Cordkillers 394 - Paying Through the Eyeballs (w/ Naaim Siddiqi)
Streamers need more content, Sundance is selling content, Halo's trailer airs, and a reboot of Texas Chainsaw Massacre comes to Netflix. All that and more on Cordkillers! With special guest Naaim Siddiqi ( https://twitter.com/kuhan ).
This week on It's Spoilerin' Time: The Book of Boba Fett (105), The Righteous Gemstones (205), Miami Vice (219, "The Fix")
Next week: The Book of Boba Fett (106), The Righteous Gemstones (206), Raised By Wolves (201)
CordKillers: Paying Through the Eyeballs
Recorded: January 31 2022
Guest: Naaim Siddiqi
Intro Video
Season two of Netflix's Space Force
Primary Target
Disney+, HBO Max and Other Streamers Get Waves of Subscribers From Must-See Content. Keeping Them is Hard
- The Wall Street Journal reports on data from Antenna shows that Brian's philosophy on streaming subscriptions is having an effect.
- Major releases are a big driver to get people to sign up for services but if the hits don't keep coming people leave.
- The day Hamilton came to Disney Plus got 450,000 new signups. About 300,000 or so more than any other peak day and well above the average somewhere below 50,000.
- Wonder Woman 1984 shot HBO Max signups up above 400,000 the day it came outputting it 200,000 above the second highest day of the past year.
- And Apple TV+ hit just below 60,000 signups when Tom Hanks Greyhound came out, about double its highest days of the year.
- However, according to Antenna about half of those viewers were gone with in 6 month. Viewers who sign up on a spike day are more likely to unsubscribe than other new signups. Another example: Peacock lost about half the people who signed up during the summer olympics within 4 months.
- Netflix and Hulu have bucked the trend in by constantly adding new items and in Hulu's case partly by adding episodes on a weekly schedule instead of all at once.
- US households subscribe to an average of 3.6 services on average at any given time.
- So folks it looks like we're leaving the gold rush era of everybody starting a streaming service, and heading into he cutthroat competition era. The knives are now officially out.
How to Watch
Sundance Movies Sell to Streamers Over Theatrical Studios
- Variety has an article out by Rebecca Rubin titled "Has Sundance Become a Film Festival for Streaming Services?"
- At the Sundance film festival Apple spent the most, outbidding others to get "Cha Cha real Smooth" for $15 million. Rubin points out that streamers don't have to sell movie tickets to make money off an acquisition and that studios who do are having a harder time than ever getting people into the theater for anything that doesn't have at minimum three spider-men.
- There are more hybrid auctions as well like Emma Thompson's "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande" which sold to Searchlight and Hulu.
- The unspoken implication is that nobody knows when theaters will be "back" in full and what that will mean for smaller and indie films when it does happen. In the meantime, there's sure money from streamers which may be moving the indie scene onto the Home Screen.
What to Watch
New Halo TV series trailer: The good, the bad, and the Cortana
- Paramount Plus released a trailer for the Halo TV series featuring Master Chief and an appearance from Cortana. The series will not be canon at least not in relation to the games, similar to the Witcher though for different reasons. The TV Halo timeline will be referred to as the 'silver' timeline. Halo arrives on Paramount Plus March 24th.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Trailer: Netflix Unleashes Leatherface on a New Generation
- A reboot of Texas Chainsaw Massacre is coming to Netflix February 18th and there's a new trailer promoting it. It's directed by David Blue Garcia who wrote Don't Breathe and both Evil Dead movies. John Larroquette returns as narrator, just like the 1974 film. This new movie is considered a direct sequel o the original, though taking place long after. Producer Fede Álvarez said
- “I think the first movie really hit a nerve when portraying that culture clash between the countryside and the city. Back in the ’70s, the hippies were representing the youth of the city. This time, they’re more like millennial hipsters from Austin who are very entrepreneurial and have a dream of getting away from the city and back to the countryside. They’re trying to gentrify small-town America — and let’s just say they encounter some pushback.”
James Gunn Eyeing Second ‘Suicide Squad’ Spinoff Series For HBO Max, Says ‘Peacemaker’ Has “Really Good Chance” For Season 2
- James Gunn told Deadline's Hero Nation that he has approached HBO Max about another Suicide Squad spinoff series and the company is enthusiastic. HBO Max had no comment on that or whether Peacemaker will get a second season. Gunn wouldn't say what the ideas was for the new series except that it would not be as much of a comedy as Peacemaker.
Eyes On
Naaim: Ghosts
Brian: We Need to Talk About Cosby
Tom: Reset (Viki)
On the Lookout: How to with John Wilson
Front Lines
NBC And Fox Will Both Air USFL Opener In April, In First TV Network Sports Simulcast Since 1967
- For the first time since 1967, two major broadcasters in the US will simulcast a sporting event. In 1967 NBC and CBS both broadcast the first Super Bowl. On April 16th this year Fox and NBC will both broadcast the return of the USFL as the New Jersey Generals face the Birmingham Stallions. The USFL is controlled by Fox Sports and Fox and NBC have split up broadcast rights for the season. NBC Sports will handle the pregame, half-time and postgame and Fox will produce the game coverage. Both networks will carry the same program and same commercials.
