ADG is the largest producer of entertainment and also the owner of several of the world’s biggest news outlets. The company started in the Nueva Buenos Aires settlement under the name Telecommunications and Digital Media (TDM). It was founded soon after millions of citizens had to be relocated due to the rise of the sea level and the flooding of most coastal cities. The company started as a small news outlet that attempted to do serious journalism in a country ridden with corruption and poverty in the middle of a climate disaster. While this integrity earned it some respect, it did little for its financial growth.
After Pablo Mariano Timaréns joined the company, first as host of his daily stream La noche de Timaréns, later as VP of Programming, and currently as CEO, the company changed direction and began to focus on creating simple-minded entertainment, making this its prime source of income. While all other media outlets were busy showing the corruption of the authorities and the heartbreaking images of the flooded coastal cities or the thousands of dead people and broken families, Timaréns decided to give people a place to escape reality. His show contained light humor and showed attractive people dancing and performing, an instant hit with a nation trying to stop feeling the hurt of their reality. Rapidly after Timaréns was appointed VP of programming, all the group’s content descended into either tawdry and cheap entertainment based on sexual exploitation and shallow humor, or into overwhelming sensationalism plagued with clickbait. Not only did the group’s profitability skyrocket, but also its influence on public opinion. No matter how implausible a story was, if the company ran with it, a large percentage of the public would believe it. This has remained the norm, not only in the surviving American continent but also worldwide.
Once Timaréns took over the role of CEO, he changed the name of the company from TDM to ADG and conducted a series of aggressive mergers with other media companies all over the globe, consolidating them into a single group under his leadership. He also began to acquire smaller technology-oriented companies and invested heavily in developing a new VR-haptic hybrid entertainment system, one that could stimulate users to the point of making their brains think they were having a real experience. After this system was commercially rolled out and people embraced it, ADG introduced what they call “pleasure NFTs”, consumable Non-Fungible Tokens that can be exchanged for sensory experiences that are difficult to achieve in the real world, such as tasting exotic or expensive food and drinks, riding amusement park rides and even realistic sexual activities.
Given that the NFTs are consumable and often the only chance common people have of enjoying certain activities or products, they have become an important part of ADG’s revenue stream.
ADG not only turns a profit on the traditional model of viewers and advertisers, they also charge politicians and public figures exorbitant sums to portray them in a favorable light. The group is indirectly responsible for influencing the outcome of elections and referendums in every major country. Celebrities also pay to keep their secrets out of the news. Because of this, ADG has managed to keep many known figures in their pockets, threatening them with exposing them if they don’t do as they are told. Some say that ADG still does serious investigative work, but instead of investigating corruption to expose it, it investigates personal affairs to extort individuals. The terms and conditions of use of their entertainment system give ADG almost absolute control of its user’s personal data, which they then sell for profit to other companies.
ADG also produces propaganda for several dictators and has covered up major scandals in order to protect those who can afford it. Another service offered by the company is the policing of social media on behalf of these regimes, pinpointing individuals who speak out against their governments so that they can be reeducated or silenced.
The group’s main office is in the center of the former Argentine Republic, in what is now known as Nueva Buenos Aires City. The building is an ode to the art déco aesthetic, an excess of gold and exuberance. 70 stories high, heavily decorated on both the outside and the inside with sculptures of muscular figures posing in all their glory. The logo of the company resembles a Venn’s-diagram with a circle in the middle which looks like an eye. The company’s official website states that the eye is a reference to the company’s dedication to showing its viewers and consumers the reality in which they live, but their commitment to keeping always its gaze on the future to come.