☀️NETFLIX Adds 8M Subscribers, Wall Street: 'Whatevs'
NETFLIX sets new Charlize Theron pic / FOX ENTERTAINMENT trims staff / NFL team revenue snapshot
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect here on LINKED-IN if ya like) and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on FRIDAY, July 19, 2024.
Where there’s noting quite as comforting in our modern world than waking up to find out that a good portion of the internet broke while you were sleeping from a MICROSOFT-centered breakdown, potentially triggered by, uh, wait for it . . . a cybersecurity provider’s software update (CROWDSTRIKE).
Ya know, I’m beginning to think maybe those “vinyl people” are onto something. 🧐 Either way, my practice of always getting a printed airplane boarding pass when I check in is looking a lot smarter today. Okay fine, maybe just a little less ridiculous.
ALSO: Nothing quite like a record-setting (not in the good way) 92-minute primetime TV speech, which somehow the NYT daily business column only described as “somewhat rambling,” (somewhat? 🤯), to remind America “Oh, right . . . this is what it was like 🤔.” Long way til November, folks. It’s also still 4 weeks ‘til the DNC convention.
AND: IATSE ratified its 3-year deal with the AMPTP.
OH: MAX is now half-off for college students. Er, ad-tier version — it’s important to teach the kids business economics early.
HUH: Zuck is trimming the sacred goose! META’s Reality Labs division is facing significant budget cuts according to The Information, with its VR hardware group facing a 20% spending cut. AI may rip off everyone to build its product, but the tech itself doesn’t come cheap.
PLUS: The cable business’ latest “innovation”? ALTICE is offering a package of 80 streaming channels for $30 a month to its broadband customers. Any sports? No. CNN? No. Basically a bunch of PAR and DISCO channels and 50 other randos.
So, lemme get this right — $30 a month for COMEDY CENTRAL, LIFETIME, HGTV, GREAT AMERICAN FAMILY etc . . . all uh, “ad tier” of course.
Or . . . ya know, just brainstorming here, I can pay roughly $30 a month and get NETFLIX, HULU, DIS+, PEACOCK and PAR+ ad tiers, which btw also come with plenty of major pro sports.
See folks — this is exhibit 236 as to why studios have no clear way out of this cable bundle-based revenue model mess they’ve built.
NOTE: The WNBA All-Star game is tomorrow night on ABC, but this isn’t just some ho-hum “East vs. West” essentially 60-minute shoot-around affair:
The WNBA is pitting the Team USA Olympic squad against a Team WNBA squad, consisting of essentially all of the top folks who didn’t make the team (yes, including Caitlin Clark). This could be fun tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m.
Non-Olympic WNBA players will then have the next month off due to the Olympic games. Where’s that $5M BIG3 league check when ya can actually use it?
BTW: ESPN scored another big WNBA audience as the season hit the midway point on Wednesday, getting 1.7M viewers for a FEVER-WINGS game, or basically the same size audience as a regular season NBA game.
The WNBA is expected to get a new TV rights deal worth just 3% of what the NBA is getting annually.
ELSEWHERE: MLB ⚾️ is still seeing returns from its “Hey, make the game shorter / the same length it used to be in the 1980s” campaign last year:
Attendance is +1% midway through the season, maintaining the +9% gains it got last year when it made the changes. #pitchclock
TV ratings are +6% for ESPN and +7% for FOX.
Huh, improve the product . . . see improved results, who would have thought? Has someone told the cable TV bundle?
REST IN PEACE: Goes out to comedy legend Bob Newhart, who died at the age of 94. A testament to his comedy and range that a 9-year-old kid like myself loved watching his sitcom in the 80s. A singular talent who will be missed.
WEEKEND READ: This NYT read about long-time WSJ personal finance columnist Jonathan Clements, who got a devastating cancer diagnosis at 61, sharing his thoughts on his previous advice about saving to have money for your later years . . . and about life in general is worth a read for some great perspective after the week that was. #goodread
IN THIS EDITION
Everything to know about the NETFLIX numbers — where is the growth this time vs. Q1, why isn’t the stock moving, why ARPU isn’t happy (and what’s ahead for price hikes) and much more.
New insights into the revenues for an NFL team also demonstrate the ticking time bomb of a revenue problem for NBA, NHL and MLB teams.
A look at the new things to stream and watch this weekend, and much more.
WAKEUP POLL RESULTS
Put me in the over $55M crew here, too. Come on box office! And America’s heartland which UNI is clearly counting on to come out for this one! Let’s hope “There Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” doesn’t turn out to be true for the movie.
NEW ANKLER PODCAST EPISODE!
Wherein we discuss WTF this new idea for WBD’s future is actually all about, what execs and agents think about 2024’s #RemakeFever and Richard explains what made him dart out of an Emmys party circa the late 2000s and never return.
[Apple Podcast fans — we couldn’t embed the pod from there due to “technical difficulties,” so here’s that link.]
NETFLIX 2024 subscribers boom, revenue gains continue . . . but stock doesn’t budge
You really gotta love a NETFLIX earnings report where quarterly subscriber additions surpassed all expectations at +8M in Q2 ‘24 — beating both Wall Street analysts predictions (WEDBUSH’s Michael Pachter came up shortest with his 3.8M prediction), and from the sounds of it on the earnings call, NETFLIX’s own expectations for Q2 at the start of the quarter — with revenue also beating projections by $600M, and profits higher by about $85M.
And yet — NETFLIX stock barely moved after that announcement last night (technically it went down -0.18%). Welcome to 2024 ladies and gentlemen.
Is it weird to almost feel bad for NETFLIX? 🤯 Sorry, I think that big NETFLIX neon sign outside of my balcony here in L.A. this week is starting to have detrimental effects.
Thus it looks like a slow & steady growth path will be the way forward if NETFLIX’s stock is to hit the mid $700s price that many analysts have for it (it was at $642 last night).
HOWEVER: The earnings report news wasn’t all sunshine and baby reindeer — it still has a ways to go to making advertising a robust business, and needs to do more things to defer to what the ad community wants . . . vs. the way NETFLIX likes to do things. Funny how the people holding the money call the shots. 🤑
So, let’s break down the things to know about where the subscriber growth is coming from (which has shifted from Q1), the timeline and work involved ahead for the NETFLIX ad tier, the likely price hikes ahead and more, as #medianerd🤓 comes back in from his Jersey Shore house.