Closing The Streaming Book on a Big November 2021
Well, I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday vacation. When you last heard from me,…
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Paramount+ (and ViacomCBS) Had Their Best Week Of the Streaming Wars
This week I’m continuing a bit of an experiment, having split my usual streaming ratings…
Who Won the Weekend: Red Notice vs Disney+ Day?
As we head into the new year—somehow, we’re in the 22nd year of 21st century—I’m…
How Netflix’s Total Hour Viewed Metrics Compares to Old 2 Minute Datecdotes
As everyone likely knows, Netflix changed metrics on us. Previously, the world’s biggest streamer released…
My Apologies: Apple TV+ and IMDb TV Aren’t Doing That Poorly
It’s the end of the year, and I’m feeling charitable. When you write on ratings…
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Is Only Murders In the Building A Sign of Strength for Hulu…Or Does it Reveal How Far They Need to Go?
November 30, 2021 9:53pm
Today, Netflix’s global viewership data will start to sneak into this report. But just the initial peeks. If the Netflix data were a garden, consider these the budding flowers just poking out of the dirt. For an introduction to this new data, I wrote a “Quick Explainer On Netflix’s New Weekly Top Ten Hours Viewed Charts” over at my website. Check it out. Meanwhile, like all weeks, there is a
A Quick Explainer on Netflix’s New Weekly Top Ten Hours Viewed Charts
November 24, 2021 9:14pm
Yesterday, I covered the strategy thinking behind Netflix’s latest data drop. Today, I’m going to dig into the initial takeaways I have from the data and how I plan to use it. And then I’ll be finished talking about this new data release. Kidding! I’m far from done. I still need to analyze the data while adding all the metadata I do for new content—which will generate a ton of
Why Netflix Chose To Release Their Top Ten Most Watched Lists
November 23, 2021 7:49pm
It’s not often my two worlds of data and strategy combine. But credit to Netflix for delivering a story that did just that last week. They announced that going forward they’ll release forty data points each week—twenty for film and TV, split into English and non-English language lists. And they released 20 weeks of data going back to July 2021. Yes, that’s a ton of data for me to sort,
Is the Streaming Winner of October Actually…Warner Bros?
November 20, 2021 12:59am
What a week for data! For those who haven’t seen it, Netflix announced the biggest data news yet of the streaming wars. Specifically, each week they’ll release, in near real time, the total hours viewed for their top English and Non-English language film and TV series. Forty data points each week! And on top of that, they provided 20 weeks of data to parse. 800 data points total! That’s a
Meet The New FCC Boss, Same as the Old FCC Boss
November 16, 2021 9:03pm
I’m always on the look out for a good story that I think matters but that barely registered in the media coverage. Over the last few weeks we got a perfect example. If instead you want to worry about Disney’s subscriber additions—and I may do just that in another outlet this week, wink wink—you can, but I plan to dive into boring government regulations. Yes, they’re boring, but that doesn’t
Netflix’s Big October is Big. But How Big?
November 12, 2021 11:36pm
If this week has a theme, it’s Halloween, since the ratings period covered by Nielsen—October 11th to 17th—is smack dab in the middle of October. But honestly you know what is scarier for others streamers? How well Netflix is doing. (If you missed it, my thoughts on Black Widow’s disappointing streaming debut went up at the Ankler on TUESDAY. Check it out!) (Reminder: The streaming ratings report compiles data from
How Popular are Standup Specials on Netflix? Plus the End of “Manifest Summer”
November 5, 2021 10:17pm
As usual, we have a lot of stories in the streaming ratings this week, from Squid Game’s second 50 million hour week to Black Widow showing back up on the Nielsen charts to Seinfeld’s debut to the usual flops and misses. Instead of those, we’ll look at the first appearance of a common piece of Netflix content: the first standup special to make the Nielsen ratings. (Yes, yes, I hear
After Dune, Three Questions for the Future of Legendary
November 3, 2021 8:55pm
Things have been moving over here at EntStrategyGuy headquarters. (More to come in the future.) As such, I skipped last week’s strategy column. There were a few interesting stories over the last two weeks—a new FCC commissioner, another check in on box office, earnings season—but I’m going to check in on arguably the biggest independent film producer out there instead, because it ties together a few themes. Before that, though,
Will Squid Game Take Tiger King’s Viewership Crown?
