 2016, when the media company The Chernin Group invested in Barstool, PFT was one of the first people Katz and Portnoy reached out to when they were looking to expand Barstool's talent base. Chernin Group made an additional $15 million investment late last month.

PFT and Katz recorded their first "Pardon My Take" podcast in February 2016, and within a week it was the top-ranked sports podcast and in the top 10 overall.

Though the two say their first few episodes were "trash," with awful sound bites and an inconsistent pace, they credit fan feedback and their ability to adapt quickly with the early, continuing success of the show.

Their immediate popularity wasn't always positive, however.

In March 2016, they received a cease-and-desist notice from ESPN, claiming the podcast's name and logo were infringing on two of the network's popular sports talk shows, "Pardon the Interruption" and "First Take." The logo would have to change, but the two used the letter as ammo for more comedic content — they sent ESPN a cease-and-desist on sending further cease-and-desists.

While the downloads were immediate, it took some time for Katz and PFT to realize they had arrived.

Later that month, multiple media outlets picked up the podcast's interview with Kyle Wiltjer, a former Gonzaga basketball player, who claimed that Adam Morrison, another former Gonzaga player, had an apocalypse bunker in his house, marking the first time the mainstream really noticed the show.

In the summer of 2016, they landed Scott Van Pelt, ESPN's premier "SportsCenter" anchor, as a guest on the show. Katz says that interview was a major reason he and PFT have been able to regularly get such famous guests in the year and a half since.

PFT says he also sees the show's interview with the controversial sportscaster Joe Buck that summer as a major moment for the show.

"No matter what team you root for, you think Joe Buck hates your team," the host said. So when their Twitter mentions filled with hundreds of comments like "damn you, I can't believe you made me like Joe Buck," PFT knew they had a special ability to humanize larger-than-life personalities.

While the show often sees a spike in downloads if the guest is big enough, its most loyal listeners keep it near the top of the charts regardless of who's on — notoriety that has led to partnerships with major networks.

During the week of the Super Bowl last year, Barstool's "The Rundown" featuring Katz aired nightly on Comedy Central. Last fall, the "Pardon My Take" team launched the "Barstool Van Talk" on ESPN2, though ESPN canceled it after one show.

The two said those experiences made them how important it is to their fans to not give up creative control, especially amid big changes in the media landscape in the past few years.

Katz and PFT say they're confident they can continue to grow their audience without attaching themselves to a major network — but they wouldn't rule out a partnership that made sense, as long as they maintained creative freedom.

They said they considered themselves extremely lucky that they get to work for an outlet that they say allows for so much creative freedom — something they point to, along with a feeling of community between Barstool employees and their audience, as a reason for their success in the two years since launching the podcast.

And with The Chernin Group's recent investment, there's no reason to believe their success will end anytime soon.

SEE ALSO: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Tom Brady's teammates on his first Super Bowl team

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Moviegoing has been one of America's favorite ways to kill time for about a century now, and box-office earnings have been a reliable predictor of what we love and, sometimes, continue to love.

Using lists of the highest-grossing films by year from IMDb, Box Office Mojo, and The Numbers, Business Insider has compiled a chronology of the biggest box-office hits every year since 1930*.

We adjusted global box-office receipts for inflation through 2017 using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator. We've also included critic ratings from Metacritic (on a scale of 1 to 100) and fan ratings from IMDb (on a scale of 1 to 10) for each film where available.

However, we used 1975 as the cutoff for global box office because worldwide figures before then were spotty and inconsistent. For films prior to 1975, we've provided adjusted and unadjusted domestic box office instead.

Several franchises are represented — "Star Wars," "Terminator," "Harry Potter" — as are Academy Award winners and classics like "The Sound of Music" and "Rocky."

Read on to find out the highest-grossing movie released the year you were born:

*Note: A couple years in the 1930s are missing due to lack of information. Movies before 1930 were not included due to unreliable box-office data.

