🍿Let me entertain you | On box offices & home entertainment

📽 Streaming Wars, the saga continues with 3 new articles to read! Episode IV - A new take. Episode V - Disney Strikes Back. Episode VI - Return of the franchise.

🕹 Roblox reaches 100 Million MAUs, a game turned platform turned social network that is still unknown to many

🧪 Ohhh weee. Rick and Morty got a new website, FullHouse a Swanson-makeover and moons the proper attention they deserve

Two weeks ago I wrote about Netflix losing customers for the first time and how they are struggling with increased competition, pricing wars and losing major IPs like friends. This week I’d like to return to the entertainment business and to follow up, I’ve got 3 interesting articles to share with you. 

The first one is by Ben Evans, who describes how technology is only a commodity and the key to the TV market is still content. That’s why - according to him - Netflix is not a tech, but a television company. 

Honestly, one takeaway for me was the term D2C, direct-to-consumer, describing businesses that sell directly to their customers online, whereas traditional B2C companies still rely on retail / a middleman. 

Also, I found it pretty amusing that he chose Sky as an example. It’s true, Sky does have some good content, mostly because they buy the rights to show HBO shows in Europe, though. But to me, the user experience of using Sky is one of the worst nightmares and so unbelievably bad that I wouldn’t pay for the service no matter the content (I only watch Sky when they offer a free month for promo)

Want to hear some rant about Sky Ticket for 20 minutes straight? Here you go, enjoy.

But the important thing is that if technology is only a secondary, it doesn’t matter that Netflix has the best infrastructure and viewing experience, what matters is only the content. And with Disney pulling all their IP, Netflix could actually lose its edge. 

Maybe Benioff and Weiss will rescue Netflix. But probably not.

Disney announced a new bundle containing Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu for only $12.99. That’s some pretty aggressive pricing by Disney and once they got customers lured in, they will probably increase the price by a lot.

All of this shows how serious Disney is about entering the streaming market and with such a strong portfolio of brands and IPs, they will pretty sure become a major player real quick.

Matthew Ball offers many interesting takes and in-depth analysis on the current movie business and explains why ‘Franchise Fatigue’ does not exist.

‘Franchise Fatigue’ is often cited as the main reason for declining ticket sales, blaming franchises like Fast & Furious or Spiderman for being boring and unattractive for movie-goers.

There are many more super interesting facts and insights, simply too many to summarize here. Go read it.

This next chapter is also about entertainment, but for kids. Or have you ever heard of Roblox?

Although primarily targeted at children, you should take notice because this week, Roblox announced they have reached over 100 Million MAUs (monthly active users). 

That’s more than Minecraft (approx 90m) or even Fortnite.

First all, it’s actually quite old and was originally launched in 2006. But only a few years ago it became popular. It looks like Minecraft, but goes way deeper in terms of gameplay, allowing players to create their own games or join games created by friends. 

Fortnite and Roblox on the other hand have in common that they turned games into platforms, or even social networks if you will. 

It’s a gigantic community and for bystanders / outsiders like me hard to grasp what makes the game so appealing, but I find it fascinating how these games can not only become a cultural phenomenon but also become a social network itself.

Deepfakes are videos or images that use ‘AI’ to map someones face onto a different person. They rose to fame thanks to deepfaked celebrity porn, but got elevated into new heights with this fantastic video, where Nick Offerman, or better Ron Swanson, plays every character in Full House.

Moons. Man, they are so cool. Of course you knew that there is more than just one moon in our solar system. But did you know there are almost 200?! I know, right? So cool. To learn even more about them, check out this awesome National Geographic microsite, dedicated to the moons of our solar system.

Even if you couldn’t care less about moons (shame on you!), it’s still a super cool website and a great example of digital storytelling, using advanced animations, interactive data and maps and a slick design.

Season 4 of Rick and Morty will finally air in November, which still feels like an eternity to me. But thanks to the genius at Active Theory, we got a new Rick and Morty website to cover the wait.

It’s easily the highlight of the week, perfectly capturing the quirkiness of the show.