Peacock Reaches 9M Stand-Alone Premium Subscribers And 7M More Via Paid Bundles; Comcast Plans 2022 Spending Ramp-Up To $3B
- It's earnings time so we have lots of check-ins on how the streamers are doing. Peacock announced it has 16 million paid subscribers. When you count free users Peacock reported 24. 5 million monthly active users. Peacock makes about $10 per user, which is better than they expected.
HBO And HBO Max Reach 46.8M Domestic Subscribers, With Average Revenue Of $11.15 As Parent (For Now) AT&T Beats Q4 Estimates
HBO owner WarnerMedia sees merger with Discovery closing before July
- HBO and HBO Max now have 46.8 million domestic subscribers, up 5.3 million on the year with an average revenue per user of $11.15. Globally HBO/Max is at 73.8 million up 13.1 million. It's the biggest single year subscriber increase in HBO's 50 years. AT&T said the merger of Warner Media (which runs HBO Max) with Discovery is expected to close somewhere between April and July. The new company will be called Warner Bros. Discovery.
Disney+ is expanding to 42 more countries this summer
- Disney+ announced it will expand to 42 more countries, including South Africa, Turkey, Poland and the United Arab Emirates. This will put Disney Plus in 106 countries, a little more than halfway to where Netflix is. Disney says it should hit 160 countries by the end of its fiscal 2023. Disney says it has 179 million subscriptions across Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.
Tim Cook Makes Rare Apple TV+ Comments On Earnings Call, Touts “Strategic Position,” “Great Content”
Apple CEO: ‘We Don’t Make Purely Financial Decisions’ About Apple TV Plus Content
- Apple CEO Tim Cook focused on the number of awards and nominations that Apple TV Plus’ programming slate has enjoyed - 200 award wins and more than 890 nominations - rather than touting viewership or subscriber numbers. He mentioned popular feature films “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” “CODA,” and “Swan Song,” and threw in some plugs for upcoming new series “Severance'' and “The Afterparty.” In response to an analyst's question about where Apple TV+ may go, for example would it want to acquire a studio? Cook said "We don’t make purely financial decisions about the content. We try to find great content that has a reason for being."
- Cook went on to say “We love shows like ‘Ted Lasso’ and several of the other shows… that have a reason for existing and may have a good message, and may make people feel better at the end of it. But I don’t feel that we’ve narrowed our universe of things we’re selecting from. There’s plenty to pick from out there, and I think we’re doing a pretty good job of it as we speak.”
‘Masters Of The Universe’ Live-Action Mattel Movie Heads To Netflix After Being In Development At Sony; Kyle Allen To Play He-Man
The 'Mortal Kombat' movie is getting a sequel
‘The Righteous Gemstones’ Renewed For Season 3 At HBO
Disenchantment’s first season 4 trailer is dark and full of hellish terrors
- And a few other notable notes. Sony's Master of the Universe Film will premiere on Netflix this summer.
- Deadline reports a sequel to Mortal Kombat is on the way from Warner Brothers.
- HBO has approved a third season of the Righteous Gemstones.
- And Disenchantment’s fourth chapter has a new trailer in advance of arriving on Netflix February 9.
Dispatches from the Front
Hey Bossman #894 here with a few thoughts from recent eps:
1. $20 is the proverbial line in the sand for Netflix monthly which would mark approx 60% increase in my subscription rate since signing up less than 10 years ago, and that my friends is a bridge too far…I would then only dip in/out as warranted.
2. I believe I am a unicorn when it comes to Cordkillers, in that I am not a Sci-Fi guy in any way, shape or form (have never seen a single Star Wars/Trek, MCU, DC, piece of content, well, ever), and I don’t share this as some sort of dumbass humblebrag but instead to say I find the informational value of your show so compelling & thought-provoking that I can’t NOT be a Patron…just wanted you to know us non-Sci Fi folks are out there.
- Jeff
Hi Tom, Brian and Bryce,
The recent news of a Netflix price hike made me realize that Netflix is getting close to the price of HBO. And at the same time, HBO Max has run 2 promos recently with price breaks for new or lapsed subscribers, something I can't remember Netflix ever doing.
I definitely think $15/month is a price point above which I will be pausing my Netflix account much more often.
I've also found a way to save money on some of the other streaming services: a sort of modification of the Chicken Challenge. Once you cancel, they try to lure you back with offers that give you a temporary discount. I've done this with Paramount+ and Starz. It's worth the time for those of us who are looking for any savings we can get.
I always enjoy the show.
Your Boss,
- Beelissa
Hey Brian and Tom,
I'm a new boss as of today and I just had a quick question. Are there any plans on bringing back the movie draft? The Winter and Summer movie drafts were a really fun part of the show. And 2022 seems like it will be a gigantic year for movies. From Marvel to DC, Avatar sequel and everything in between. Thanks you for your time. Love the show.
- Shelton
Links
patreon.com/cordkillers
doghousesystems.com/v/rogue
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