LFTVD Industry Notes (Netflix)

1. What happened to Netflix in April 2017
    They reached 100 million subscribers

2. Which companies does Netflix now have more subscribers than?
    Amazon prime and Hulu 

3. How many countries is Netflix available in?
    190

4. Which countries is Netflix not available in and why might this be?
    Crimea, China, North Korea and Syria....

5. Where do half of Netflix's subscribers, 50 million, come from?
    USA

6. When was Netflix founded, who by and where?
    1997 in Scotts Valley California by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph.

7. What did Netflix begin as and how did it change the service?
    A mail order DVD service (deliver to your door).

8. When did Netflix expand into Internet video on demand (VOD)?
    2007

9. What was revolutionary about the way they offered viewing?
    The fact that you could watch an entire season immediately (Binge Watching).

10. How did this new model of viewing (binge-watching) help shows that may have otherwise struggled to be aired?
     The Shows would struggle to consistently gain audiences weekly.

11. What has helped Netflix's growth?
      Improvements in streaming technology and a rise in use of handheld devices. Breaking Bad and Stranger Things (most watched show).

12. What were some of the problems that Netflix had?
      None of the content belonged to Netflix.

13. What was Netflix's solutions to these problems?
      They started creating their own TV shows.

14. What was Netflix's first original show and when was it launched?
      House of Cards in 2013

15. How did House of Cards make history?
      Became the first online only TV series to receive an EMMY nomination.

16. What else did the drama show in terms of cast and crew?
      Starred Kevin Spacey and David Fincher was the director.

17. By 2016, how many original programmes a year was Netflix producing?
      126

18. How many awards have they won?
      147

19. How are competitors trying to address Netflix's place in the market?
      Competitors have developed their own original programme. 

20. How does Netflix plan to stand out from the crowd?
      Double the amount of original programming by 2017 and expanding native language and          unscripted content.




What is Time Shifting and why is it important?

 - Time Shifting is the recording of programming to a storage medium to be viewed or listened to after the live broadcasting. Audiences like it because it enables them to be able to watch whatever they want, whenever they want.

What does the writer prefer to call 'Binge Watching'?

 - Immersive Watching.

Stranger Things LIAR

D83 LIAR

Stranger Things Fan Merchandise

Stranger Things Production Analysis

Who Produced Stranger Things?
21 Laps Entertainment was the company that produced and published Stranger Things, led by Shawn Levy (The Director).

- The Duffer Brothers created the story and narrative.
- They are an American film and TV production company run by Shawn Levy.

How Much did the Drama cost?
Season 1 had a budget of $6million per episode (season 2 increased to $8million).
Above the Line costs - Teenage actors supposedly made $20,000 per episode in season 1.
- The Cast (and some crew) were well known actors from prior hit films in the 1980's, however the younger cast involved were yet to be under the spotlight.

Pre-Production:
Stranger Things is an original story created by Matt and Ross Duffer (along with other co-writers).

Production:
Season 1 was filmed at the beginning of 2016 (finalising by June). It premiered worldwide on Netflix July 15th that year.
Filming took place in Atlanta (Georgia) - majority took place in a town called Jackson. The Duffer brothers handled directing of each episode.
Filming took 6 months with 7 days worth of filming for each episode.

Release dates:
The show was simultaneously released across all Netflix supporting countries on July 15th 2016 - This includes the majority of Europe, America, Australia and some areas of Asia. Each season (1, 2, 3) was released as an 8 episode collection instead of one episode per week. (Netflix original owning all rights to the drama).

- The only platforms with available streaming of the show are Netflix and 'Netflix branded' dvd box sets on Amazon.

- HDR (High Dynamic Range) is used to provide a more immersive experience (4K camera used with 80's lenses/colour grading).

Audience:
Target audience is 18-49 as middle age generations would've grown up during the contextual time period that the show is set in. Younger audiences are commonly attracted to the 1980's time period as a result of society trends.

Advertising
Stranger Things has a box set which is being sold on Amazon for $30.95.
The show is in collaboration with LEGO, NIKE and COKE (along with other leading companies) to produce further merchandise and provide a conglomerate like Stranger Things brand.

Marketing
Marketing campaigns began June 2016 - consisting of trailer and poster releases globally. Social media was crucial to promoting the drama to as many ages within the target audience as possible.

NewsPaper Questions

Who owns the papers?

Circulation figures for the print version of this newspaper? 

