Blog: Hollywood

As the summer holidays begin, and Netflix starts feverishly planning for its strategic pivot into advertising, the impact of the unfolding attention recession will start being felt in video streaming. Across the northern hemisphere, record temperatures and the appeal of in real life (IRL) alternatives to staring at screens are now at their most appealing.

The 94thAcademy Awards are only 26 days away, and the long-established hype machine for promoting the Oscars, as they are popularly known, is well underway. Arguably, as the first Oscars post-pandemic (where the pandemic has been side-lined in favour of a resumption of post-lockdown life), the movie industry will be hoping that the Oscars return to their traditional default position at the pinnacle of the entertainment ecosystem.

Today Netflix announces its Q4 2020 results. Widely recognised as one of the standout business winners of 2020, Netflix avoided any D2C ‘Big Bang ’disruption by seeing its dominant streaming video position enhanced through the 1 5% of additional entertainment time which suddenly became available to consumers during the successive waves of lockdown which were rolled out by governments across the world to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a combined population of 371.7 million and a combined GDP of $2.9 trillion, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia represent sizeable and fast-growing markets for streaming services. The largest players by subscriptions are Netflix, iflix and Viu, with each competing and differentiating through their own unique selling points.

Last night at the Oscars Netflix finally won its first Academy Award, and then a second one, and then a third one. Like London buses, Netflix had spent a long time waiting and then suddenly three came along at once.