This post has been updated and expanded from its original version.

DON'T MISS: The 30 most expensive movies ever made

AND: RANKED: The 10 movies most likely to dominate this summer

2017: "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"

Adjusted gross: $1.3 billion

Unadjusted gross: $1.3 billion

Critic rating: 85

Fan rating: 7.5

Plot summary: "Rey develops her newly discovered abilities with the guidance of Luke Skywalker, who is unsettled by the strength of her powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares for battle with the First Order." 

2016: "Captain America: Civil War"

Adjusted gross: $1.17 billion

Unadjusted gross: $1.15 billion

Critic rating:75

Fan rating: 7.8

Plot summary: "Political involvement in the Avengers' activities causes a rift between Captain America and Iron Man." 

2015: "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens"

Adjusted gross: $2.15 billion

Unadjusted gross: $2.07 billion

Critic rating: 81

Fan rating: 8.3

Plot summary: "Three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new threat arises. The First Order attempts to rule the galaxy and only a ragtag group of heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance." 

YouTube is the new TV.

Since 2005, YouTube has become the de facto launchpad for the next generation of celebrities.

Stars like PewDiePie, Jenna Marbles, and Yuya have racked up millions of subscribers over the years through a direct relationship with their fans.

From comedians to gamers to vloggers of all kinds, YouTubers have generally built their followings outside of the control of media giants, even if they are now signing big deals with those companies. And there is power and independence in having that huge fan base.

To get a closer look into which stars rule YouTube, we looked at the SocialBlade rankings to see who had the most subscribers. We focused on independent YouTube stars, disregarding YouTube channels like mainstream music artists.

Here's how the new generation of YouTube stars stacks up in 2018:

Nina Godlewski, Harrison Jacobs, Maya Kosoff, and Nathan McAlone contributed to earlier versions of this post.

SEE ALSO: MEET THE YOUTUBE MILLIONAIRES: These are the 10 highest-paid YouTube stars of 2017

No. 19: Fine Brothers Entertainment (FBE) — 16.7 million subscribers

Subscribers: 16.7 million

Brooklyn natives Benny and Rafi Fine are the two online producers/writers/directors who created the successful React video series. In React's various iterations — Kids React, Teens React, Elders React, and YouTubers React — the brothers show viral videos to people and film their reactions. In 2016, they were involved in a controversy over trying to copyright the React video form that drew widespread backlash and led to a campaign to unsubscribe from the duo's channel.

No. 18: KSI — 17.5 million subscribers

Subscribers: 17.5 million

As a teenager, Olajide Olatunji would play EA Sports' line of FIFA video games for hours on end in his parents' home. In 2009, he began uploading footage of himself playing and commentating to YouTube, under the username KSIOlajidebt: a combination of a "Halo" franchise clan, his first name, and British Telecom. His boisterous, goofy nature captured fans around the world.

No. 17: DanTDM — 17.7 million subscribers

Subscribers: 17.7 million

2017 estimated salary: $16.5 million

26-year-old Daniel Middleton, known as TheDiamondMinecart, is a popular YouTuber focused on the game Minecraft. Middleton posts daily reviews and gameplay videos. Last year, he had a world tour that included four sold-out nights at the Sydney Opera House. He was also 2017's highest-paid YouTube star, according to Forbes.

The company that makes "Grand Theft Auto" isn't known for pumping out games. You may recall that the latest "GTA" game came out in 2013 — that's the most recent release from Rockstar Games.

But a new game from Rockstar is just on the horizon: "Red Dead Redemption 2."

The relentlessly gorgeous "Red Dead Redemption 2" is still many months away — it was recently delayed to October 26. When it does arrive, it's headed to the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.

So, what's "Red Dead Redemption 2" all about? Is it basically "Grand Theft Horse"? Let's dive in.

