I read recently that Netflix now has 75 million subscribers, collecting 17 million of them this year, with 5.6 million in the past three months. Their shares have gone up 100% in the past year, and thus the Netflix investors and executives are optimistic for the future. However, this Netflix success is making a lot of TV executives anxious. One of the biggest differences between Netflix and regular television is that the content creators of Netflix series don’t have to worry about weekly ratings pressures like the creators of regular television series do. This is just another example, as also described in Media/Society, of how multiple variables affect media content and influence the content creators to produce shows that will be non-controvertial and focused on ratings.
Another point that was brought up in the article, is how much money Netflix spends on acquiring and producing content. This often causes them to produce meager profits, compared to how much revenue they’re pulling in. This is just another example of how much capital goes into the product of media, especially television and movies, and how important it is for networks, content creators, and online streamers such as Netflix to produce “hits” so that they bring in a ton of revenue to compensate for all of the shows that aren’t as popular.
I just thought that these were interesting points regarding the strengths/pressures of Netflix that I hadn’t know before! Let me know your thoughts on why you think Netflix dominates the online TV streaming industry!
-Amy Littleson