After cracking down on password sharing, expanding into ads and investing billions in live TV, group declares success
Netflix expects to double its profits this quarter after the world’s largest streaming service added more than 5 million new subscribers this summer.
After cracking down on password sharing, introducing adverts to its service and investing billions in live TV, the group declared it had “delivered” on plans to shore up its business.
Continue reading...Ad-funded streamer wades into market with offering it says will appeal to those underserved by rivals
The Wes Anderson classic Moonrise Kingdom, the Channel 4 sitcom Fresh Meat, a reality TV series about adult content creators, some Bollywood hits and a handful of shark flicks: Tubi’s home screen is not short of viewing options, just like the British video-streaming market it waded into this week.
Tubi is taking on the likes of Netflix, Disney+, ITVX and the BBC’s iPlayer with a free, ad-funded service offering 20,000 films and TV episodes, and an ambition of repeating its success in the US, where it has amassed nearly 80 million monthly users. But will it have a similar impact in the UK, where rival platforms are already well established?
Continue reading...Netflix hit series based on Patricia Highsmith novel brings prospect of surge in visitors to Atrani area of Amalfi coast
When Andrew Scott’s eponymous character in the hit new Netflix series Ripley travels from Naples to the village of Atrani, the rickety bus has the road almost to itself; a solitary Vespa passes going the other way. When he tracks down Dickie Greenleaf at the beach, the rich American and his girlfriend are the only people sunbathing on the pristine sands.
Visitors to the Amalfi coast today will note the contrast. Unlike in 1961, the road between Positano and Salerno is now known as much for its traffic jams as for the views. Atrani may be less busy than its neighbour Amalfi, but in summer its beach is taken over by rows of umbrellas and sunbeds. A small area, perhaps a fifth of the space, is public spiaggia libera.
Continue reading...Eight-episode series based on Liu Cixin novels triggers accusations of ‘Americanisation’ of a Chinese story
Netflix’s big-budget adaptation of Three-Body Problem, a series of novels by the Chinese author Liu Cixin, has divided opinion on Chinese social media.
The eight-episode series, 3 Body Problem, was released in full on Netflix on Thursday. It is based on the first book in Liu’s trilogy, an ambitious sci-fi series spanning civilisation from the 1960s to the end of humanity.
Continue reading...Jungle-based competition in which celebrities try to evade Bear Grylls part of a wide-ranging new Netflix slate
Holly Willoughby has made her first major move since leaving This Morning, signing up to host a new Netflix show, Bear Hunt with Bear Grylls.
In October she announced she was quitting the ITV show after 14 years “for me and my family” after it emerged she was the target of an alleged kidnap and murder plot.
Continue reading...Surprisingly, Foxtel’s Hubbl makes a pretty good case for itself even if it doesn’t completely pass the sniff test
Foxtel is set to kickstart a massive marketing blitz to promote its new streaming TV hardware Hubbl. As viewers watch the TV ads featuring Hamish Blake dancing across their screens dressed up as a Hubbl set-top box, many will be asking a not-unreasonable question: “Doesn’t my TV already do this?”
Most Australians now have a smart TV. Australia got serious about streaming TV back in 2015 with the launch of Stan and Netflix. With the general lifespan of a TV being somewhere between 7 and 15 years, it means most of Australia by now have smart TVs or have equipped their TV with a plug-in device to make their TV “smart”.
Continue reading...Annual card spending report says consumers are prioritising travel and nights out and buying value-range groceries amid cost of living crisis
Hard-pressed consumers cut back on eating out and buying new clothes to prioritise spending on travel, entertainment and a visit to the pub over the past year, as soaring inflation and rising bills sharply curtailed the rate of spending growth.
Consumer card spending increased by 4.1% year-on-year in 2023, almost two-thirds lower than the 10.6% rise in 2022, as the sharp increase in the cost of living took its toll on households.
Continue reading...Live and on-demand TV over broadband replaces BT TV as firm continues brand and service revamp
The BT-owned EE is rolling out its revamped TV over broadband offering, which delivers live and on-demand services streamed to a choice of set-top boxes that includes a customised Apple TV – a first for the UK.
The new IPTV service continues the firm’s replacement of the BT brand with EE and ditches the aerial while still offering free-to-air and premium channels in a range of packages starting at £18 a month on top of the required EE broadband subscription.
Continue reading...The UK series, which employed hundreds of Australian cast and crew, is the latest victim of cost-cutting measures at Disney and beyond
A big budget series filmed in Queensland which employed hundreds of Australian cast and crew has become the latest victim of cuts at Disney, being dropped by the studio after filming – and before it even had a chance to be released.
Nautilus, a UK series that had been set to stream on Disney+, is a prequel story to Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Shazad Latif stars as Captain Nemo, an Indian prince who became a prisoner of the East India Company and sets off on a mission of revenge on submarine Nautilus.
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Continue reading...Lost cricket rights prompts outflow but streaming service almost halves losses while theme parks boom
Disney, known for Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel movies, said its flagship streaming service lost 4 million subscribers in the first three months of the year.
Subscribers to Disney+ services, home to movies such as Toy Story, Monsters, Thor and Black Panther, fell to nearly 158m from January to March, the second quarter of customer losses after a 2.4 million drop in the previous three months. Analysts had expected Disney to add more than 1 million customers in the quarter. The shares fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading.