SEE ALSO: The huge next game from the team behind 'Grand Theft Auto' just got delayed by half a year

Unlike "GTA," the "Red Dead" series is set in the American frontier. That means campfires and starry skies.

It also means gunslingers and six-shooters and bandit masks. This isn't just a tale of America's Wild West but a tale of cowboys, robbers, and the evolution of American society.

Rockstar characterizes the game's story as an "outlaw epic set across the vast and unforgiving American heartland."

• YouTube TV, the company's live-TV service, is getting its first major test as it debuts on Roku and Apple TV devices.
• YouTube TV lags behind competitors like Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and Hulu with Live TV in subscribers.
• YouTube TV costs $35 a month, which the company says is "less than half the average cost of cable."

YouTube is putting its live-TV streaming service in front of millions of potential viewers this week in the product's first major test — just days before the Super Bowl, no less.

Last year, YouTube launched YouTube TV, giving people in a few select markets the option to watch live TV beyond the content it already livestreams. And at $35 a month, YouTube TV is "less than half the average cost of cable" the company says.

Subscribers can store an unlimited amount of recorded content via a cloud DVR, meaning no equipment fees. They could also access most network content worth watching in real time — like sports, award shows, and shows that Twitter spoils — on some smart TVs, mobile devices, and laptops, then switch to a platform like Roku or Apple TV to stream any on-demand content from those devices.

But on Thursday, YouTube TV debuted on Apple TV devices and some Roku devices.

More eyes will mean more scrutiny of the performance of YouTube's live-TV service, and there will probably be bugs in the new software as well. Observers are likely to watch how YouTube responds to customers early in the rollout and whether it can avoid technical difficulties that plagued competitors like Sling TV and DirecTV Now.

YouTube TV has gained 300,000 subscribers in 83 markets since it launched, CNBC's Alex Sherman reported last month.

But since cord-cutting isn't new and many consumers have already invested in the hardware and software to watch TV online rather than through traditional pay-TV packages, YouTube TV lags far behind older services like Sling TV and DirecTV Now, which have subscriber bases in the millions.

There's still a hunt to find the product that makes the experience more seamless. Hulu with Live TV has racked up 450,000 subscribers since it launched in April, suggesting people might want to be able to access streaming and cable content in the same place. It's slightly more expensive than YouTube TV, though, at $40 a month on top of the $8 that Hulu subscribers pay.

By launching on Roku and Apple TV devices, YouTube TV will have the chance to gain numerous new users — depending on its performance relative to other streaming live-TV options for cord cutters.

SEE ALSO: Look how primitive your favorite iPhone apps used to be

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• Netflix's new sci-fi original series "Altered Carbon" has an interesting concept, but it gets caught up in excessive violence and terrible dialogue.
• It's heavily influenced by existing sci-fi, especially "Blade Runner," and it's distracting.
• It also depicts a lot of violence and mistreatment of women, a sci-fi trope that feels outdated in 2018.

The marketing for "Altered Carbon" (out Friday), has been bigger than any other freshman Netflix series in recent memory.

Last month, Netflix announced that in 2018, it will increase its marketing budget by 50%, to $2 billion. And "Altered Carbon" is setting the tone. For most shows it has put out, including "Stranger Things," Netflix's marketing has been either non-existent or incredibly subtle, allowing its viewers to determine what becomes a hit. Now, Netflix is deciding what it thinks will be the next big show. 

Set more than 300 years in the future, "Altered Carbon" is based on the 2002 novel of the same name, written by  Richard K. Morgan. In this future, human beings can live well past their natural death through technology that allows their consciousness to transfer to new body after they die. These bodies are called "sleeves." Think that sounds cool and amazing for everyone? There's a catch: the richer you are, the better sleeves you get.

The mind of criminal Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman, "House of Cards") was frozen for centuries until Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy, "Rome"), a very wealthy man, brings him back in a new sleeve. In exchange, Kovacs has to help Bancroft solve a case: Bancroft's murder. Kovacs' investigation, as expected, leads to a grander conspiracy that could affect the entire world. 

