Netflix news, Fringe
Mar. 18th, 2011 10:09 pmNetflix to start making/distributing a TV show.
At first blush, this sounds pretty nifty. If it takes off, shows won't live or die by the antiquated Nielsen ratings system (seriously, in a country of 300 million, something like 25,000 households have the meters), but rather, I assume, by the more accurate measurement of how many times it's streamed--although this still wouldn't take into account a bunch of people watching it together. As the post indicates, they'd be concentrating on serialized shows, which in my experience means good things, things that don't usually get a chance to thrive on networks.
On the other hand, I wonder how Netflix plans to monetize this kind of thing. Those of us who already subscribe wouldn't be giving them any more money, unless they plan to add a surcharge for watching the original series. I doubt it would draw many new subscribers unless/until they had a wide lineup of original programming. Perhaps they're planning to use ads. (Quite frankly, I'm surprised there isn't one already at the beginning of every movie/episode you stream.)
Speaking of serialized shows that aren't doing well with traditional ratings, a couple thoughts on tonight's Fringe: ( spoilers )
At first blush, this sounds pretty nifty. If it takes off, shows won't live or die by the antiquated Nielsen ratings system (seriously, in a country of 300 million, something like 25,000 households have the meters), but rather, I assume, by the more accurate measurement of how many times it's streamed--although this still wouldn't take into account a bunch of people watching it together. As the post indicates, they'd be concentrating on serialized shows, which in my experience means good things, things that don't usually get a chance to thrive on networks.
On the other hand, I wonder how Netflix plans to monetize this kind of thing. Those of us who already subscribe wouldn't be giving them any more money, unless they plan to add a surcharge for watching the original series. I doubt it would draw many new subscribers unless/until they had a wide lineup of original programming. Perhaps they're planning to use ads. (Quite frankly, I'm surprised there isn't one already at the beginning of every movie/episode you stream.)
Speaking of serialized shows that aren't doing well with traditional ratings, a couple thoughts on tonight's Fringe: ( spoilers )