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What is eSports? History & Rise of Video Game Tournaments

Years ago, eSports was a community of video gamers who would gather at conventions to play Counter Strike, Call of Duty, or League of Legends.

These multiplayer video game competitions would determine League of Legends champions, the greatest shooters in Call of Duty, the cream of the crop of Street Fighter players, the elite Dota 2 competitors, and more.

But today, as the history of eSports continue to unfold, media giants such as ESPN and Turner are broadcasting eSports tournaments and competitions. And in 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch, the live streaming video platform that has been and continues to be the leader in online gaming broadcasts. And YouTube also wanted to jump on the live streaming gaming community with the creation of YouTube Gaming.

eSports Market Growth Booming

To put in perspective how big eSports is becoming, a Google search for "lol" does not produce "laughing out loud" as the top result. Instead, it points to League of Legends, one of the most popular competitive games in existence. The game has spawned a worldwide community called the League of Legends Championship Series, more commonly known as LCS or LOL eSports.

What started as friends gathering in each other's homes to host LAN parties and play into the night has become an official network of pro gaming tournaments and leagues with legitimate teams, some of which are even sponsored and have international reach. Organizations such as Denial, AHQ, and MLG have multiple eSports leagues.

And to really understand the scope of all this, consider that the prize pool for the latest Dota 2 tournament was more than $20 million.

Websites even exist for eSports live scores to let people track the competitions in real time if they are unable to watch. There are even fantasy eSports leagues similar to fantasy football, along with the large and growing scene of eSports betting and gambling.

So it's understandable why traditional media companies would want to capitalize on this growing trend just before it floods into the mainstream. Approximately 300 million people worldwide tune in to eSports today, and that number is growing rapidly. By 2020, that number will be closer to 500 million.

eSports Industry Analysis - The Future of the Competitive Gaming Market

Financial institutions are starting to take notice. Goldman Sachs valued eSports at $500 million in 2016 and expects the market will grow at 22% annually compounded over the next three years into a more than $1 billion opportunity.

And industry statistics are already backing this valuation and demonstrating the potential for massive earnings. To illustrate the market value, market growth, and potential earnings for eSports, consider Swedish media company Modern Times Group's $87 million acquisition of Turtle Entertainment, the holding company for ESL. YouTube has made its biggest eSports investment to date by signing a multiyear broadcasting deal with Faceit to stream the latter's Esports Championship Series. And the NBA will launch its own eSports league in 2018.

Of course, as with any growing phenomenon, the question becomes: How do advertisers capitalize? This is especially tricky for eSports because of its audience demographics, which is young, passionate, male-dominated, and digital-first. They live online and on social media, are avid ad-blockers, and don't watch traditional TV or respond to conventional advertising.

So what will the future of eSports look like? How high can it climb? Could it reach the mainstream popularity of baseball or football? How will advertisers be able to reach an audience that does its best to shield itself from advertising?

Robert Elder, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled an unparalleled report on the eSports ecosystem that dissects the growing market for competitive gaming. This comprehensive, industry-defining report contains more than 30 charts and figures that forecast audience growth, average revenue per user, and revenue growth.

Companies and organizations mentioned in the report include: NFL, NBA, English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, Ligue 1, Ligue de Football, Twitch, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, Electronic Arts, EA Sports, Valve, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, ESL, Turtle Entertainment, Dreamhack, Modern Times Group, Turner Broadcasting, TBS Network, Vivendi, Canal Plus, Dailymotion, Disney, BAMTech, Intel, Coca Cola, Red Bull, HTC, Mikonet

Here are some eSports industry facts and statistics from the report:

• eSports is a still nascent industry filled with commercial opportunity.
• There are a variety of revenue streams that companies can tap into.
• The market is presently undervalued and has significant room to grow.
• The dynamism of this market distinguishes it from traditional sports.
• The audience is high-value and global, and its numbers are rising.
• Brands can prosper in eSports by following the appropriate game plan.
• Game publishers approach their Esport ecosystems in different ways.  
• Successful esport games are comprised of the same basic ingredients.
• Digital streaming platforms are spearheading the popularity of eSports.
• Legacy media are investing into eSports, and seeing encouraging results.
• Traditional sports franchises have a clear opportunity to seize in eSports.
• Virtual and augmented reality firms also stand to benefit from eSports.  

In full, the report illuminates the business of eSports from four angles:

• The gaming nucleus of eSports, including an overview of popular esport genres and games; the influence of game publishers, and the spectrum of strategies they adopt toward their respective esport scenes; the role of eSports event producers and the tournaments they operate.
• The eSports audience profile, its size, global reach, and demographic, psychographic, and behavioral attributes; the underlying factors driving its growth; why they are an attractive target for brands and broadcasters; and the significant audience and commercial crossover with traditional sports.
• eSports media broadcasters, including digital avant-garde like Twitch and YouTube, newer digital entrants like Facebook and traditional media outlets like Turner’s TBS Network, ESPN, and Canal Plus; their strategies and successes in this space; and the virtual reality opportunity.
• eSports market economics, with a market sizing, growth forecasts, and regional analyses; an evaluation of the eSports spectacle and its revenue generators, some of which are idiosyncratic to this industry; strategic planning for brand marketers, with case studies; and an exploration of the infinite dynamism and immense potential of the eSports economy.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
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• The paperwork Spotify filed Wednesday to become a public company offered numerous reasons for investors to be wary.
• One overlooked, but important, data point the company included was that the average revenue it sees per subscriber has been declining and is far less than the $10 a month it charges for a standard subscription.
• Spotify attributes the decline to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and discounted subscription options, which it says help it keep customers longer.

There are numerous reasons to be wary of investing in Spotify, as the paperwork it filed this week to become a public company made clear.

