Nov 24 2011
Thursday Midday Links: Netflix Bleeds Customers
Happy Thanksgiving folks!
After Netflix jacked up its prices and tried to diminish services, it bled customers like a patient with an aortic vein severed. Netflix profits have completely disappeared. According to Business Insider:
Yes, that’s the latest news that Netflix tucked into the prospectus for the stock portion of its stock and convertible bond offerings:
We expect that consolidated quarterly revenue will be relatively flat until we can achieve positive net subscriber additions. As a result of the relatively flat consolidated revenues and previously announced increased investment in our International segment, we expect to incur consolidated net losses for the year ending December 31, 2012.
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The diminished role of females isn’t a romance issue; it’s an entertainment issue. According to a study by USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, women have fewer speaking roles, are generally more unclothed and sexualized, particularly at younger ages. There are fewer women behind the camera and when there are women in directorship positions, the number of women in front of the camera increases.
There is one area where women surpassed men in films in 2009 — they bought more than 50% of the movie tickets sold in the U.S., according to the Motion Picture Assn. of America.
“Females represent half of the population and half of moviegoing audiences, but they don’t hit a third of the characters,” Smith said. “Male consumers aren’t the only ones going to the movies, but our cultural storytellers today are male. The problem is really thinking about the perpetuation of the status quo.”
Source: LA Times
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Press Books, an ebook production platform, has launched and is open to the public. This platform is built on top of WordPress. I think it’s free.
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The elusive Mirasol screen has shown up on a Korean ebook reader. Will it come to the US? Supposedly in 2012.
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Nov 24, 2011 @ 18:57:06
The film industry is a disaster at the moment anyway. Where I live, profits from ticket sales have dropped by 30% this year. Male, female or otherwise, Hollywood is making crappy movies nobody wants to see. I’ve only been once this year, and it was for a documentary from Britain.
Nov 24, 2011 @ 20:11:36
Recent movies hold no draw for me. I can’t stand where comedy has been going, the dramas are too dour and angsty, action movies are pointless because I need more in a movie than explosions and stunts, and I’ve never really like period pieces. I do like the recent Pixar and Dreamworks Animation movies, but I’m getting tired of them turning a great movie into a three or four movie “film franchise” (Toy Story 3 being a notable exception).
The Mirasol screen looks very cool. I’d love to see it in person.
Nov 25, 2011 @ 00:00:28
I’m going to Korea next year, and may hit Kyobo Books. If I do, I’ll check this device out.
Nov 25, 2011 @ 09:02:46
I worked in screenwriting for a while…a very short while. I found the film industry to be–to an intolerable extent–a boys club.
It’s funny that the entertainment/media is purported to be so liberal and yet the film industry is so misogynist…not just in what they produce but in the way women filmmakers are marginalized by a very entrenched male majority.
Yet, it’s never talked about. It would be nice for the issue to be openly addressed soon.
Nov 27, 2011 @ 08:40:52
Companies who don’t keep up with market changes are bound to fail. It’s a shame that so many media companies are in trouble, but it’s not unexpected.