4/7/2012 : http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflix-ted-sarandos-original-content-309275
"Netflix pays for content based on how many people its executives think will watch. The company then measure success not by Nielsen, but with its own internal data that shows what people watched and how much. It doesn’t have to be on one night, either, so the company doesn't have to market it as appointment TV. It also does not release viewership numbers to the outside world.
While serialized dramas don’t work as well on broadcast TV, that was exactly what Netflix wanted, said Sarandos. That is why it premiered all eight episodes of Lillehammer at once, even though traditional TV marketers told executives that was a mistake. They wanted to give the audience what it wanted and then let them watch as much as they want.
“What we do is try to find the perfect show for an audience,” he said.
The audience then rates the show on a Netflix system of one to five stars. That data is used to determine if the show is a success in the Netflix world, what kind of show that person wants to see (which is used to choose other shows), and to give the customers exactly the programs they want."
Those of you who've been reading some of my mini-rants the last couple months about cultivating an audience following across multiple germane forums and facebook groups BEFORE even writing your screenplay might recognize this is exactly the same thing as what Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of Netflix, is doing.
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=260119#post260119
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=250686
(And make them interconnected so that they can cross-promote each other.)
"Netflix pays for content based on how many people its executives think will watch. The company then measure success not by Nielsen, but with its own internal data that shows what people watched and how much. It doesn’t have to be on one night, either, so the company doesn't have to market it as appointment TV. It also does not release viewership numbers to the outside world.
While serialized dramas don’t work as well on broadcast TV, that was exactly what Netflix wanted, said Sarandos. That is why it premiered all eight episodes of Lillehammer at once, even though traditional TV marketers told executives that was a mistake. They wanted to give the audience what it wanted and then let them watch as much as they want.
“What we do is try to find the perfect show for an audience,” he said.
The audience then rates the show on a Netflix system of one to five stars. That data is used to determine if the show is a success in the Netflix world, what kind of show that person wants to see (which is used to choose other shows), and to give the customers exactly the programs they want."
Those of you who've been reading some of my mini-rants the last couple months about cultivating an audience following across multiple germane forums and facebook groups BEFORE even writing your screenplay might recognize this is exactly the same thing as what Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of Netflix, is doing.
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=260119#post260119
http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?p=250686
- Be inspired by your own initial creative premise
- Use key elements of that inspired premise to identify future audience customers
- Locate their active forums and FB pages, infiltrate & integrate
- Observe preferences, biases, and reoccuring themes
- Modify your premise to accomodate these observations
- Write a finished screenplay with larger known built in audience customers
(And make them interconnected so that they can cross-promote each other.)
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