The music streaming service seems to have never posted a profit. After handing over royalties to the giant music labels, it's left with only 20 cents of every dollar it takes in. And its chief rivals — Apple, Google and Amazon— are some of the biggest and most powerful companies in the world.

But here's another, perhaps overlooked red flag about Spotify's business: Even as the company has been signing up more and more subscribers, each one of those subscribers has become worth less and less revenue to the company.

Spotify collects $10 per month from each of its subscribers who pay the standard subscription rate.

You might think that means Spotify gets about $120 per year per subscriber. But it's actually taking in significantly less than that — and the revenue it's seeing per user keeps shrinking.

Spotify spelled out the situation in its regulatory document. Last year, the company got about $6.53 in revenue per subscriber per month. That was down 14% from the previous year, when it took in about $7.61 monthly from each subscriber. The average revenue was down 22% from 2015, when the company saw about $8.39 a month per subscriber.

And Spotify's average monthly revenue per subscriber was even lower in the fourth quarter last year than it was for the full year. For the holiday period, the company only saw $6.42 per subscriber each month.

Keep in mind, this is the average revenue per subscriber. This is how much Spotify collects from each subscriber before it deducts various expenses such as advertising and music royalty fees.

For a company that's already struggling to make money, that's got to be a big concern.

The dip in revenue per subscriber adds up to a big shortfall in overall sales

So what's going on?

In its regulatory filing, Spotify offered several explanations for the decline in the average revenue it's seeing per subscriber. Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates helped depress the value of the euros it gets from its overseas subscriptions. Additionally, the company offers discounted plans to certain customers, including students.

The most notable of these discounted plans is the family subscription option Spotify introduced in 2016. Under that plan, up to six people can share a Spotify account for $14.99 a month. The company said in its filing that subscribers to its Family Plan are growing, but it didn't break out what portion of its user base choose that option.

The problem with all this is that it makes Spotify's top line look a lot weaker than it should. And as the average revenue per subscriber continues to decline, it adds significant pressure onto Spotify's revenue growth rate. 

Spotify's total number of subscribers grew from 48 million at the end of 2016 to 71 million at the end of last year. If you use the most conservative math, and take the 48 million figure and multiply it by $120 a year, you'd expect that Spotify would have generated $5.8 billion in subscription revenue last year.

But it wasn't even close to that. Instead, Spotify's subscription revenues were only $3.7 billion in 2017. Meanwhile, Spotify's overall revenue growth rate has decelerated from 79% in 2015 to 39% last year.

OK, so it's not all bad

Although Spotify's Family Plan has led to a decline in average revenue per subscriber, the company says the plan has helped reduce churn — the portion of its user base that cancels the service every month. Spotify's churn has declined from 7.5% in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 5.1% in the fourth quarter of last year. That's a good thing.

"With the growth in higher retention products, such as our Family Plan and Student Plan, we believe these trends will continue in the future," the company said in its filing.

Spotify also noted in the document that it pays a lower per-user royalty rate for subscribers on its Family and Student Plans than it does for those who pay its standard rate. Another good thing.

Still, all else being equal, Spotify, and anyone who invests in Spotify, would surely rather take in $10 per subscriber every month than $6.40 — particularly when only a small portion of either number is left after the music industry gets its cut.

SEE ALSO: Spotify just proved that the streaming-music business is a like a black hole — and investors may not see it until it's too late

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• Kensington Palace has announced that over 2,000 members of the public will get to be part of the next royal wedding.
• They will be invited into the grounds of Windsor Castle to watch the arrival of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their wedding day on May 19.
• A selection of people from across the UK, local schoolkids, and charity workers will be invited into the grounds.
• The couple apparently want to allow members of the public to feel part of the celebrations too.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced that they will be inviting over 2,000 members of the public into the grounds of Windsor Castle to watch part of their wedding.

Kensington Palace announced this morning that Harry and Meghan said that they "want their wedding day to be shaped so as to allow members of the public to feel part of the celebrations too.

"This wedding, like all weddings, will be a moment of fun and joy that will reflect the characters and values of the bride and groom."

The people chosen will be invited into the castle ground to watch the couple and their guests arrive. They'll also be able to watch the carriage procession as it departs from the castle.

The ceremony itself, inside the castle's St George's Chapel, will have a more exclusive guestlist.

Here's how the extra invitees will be chosen:

• 1,200 members of the public from all over the UK will be nominated to attend by nine regional Lord Lieutenant offices. There will be people chosen from a broad range of backgrounds and ages, including young people who have shown strong leadership, and those who have served their communities.
•  200 people from a range of charities and organisations which Prince Harry and Markle have a close association with, including those which Prince Harry serves as Patron.
• 100 pupils from two local schools: The Royal School, Great Park, Windsor and St George's School, Windsor Castle – both of which have a strong affiliation with the Windsor Castle community.
• 610 Windsor Castle community members, including residents of Windsor Castle and members of the St George's Chapel community.

In total 2,640 people will be invited into the grounds to watch the arrivals, this will include 530 members of The Royal Households and Crown Estate. 

The couple will marry on May 19 at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

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• President Donald Trump slammed actor Alec Baldwin's recurring "Saturday Night Live" impression of him, after mispelling his name. 
• Baldwin has sparred verbally with Trump and often portrays him as a buffoon in topical sketches for SNL.
• Baldwin replaced long time SNL master impressionist Darrell Hammond at the start of the 42nd season of the show. 

President Donald Trump slammed actor Alec Baldwin's recurring "Saturday Night Live" impression of him, and at the same time appeared genuinely not to know the actor's name. 

"Alec Baldwin, whose dying mediocre career was saved by his terrible impersonation of me on SNL, now says playing me was agony. Alec, it was agony for those who were forced to watch. Bring back Darrell Hammond, funnier and a far greater talent!" Trump tweeted on Friday morning, after originally tweeting the same statement but spelling Baldwin's first name "Alex."