The heavy marketing for this first-season original means that Netflix really believes in "Altered Carbon." And it probably will be a hit. It looks cool, it's well cast, the sets are stunning, and the story is easy to follow even for casual viewers, especially considering it's a sci-fi series. 

Unfortunately, "Altered Carbon" suffers from issues that make it rather unremarkable compared to other Netflix originals, other television shows with massive fictional worlds, and other sci-fi. It's not a waste of time, but you will probably be disappointed, especially if you find the premise intriguing.

Excessive violence toward women

The 10-episode series is a very direct adaptation of the novel by showrunner Laeta Kalogridis. Though Kalogridis made some alterations from the book — including a bigger role for a female character. But a more prominent role for a woman doesn’t give the show the feminist update that might suggest.

For a show that’s trying to be subtle — to balance its outlandish atmosphere and premise — "Altered Carbon" is rather ham-fisted, from clunky exposition and cliche dialogue to violence, particularly against women. There are dozens of mutilated bodies in “Altered Carbon,” and the majority of them are young women. 

Shows like "Game of Thrones" depict brutal violence, too. And against young women.  But "Game of Thrones" eventually realized that it had already established the brutal world, and began to trust that viewers "got it." The show didn't need to keep reminding us. And that made the moments of violence that were still there more powerful, and helped them serve the story.

In establishing the world of "Altered Carbon," the violence didn't have to be toward young, attractive women — over and over again. But it is, and feels gratuitous. At first, the excessive violence toward the human form reinforces the fact that death isn't final. But to drive this point home to the audience, the show could use some variety in victims. "Altered Carbon" also shows this casual violence so much that it feels like the series doesn't trust its audience, further taking away from the mystery the show is trying to unfold. 

Too many distractions, and too much inspiration

The depictions of violence in "Altered Carbon" take away from the mystery that's unfolding, which is the best part of the show. Unlike 2017's "Blade Runner 2049," which allowed its mystery to unfold inside its world, "Altered Carbon" lets its world swallow the narrative. 

"Blade Runner" is also one of the crutches that brings down "Altered Carbon." From the set and the costumes to the cinematography and a dark, rainy California setting, it's way more than reminiscent of “Blade Runner." Scenes that aren't as dark, that take place in facilities and other kinds of buildings also feel a little too familiar, like "Westworld" and "The Hunger Games." Inspiration is understandable, and inevitable. Art inspires art, but “Altered Carbon” takes more than it reinvents. 

"Altered Carbon" is available now on Netflix, and you can watch the trailer below:

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• New data shows that 45% people who pre-ordered a HomePod on the weekend it was available for pre-order had also purchased Apple's iPhone X.
• These "fanboys" are Apple's best customers. 74% had passed on other smart speakers, presumably waiting for Apple's version.
• 92% of people who pre-ordered a HomePod in the first three days are male. 

There are some Apple fans who will buy whatever new gadget the company puts out on the first day it's available for pre-order.

That's one of the takeaways from new data by Slice Intelligence, which analyzes email receipts from users of Unroll.me, among other data sources. 

HomePod buyers over the first three days it was available had one thing in common: they're "Apple fanboys," according to the study. 

Here are some other stats about people who pre-ordered HomePod:

• 45% also bought the iPhone X 
• 92% were male
• 74% had not purchased another voice-activated speaker, like Amazon Echo or Google Home

Ultimately this group of Apple fanboys ended up propelling the HomePod to significantly better first-day sales than recent Sonos or Google launches. 

HomePod sold 11 times more units than Google Home Max on the first day it was available for preorder, according to the data.

But that wasn't enough to beat Amazon, which had stronger first-day sales for its Echo Show speaker. Echo Show sales also did not tail off as sharply as HomePod, according to the report. 

