Netflix is steadily expanding its programming appetites in the feature documentary, popular Factual and Reality Formats. Follow recent reports from the field, and in my new and expanded guide NETFLIX 2021: What You Need To Know Now! True Crime: Netflix is launching the original True Crime documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door. The feature …
Veteran media industry consultant Ed Hersh returns to my podcast platform to explore the multiple seismic changes shaking the Documentary / Unscripted sector and what producers need to know. We discuss how the term ‘Perfect Storm‘ captures the confluence of: Covid impacts, The shift by viewers from channels to direct-to-consumer (DTC) platforms like Netflix and …
The U.S. Pay TV distribution footprint is forecast to shrink by a record 2.5 million subscribers in Q2 2020. This follows a previous record drop of 2 million subscribers in Q1 2020. In the past 12 months, 6.5+ million customers have cut the cord. The forecast loss for Full Year 2020 is 8-9 million subscribers. …
Dr John Morse likens the consumer’s COVID experience to living thru an episode of “The Twilight Zone”. He analyzes U.S. lifestyle and media usage trends during the pandemic in a PACT (UK Producers) webinar/podcast hosted by Dawn McCarthy-Simpson. John takes us on a deep dive into the data, highlighting the Big Trends: Viewing has become …
YouTube’s 15th Birthday: A Growing Industry Power-house. For months, I’ve been hearing about YouTube commissions for documentaries and specials. Very respectable US and UK producers are the beneficiaries. Generous budgets are in the $750,000 – $1.5 million range. Topics have included the youth-targeted categories of pop culture and music celebrity bio-docs. YouTube’s head of Originals, Susanne Daniels …
Akul Tripathi is the CEO of DOCUBAY, the Mumbai-based documentary subscription streamer launched in 2H’19. Akul emphasizes the scale of the huge Indian video market, with its population of 1.4 billion, including 130+/- million English-speakers. He describes how the low cost of Internet connectivity has driven the fast adoption of digital services, reaching 570 million …
Here are our top stories for December ’19, curated with our friends at Sunny Side of the Doc. Losing Yves Jeanneau: Read a selection of tributes to Yves Jeanneau, Sunny Side of the Doc co-founder, executive director and our friend, who passed away on November 14 // Sunny Side’s Official Announcement // Peter Hamilton // Realscreen // TV France International // Telerama and many more. Development …
“Netflix: Your time in the sun is over!” That’s the view of the influential Wall Street Analyst Laura Martin at Needham & Co. Her recent stock downgrade note to investors briefly lopped several $ billions off Netflix’s market value. What is she saying? Is there a counter-argument? And what does her negative Netflix forecast mean …