Baldwin has sparred verbally with Trump and often portrays him as a buffoon in topical sketches in SNL.

In December 2016, Trump tweeted that SNL's portrayal of him was "totally biased, not funny" and that Baldwin's impression "just can't get any worse. " Baldwin responded by offering to stop doing the bit if Trump would release his tax returns, which he still has not.

Baldwin replaced long time SNL master impressionist Darrell Hammond at the start of the 42 season of the show, something which fans and Hammond himself have struggled to cope with.

"I just started crying," Hammond told the Washington Post in response to finding out he had been replaced as Trump's impersonator.

"In front of everyone. I couldn't believe it. I was in shock, and I stayed in shock for a long time. Everything wiped out. The brand, me, what I do. Corporate appearances canceled. It was a hell of a shock, and all of it was apparent to me in one breath. That ends me."

The comic had been a fixture on "SNL" since 1995, doing memorable impressions of not just Trump but Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Sean Connery. He was also the show's announcer after its legendary voice, Don Pardo, died in 2014.

SEE ALSO: Trump emerges as a moderate on gun control, urging both regulation and respect for Second Amendment

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Netflix has an insane amount of content, but it's not always easy to find what you want.

The categories Netflix gives you access to are broad, which is made more frustrating by the knowledge that Netflix splits movies and TV shows into incredibly specific micro-categories.

Luckily, it's pretty easy to access those ultra-specific categories. All are tagged with a number — for example, "Epics" is category No. 52858.

And once you have that code, to get a comprehensive list all you do is type it into your address bar after the word "genre," like this: http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/52858.

We decided to look through the list of secret Netflix genres to find you 39 of the most interesting ones. The ones we chose are a mixture of awesome, random, and just plain weird. 

SEE ALSO: The top 20 Marvel Cinematic Universe villains, ranked from worst to best

Wine and Beverage Appreciation (1458)

Sample: "Drinking Buddies" (2013). Complications ensue when Chicago brewery workmates Luke and Kate — the best friends on and off the clock — spend a weekend at a lakeside retreat.

More examples: "Sour Grapes" "The Irish Pub," "Somm," "The Birth of Sake"

Steamy British Independent Dramas (4170)

Sample: "The Look of Love" (2013). This bittersweet biopic chronicles the over-the-top life of Paul Raymond, England's Hugh Hefner, from nightclub to mind reader to burlesque impresario.

Movies for Ages 0 to 2 (6796)

Sample: "The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories" (1993). Author and illustrator Eric Carle's beloved story "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" springs to life in this delightful collection of animated tales. 

Other examples: "The Tortoise and the Hare," "Three Little Pigs," "Piglet's Big Movie"

• "Thor: Ragnarok" was one of the best and most exciting movies of 2017, but it was completely overlooked by the Oscars.
• It reinvented what an action comedy and blockbuster movie can be.
• It's truly unique story and filmmaking from director Taika Waititi deserved a nomination in the directing category, adapted screenplay, visual effects, and production design.

"Thor: Ragnarok" is no "Call Me by Your Name." But it's a fair comparison.

Like a majority of the films recognized at the 2018 Oscars, "Ragnarok" is original in its exciting tone and style, proving that blockbuster movies, even those in the Marvel Cinematic universe, can be fairly compared to more artistic indie films.

Of all the movies that came out in 2017, it's probably the most striking, even compared to Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" (which was recently accused of plagiarism). 

"Thor: Ragnarok" is a masterpiece of action and comedy filmmaking, and essentially created its own genre. Like "Wonder Woman" and best adapted screenplay nominee "Logan," it offers a fresh take on an overdone, often dull genre that will without a doubt pave the way for movies and filmmakers of the future. 

With its unique style from director Taika Waititi, who has a very bright future and should have been nominated in the directing category, "Ragnarok" is a hopeful example of what modern filmmaking can be. It definitely deserved to get recognized at the Oscars for its excellent (and hilarious) screenplay, directing, and visuals.

Here's why "Thor: Ragnarok" should've been recognized at the 2018 Oscars:

SEE ALSO: 5 reasons 'Wonder Woman' was one of the most important films of 2017, and deserved a best picture Oscar nomination

Taika Waititi

"Ragnarok" is the first movie of its scale from director Taika Waititi, but it won't be the last. And although he was robbed of a nomination this year, Waititi will likely be in the running in the future.

Waititi has been working for a while (and has been nominated for an Oscar before, for a short film), but it takes some time for even the most exceptional directors to develop a clear voice and style. Waititi established who he is and what's to come in one movie — in an established franchise that often swallows a director's vision. That is not an easy feat. 

Waititi knows exactly what he's doing, and he knows that no one else can execute it.  

"Ragnarok" rarely spends time on Earth: Loki and Thor are briefly in New York City, then Norway. The majority of the movie takes place in Asgard and Sakaar, the latter a completely new place. Without too much face exposition, with the aid of Waititi's writing and direction, he defines the world of Sakaar so well that you understand it within minutes of Thor landing in a landfill there. World building is not easy, and even takes television shows multiple episodes or seasons to do.

It reinvented a genre - and in doing so created a completely new one

There have been action comedies, and superhero comedies. But none have been as inventive as "Ragnarok."

"Wonder Woman" and "Logan," also superhero movies deserving of Academy Award nominations — "Logan" was nominated for best adapted screenplay and I've written about "Wonder Woman's" best picture snub before— shook the superhero genre as well, but "Ragnarok" did so in a different way.

"Wonder Woman" proved that a female-led story works, and doesn't even need to focus on a woman's figure to do so. "Logan" proved that a superhero movie can work as a serious, character-driven drama. 

"Ragnarok" does the opposite of what "Logan" did. The movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe work because they're fun — even the worst ones, with the exception of "Iron Man 2." "Ragnarok" embraces its absurdity and goes further than any other director would take it. Not even "Ant-Man" went this far, and it is about a man who can control ants. 