It's not completely surprising that Apple fanboys were the most likely to buy the HomePod sight-unseen. (It will start to show up in stores next Friday.) 

HomePod basically does not work with Android phones at all, except for some clunky third-party workarounds. You have to be already committed to Apple's ecosystem and own an iPhone to get the most out of it. 

So the market for HomePod is essentially existing Apple users. Perhaps that's why, even though it's still early in the smart speaker market, that Apple's HomePod has a long way to catch up with Google, Amazon, and even Sonos. 

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• Netflix has found another quality coproduction in Germany's "Babylon Berlin," a crime series and binge-worthy period piece.
• Set in Berlin, the decadent capital of the 1920s Weimar Republic, the show's first two seasons are now available on Netflix.

In the wake of its success with the German sci-fi thriller "Dark," Netflix has found another quality coproduction from Germany in the 1920s-set crime series "Babylon Berlin."

Based on the crime novels of the German writer Volker Kutscher, "Babylon Berlin" follows a police detective in the capital of the Weimar Republic — the decadent city of Berlin — before the rise of Nazism.

NPR described it as exploring "the Weimar era's raging nightlife, flourishing cabaret scene, and brutal criminal underbelly." It's dark, flashy, and addictive.

"In the '20s, it was really the capital of the world. And nobody really knows about it because, of course, the monstrosity of the Nazi period afterwards is so huge," the show's cocreator, Achim von Borries, told NPR.

"We had some really famous serial killers, some really ugly crimes that came from Berlin and that created a myth about the darkness and the filthiness of the city," the writer and director Tom Tykwer added.

With its two eight-episode seasons now available on Netflix, the second season of "Babylon Berlin" leads up to the early emergence of the Nazi Party.

Henk Handloegten, one of the show's creators, told The Wall Street Journal that the show's third season, which is being written, will track through the stock market crash of 1929 and the country's resulting devastation.

"One of the main reasons to make 'Babylon Berlin' was to show how all these Nazis did not just fall from the sky," he told The Journal. "They were human beings who reacted to German society's changes and made their decisions accordingly."

One of the most expensive German series ever made, at $40 million, "Babylon Berlin" has been hailed by Vogue as the most "bingeable new drama since 'The Crown,'" Netflix's acclaimed period piece on Queen Elizabeth II in 1950s and '60s England and its most expensive original series.

"Babylon Berlin" has only positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, though it doesn't have enough reviews to be certified "fresh."

Watch "Babylon Berlin" on Netflix.

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Amazon is spending a boatload making TV shows and movies for its Prime service, and was one of the big winners at the 2018 Golden Globes, with two wins for "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." 

The show's star, Rachel Brosnahan, who goes from 50s housewife to stand-up comic, won the Globe for best actress in a comedy series or musical. The show also won the Globe for best comedy series or musical.

But "Maisel" wasn't Amazon's first hit. The tech giant has carved out a niche for itself in comedies, with "Transparent" and "Mozart in the Jungle" both scoring with critics.

And Amazon is looking to expand beyond that. In November, Amazon paid a reported $250 million to acquire rights to "The Lord of the Rings" series, which it will to turn into a prequel TV show, with plans for spin-offs in the future.

With Amazon's catalog continuing to grow, which shows are worth your time? 

To understand how Amazon's shows ranked against each other, we turned to reviews aggregator Metacritic, which pulls in critic (and audience) reviews from all over the world. We excluded shows made for kids, and looked at how the dramas and comedies compared to each other.

Here are Amazon's original shows, ranked based on their critical reception:

SEE ALSO: Amazon will spend about $4.5 BILLION on its fight against Netflix this year, according to JPMorgan

No. 26: "Crisis in Six Scenes" — 44/100

Average critic score: 44/100

Audience score: 6.5/10

Amazon description: "This is a comedy that takes place in the 1960’s during turbulent times in the United States and a middle class suburban family is visited by a guest who turns their household completely upside down."

