In Every Race Winners Have The Best View

Michael Hedges March 9, 2019 Follow on Twitter

Brand leaders always get lots of attention. Superior products and services are worthy of accolades, not to forget happy and loyal customers. These are traditional market forces, price serving to mediate enthusiasm. Bugatti’s US$18.9 million one-of-a-kind Voiture Noire (Black Car), sold in one day, does not a brand make. Competitors need a plan.

Counting Netflix subscribers has finally eclipsed counting Facebook users as a barometer of digital shift. Both keep growing; the former almost everywhere, the later not so much. Netflix is approaching 150 million paid subscribers while Facebook’s monthly active users, who pay through data collection and exposure to dodgy messages, are about 2.2 billion. Both, in their separate worlds, are brand leaders.

“Netflix doesn’t have a brand,” said WarnerMedia Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt to NBC (March 6) just one day into his new job. “It’s just a place you go to get anything. it’s like Encyclopedia Britannica.” WarnerMedia, known as Time Warner until recently, is a subsidiary of US telecom AT&T. It has offered the premium cable and satellite TV bouquet HBO (Home Box Office), succeeding Time-Life Inc, since 1973. The company launched subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) products in 2001, almost entirely for the US market. Its HBO Now SVoD service has about 8 million US subscribers.

“It’s getting to be a crowded field,” observed Mr. Greenblatt. “We think there’s room to carve out a very good consumer base for us.” AT&T is expected to launch, eventually, its own SVoD services. New trademarks registered this month, unrelated to HBO or WarnerMedia, may or may not indicate movement toward an AT&T TV brand. As part of the recent big-time media/tech deal flow, AT&T is also expected to sell its 10% stake in SVoD Hulu so the Walt Disney Company can have it all, or most of it as Comcast/NBCUniversal is reluctant to part with its 30% stake. Disney is parking streaming video services at Hulu until is launches Disney+ worldwide.

SVoD service BritBox officially launched two years ago as a gateway for British video content to the US and Canadian markets. It is a joint venture of the UKs biggest broadcasters - and significant producers - BBC and ITV. Last month the owners announced its impending appearance “in the second half of this year” in the UK.

“Not long ago, traditional broadcasters and media organisations could each do our thing and expect audiences to make time to come to us,” explained BBC general director Tony Hall at the London Media & Telecoms & Beyond Conference, quoted by Deadline Hollywood (March 7). “Now we must fit around their lives. Deliver value directly to them. Or we all risk irrelevance. This is a profound shift.” In other words, it is past time to get into the SVoD fight. It is expected that Channel 4 (C4) will join the BritBox venture, to fully encompass all UK designated public service broadcasters.

The precise offerings through BritBox will likely follow from the North American predecessor; “more classic British TV” to "the biggest collection of UK content available on any service.” The best guess on cost, from Enders Analysis founder Claire Enders, quoted by The Economist (February 27), is between £4 and £5 a month, roughly the same as the US price, US$6.99 a month. “Neither party sees this as a Netflix killer.” Netflix has about 10 million UK subscribers, Amazon Prime TV about 5 million. Then there’s Sky, long a leader in sports programming and soon to be part of the aforementioned US telecom Comcast.

Lord Hall took the Netflix complaints further, reported The Guardian (March 7), by offering that the acclaimed drama series The Crown drew smaller audiences through Netflix in the UK than BBC produced series Luther and Bodyguard, which had far small production budgets. He cited internal audience research and provided no further details. Netflix never releases audience estimates of single shows. Lord Hall also called for the streaming services to be regulated.

Also bummed out by Netflix is acclaimed movie director/producer Steven Spielberg. He wants the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to boot out Netflix, reported Variety (March 5). The Academy hands out the Oscars, which tend to affirm brand strength to all who get their hands on them. At the most recent Academy Awards, the critically acclaimed Netflix-distributed film Roma took Oscars for best director (Alfonso Cuaron), best foreign language film and best cinematography. Netflix set a three-week theatrical release prior to offering Roma online.

“He’s not reading the tea leaves,” said Academy member Stu Zakim. “That ship has sailed.”

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