"Ragnarok" made what would be serious, less-than-thrilling action sequences in any other superhero movie some of the funniest moments in recent cinema memory. And by exploring existing characters like Thor, Loki, and the Hulk/Bruce Banner from this new perspective, it made them more interesting ... especially Thor who, before this film, was a bit vanilla.

It embraces its absurdity, rather than trying to make it serious

Thanks to Christopher Nolan's exemplary "Dark Knight" trilogy, superhero movies started this trend of trying to be really, really deep and good. Most movies trying to do this failed. 

"Ragnarok" has a lot of elements that could have made it bad, things that would have been awful had it gone in a more expected direction: a giant dog, a zombie army, a guy made of rocks, a ship made for sex parties, and a rainbow bridge. But instead, they work.

"Ragnarok" isn't deep, and that's a good thing. It gives you everything you want out of a Thor movie, but with an 80s-inspired twist, and a lot of laughs.

• "Red Sparrow" director Francis Lawrence gave us insight on what he did to make his movie's star, Jennifer Lawrence, feel completely comfortable on a set that included a lot a nudity and sex scenes.
• He had a three-hour talk with Jennifer in her backyard after she agreed to do the movie.
• Though not done on purpose, shooting a nude scene the first day of shooting helped.

Director Francis Lawrence was wrapping up editing on “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2” when he was handed the book, “Red Sparrow.” For someone who had just spent the last five years making three movies in the globally successful YA franchise, the novel by Jason Matthews was a welcome sight. And he had a feeling the franchise’s star, Jennifer Lawrence, would be into it as well.

“I know for a fact she was starving to do different stuff,” Lawrence told Business insider of Jennifer’s need to take on roles that were very different from Katniss Everdeen at the time they wrapped the “Hunger Games” movies.

He instantly called Lawrence and pitched her the idea of playing the character in the book that grabbed him the most, Dominika. A young Russian ballerina who after an injury — and scared she will lose the financial support of the Kremlin to take care of her ailing mother — agrees to become a “Sparrow,” part of a Russian intelligence service in which agents use their sexuality to accomplish missions.

Jennifer was intrigued and Francis got 20th Century Fox involved, which fast-tracked a script. But as the script for “Red Sparrow” was being written, Lawrence admits he was convinced something was going to go wrong.

“She wasn’t going to want to do the movie once she read it because of the content,” he thought.

In 2014, Jennifer Lawrence’s phone was hacked and nude photos of the actress leaked online. She said afterward that it was an experience that “was so unbelievably violating that you can't even put into words.” After going through something like that, would she be comfortable doing a movie where her character endures violent sexual encounters and in one scene is completely nude?

Not being shy about addressing nudity

Around March of 2016, the actress read the script and contacted Lawrence to tell him she wanted to do the movie. Without hesitation he drove to her house to talk. But it wasn’t because the director wanted to dive in on discussions about the character. He wanted to be very open with his star about the sexually graphic nature of the role.

Lawrence said he sat and talked to the actress for three hours in her backyard about what the role entailed and gave her a step-by-step game plan of how he would shoot these sensitive scenes.

“I said, ‘Let’s just start being frank right away about the content of the movie,’” Lawrence said. “Because it's easy to get shy about it and next thing you know you're on the day of a tough scene and she's nervous and we haven't really talked about it. I didn't want it to happen. I didn't want to walk on egg shells or her to be walking on egg shells, and I wanted a partner that was going to think about the scenes with me. She felt ownership of it and she collaborated and made sure that those kind of scenes always were truly married to the fabric of the narrative and character and tone.”

He also made her a promise: She would see the finished movie before the studio or producers and could take out any scenes that made her uncomfortable.

“The studio and producers wouldn’t ever get the dailies until we saw them, there was a system in place,” Lawrence said. “We showed Jen, she did not nix anything, and then I showed the producers and studio.”

Feeling protected on set

After working on three movies with Jennifer Lawrence, Francis had come to realize that the Oscar winner was unlike many of the greats when it came to how she performed. Many in her caliber are most comfortable with lots of discussions with their director before (and during) shooting about the character and scenes. The director was shocked to learn she was nothing like that when he first directed her on “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”

“I assumed, like most great actors, she would want to do a lot of discussion and go through the script,” Lawrence said. “I remember she went to me, ‘Well, I'll do that if you want me to.’ And I said, ‘What?’ And she said, "Yeah, I mean, I don't really like to rehearse, I feel kind of stupid rehearsing, but I will if you really want me to.’ She was just the opposite of any other actor I have ever worked with in that sense.”

So for shooting “Red Sparrow,” Lawrence knew all he had to do was give his star some general direction and then let her shine when the cameras rolled. But her unique style is partly why Lawrence wanted to make sure she would be fully protected on set. He didn’t want her performance to feel constrained or timid.

Lawrence believes because the first scene they shot for the movie had nudity in it, which he said was not planned, Jennifer was able to instantly be comfortable with the movie’s tone because she saw firsthand how it was handled.

The scene (mild spoiler head) shows Dominika as she follows her old ballerina dance partner and his girlfriend into a steam room and attacks them (payback for the injury they caused to Dominika that ended her career) while they are nude and having sex.

“She saw how we approached it — even though we had talked about it — how we actually physically approached shooting a scene where there's nudity,” Lawrence said. “The actors were basically entirely naked for the bulk of the day. She saw that everyone was really respectful, she saw that the crew in the room was down to the bare minimum, she saw that we put the video monitors in a tent so that people couldn't gather around, she saw people standing just off camera with robes so they could get thrown on the actors right away. She saw how comfortable the actors were doing that scene, I think that was the biggest thing, seeing the comfort of the actors.”

