With Netflix’s recent Epix deal where Netflix gets rights to stream movies from Lionsgate, MGM and Paramount 90 days after they debut on premium and pay-TV services in addition to the Relativity deal they recently concluded where Netflix could get up to 30 films/year in what was a pay television window, newer film content will be increasingly available for the consumer to enjoy at home rather than the catalog product that had primarily made up the ‘instant viewing’ choices. Read More
One of the arguments for collapsing windows and releasing everything simultaneously is that the industry will then be able to compete with pirates. If a consumer faces the choice of downloading a questionable version of a movie or clicking on the TV and VODing the same selection for a minimal price, then a significant number will choose the latter, or so the theory goes. Read More
My Generation is one of most iconic rock songs of all time. It spoke to a young group of kids whose ideas up until this point were generally dismissed without reason or concern by the older, wiser generation. When a twenty year old Pete Townshend wrote the song for The Who in 1965, he wrote it, and its fortuitous line, “Hope I die before I get old” because the old folks just didn’t get what the youth then were all about. Wall Street quickly learned that the new generation comes down to one simple philosophy. They believe that while older people have more money to spend, they will generally spend it on items they already know and trust. Read More
Roughly 1-in-4 specialty films from 2009 were DIY releases. And by that I mean they were cases in which the producers released the film into theaters themselves (“four-walling”) or did so through a distributor-for-hire (“service deal”). Not surprisingly, there were some noticeable differences between DIY and non-DIY films, as the following table illustrates: Read More
In my very first blog back in March, Swimming with Sharks and The Search for Adam, I predicted that a derailment would occur in the juggernaut express known as American Idol as deep concerns within the show on several levels were all happening at once. Read More
One of the sixteen narrative films in competition at this year's Sundance film festival was a film called "Holy Rollers". Starring Jesse Eisenberg of "Zombieland" and "Squid and the Whale" fame as well as the groom from last year's smash comedy "The Hangover" Justin Bartha, the film was made for just over $1 mil and nabbed one of the coveted slots at the premiere American film festival. In terms of subject matter, good news: a crime drama about running drugs out of Amsterdam, always a popular genre. Not so easy news: the running was being done by a group of Hasidic Jews. Therein lay the marketing challenge. Read More
Throughout the first half of the year I have been reading about the “collapse” of independent film. Yet the domestic box office for independent films was 5.3 percent ahead of the same period in 2009 as of June 20th as well as holding at 35 percent of the total box office which showed a 4.1 percent gain over the same period. Did the whole sector really collapse, or were a few of the larger companies that pick up and distribute films getting a bit too loose with their checkbooks? Read More
For American television viewers, the new primetime TV season is three months away. However, for insiders who analyze the video landscape and television marketplace, the season has already begun.To help evaluate the rocky television content and advertising landscapes, Baseline Intelligence, a part of the New York Times Company, is proud to announce the inaugural edition of Primetime Television Insight – a series of three annual reports assessing key small-screen trends and audience changes. Read More
Over the past decade, the broadcast networks have aged dramatically. Ten years ago, there were six broadcast networks that appealed to substantially different audiences. While this shift in program genres is largely responsible for the broadcast networks’ audience aging, it is not the only cause. Read More
Expert Television Analyst Steve Sternberg discusses why a great TV pilot does not always result in a great TV series. READ MORE