What are the browsing figures for the online version of this newspaper? 

In what ways does the website try to mimic the print edition of the newspaper? 

Who advertises in the print edition of this newspaper? 

Who advertises on the online site of this newspaper?

ONLINE NEWS: OBS or screen record on your phone today’s Daily Mail and Guardian (worth noting the time of day as it will look quite different that evening) type up or voiceover your findings. Upload onto youtube. Look at home page, links, images chosen, main articles, choice. Any interesting representations? Any interesting audience contributions to the articles? Scroll down to see how the Guardian is asking for contributions. 

Then go onto their social media (you may have to use your phones for these) – what articles have they chosen? What is the most popular topic today? How do the audience contribute in their comments.

For revision you will need to compare print and online editions and you shall note why you think there are differences between the print and online editions of the newspapers. How much is due to the technology itself.

Shelter Ad Analysis

Twitch and Minecraft

Minecraft

Minecraft – The Story of Mojang

The following two extracts are from the documentary Mojang: The Story of Minecraft which can be found in full on Youtube. Watch the extracts carefully and answer the questions.

A Youtuber’s experience (Interview with Ali-A (additional comments by …) . Time 24.34-33.56:

1) How many subscriptions does Ali-A have for his Youtube channel?
    16 million

2) How many years has he been doing this?
    2006 to present

3) Why did he start playing Minecraft?
    Because of request from fans, and because of the rapid success of Minecraft after being      released.

4) What does he say he is trying to do with his content?
    

5) Describe his average working day
    

6) Why might we watch Youtubers?
    To gain up to date information about trends on social media and to entertain interests.

7) What is Twitch and what is the average time spent on it by a viewer?
    Twitch is a live-stream platform, for which gamers and other screen recording users can distribute their video live globally.

8) How much do you estimate that Ali-A earns in a year? Go to socialblade.com to check your answer
    Estimate: £200,00 a year   /    SocialBlade.com: £160k-£2.6M a year

Microsoft’s purchase of Mojang (3.22-8.15) :

9) How much was Minecraft purchased for?
    Microsoft bought Minecraft for $2.5 billion.

10) What are 3 reasons behind Microsoft’s purchase?

a) Microsoft get rights and Ownership to the game.

b) A new huge source of revenue.

C) Expanding Microsoft advertising.

11) How might this affect the game?
     The Original intention and content within Minecraft can be altered without original owner's permission. However, it could also increase and widen the variety of players.

12) What is Minecraft’s biggest asset?
      Minecraft's biggest asset is that it hosts an infinite sandbox to create and visualise anyone's imagination. It is also age appropriate for all ages. There are no boundaries.

Radio One episode 1

JB 2016 Interview Evaluation

What was the task you were assigned?

- Our task was to plan and produce a custom interview starring the 'Producer' and 'Marketing Manager' of Jungle Book 2016. The Video should've included questions and answers given by the 'interviewer' and answered by each interviewee.

What programme did you use to complete your task? 
- To edit and finish the task, we used Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects.


What tools/effect did you use from your programme to create your task?

-To blend the Film trailer with our camera scenes, we inserted both an audio fade and video fade to produce a smooth transition. We also used Ultra Key to remove the green screen background and replace it with our custom made interview background (made on photoshop). 


What were the biggest obstacles to completing your task?

- To complete the task, we had to create a script and agree together on what to question and answer. Another obstacle was filming the actual shots in the 'green-room'. This meant correct positioning and lighting for perfect results.

Did you complete the task on time? If not, why not?

How do you think this task will help with your Jungle Book revision?

What do you think you could have improved in terms of content and presentation? 

What was your initial feedback? What did others say about your production?

Identify what went well and with hindsight what would you do differently?

Jungle Book 2016 Interview

Jungle Book Google slides

OCR Jungle Book fact sheet

Disney

Key facts about Disney:

- $150 billion business
- 22 Oscar Awards and 59 nominations
- First theme park 1955
- 2018 (current) 6 parks/resorts operating around the world
- 2nd largest organisation to purchase US explosives (after military)
- Ownership: Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, ABC television, ESPN...

Disney produce an average of 10 films per year.
The 2019 Disney products (as planned):

- Dumbo
- Captain Marvel
- Avengers: End Game
- Aladdin
- Toy Story 4
- Lion King
- Artemis Fowl
- Frozen 2
- Star Wars Episode 9
- Lady and the Tramp

Synergy - The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

Disney Synergy - The combined result of different distribution factors put in place by Disney to promote a certain film.