As the movie progresses Jennifer has a nude scene along with doing numerous sexually graphic scenes, including one sequence when she fights off a rape attempt while taking a shower.

You’re either comfortable in your own skin or you’re not

Jennifer Lawrence has said while doing press for “Red Sparrow” that the movie’s sexual tone made her feel “empowered.”

"I feel like something that was taken from me I got back,” she told “60 Minutes.” And Francis believes this was the kind of project the star needed after going through the leaked nude photos experience. But the director wasn’t going to push, she had to be willing.

“That’s how I was when I gave her the script,” he said. “There was no convincing, she just had to make the decision all on her own. I feel as an actor, whether you’re a man or a woman, if there’s nudity in the role it’s a choice you make — I’m comfortable in my own skin, I’m in; or I’m uncomfortable and I’m out — but I think that Jen would probably say that she found this to be a more moving experience for her.”

"Red Sparrow" opens in theaters on Friday.

SEE ALSO: Jennifer Lawrence's "Red Sparrow" director addressses the love-hate reaction from movie critics: "It's hard for me to tell quite yet what it is people hate about it"

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NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

• Beyoncé and Jay Z are music industry titans who've been married since 2008.

• The couple's net worth is estimated to be about $1.16 billion.

• The pair now have three children: Blue Ivy, and twins Rumi and Sir.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z  have united to collaborate on DJ Khaled's latest track "Top Off," along with Future.

They've been a match made in musical heaven ever since they first collaborated on the song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" back in 2002.

Tabloids were quick to speculate whether or not the duo had more than a professional relationship. But even after they tied the knot in 2008, the couple has largely kept quiet about their romance.

But that doesn't mean it's always been smooth sailing for the "Crazy in Love" couple.

In an interview with New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet, Jay-Z opened up about his infidelity, which Beyoncé alluded to in her acclaimed visual album Lemonade.

"You shut down all emotions," the rapper told Baquet. "So even with women, you gonna shut down emotionally, so you can't connect... In my case, like it's, it's deep. And then all the things happen from there: infidelity."

Jay-Z went on to reveal the couple used their craft "like a therapy session," making music together in order to heal. The sessions ultimately resulted in reconciliation, along with Lemonade and Jay-Z's album 4:44.

Here's a look back on the relationship of Jay-Z and Beyoncé:

SEE ALSO: A guide to how Beyoncé and Jay Z spend their billions

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While "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" dropped in 2002, Vulture reported the couple might have initially met as early as 1997.

Source: Vulture

The pair graced the red carpet together for the first time at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards. Still, they stayed mum about their relationship.

Source: Vulture

Beyoncé later told Essence the couple both decided they didn't want their romance to be in the spotlight: "What Jay and I have is real. It's not about interviews or getting the right photo op. It's real."

Source: Essence, Vulture

• Snap is reportedly preparing two new versions of its smartglasses, Spectacles.
• Spectacles 2.0 will reportedly arrive this fall, with a more expensive, more powerful version following that.
• Snap hasn't confirmed any of the details of the report.

Are you ready for more smartglasses? Snap apparently thinks you are — the company reportedly has two new versions of its video-recording Spectacles smartglasses currently in the pipeline, with the first set to launch by this fall.

The news comes from Cheddar reporter Alex Heath, who has a track record of nailing major Snap-based scoops. He told Cheddar viewers on Friday morning that the first follow-up to last year's Spectacles release is set to arrive "by this fall."

Another follow-up, that costs as much as $300 and comes with two cameras, is also reportedly in the works. Notably, Snap hasn't announced a second version of Spectacles (let alone a third version), and representatives for Snap declined to comment.

The first version of Spectacles went from must-have item to sitting in a drawer somewhere in record time. 

According to internal data from Snap, less than half of Spectacles owners continued to use the camera-equipped sunglasses after just four weeks of owning them. Moreover, just 150,000 pairs were sold in total — reports from last year point to "hundreds of thousands" of pairs sitting in warehouses, unsold.

It's unclear what Snap is changing about its Spectacles project to make it more enticing this time around, and it's not clear if such a project will ever see the light of day. Currently, Spectacles 2.0 only exists through reports from unnamed sources — Snap has yet to announce anything officially.

Watch the full report from Cheddar right here:

SEE ALSO: Snap's 'shockingly low' internal data reveals why its Spectacles glasses flopped

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• An interview OJ Simpson gave in 2006 about "a shocking hypothetical account" of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman is set to air on Fox next week.
• Fox shelved the interview for more than 11 years after public outcry over the revelation that the interviewer, Judith Regan, reportedly paid Simpson $3.5 million for the interview.
• Fox is now airing the interview on March 11 at 8 p.m. as a two-hour special, "OJ Simpson: The Lost Confession?," hosted by Soledad O'Brien.

An interview OJ Simpson gave in 2006 about "a shocking hypothetical account" of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman is set to air on Fox next week, more than 11 years after it was originally meant to air, IndieWire reports.

The interviewer, editor Judith Regan, was fired by the book publisher HarperCollins after the company discovered that Regan reportedly paid Simpson $3.5 million for the interview, which was the basis for the scheduled book, "If I Did It." 

Fox cancelled the special that was set to air after public outcry over Simpson's reported payment, and the family of Ron Goldman went on to publish Simpson's account in the book, "I Did It: Confessions of the Killer."

Now, Fox is set to air Regan's interview as a repackaged, two-hour special called, "OJ Simpson: The Lost Confession?," on Sunday, March 11 at 8 p.m.

The special will be hosted by Soledad O'Brien, and Fox said it will "air with limited interruptions and will feature public service announcements on domestic violence awareness throughout the program."

Sources told Indiewire that Fox received permission from the Goldman and Simpson families to air the interview, and that the network decided to air the special when tapes of the interview were "recently rediscovered sitting in a box on the Fox lot."