No. 25: "Hand of God" — 44/100

Average critic score: 44/100

Audience score: 7.1/10

Amazon description: "A psychological drama about a morally-corrupt judge who suffers a breakdown and believes God is compelling him onto a path of vigilante justice."

No. 24: "The Collection" — 56/100

Average critic score: 56/100

Amazon description: "A gripping family drama and entrepreneurial fable, set in a post-war Paris fashion house. It exposes the grit behind the glamour of a rising business, spearheaded by two clashing brothers. The atelier staff survived one war, but others loom; rivalries and romances pitting family against family, protégés against mentors, the past against the future."

• "Halloween" creator John Carpenter has been involved in all facets of the making of the latest movie in the franchise.
• Carpenter is very interested in doing the movie's score.
• Danny McBride, who cowrote the script with director David Gordon Green, gives an update from the set.

Danny McBride has quite a full plate at the moment.

He recently was at the Sundance Film Festival to promote his new movie, the dark comedy "Arizona." And you've probably seen those "trailers" that turned out to be for a fake movie where he plays the son of Crocodile Dundee— that's actually all part of an elaborate commercial for Australia tourism that will play during the Super Bowl.

But perhaps the biggest thing taking up his time is his involvement in the next "Halloween" movie, which he cowrote with its director David Gordon Green, and is currently in production.  

"It's coming together really nicely," McBride told Business Insider on Friday from the set in Charleston, South Carolina.

McBride said that on set Friday they will have Jamie Lee Curtis, the star of the original movie who has a role in this one; Nick Castle, who played the franchise's villain Michael Meyers in the original; and the creator of it all, legendary horror director John Carpenter. 

Though it may seem intimidating to have the person who came up with "Halloween" on set, McBride said they have wanted his involvement since the beginning.

"Every step of the way — casting or script — we've gotten his blessing on all these things to make sure it's all in line," McBride said.

Though Carpenter has been involved in all facets of the movie, McBride said he hasn't tried to take control of the project. 

"He's been really respectful of David and his process," he said. "He doesn't want to get in there and meddle and mess around."

Carpenter is executive producer on the movie — which is being produced by Blumhouse ("Get Out," "Split") and McBride and Green's company Rough House ("Eastbound & Down," "Vice Principals") — and it's looking more and more likely that this master of horror will also be doing the movie's score. 

A big reason for the iconic status of "Halloween" is its creepy theme, which Carpenter came up with (he also composed the music for many of his other movies, like "Escape from New York," "Big Trouble in Little China," and "They Live"). 

Carpenter has teased doing the score for the current "Halloween" since he announced he was involved in the project back in February 2017. This is his first involvement in a "Halloween" movie since 1998's "Halloween H20: 20 Years Later." On Friday, McBride still sounded confident that it's going to happen.

"Yeah, he still does," he said of Carpenter wanting to do the score. "I listen to his music all the time, it would be amazing to have him do it."

"Halloween" will open in theaters October 19, 2018.

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Nintendo is doing very, very well right now. Like, super well.

So well, in fact, that its 10-month-old console has already outsold its previous one. And the games for that console — the Switch — are moving at a similarly absurd clip.

After Nintendo's latest earnings report, we got a clearer look than ever into exactly how successful Nintendo is right now. The short answer: Extremely. Here are the most absurd numbers we found that highlight Nintendo's return to dominance.

SEE ALSO: Nintendo Switch on track to sell 20 million units in 2018

1. Seven Switch games published by Nintendo have sold over 1 million copies each. And "Super Mario Odyssey" has sold nearly 10 million copies.

The Nintendo Switch console launched on March 3. By the end of December, the console had a whopping seven million-plus sellers.

Nintendo had a year full of critical and commercial smash hits, starting with "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," a major launch game that arrived alongside the Switch on March 3.

In April, "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" debuted — it's now Nintendo's second-best-selling Switch game, with 7.33 million units sold worldwide. Approximately half of all Switch owners bought "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe."

