Tag: netflix

  • Streaming Things

    Streaming Things

    EBU/Warner Bros. Discovery’s Olympic Deal The IOC has just announced that a joint European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) bid has been successful for the next few Olympic cycles, from the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan through until the 2032 Summer Games in Brisbane. In the UK, that means that BBC will…

  • Getting By Without Cinemas

    Getting By Without Cinemas

    I go to the cinema a fair amount, and I suspect from the film industry’s perspective, I’m in the top 10 per cent or higher in my frequency of going. I see a film at the cinema probably every fortnight on average – especially during Oscar season, when we’re deluged with quality films at a…

  • The Pricing of Apple TV+

    The Pricing of Apple TV+

    Apple has announced that it’s upcoming TV service will cost £4.99 in the UK (and $4.99 in the US). That’s instantly brought a lot of comparisons with other services’ prices since it undercuts all of its major competitors. They will also give you a year free when you buy a new Apple device. However, I…

  • Netflix Viewing Figures

    Bird Box is Susanne Bier’s Netflix film the streaming service released just before Christmas. It stars Sandra Bullock as a mother who has to protect her children from an unseen entity. Furthermore, if she (or others) see it themselves, they are done for. Think of it as a visual companion to A Quiet Place. I enjoyed it well enough,…

  • Close

    Finding something new to watch on Netflix can be incredibly hit or miss. I’ve mentioned before that I think Netflix’s marketing leaves something to be desired. While the “above the fold” promotional spot on Netflix is highly important to them and clearly drives a lot of viewing to shows or films that get that position,…

  • Netflix’s UK Drama Originals

    One of the issues that Netflix has to face is how it can satisfy all its users in every country around the world. If you set up in France, you need to produce local French programming. If you set up in Australia, you need to produce local Australian programming. To some extent, Netflix has been…

  • Is Bandersnatch the Future of Television?

    No. No, it’s not. Bandersnatch is the recently released episode of Black Mirror from Charlie Brooker available on Netflix. It takes the form of a choose your own adventure book/game and I loved it! In many respects, this episode ticked just about every box for me. It was set in the eighties, in and around writing…

  • The Dark Ages of Film History?

    I was recently talking to a some colleagues at work about one of my favourite films of all time, the classic Howard Hawks screwball comedy, Bringing Up Baby. Made in 1938, it stars two of Hollywood’s biggest ever stars, Kathryn Hepburn and Cary Grant, both giving terrific performances in a classic of the genre. How…

  • Marketing TV

    If you’re a TV channel and you’ve got a new show you want to tell people about, it should be relatively simple. You make a trailer or two for it, and then you run that trailer around programmes that the audience for the new show are already watching. You might want to be a bit…

  • Netflix, Independent Cinema, and Hollywood’s New Business Model

    The other day The Ringer published a piece about Netflix and their original movie strategy. The piece, entitled Netflix and Shrill listed the original movies that Netflix has already released in 2018 and challenged readers to see how many they recognised. For most people, the most familiar title will have been The Cloverfield Paradox. This…

  • Is Netflix Quite As Smart As Everyone Says It Is?

    That’s possibly a provocative title, but I’ve come to the conclusions that while Netflix is very good at some things, I’m not certain that its recommendation engine is entirely as linked up as you’d think it’d be. A couple of recent cases in point. I was really looking forward to the new Alex Garland film,…

  • Netflix: $8 Billion and 700 NEW Shows?

    How much programming is Netflix actually making? The answer is a lot, but I think that the widely reported numbers are a little misleading. Heavily retweeted earlier today was this: Wow. Fact of the day: Netflix plans to spend $8bn on content this year. That’s roughly 700 (!) new series and 80 films. Shows how…

  • On Sky Q, Netflix and BARB

    Note: This is a subject likely to be of even more niche interest than many of my other blogs here. You have been warned! Yesterday Sky announced that it had reached agreement with Netflix to add Netflix to their Sky Q platform. What this means is that Netflix programmes will appear within the wider Sky…