Why have newspaper sales declined?

In the past 20 years, media and technology and progresses so rapidly that already, the number of hard copy newspaper sales have gradually dropped. Print sales have declined for a number of reasons, the main reason being technology and social media. With things like Facebook, Instagram, snapchat, twitter etc… news can be spread much faster and to a significantly larger audience of both larger age groups and locations around the world. So social media on its own is a worthy reason to why newspaper sales have decreased.

Another reason to which newspaper sales has decreased is online News websites. Since the late 1980s and early 1990s news papers began setting up their own online databases and websites to host their newspapers on the internet. To the current day, nearly all tabloid and broadsheet companies own their own website alongside the hard copy of their paper. This is another reason behind actual newspapers having a lower sale rate over the last 20 years.

However, although there has been a decline in news 'print' circulation, social media and technology together have allowed major newspaper companies to broaden their audience and send their name/reputation around the world.

Having newspapers online makes it easier for anyone to read to latest stories and headlines. For example if anyone is unable to access a hard copy, they can find the whole paper online. Furthermore, this allows for news to reach a younger audience alongside grownups and 'old agers'. As a result of this, the world as a whole can be made more aware of any political, conflict or citizen related news. Online news websites also provide other services beside articles and headlines, such as interactive features for all audiences and sub categories for all ethnicities, genders and interests (which can't always be found in a printed issue). Online newspapers overall seem more appealing than a printed copy, both pricewise and accessibility. Furthermore, television and the internet have enabled news to reach the consumer much faster and at a lower daily/weekly/annual price. This has also resulted in large newspapers like 'The Guardian, The Sun and The Daily Mail to lose revenue and subscription fees. This, alongside adverts, is the traditional main profit source for such companies. Online news and media requires much less to no payment at all, making newspapers seem like an added and now unnecessary expense in everyday life.

According to the BBC, some newspapers have declined by up to 28% since 2013.

According to the Guardian newspaper (Objective), the Daily Express for example sold an average of 391,626 each day in December 2016, which was 2.3% lower than the same month a year before.

Another example is the Daily Mail, which has a 'year on year' decrease in sales by 6.7%. Yet another case involving the "market leading" Sun, which sold 10.5% less in 2017 than it did 2016.

These statistics only support the fact that since the ever-improving online news websites have established, sales of hard copy newspapers have increasingly declined… and will undoubtedly continue to do so. 

Newspaper Industry Research

 Who owns the Newspapers

1. In the Executive Summary on page 2, paragraph 4 the overview identifies that: ‘today’s aggregate advertising expenditure and net circulation figures equate to about half of their 2007 value.’ Bullet point why you think this is the case.

   Answer

   
   
2. On page 7, the market structure is analysed using data provided by the ABC. Who are the ABC and why is their data collection so important for newspaper owners and advertisers?

   The ABC is the American Broadcasting Company...
3. On pages 17-18, paragraph 2.14 the overview identifies the circulation figures of Sunday newspapers. Thinking about your set products and audience consumption, why do you think Sunday newspapers have traditionally sold more copies than their daily counterparts?

   Answer
4. What are the leading broadsheet, tabloid and mid-market tabloids in terms of circulation? What are their daily circulation figures?

   Answer
5. Think about The Guardian and the Daily Mail - describe their position in the marketplace.

   Answer
6. On page 12, the overview discusses how The Guardian is ‘owned by the Scott Trust, a private company whose core purpose is ‘to ensure the financial and editorial independence of The Guardian.’ How can this be linked with the news values of the newspaper?
7. In terms of digital distribution, what do you think has been more important to the brand identity of national newspapers, the online website or App mobile platforms?
8. On pages 25-26 the decline in ‘trust’ in newspapers is identified. Who is the offline and online regulator of the newspaper industry and how effective do you think they are in ‘policing’ the industry?
9. On page 37, ownership of newspaper industry via mergers is charted form 2007 to 2018. What are the three reasons given as tow wy consolidation has helped newspapers as a declining media form?
10. On page 45, how are platforms like Buzzfeed, Vice Media and The Huffington Post (The Huff Post) seen as a challenge to traditional newspaper industry online platforms?
    https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/720400/180621_Mediatique_-_Overview_of_recent_dynamics_in_the_UK_press_market_-_Report_for_DCMS.pdf