Watch a promotional clip for the special:

SEE ALSO: OJ Simpson 'If I Did It' summary

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NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

With the Academy Awards being handed out on Sunday, all of Hollywood will converge for the industry's biggest night to celebrate the best work of last year. But are they really?

There's a handful of movies that didn't get a single Oscar nomination and it's kind of criminal that the Academy didn't recognize them.

So the least we can do is give them a shout out.

From "Wonder Woman" to "The Lost City of Z," here are 10 movies that should have received Oscar nominations.

SEE ALSO: Here's a big sign the Oscars are out of touch with audiences — the acting performances everyone's talking about probably won't win

"Battle of the Sexes"

A look at the legendary tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King earned acting nominations for Steve Carell and Emma Stone at the Golden Globes, but when it came Oscar time both were snubbed — which I honestly don't have a problem with.

But the movie should have received a nod in the production design and/or editing category.

Its authentic early 1970s look was spot on and throughout its editing telling the journey of Riggs and King leading up to their big match was perfect. And the way the finale was cut is fantastic. Tennis is a tough sport to portray correctly on screen, and editor Pamela Martin cut the match sequence better than most ever have. 

"Girls Trip"

There's always one actor that everyone gets behind for an Oscar nom and when it doesn't happen the shock just elevates that actor's exposure, and Tiffany Haddish is the latest example.

The "Girls Trip" standout star has gone from obscurity to a pop culture household name. She's hosted "Saturday Night Live" and Paul Thomas Anderson wants to work with her. Yes, it's a bummer she didn't get the Oscar nomination, but we think she's going to be just fine.

"Good Time"

The Safdie brothers' gritty heist-gone-wrong movie showed the mainstream what this duo had been doing in the low budget world for years — and just how great Robert Pattinson is — but where the movie should have found Oscar love is on its music side.

Daniel Lopatin's (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) trippy score matches the movie's fast-paced movement and sucks you in deeper to Connie's crazy night.

• Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, who starred as Bonnie and Clyde in the 1967 film, announced the wrong best picture winner at last year's Oscars.
• The pair wrongly announced "La La Land" instead of "Moonlight" in one of the biggest mistakes in Oscars history.
• On Sunday, they'll get a chance at redemption when they once again present the best picture Oscar.

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were involved in one of the biggest mistakes in Oscars history last year when they announced the wrong film as the best picture winner due to the wrong enveloped being given to them.

But on Sunday, at the end of this year's Oscars ceremony, it sounds like they'll get a chance at redemption. Dunaway and Beatty will once again announce the Oscars top prize, according to TMZ.

Glenn Weiss, the director of last year's Oscars telecast, is also returning this year. He told Business Insider that last year he thought Beatty and Dunaway were just doing a comedic bit at first — until he was notified a minute and a half after the "La La Land" announcement that there was a mistake. 

"When you direct live television, your training says if something is going so wrong that your stage manager has to go out there, you're going to do a wide shot," Weiss said. "That's just what we do when we try to keep shows clean. All my years of training at that moment went 180 degrees. I basically thought, something really bad just happened — I don't want the headline tomorrow to be we tried to cover it up."

Last year's gaffe was mainly the mistake of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that the Oscars puts in charge of counting ballots and managing the envelopes.

A PwC partner gave Dunaway and Beatty the wrong envelope after tweeting backstage. The envelope was a duplicate copy of the best actress envelope, which had revealed Emma Stone for "La La Land" as the winner moments before.

With this envelope in hand, Dunaway and Beatty read "La La Land" as the night's big winner rather than "Moonlight," the actual winner.

PwC will also be back for this year's Oscars, but with some changes to hopefully ensure something like last year doesn't happen again.

SEE ALSO: Here's a big sign the Oscars are out of touch with audiences — the acting performances everyone's talking about probably won't win

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NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

• Streaming services like Netflix and Spotify are overtaking traditional entertainment companies in staff size and market share of employees, according to data from LinkedIn.
• LinkedIn Economist Guy Berger described the entertainment industry trend toward digital companies as reflective of trends in the US workforce at large.

Streaming services like Netflix and Spotify have overtaken a number of traditional entertainment companies and prominent film studios in staff size over the past five years, according to LinkedIn data on employee numbers shared exclusively with Business Insider. 

The site compared the total employee counts of the top 10 entertainment-industry companies in 2013 and 2018.

Netflix moved up six spots on the list from No. 9 in 2013 to No. 3 this year, while music streaming giant Spotify moved from No. 12 to No. 6. The music streaming service Pandora also entered the top 10 after being previously unranked in 2013. 

LinkedIn's data on employee numbers showed that newer, digital companies like Netflix, Spotify, and Pandora nearly doubled their overall entertainment industry market share over the past five years.

These digital companies occupied 12.5% of the total entertainment industry workforce in 2013, but that figure grew to nearly 24% in 2018, according to LinkedIn. 

In an email to Business Insider, LinkedIn Economist Guy Berger described the entertainment industry's shift toward digital companies as reflective of a larger national trend.

"The shift to more digital roles, companies and skills within the entertainment industry is similar to what we are seeing in the U.S. workforce at large," Berger wrote. "We recently looked into the top emerging jobs across the country; seven of the top ten roles were tech-focused, with demand for technical skills coming from across industries. We may also see an uptick in non-technical roles – like animators – start to require more technical skills. As technology transforms the very nature of how we experience entertainment, entertainment companies as a whole will naturally continue to expand their workforces, and invest in their engineering and IT departments."

