Guy Gardener wrote:
The real time data they are collecting from your "subscription" is as good as if they had bugged your living room.
You're paying them to monitor you.
That's intimately masochistic.
Or narcassistic, since it means they're paying attention to MEEEEE and what I want, which never having had a Nielsens box is more than I can say for regular TV.
I can't remember if this
has been noted yet, but apparently it's no coincidence that Netflix chose House of Cards
in particular to remake, snce they saw a connection between viewers of the BBC version and both Spacey and Fincher fans. So hey, put em together and you have a winner, right?
For at least a year, Netflix has been explicit about its plans to exploit its Big Data capabilities to influence its programming choices. “House of Cards” is one of the first major test cases of this Big Data-driven creative strategy. For almost a year, Netflix executives have told us that their detailed knowledge of Netflix subscriber viewing preferences clinched their decision to license a remake of the popular and critically well-regarded 1990 BBC miniseries. Netflix’s data indicated that the same subscribers who loved the original BBC production also gobbled down movies starring Kevin Spacey or directed by David Fincher. Therefore, concluded Netflix executives, a remake of the BBC drama with Spacey and Fincher attached was a no-brainer, to the point that the company committed $100 million for two 13-episode seasons.
I've heard of TV shows made by committee, but that's the first one made by, what, computer programmers' logic? A+B+C = PROFIT! Does a creative business really work like that?