That's before we start talking about the absurdly popular "Super Mario Odyssey."

"Odyssey" launched on October 27. Between then and December 31, over 9 million units were sold.

2. In less than a year, the Nintendo Switch has outsold the console it replaced. And there are no signs of slowing.

More than 14.86 million Switch consoles have been sold, meaning Nintendo has sold more Switch consoles in under 12 months than it did Wii U devices over nearly five years, from late 2012 to early 2017.

That's serious business. The Switch is actually selling faster than Nintendo's Wii, which was itself a runaway success. In fact, it's Nintendo's fastest-selling console ever in the US.

3. Nintendo intentionally stacked the year with big game launches.

In March, it was "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." In April, it was "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe." As 2017 went on, Nintendo's Switch had "ARMS," "Splatoon 2," "Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle," and "Super Mario Odyssey." 

In short, the year was full of major Switch games that could be played only on the Switch. Better still: Most of those games are very good. 

As Nintendo's president, Tatsumi Kimishima, said in a recent investor presentation, "We were able to offer multiple hit titles early on for Nintendo Switch that serve as powerful drivers for hardware sales."

Indeed, Nintendo's strategy of releasing several major games in succession was assuredly responsible for much of the console's success in 2017.

The company has similar plans for 2018, seen here:

"From February onward we will be releasing a wide variety of new software titles one after the next," Kimishima said.

• Facebook has removed an anti-Disney Facebook group that planned to sabotage the Rotten Tomatoes audience score for Marvel's upcoming film "Black Panther."
• In December, the same group took credit for driving down the Rotten Tomatoes audience score for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi."
• Rotten Tomatoes also denounced the group in a statement on Thursday.

Facebook has removed an anti-Disney Facebook group that planned to tank the Rotten Tomatoes audience score for Marvel's upcoming film "Black Panther." The same group took credit for sabotaging the Rotten Tomatoes audience score for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" in December.

The group, titled "Down With Disney's Treatment of Franchises and its Fanboys," described itself as an advocate for the DC Extended Universe films and opposer of Marvel and Disney franchises. Earlier this week, a member of the group created an event labeled, "Give Black Panther a Rotten Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes," that drew over 3,700 participants, as The Hollywood Reporter notes.

Marvel Studio News on Friday posted a screenshot that showed Facebook had removed the group for violating the social network's "community standards." The link for the group's page is currently down.

Rotten Tomatoes previously denounced the group on Thursday with the following statement:

"We at Rotten Tomatoes are proud to have become a platform for passionate fans to debate and discuss entertainment and we take that responsibility seriously. While we respect our fans’ diverse opinions, we do not condone hate speech. Our team of security, network and social experts continue to closely monitor our platforms and any users who engage in such activities will be blocked from our site and their comments removed as quickly as possible." 

"Black Panther," which opens February 16 nationwide, set a pre-sale ticket record for all superhero movies this week while receiving laudatory advance reviews from critics, ahead of the film's February 6 critical embargo. 

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• Vine's creators are behind HQ Trivia, a unique trivia-style app that around 60,000 people play twice a day.
• HQ Trivia is run like a game show, with two live game sessions each day at 3pm ET and 6pm ET. Winners are allotted real cash prizes, and it's free to participate.
• The company behind the app is reportedly raising $15 million at a $100 million valuation from Peter Thiel's VC firm, Founders Fund.

HQ Trivia is quickly becoming one of the most buzz-worthy gaming apps on the market: a trivia-styled, fast-paced mashup of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' and 'Jeopardy' for the internet age. On Friday, Recode reported that the company behind the app was raising $15 million at a $100 million valuation from Peter Thiel's venture capital firm, Founders Fund.

