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Culture

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Jun 24th 2003 2:57am





How Netflix Is Fixing Hollywood

from the slowly-but-surely dept

Business 2.0 has apparently decided to rewrite a Wired article from last year that we posted, talking about how Netflix's recommendation engine was it's "secret weapon", against competition from Blockbuster and Walmart. This version also discusses the logistical nightmare of managing Netflix's ever-rotating inventory. However, the most interesting part (which I don't think gets enough attention) is the power that Netflix has in generating interest (and revenue!) in independent movies or movies that completely flopped at the box office. This is mainly due to the recommendation engine that hypes up movies that people have never heard of, giving many of them a second (if not first) life. This is the power of the internet that those in Hollywood still don't understand. In their simplistic top-down view of the world they only want to see big hits. Movies that they can sell across the board, based on a "lowest-common-denominator" formula. However, in the internet world the end users are empowered to find what they will really like, rather than blandly accepting what's handed to them. This changing world is likely to have an even bigger impact on Hollywood than the dreaded "digital distribution" they all seem to fear.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
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    Anonymous Coward, Jun 24th, 2003 @ 9:05am

    But they aren't free

    I'd be more enthused if netflix didn't demand a credit card number just for their free trial.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
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    Anonymous Coward, Jun 24th, 2003 @ 9:47am

    Could your tone be any more obnoxious?

    Oh, Business 2.0 decided to re-write an article that Wired wrote last year? What, pray tell, in your background gives you the right to criticize the editorial decisions of a pretty damn good magazine? I'm curious to know. What is readily apparent is that Business 2.0, both the magazine and the website, has attracted a lot more attention and garnered more respect than this site! So perhaps there may be a bit of jealousy in your analysis?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
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    Mike (profile), Jun 24th, 2003 @ 10:37am

    Re: Could your tone be any more obnoxious?

    Um. I actually thought it was a pretty good article. However, the focus is exactly the same as the Wired article from last year. There was no negative connotation in my comment, and I'm sorry if you read it that way.

    Go ahead and read the two articles and tell me they're not similar.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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