October 29, 2021 10:27pm
I often write that this is a “hits driven” business. (And yes, I often write both hit-driven and hits-driven. I’m not sure which is more accurate. Disney, for example, thrives not off one hit but multiple hits.) Nothing proved that this quarter quite like Squid Game. Let’s dive into a ton of streaming data to digest this week. Also, if you missed it, I went very in-depth on Squid Game
Apple TV+ Steps Up Their (Streaming Ratings) Game
October 25, 2021 10:25pm
I know what you’re here to read this week: my analysis on Squid Game launching from 3.4 million hours in its first weekend to 31.8 million hours in its second week. Yikes, that’s a jump! Well, I’m going to disappoint. My Squid Game thoughts were so good, I sent them over to the Ankler. (Trust me, there might be my favorite chart I’ve made this year in there.) But that
Three Lessons for the Averted IATSE
October 18, 2021 11:48pm
As I got ready to write this week’s column, my brother asked me what the story of the week was. And I had to reply that…I didn’t know? I’d kept up on all my newsletters and checking the trade websites last week, but no story stuck out as truly important. Besides a near disaster in the form of a strike. Yesterday (Sunday 17-Oct) we learned that wasn’t happening. (Thought it
What a Trio of German Films Tell Us about the Future of TV
October 15, 2021 6:18pm
Suddenly, this ratings report feels very cosmopolitan. A streaming ratings report of the world. You’ve got TV series from Spain and South Korea vying for attention with cop dramas from America. And German films trying to knock American animated films off the lists. That’s right, I’m talking about Firedrake the Silver Dragon! Oh wait, are some of you not familiar with that title? It’s a German animated film. Thanks to Netflix,
Did Squid Game Steal Money Heist’s Crown as Netflix’s Biggest International Title?
October 13, 2021 6:08pm
Today, it’s all about a foreign international title and its performance in the U.S. What’s that you say? Something about an octopus match? A cephalopod competition? Squid Game you say? Let me check. Give me a few minutes. Okay back. Yikes, Squid Game is popular! As I was writing this article, Netflix released a vague tweet that over 111 million accounts sampled 2 minutes. That’s the most global viewers for
The CAA/ICM Merger is Easy to Explain: Size = Power
October 9, 2021 12:15am
We’re switching things up this week. Since Nielsen delayed this week’s streaming ratings data, you’ll get the “Most Important Story of the Week” column today, and the “Streaming Ratings Report” on Monday. Sound good? If so, then onto the big story of the week, which I’ve been itching to write about since last week. (As always, sign up for my newsletter to get all my columns, streaming ratings reports, and
Hulu Is Going Streaking: Only Murders In the Building is Hulu’s Third Successful Show in a Row
October 4, 2021 6:42pm
To quote Will Ferrell in Old School, Hulu is going streaking! Specifically, they’ve launched their second successful TV series in August. Toss in an okay film performance and The Handmaid’s Tale’s good run, and they’ve had a successful summer. Of course, a Hulu “success” isn’t a Netflix success, or even a Disney+ success. Let’s explain that, plus look at Cinderella’s debut on Prime Video. (Reminder: The streaming ratings report compiles
Triple IATSE: Why a Hard To Pronounce Workers Guild May Control the Fate of the Streaming Wars
September 28, 2021 8:46pm
Last Monday, as I was assembling the flotsam and jetsam of news stories that compiled the week of news that was, I noticed a trio of stories about unions in Hollywood. SAG-AFTRA elected a new president, the Writer’s Guild East had a fight over its future, and then a little story about IATSE—the catch-all guild for “below the line” workers in Hollywood—was contemplating a strike. But I cut that little
A Streaming Royale Rumble: Who Won Cruella, He’s All That or Vacation Friends?
September 24, 2021 8:48pm
Folks, last week I promised you a show down of straight-to-streaming films, and by golly, we got it. Given the datecdotes, Nielsen ratings and creative auspices of the films involved, the battle lived up to the hype. (Reminder: The streaming ratings report compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Netflix datecdotes, Top Ten lists, Google Trends and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points
Manning the Booth…Is This the Future of Broadcasting?
September 20, 2021 10:10pm
Jerry Seinfeld had a terrific joke about the news: somehow there was always enough for the daily newspaper. Never more, never less. Well, the internet blew that up by magnitudes. It turns out we–as a society/community–can crank out tons of words on anything. But is it all “news”? Maybe? Probably not. Take my newsletter. I put out one column each week on the business of entertainment. And somehow there is
Can Disney’s Weekly Releases Keep Up With Netflix’s Binges?
September 17, 2021 7:49pm
Let me level with you: if Netflix took over the entire rankings list for another week—like they did the last two weeks—I probably would have quit. That level of dominance ceases to be impressive and just starts to be boring. (Fine, I wouldn’t have actually quit. But I would have complained.) It reminds me of why I like the NFL. Sure, the NFL has its dynasties—the Patriots and Chiefs come
Thoughts on Comparing Manifest to You, Serialized Content and the The Craziest Theory Yet about Manifest
September 16, 2021 4:58pm
Inspired by DVDs of old, whenever I dig into a particularly juicy topic—especially for another outlet—I write up a director’s commentary article for my own website. (Speaking of which, how does Disney+ not have director’s commentary versions of every MCU film? You’re telling me a cut of Avengers: Endgame with Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth doesn’t do crazy numbers? Or Kevin Feige with the Russo Brothers? Seriously
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