HQ Trivia doesn't work like other gaming apps you might have played: it's free to play, but hands out real cash prizes if you win. Another big difference from its competition is that you can't play whenever you'd like: You can only play HQ Trivia twice a day, when the app streams a video with a live game show host who rattles off questions in real time against a swirling polka-dot background 

The app sends push notifications when the game is about to start; everyday at 3 p.m. ET and 9 p.m ET. There's a countdown, and then the round begins with a series of multiple-choice questions that draw from historical events, literary devices, celebrity knowledge, and more. The few times I played, I wasn't able to get beyond the fifth question, but other players were luckier: one game divvied up $1,000 between 8 winners (that's $125 per person), and the app's co-founder, Rus Yusupov, has plans to up the ante. "I'd love to give away a million dollars someday," Yusupov told Business Insider.

This isn't Yusupov's first foray into video apps ―  he was a key player in the development of Vine in 2012. One of Vine's co-founders, Colin Kroll, also joined Yusupov's venture into gaming, and Yusupov says the hype surrounding HQ Trivia is similar to the success Vine experienced early on. 

You'll typically find about 60,000 players tuning into a single game on HQ Trivia, with varying cash prizes awarded. 

Here's how HQ Trivia works:

All you'll need to sign up for HQ Trivia is a unique username and your phone number. The app will prompt you to allow notifications when you sign up, which is recommended if you don't want to miss out on future games.

Each day at 3pm ET and 9pm ET, there's a notification and a countdown begins. Players can participate in the strolling chat at the bottom of the screen while they wait for the game to begin.

You'll find the number of participants indicated in the upper left of the screen. When the game is about to start, the host welcomes the players Wheel of Fortune-style.

The Super Bowl isn't the Super Bowl without its ads, but luckily you don't need to wait until Sunday to watch them.

This year, NBC is reportedly charging $5 million per 30 seconds of commercial showing time. Some of the world's biggest companies have spent millions on a premium spot for Sunday night's show. 

Find out what we know so far, based on a list put together by iSpotTV and what we've seen so far online:

This year's game will be broadcast on NBC at 6.30 p.m. ET, Sunday, February 4. 

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Amazon

Amazon's 90-second, star-studded ad for its Alexa-enabled devices could have cost the retailer around $15 million, based on NBC's estimate of each 30-second ad costing $5 million.

In the ad, Alexa loses her voice and is replaced by a host of celebrities, including Rebel Wilson and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos also makes an appearance. 

The video currently has over 7.9 million views on YouTube after being posted Wednesday. 

Watch the ad here. 

Avocados from Mexico

Avocados From Mexico returns to the Super Bowl for its fourth consecutive year. In this year's ad, the company creates a utopian world full of avocados, but all hell breaks loose when people realize that there are no chips. 

Watch the ad here.

Bud Light

Bud Light is bringing back its popular Dilly Dilly ads for the Super Bowl.

In 2017, the company launched a series of ads that went viral thanks to their constant appearances during commercial breaks in NFL and college football games. 

The brand didn't expect them to be so successful.

"It didn't test that well. We did that ad, actually, because of – the new season of 'Game of Thrones' coming, but when we tested, it didn't test that well. We said, 'Consumers will get it,'" Chief Marketing Officer Miguel Patricio of parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev told Business Insider in December.

Watch this year's ad here.

Dennis Edwards, the former lead singer of the legendary Motown group The Temptations, has died at the age of 74, his family confirmed to CBS News.

Edwards, a Detroit native, died in Chicago on Friday, though his family did not reveal a cause of death. He would have been 75 on Saturday. 

Edwards joined The Temptations from The Contours, another Motown group, in 1968. He sang on a string of The Temptations' hit songs throughout the '60s and '70s, including "Cloud Nine" and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," both of which won Grammy Awards for the group. 

He left and returned to The Temptations numerous times through his career. In 1984, he left the group to launch a solo career with the album "Don’t Look Any Further," which reached No. 2 on the Billboard R&B charts.

Edwards was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of The Temptations in 1989.

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