Netflix’s Secret Content Recipes
Online streamers have gatecrashed the land of showbiz in recent years, but the facts remain, ratings still rule, and money still talks. Hollywood still attracts the brightest, most ambitious filmmakers out there, but it’s getting tougher to break through, and understand what these new media giants are looking for.
The coronavirus has intensified the streaming wars with millions binging content from home. The industry’s favorite service in the eyes of viewers will get pricing power, so consumers won’t cancel subscriptions during recessions as they might for other streaming services. To win tomorrow’s war, you’ve got to have today’s best shows and filmmakers. If today’s best filmmakers know their worth, they’re a struggle to hold down.
This is why investors in Netflix and Disney are buying and selling these companies’ plans to share big data. The size of an audience watching a pilot is closely guarded information, as is how many people watch a series to the end.
It’s a double-edged sword, though, because while investors don’t want producers demanding more money from their unprofitable streamers, investors also want to know how shows are doing themselves.
Uncertainty is an investor’s worst enemy, and uncertainty could build as these streamers go neck and neck in the race to replace cable. Netflix is booming in quarantine, but some users will cancel when it ends. Could that be the catalyst for a major leg down?