SEE ALSO: All 49 of Netflix's notable original movies, ranked from worst to best

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NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have decided to invite 2,640 extra people to watch part of their wedding from the grounds of Windsor Castle.
• Of these, 1,200 will be picked by nine regional Lord Lieutenant offices.
• They will also invite hundreds of schoolchildren, charity workers, Windsor locals and people employed by the wider royal family.
• Lord Lieutenants are the Queen's representatives in each region of the UK.
• Kensington Palace told Business Insider each lieutenant can pick attendees in the way they see fit, as long as they fit the criteria, which includes people of different backgrounds and ages.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced earlier today that they will be inviting 2,640 extra people into the grounds of Windsor Castle to watch part of their royal wedding.

They want the day "to be shaped so as to allow members of the public to feel part of the celebrations too," according to a statement from Kensington Palace Friday morning.

"This wedding, like all weddings, will be a moment of fun and joy that will reflect the characters and values of the bride and groom."

They also issued a breakdown to show how  they will go about choosing the people, who fall into a variety of categories. Here's how it goes:

1,200 regular people from around the UK

The biggest single group of extra guests will come from the British public at large, and will be picked by Lord Lieutenants, official representatives of the Queen.

They cover nine separate regions: East Midlands and East of England, the North East and Yorkshire, North West England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South East England, South West England, Wales, and the West Midlands.

Each area will pick a share of the 1,200. Kensington Palace told Business Insider that the officials have been given a broad remit to fill up their lists as they see fit.

Their guidelines are that the people should be "from a broad range of backgrounds and ages, including young people who have shown strong leadership, and those who have served their communities."

If you live in Britain and are particularly keen to come, it could be worth making yourself known.

200 charity representatives

The couple is also greed to invite 200 people from a range of charities and organisations with which they have a "close association," including those for which Prince Harry serves as patron.

Some of these include The Invictus Games Foundation, which runs an Olympics-style competition for wounded soldiers, children's charity WellChild, and The Royal Foundation.

100 school children from Windsor

Some lucky local schoolkids will also be able to join in the fun. Kensington Palace's statement said that 100 pupils from two local schools. One is The Royal School, Great Park, Windsor and the other is St George's School, Windsor Castle.

610 members of the Windsor Castle community

This includes people who live on the castle grounds, and people who go to church where the two will marry. 

530 royal staffers

The final group are people who work for the Royal Households and the Crown Estate, a group which includes people who work for Harry, the Queen and other royals, or more broadly for assets and institutions they're involved with.

On the day 

We already know that the wedding service will begin at midday on May 19 at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. The additional attendees will be invited into the castle grounds to watch the couple and their guests arrive. 

The Dean of Windsor will conduct the service and the Archbishop of Canterbury will officiate as the couple make their vows. The ceremony itself will have a more exclusive guestlist.

At 1 p.m. Harry and Meghan will embark on a carriage procession from chapel through Windsor Town. And at this point the additional 2,640 guests will get to watch the carriage procession as it departs from the castle. 

Once the newly married couple return from the procession they'll join their guests from the congregation for a reception at St George's Hall.

Here's a look inside St George's Hall:

Following this, Prince Charles will host a private evening reception for the couple and their close friends and family.

SEE ALSO: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are inviting more than 2,000 ordinary people to their wedding

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NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

• Many Twitter users are agreeing with President Donald Trump's tweet that Darrell Hammond's "Saturday Night Live" impression of Trump was "funnier" than Alec Baldwin's.
• Trump called Alec Baldwin's impression an "agony" to watch in a tweet Friday morning, while also suggesting that "SNL" bring back the "far greater talent" of Darrell Hammond. 
• Hammond told The Washington Post that he was emotionally devastated and "started crying" when he lost out on the role to Baldwin in September 2016. 

President Trump took to Twitter Friday morning to rail on Alec Baldwin's "Saturday Night Live" impression of him as an "agony" to watch, while praising Darrell Hammond, a previous Trump impressionist for "SNL," as a "funnier and a far greater talent" that the show should "bring back."

What's more surprising than Trump's well-established displeasure with Baldwin's impression is that many have taken to Twitter to agree with Trump, specifically about Hammond's performance being better than Baldwin's.

Here are a few examples:

Hammond lost out on the Trump role to Baldwin in September 2016. Hammond told The Washington Post a year later that he was emotionally devastated by the change.

"I just started crying," Hammond said. "In front of everyone. I couldn't believe it. I was in shock, and I stayed in shock for a long time. Everything wiped out. The brand, me, what I do. Corporate appearances canceled. It was a hell of a shock, and all of it was apparent to me in one breath. That ends me."

"SNL" showrunner Lorne Michaels told The Post that the reason for the change was that he "needed another force, on an acting level, to have the power that Trump was embodying then," in the run up to the 2016 presidential election.

Watch Hammond play Trump in a 2004 "SNL" skit that also features the real Trump:

SEE ALSO: Darrell Hammond breaks his silence about losing his 'SNL' Trump to Alec Baldwin

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NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

The 90th Academy Awards will finally be here Sunday after months of campaigning (and millions of dollars spent) by studios and independent distributors to get recognition for their best and brightest.

On paper, it could turn out to be a dull night. A few categories (like best actor and best supporting actress) seem to be a lock. And the odds-on favorites to win best picture — "The Shape of Water" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" — haven't been that popular with general audiences. The movies' combined domestic box office ($105 million) is about what "Wonder Woman" had in its opening weekend.

But if we learned anything from last year's Oscars, you never know what surprises could come. And the best-picture race is one of the most wide open in recent years.

Here are our predictions on who we think will win the major categories and who we think should win.

The Academy Awards air on ABC on Sunday at 8 p.m. EST/ 5 p.m. PST.

SEE ALSO: The top 20 Marvel Cinematic Universe villains, ranked from worst to best

Best original score

What will win: "The Shape of Water"

This category has a lot of major talents gunning for the win, but it's going to be Alexandre Desplat's hypnotic score that comes out on top. It's a beautiful companion to the unique love story the director Guillermo del Toro weaves.

