Exactly how Netflix makes the call on what to renew or not is something of a mystery – it never releases ratings or viewer figures that would illuminate its decisions. Instead, everything is driven by top-secret data. Netflix notoriously number-crunches every bit of viewer interaction – what you watch, when you watch it, the device you watch it on (TV, PC, phone, tablet, smart microwave, whatever), how many episodes you watch in a row; even when you pause and for how long. It then uses this to inform production choices.- The Guardian
Category: media
The Movie Problem: No Blockbusters, No Business
The top 50 best-performing films in the UK box office take nearly 90% of the total box office. With more than 700 films released every year, that leaves little space for smaller, foreign language and independent films. Cinemas have high fixed costs and need a certain number of hit films to keep afloat. – The Conversation
Why India’s Government Is Trying To Demonize Bollywood
If you had switched on news television in India in the past two months, you would have found a country obsessed with a singular subject: the taming of Bollywood, supposedly a wild, drug-addled place where horrible things happen to outsiders; India’s Gomorrah, infested with vile liberals and Muslims. This hysterical campaign of vilification and the persecution of numerous actors is an attempt to distract people from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s failure to handle the coronavirus pandemic and a sinking economy. – The New York Times
Netflix Indicted By Rural Texas Grand Jury For ‘Cuties’
“The court filing [in Tyler County] claims Netflix knowingly promoted work that ‘depicts the lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of a clothed or partially clothed child … which appeals to the prurient interest in sex.'” The French film, which contains no nudity but shows some very suggestive dance moves which have attracted controversy, is about an 11-year-old Senegalese immigrant who joins a teen dance team. – The Texas Tribune
British Gov’t Considers Selling Off Channel 4
Said minister John Whittingdale, “Unlike the BBC, Channel 4 survives as an advertising-funded model. … We do need to think about Channel 4 and whether there is still a need for a second publicly owned public service broadcaster, or what function it should fulfill.” Founded in 1982 as a home for risky and experimental programming commissioned from independent producers, the station is currently best known for The Great British Bake-Off. – The Guardian
The 100 Most Influential Sequences In The History Of Animation
“We chose the deliberately flexible element of a ‘sequence’ because it felt the most focused: It is often in one inspired moment, more so than a single frame or entire work, that we are able to see the form progress. … This list is not intended to be comprehensive. One hundred is a crushingly compact number of slots with which to encapsulate the totality of a medium. That isn’t to say we didn’t try.” – Vulture
Study: Demand For Diverse TV Programming Outstrips Supply
The study highlighted that audience demand for shows with diverse casts rose 113% from 2017 to 2019. Last year, the level of demand for shows with diverse casts was 17 times greater than the demand for the average U.S. TV show (it was eight times higher in 2017). – Los Angeles Times
What The Anti-Smoking Campaigns Can Teach Us About Regulating Social Media
The comparison is more than metaphorical. It’s a framework for thinking about how public opinion needs to shift so that the true costs of misinformation can be measured and policy can be changed. – MIT Technology Review
What Small Movie Theatres Discovered After They Reopened
“When we opened in June I had the No. 7 theater in the country. I thought that was cool.” Yet in subsequent weeks, attendance wasn’t enough to justify keeping the lights on. After just a few weeks back in business, Chris Johnson had to make what he refers to as a “heartbreaking” decision: He closed down his theaters. He doesn’t know, realistically, when he’ll be able to welcome customers again. “We found there was a core audience who came out right away and was very excited, but those were the only ones who came out,” he said. – Variety
Why Do We Let Social Media Control Us?
Jill Lepore: “Things are briefly upended by new technologies before finding a new equilibrium. With social media, that equilibrium has not happened. The question is how do you repair the fabric of democracy when the technology is itself built to polarise us? It is like we have built a perfect trap for ourselves. That is what leaves me so frankly terrified.” – The Guardian