Continue reading...With songs and movies readily available on streaming services, illegal downloads have moved to less-available media
A growing demand for pirated Japanese manga in Australia has coincided with a decline in the piracy of TV shows, movies and music over the last five years.
Last month, the attorney general’s department released a review of Australia’s copyright enforcement, which included an analysis of trends in online copyright infringement.
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Continue reading...Slow uptake of ad-supported offering has meant lower than expected viewing figures, made worse by UK cost of living crisis
Netflix is expected to suffer a second year of subscriber declines in the UK in 2023 as the cost of living crisis takes its toll and the streaming giant’s new cheaper, ad-supported service takes time to win over users.
The world’s biggest streaming service is expected to have lost around 500,000 UK subscribers in 2022 and to lose another 200,000 this year, as increasingly budget conscious consumers cut back on spending.
Continue reading...L’Oréal and Budweiser owner advertise on Basic with Ads but high prices for slots put off some agencies
Netflix has launched its first subscription package featuring ads in a drive to reignite growth by attracting cost-conscious users, but the hurried launch, high prices for slots and accompanying demands have left some advertisers unconvinced.
Basic with Ads, which went live in 12 countries this week, costs £4.99 a month in the UK – £2 less than its cheapest ad-free package – and hopes to lure households whose budgets are shrinking in the cost of living crisis.
Continue reading...Streaming services on standby as review expected to recommend changes to the number of games broadcast on free-to-air television
More elite sports could end up on free-to-air television in Australia and streaming services such as Stan or Kayo could face increased regulation when bidding for broadcast deals, as the federal government looks to modernise rules governing which events can be shown on Foxtel pay TV.
“Every Australian deserves the chance to enjoy live and free coverage of events of national significance, regardless of where they live or what they earn,” the communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said.
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Continue reading...Getting a place right shouldn’t be hard, so why does TV show Somebody Somewhere’s accurate depiction of the midwest feel like a miracle?
One Saturday last fall, my husband and I bought an antique clawfoot bathtub in Manhattan, Kansas. After loading it from a stranger’s backyard into the bed of our truck, we walked to The Chef, a downtown diner, figuring we might be seated quickly with half the town tailgating at the Kansas State University football game.
We drank bloody Marys on the patio among white, Black and brown diners while purple school flags waved in the autumn breeze. Our server pointed to a pile of blankets in case I got chilly.
Continue reading...The dystopian drama tops the streaming service’s charts in more than 80 countries, bumping aside recent Regency-era romp, Bridgerton
Dystopian South Korean drama Squid Game has become Netflix’s most popular series ever, drawing 111 million fans since its debut less than four weeks ago, the streaming service said Tuesday.
The unprecedented global viral hit imagines a macabre world in which marginalised people are pitted against one another in traditional children’s games. While the victor can earn millions in cash, losing players are killed.
Continue reading...Demand for capacity grows on back of hit Netflix shows, online games and more
The breakout success of the South Korean drama Squid Game has prompted a local broadband provider to launch legal action to force the maker, Netflix, to help pay for the huge surge in traffic, the latest flashpoint in the argument over who should carry the burden of the spiralling costs of data fuelled by the global streaming boom.
From Netflix’s latest global sensation and livestreamed Premier League football matches on Amazon Prime Video, to bandwidth-busting traffic when hit online games such as Fortnite or Call of Duty are updated, the demand for internet capacity has undergone unprecedented growth in recent years.
Continue reading...Content deal over author of children’s classics such as Matilda and The BFG is firm’s biggest to date
Netflix has acquired the works of Roald Dahl, the author of children’s classics including the BFG, Fantastic Mr Fox and the Witches, in the streaming company’s biggest content deal to date.
The agreement struck by Netflix, which already has a deal in place with the Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC) to license 16 titles, will help it build its content arsenal in the streaming wars against rivals including Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max.
Continue reading...He gained cult status in Harry Potter, despite not even wanting to audition, then matured in How to Get Away With Murder. What’s the actor doing now? Playing 1,000-year chess in deep space
At the age of 10, Alfred Enoch was cast as Gryffindor student Dean Thomas in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. While it wasn’t the most prominent role, Thomas was one of the few black or Asian characters in the third-highest-grossing film series ever – and this, allied with his boyish good looks, has lent Enoch cult status among Potterheads. “Not to downplay it,” says Enoch, “but I wasn’t an integral character. I’ve expressed that to people and they still say, ‘Yeah, but I saw you and you looked like me.’”
Enoch was cast after catching the Potter team’s eye during a performance at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. However, he’d earlier declined the chance to audition when producers held an open call at his school. “I didn’t go for Harry Potter in the beginning because I couldn’t think of any black characters,” he says.
Continue reading...The widely detested 1997 adaptation and its various bizarre spin-offs are worth a reappraisal in this era in which nothing makes sense
Serious comic book fans and discerning cinephiles consider director Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin from 1997 one of the worst films ever made – but they are wrong. It’s easily more entertaining than Christopher Nolan’s feted Batman trilogy (come at me Nolanites) – an endlessly quotable and absurd corporate climate change parable and the source of teenage mania among my early 2000s high school friends.
The intensely silly caper is more reminiscent of the 60s TV show, and Silver Age comics, than the brooding 80s publications that inspired Nolan and everyone since. Fans were understandably upset with the film’s reduction of Bane (one of Batman’s most intelligent foes) to a witless henchman; but in The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan and Tom Hardy turned Bane into a helium-fuelled, amateur Shakespearean actor, so, whatever.
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