Explaining the Business of Entertainment
One of the traditions of Oscar coverage—in addition to crazy awards campaigns and a season which lasts 9 months—is the habitual article pointing out how little box office the top films earn. Have I been guilty of writing this feature? Absolutely. Do Popular Oscar Films Make for Larger Oscar Telecast
Often in my weekly column (the “most important story of the week”, click here!), I’ve called out the narratives behind one-off events. Take the Super Bowl. Were ratings down because we’re sick of the Patriots? The death of broadcast? Or because football isn’t popular anymore? Last year, a lot of
If I have one goal with this website, it’s to combat bad narratives about the entertainment business. And the best way to do that is with data. You’ve heard me mention this before, “Strategy is Numbers”. Data is the first step to quashing anecdotes and narratives. Today I’m going to
Two weeks ago, we had a topic that demanded immediate attention. Last week, we could leisurely stroll through video game data. This week we can both react to news and gaze at the future of home entertainment. That, plus a rant on bad data, a VERY long read of the
Records have nearly been smashed! After decades in the doldrums, in this year’s Oscar’s telecast—for achievement in the year 2018—popular movies made a comeback. Here’s Todd VanDerWerff explaining for Vox: For the first time since 2012, the total domestic box office of the eight films nominated for Best Picture topped
I should call this a round up of the last two weeks. Even though I got my column out on time last week, I had a lot of spill over ideas. So many stories that they bled into this week’s edition. (Which is late again.) Business-wise, the entertainment press had
If you want to know why I started this website, just take a look at the furor unleashed on the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences when it announced (via Twitter!) that it would add a new category called “Achievement in Popular Film”. First came the questions: “How would
I love it when the “most important story” ties directly into the topic I’ve been writing about a lot since July: “mergers & acquisitions in media and entertainment”. Call this the “Updating Your Priors” edition of my most important story. Most Important Story of the Week: An M&A Tidal Wave…Stalled