Alex Castro / The Verge
Yet another rumor suggests that Netflix is interested in buying Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming businesses. On Friday, Reuters reported that Netflix is “actively exploring” a bid for the company and has hired a bank to look into a potential offer. Sources tell Reuters that Netflix now has access to Warner Bros. Discovery’s “data room,” which the outlet says “contains the financial details needed to make a bid.”……..Continue reading….
Source: The Verge
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Netflix presents viewers with recommendations based on interactions with the service, such as previous viewing history and ratings of viewed content. These are often grouped into genres and formats, or feature the platform’s highest-rated content. Each title is presented with a thumbnail. Before around 2015, these were the same key art for everyone, but since then has been customized.
Netflix may select a specific key art for a thumbnail based on viewing history, such as an actor or scene type based on genre preferences. Some thumbnails are generated from video stills. The Netflix recommendation system is a vital part of the streaming platform’s success, enabling personalized content suggestions for hundreds of millions of subscribers worldwide. Using advanced machine learning algorithms, Netflix analyzes user interactions, including viewing history, searches, and ratings, to deliver personalized recommendations for movies and TV shows.
The recommendation system considers individual user preferences, similarities with other users with comparable tastes, specific title attributes (genre, release year, etc.), device usage patterns, and viewing time. As users interact with the platform and provide feedback with their viewing habits, the recommendation system is able to adapt and refine its suggestions over time. Netflix uses a two-tiered ranking system, using the presentation of titles on the homepage for easy navigation to maximize user engagement.
This is done by organizing content into rows and ranking the titles within each row based on how much the user would be interested in it. Netflix also uses A/B testing to determine what causes the biggest interest and engagement related to options concerning movie suggestions and how titles are organized. Customers can subscribe to one of three plans; the difference in plans relates to video resolution, the number of simultaneous streams, and the number of devices to which content can be downloaded.
At the end of Q1 2022, Netflix estimated that 100 million households globally were sharing passwords to their account with others. In March 2022, Netflix began to charge a fee for additional users in Chile, Peru, and Costa Rica to attempt to control account sharing. On July 18, 2022, Netflix announced that it would test the account sharing feature in more countries, including Argentina, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
On October 17, Netflix launched Profile Transfer to help end account sharing. On July 13, 2022, Netflix announced plans to launch an advertising-supported subscription option. Netflix’s planned advertising tier would not allow subscribers to download content like the existing ad-free platform.On July 20, 2022, it was announced that the advertising-supported tier would be coming to Netflix in 2023 but it would not feature the full library of content.
In October, the launch date was announced as November 3, 2022, and was launched in 12 countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Japan and South Korea. The ad-supported plan was called “Basic with Ads” and it cost $6.99 per month in the United States at launch.
On February 24, 2023, Netflix cut subscription prices in more than 30 countries around the world to attract more subscribers from those countries. Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Croatia, Venezuela, Kenya, and Iran are on the list of countries where the cost for a subscription will be reduced. In the same month stronger anti-password-sharing rules were expanded to Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain. In May 2023, these measures were further expanded to United States and Brazil subscribers.
In July 2023, Netflix added 5.9 million subscribers for the second quarter of the year for a total of 238.39 million subscribers overall. The United States and Canada accounted for 1.2 million subscribers which was the largest regional quarterly gain since 2021. In February, Netflix announced it would enforce stricter regulations on password sharing, and by May 2023 it began cracking down in the US, UK, and Australia. Under these new rules, multiple people can use and share one account, but they have to be under the same household.
Netflix defines a household as people who live in the same location as the owner of the account. Users are asked to set a primary location based on the device’s IP address. Netflix reported 8.05 million new subscribers in Q2 2024, up from 5.9 million subscribers added in Q2 2023. In July 2024, Netflix started phasing out its cheapest subscription plan for users in France and the US, a year after the plan was removed for Canada and the UK. Members in these countries have the option to sign up for either the standard ad-free plan or the ad plan.
“Netflix Originals” are content that is produced, co-produced, or distributed exclusively by Netflix. Netflix funds its original shows differently than other TV networks when they sign a project, providing the money upfront and immediately ordering two seasons of most series. It keeps licensing rights, which normally give production companies future revenue opportunities from syndication, merchandising, etc. Over the years, Netflix output ballooned to a level unmatched by any television network or streaming service.
According to Variety Insight, Netflix produced a total of 240 new original shows and movies in 2018, then climbed to 371 in 2019, a figure “greater than the number of original series that the entire U.S. TV industry released in 2005.” The Netflix budget allocated to production increased annually, reaching $13.6 billion in 2021 and projected to hit $18.9 billion by 2025, a figure that once again overshadowed any of its competitors. As of August 2022, original productions made up 50% of Netflix’s overall library in the United States.
Netflix has exclusive pay TV deals with several studios. The deals give Netflix exclusive streaming rights while adhering to the structures of traditional pay TV terms. Distributors that have licensed content to Netflix include Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and previously The Walt Disney Studios. Netflix also holds current and back-catalog rights to television programs distributed by Walt Disney Television, DreamWorks Classics, Kino International, PBS, Warner Bros.
Television and Paramount Global Content Distribution, along with titles from other companies such as ABS-CBN Studios, GMA Pictures, Cignal Entertainment, MQ Studios, Regal Entertainment, Viva Films, MNC Media, Screenplay Films, Soraya Intercine Films, Falcon Pictures, MD Pictures, Rapi Films, Starvision Plus, CJ ENM, JTBC, Kakao Entertainment, TBS,
TV Asahi, Fuji TV, Mediacorp, Primeworks Studios, GMM Grammy, Public Television Service, Gala Television, ITV Studios, Hasbro Entertainment and StudioCanal. Formerly, the streaming service also held rights to select television programs distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution, Sony Pictures Television and 20th Century Fox Television.
Netflix negotiated to distribute animated films from Universal that HBO declined to acquire, such as The Lorax, ParaNorman, and Minions. Netflix holds exclusive streaming rights to the film library of Studio Ghibli (except Grave of the Fireflies) worldwide except in the U.S. and Japan as part of an agreement signed with Ghibli’s international sales holder Wild Bunch in 2020.
Customers have complained about price increases in Netflix offerings dating back to the company’s decision to separate its DVD rental and streaming services, which was quickly reversed. As Netflix increased its streaming output, it has faced calls to limit accessibility to graphic violence and include viewer advisories for issues such as sensationalism and promotion of pseudoscience. Netflix’s content has also been criticized by disability rights movement advocates for lack of closed captioning quality.
Some media organizations and competitors have criticized Netflix for selectively releasing ratings and viewer numbers of its original programming. The company has made claims boasting about viewership records without providing data to substantiate its successes or using problematic estimation methods. In March 2020, some government agencies called for Netflix and other streamers to limit services due to increased broadband and energy consumption as use of the platform increased.
In response, the company announced it would reduce bit rate across all streams in Europe, thus decreasing Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25 percent. These same steps were later taken in India.
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