Netflix Is Changing The Way Cinema Works
The streaming service, Netflix is competing with major film studios such as Fox, Warner Brothers and Disney. Now it has won three Oscars. With “Roma”, a feature film from Netflix Oscars won for the first time. This year alone, Netflix productions have won 13 well-known film awards. How did it come about that a streaming platform produced award-winning cinema for the home screen?
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Why Netflix is dominating the streaming wars
The Road To Success
It all started around twenty years ago with a DVD mail order for which you could register at Netflix.com. Ordered the film online, the DVD came home by post and had to be sent back later. The comparatively static business model from back then already contained an idea that Netflix was to shape later: binge-watching. With a return period of one week, the customer was able to immerse himself in entire series scales, as the American technology magazine “Wired” noted.
Nevertheless, almost ten more years should pass before you could not only order films via the website but also stream them. However, this step had all the greater consequences. A dusty shipping company became a tech giant almost overnight.
Streaming Movies Online
Online, it was easier than ever to track who watched what and when, and based on that the next film, the next series, could be offered. In 2013, Netflix took the next logical step. With “House of Cards” they produced their first series, which was tailored to the preferences of loyal viewers (political thriller, Kevin Spacey in a leading role). In the same year, Netflix was nominated 14 times for the highest honor on American television, the Emmy – and won one.
Five years later, no one at Netflix is happy about a single Emmy. Instead, the group is the leader and won more Emmys than other streaming platforms or television stations in 2018. A trend that could soon continue in film competitions.
Road Blocks To Success
In 2017 Cannes had shown two Netflix productions – albeit under whistles. A year later there was an uproar: the jury had decided that Netflix should not participate in the competition in 2018. The reason: Since his films are streamed and shown in the cinema at the same time, they should only run out of the competition. Netflix then withdrew all of its films and stayed away from the festival.
Similar debates relax shortly afterward in Venice at the Biennale and in Berlin. Despite similar protests, the organizers of both festivals decided to allow Netflix productions in the respective competitions. “Roma” promptly won the Golden Lion, and “Elisa y Marcela” also had chances in the Berlinale competition – but failed.
Despite all the resistance, Netflix can no longer be removed from the film industry. Baftas and Golden Globes won more trophies this year than ever before. These included such prestigious awards as “best film” and “best director”.
Netflix Gained A Huge Audience Approval
The recipe for success is that audience approval and high cinematography are not mutually exclusive. While large film studios are often faced with the decision to produce box-office hits or less financially successful art houses, Netflix can reach a wider audience even with niche productions for a special taste. This also has to do with the financial model.
For a classic film studio, it is not worth producing a film that only brings fifty people to the cinema in each city. But if, thanks to streaming, these fifty people from every city around the world are in a large digital cinema called Netflix, the cost-benefit calculation is different. In addition, the individual film does not have to exist on its own. It is important that it leads together with others to an offer on Netflix, which keeps existing customers on their monthly subscription and wins new customers.