WHAT SHOULD WIN: "Dunkirk"

It would be great to see Hans Zimmer nab the Oscar, as the stopwatch rhythm of his score for "Dunkirk" is so vital to the movie. If "Dunkirk" does pull off the win, it could be a hint to how the night goes, as "The Shape of Water" and "Dunkirk" are up against each other in numerous categories, including best picture.

Best original song

What will win: "Remember Me" ("Coco")

Honestly, there really is no contest. When Miguel goes to Mama Coco at the end of the movie and sings the song to make her not forget the memory of Hector, it just brings the movie to an incredibly high emotional level.

• In an interview with Variety, singer Barbra Streisand revealed she had her dog cloned after it passed away.
• In a New York Times editorial on Friday, she explains why — and that the process actually produced four clones.

Barbra Streisand loved her Coton de Tulear dog so much that she had it cloned after it passed away last year, she revealed in a Variety interview earlier this week. And in a New York Times editorial on Friday, Streisand explained why — and said the experiment actually produced four clones.

"I was so devastated by the loss of my dear Samantha, after 14 years together, that I just wanted to keep her with me in some way," she wrote. "It was easier to let Sammie go if I knew I could keep some part of her alive, something that came from her DNA. A friend had cloned his beloved dog, and I was very impressed with that dog. So Sammie’s doctor took some cells from inside her cheek and the skin on her tummy just before she died."

Between Samantha passing away and the clones, though, Streisand ended up with two other dogs: a Maltipoo named Sadie that she adopted because she missed her old dog so much, and then another Coton de Tulear that Samantha's breeder offered Streisand.

And then she got a call from the lab. Three healthy clones were sent to Streisand (a fourth died), on top of the two she had acquired.

"My manager’s assistant really wanted Sadie, and I knew she would give her a good home," she wrote. "And then the 13-year-old daughter of my A&R man bonded with one of the clones, so I gave them that puppy."

Now Streisand has three dogs, two of them clones. She said that she thinks of Samantha "every time she looks at their faces."

SEE ALSO: Barbra Streisand says she successfully cloned her pet dog — twice

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NOW WATCH: You can connect all 9 Best Picture Oscar nominees with actors they have in common — here's how

Netflix's streaming video service began as a place to watch episodes of old TV shows and obscure movies. But those days are long past. The company first used major deals with the likes of Sony and Disney to improve its offerings. More recently, it's been ramping up the production of original shows, such as "Stranger Things" and "Black Mirror."

As the company has focused on improving its streaming offerings, it's been spending increasing amounts on acquiring and producing content. In fact, Netflix's content spending has gotten so huge, it's now in the same ballpark as that of some of the top entertainment companies, as this chart by Statista, which was compiled from a recent Recode report, shows.

The list of top spenders on programming could see some major upheaval in coming years. Not only does Netflix plan to keep increasing its budget, but Amazon, Hulu, Apple, and others are all looking to beef up their video efforts.

SEE ALSO: The digital camera industry saw growth in 2017 for the first time in nearly a decade http://www.businessinsider.com/digital-camera-shipments-15-years-decline-and-rise-2018-2

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NOW WATCH: Watch how pillows are made

Magic Leap, the secretive Florida startup developing futuristic augmented reality glasses, raised a whopping $502 million in October.

Two days later, it called the cops and told them an employee had stolen over $1 million over a period of 23 months.

The story of the alleged theft, which has never been reported until now and apparently involved an HR manager and a recruiting company, is one of several strange problems that have bedeviled the young company, whose innovative technology is a subject of both fascination and skepticism among industry insiders.

In this exclusive BI Prime report, Business Insider's Kif Leswing and Steven Tweedie uncover the latest sign of turmoil inside the $6 billion startup whose backers include Google and Alibaba. 

Click here to read Business Insider PRIME's report about how an employee allegedly stole $1 million from Magic Leap.

SEE ALSO: Amazon will stop selling Nest smart home devices, escalating its war with Google

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NOW WATCH: I've used the iPhone for 10 years and these are my favorite tips and tricks

Retro feels, pastel hues, and symmetrical buildings are just some of the recurring themes in the works of cult filmmaker Wes Anderson — and it turns out similar places exist in real life.

Brooklyn-based die-hard Anderson fan Wally Koval originally created his Instagram account @AccidentallyWesAnderson after being inspired by a Reddit forum called "Accidental Wes Anderson."

His account is a space dedicated to sharing photos of buildings and landmarks around the world that look like they could be straight out of one of his films.

Koval told Business Insider: "I have always been a big fan of Wes Anderson's work, developing a bit of a fascination for the extraordinary aesthetic he brings to the locations and settings portrayed in his films. When I started seeing real-life Anderson-esque locations pop up on the Subreddit, I became intrigued to know more about the history and background behind the facades, so I started digging."

Now, he manages the Instagram account with his fiancée Amanda, whom he calls their "chief location scout."

"@AccidentallyWesAnderson is a community, an inspiration, and an adventure — we explore the intersection of distinctive design and the unique narratives that typically follow. We hope to contribute to an unending bucket list of travel destinations, and perhaps help someone put a new pin in their own map," he said.

Ahead of the release of Anderson's new film "Isle of Dogs" later this month, Koval shared a selection of photos from the account with Business Insider. From palaces in Jaipur to Berlin's "gritty" rapid transit systems and dreamy Art Deco buildings in Downtown LA, scroll down for some Wes Anderson-inspired travel inspiration — bucket lists at the ready.

*Photographers are listed by their Instagram usernames along with the year each landmark was built.

SEE ALSO: The 30 most stunning and influential Instagram travel accounts to follow in 2018

Lake Shore Place, Chicago, c. 1926 — @HasoTaso

Stadtbad Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany, c. 1928 — @Berlinstagram

Eastern Columbia House, Los Angeles, California, c. 1930 — @ElizabethDaniels01