IN THE FUTURE...
THE
STREAMING SERVICES WILL BE MAJOR STUDIOS
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100%WORDS: OWEN WILLIAMS
Back in 2000, Blockbuster passed up the chance to buy a fledging movie subscription concern based in small-town California for $50 million. It was a catastrophic error. These days Blockbuster barely exists, while Netflix is a world-conquering on-demand viewing platform with north of 50 million subscribers globally. To put another way, that's one customer for every dollar Blockbuster didn't spend. Riding the quickly shifting industry wave from postal DVD rentals to online streaming, Netflix has now moved into production, reviving Arrested Development, creating Orange Is The New Black, Marco Polo and the Wachowskis' Sense8, reimagining the BBC's House of Cards, and entering into business with Marvel for four interconnected series centred on Marvel's Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones and Daredevil.
NETFLIX HAS MADE THE TRANSITION TO FULLY-FLEDGED PRODUCTION HOUSE ALMOST AS QUICKLY AS PARAMOUNT OR UNIVERSAL BACK IN THE 1910s."We're now at the scale where we can economically create original content, and we'll continue to grow our slate," asserts Netflix's Head of Corporate Communications Cliff Edwards. His bullishness is understandable. Netflix has made the transition to fully-fledged production house almost as quickly as Paramount or Universal back in the 1910s. "With each original, we learn more about what our members want [and] about how to produce and promote effectively," adds the PR chief.
But Netflix is not the only game in town. HBO