Some stray thoughts on our "TV and Industry" week because I enjoy following this stuff and things change so fast that there is always something to talk about. Most industry observations are sourced from the trades or other insider reports.
- Just last month, Apple displayed an act of modern convergence by announcing that it plans to spend $1B a year to make film that will play exclusively in theaters. While this follows a recent trend of the other majors backtracking on direct-to-streaming or day-and-date release models in favor of more profitably theatrical releases, it is significant for Apple for two other reasons: first, AppleTV+ has not been shy about trying to attract the biggest stars in Hollywood to its film and TV projects, and theatrical film releases are a show of faith to talent that they believe in the projects and are willing to get them in front of the widest audiences possible. AppleTV+ hopes that consistently attracting top talent will be a differentiator for them. Second, and most important, this act is mainly about raising awareness for AppleTV+. This is not a contradictory action: the other majors have noticed that theatrical releases ascribe a certain amount of cultural relevance to a title, an awareness that pays off when a film reaches its streaming service. According to Nielsen data, even in instances where the film was not a box office hit, it can still become popular as a streaming release, suggesting that the visibility of theatrical releases encourages audiences to seek out titles on streaming services. For AppleTV+, who does not have a historical library of movies and TV shows to lure viewers to the service with, the hope is that theatrical film releases will have a positive effect on the rest of its streaming offerings.
- Amazon Prime has certainly been willing to splash the cash to build up its library of original shows, but the industry remains perplexed by their decision making and direction. That said, such indecision has different ramifications for Amazon Prime than, say, Netflix, who has only one source of revenue. As Lobato writes in Netflix Nations, "Amazon Prime Video is a loss leader for an e-commerce platform," and Amazon hopes that your time spent watching a show on Prime will encourage you do your online shopping with them, as well. Amazon seems to think that its large investment in things like The Rings of Power is helping Prime, with Amazon Studios head Jen Salke saying "the proof exists that the giant tentpole shows are driving people to subscribe to Prime." But I'd like to ask the class if they buy this? Is original content on Prime bringing you to a service you did not otherwise have, or is Amazon (and Prime, as a byproduct) such an ingrained part of our consumer culture that we do not have to seek it out, but rather know that if we need it (to watch I Love Lucy for class, for instance), it will always be there?
- I'm still interested in Caldwell's description of "tiered" content and how the major media companies "resegregrated" television through corporation consolidation (Caldwell, 68). As stated in our presentation, Netflix absolutely engages in its own version of tiering. It's single-app gives you the illusion that everything is equally available and accessible, but, through its algorithms, personal recommendations, and own need to push specific original or licensed content, some offerings just disappear into its vast catalog. Users still have choice, of course, and certainly moreso than in the days of linear television, but it requires work. Lobato writes that "the outer reaches of the catalog can be conjured to appeal to and appear to those users who have already expressed an interest in watching more obscure content," but this feels like a type of user labor that Netflix is working very hard to discourage (Lobato, 160). Both its now-publicly available Top 10 lists and auto-play feature that begins if you hover over a program long enough appear designed to reduce user autonomy and spontaneity in the long-run. Some shows will slip through the cracks, but I wonder types of interesting, rich programs we can find if we dig a little deeper and are willing to examine their content alongside the industrial decisions that have kept them just outside our view.
Sources:
Buckley, Thomas and Lucas Shaw. "Apple to Spend $1 Billion a Year on Films to Break Into Cinemas." Bloomberg. 23 March 2023. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-23/apple-to-splash-1-billion-a-year-on-films-to-break-into-cinemas#xj4y7vzkg
Lobato, Ramon. Netflix Nations. New York: University Press. 2019.
Masters, Kim. "Inside Amazon Studios: Big Swings Hampered by Confusion and Frustration." Hollywood Reporter. 3 April 2023. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/inside-amazon-studios-jen-salke-vision-shows-1235364913/
Mendelson, Scott. “Hollywood’s Hottest New Trend? Movies Opening in Theaters” The Wrap. 13 February 2023. https://www.thewrap.com/movies-streaming-to-theaters-return/
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