3 Ways Netflix Could Personalize Viewer Experience

July 19, 2019 Happenings Movies

Tech publisher TechCrunch reported yesterday that the world’s largest video streaming service Netflix (NLFX) has posted a loss of net subscriber base in the U.S. fixing the blame on hikes in subscription costs. Netflix’s loss of U.S. subscribers happened for the first time in eight years and it also missed its targets for overseas customers. Shares of Netflix tumbled more than 13% in after-market hours on July 18.

Netflix

Netflix’s continued subscription price hikes might finally have reached the end of some customers’ patience in the U.S., judging from an overall paid subscriber decline the company reported in its quarterly earnings for its fiscal second quarter 2019 results. The company’s overall growth for paid subscribers climbed by 2.7 million worldwide, but it actually added 2.83 million new subscribers around the world — while losing around 130,000 net in the U.S. to account for the difference.*

* Netflix reports first net subscriber loss in the US, misses global subscriber growth predictions

Last year I wrote a piece on the creative freedom currently afforded by several streaming platforms such as Netflix’s. And the plethora of critically acclaimed movies and TV series, including Oscar winners, that audiences are served on demand some of which otherwise wouldn’t have seen the light of the day being ruthlessly entangled in financial disputes, creative controversies, or sheared mercilessly under the garb of censorship laws across the globe. That creative freedom allows viewers to watch immersive content in high-definition at a nominal rate while bestowing acclaimed filmmakers like Martin Scorcese, Alfonso Querón or David Fincher a safer platform to pursue their innovative endeavours without having to think about compromising their intellectuality, least of all getting jammed in the filmmaking process due to stringent production cost controls. As always I will attempt to look at the subscriber slump from a customer’s viewpoint to analyze if the dots could be connected in innovating the viewer’s experience.

To simplify the challenge in clear terms, how might we innovate the viewing experience to keep the audiences engaged? The launch of Apple TV+ has just made the online video streaming service industry that much more interesting, it joins a bevvy of other subscription services offering loads of original content. So what could Netflix do in order to retain or enhance its customer base regardless of this slump they are facing? I have 3 creative solutions.

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Why The Boundary Rule Needs To Be Amended

July 17, 2019 Happenings

Firstly, kudos to England on winning their first ICC Cricket World Cup. Both teams played like world champions and it seemed that none was willing to relent despite the pressure situation, obviously since both squads were aiming for their very first world cup success. Nevertheless, let’s say if I had to pick the quality of ground fielding I’d pick New Zealand over England. They were so solid at ball possession that at one time chasing a target of 241 seemed very daunting, no matter how good the running between the wickets was the Kiwis were making it harder to take twos. Then England needed 9 runs off the last 3 balls, and the overthrow gave them extra runs. That fateful overthrow from deep midwicket by Guptill, which hit Stoke’s bat on his second run and went for the boundary, will be long remembered. That opened the floodgates and clinched England that infamous tied score.

Going back in time, I feel for England when they were thrice runner-ups, in a sense of nostalgia, this world cup triumph of theirs was 40 years in the making! In 1979 England faced the mighty West Indies who won their second successive Prudential World Cup. Then in 1987, they were again outdone by Australia in the finals of the Reliance World Cup in Kolkata. Finally, in 1992, it would be Pakistan’s moment to lift the Benson & Hedges World Cup beating England. Their lowest point would probably be the 2015 world cup when England was eliminated in the group stage losing 4 of their 6 matches. All in all, the English were knocking the doors of world cup glory for ages, and it seemed odd for the birthplace of cricket to have never achieved this feat. Well, not anymore! Though I would have loved for them to win without all the hoopla and undue attention on the controversial boundary rule clearly meant for T20 cricket.

Background of The Boundary Rule

The entertainment value of the 2019 World Cup finals notwithstanding, as I mentioned, it came with its fair share of controversies and went down to the wire….or should I say the boundary. YES, I’m referring to the maniacal rule of the ICC in awarding the victory to the team that hit more boundaries in the match. So for the uninitiated, a boundary is not just the perimeter of the playing field but it is also referred to the scoring shot that a batsman hits to for four runs or over and beyond the perimeter for a maximum six runs. That disputable rule from Appendix F – Paragraph 13 says, and I quote:

In the event of the teams having the same score after the Super Over has been completed, if the original match was a tie under the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method, paragraph 15 below shall apply. Otherwise, the team whose batsmen hit the most number of boundaries combined from its two innings in both the match and the Super Over shall be the winner.

ICC Men’s Twenty20 International Playing Conditions Effective 30 September 2018

Just in case if you’re wondering, that reference to Paragraph 15 further complicates matters in the event everything including the boundaries are tied despite the super-over. It’s so complicated that I just decided to post the screenshot from the rule book.

ICC Rule - Para 15
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Don’t Dream, It’s Over!

July 10, 2019 Happenings
ICC World Cup 2019

As the Indian team was reduced to 5 for 3 wickets in the semi-finals against New Zealand today and as I pretty much shut myself off of every medium that broadcast the match scores, these words from the famous Crowded House song began to linger in my mind. I harboured a dream that India would have a walkover victory of this World Cup the way the team had performed superbly in the big games. i.e. Australia, South Africa, Pakistan. In comparison, a score of 240 didn’t seem daunting with 9 batsmen, huh. But it’s a loss whichever way you look at it and we have to wait for 4 years for the coveted cricket trophy to come home. So don’t stop dreaming until then.

Fans will have funny ways to show their contempt to the losing team, somehow their shades of emotions are always in black and white and they would perhaps judge this Indian team on the wrong side of the game. In all the hoopla they’d be forgetting that the guys held out to the best of the best in the world and put up a fight against all odds to win all except 1 match in the league stage. That’s a great record.

So here’s some pouring of my utter exasperation arising out of India’s loss today. To begin with, no doubt this semi-final match would be best remembered in history for being a ‘two-day international’ due to the inclement weather of England. Whatever advantage that India could have got in the second half was lost completely during the second day’s play I feel. Would I have said that had India won the match? Not at all. Quite honestly, I can assure you, not just the fans but even the players would have felt the fatigue of continuing a match on a reserve day, that’s all. I thought ICC could have allowed a new game from the beginning on a new day, with the idea being, an ODI should be played within a single day’s time frame. But the less said the better about ICC rules now.

I would like to say this without any bias or malice against any other cricketing nation, that India were truly the champions of this world cup edition considering the challenges they were faced with and how they were dealt with by men with sheer teamwork. Kudos to the coaching staff on this too who rarely get the spotlight. Despite the loss by 18 runs I still think Kohli’s men played with all their heart and soul and continued to keep a billion dreams of winning the cup afloat. Nevertheless this is how I will remember this world cup and India’s achievements in the days to come. Or at least until the next big Indian victory in a mega cricketing event!

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Hopper’s Soul-Crushing Note to Eleven

July 7, 2019 Movies
Stranger Things 3 - Eleven
The Official Website

I just finished with the third season and it was probably the most thrilling to say the least. Let me just say that ‘Stranger Things’ is a true homage to the retro ambience of the early 1980’s American pop culture era, and how? It recreates an excellent template by exploring the styling of that decade so vividly, such as the characterization of the cast, soundtrack which is oh-so 80s no doubt, the environment, cars, and gadgets. The overall design of the series is just plain noteworthy — take a closer look at the poster. Doesn’t it resemble an Indiana Jones flick poster? And now, even the cold-war propaganda has been showcased with all its Soviet savagery in Season 3. Need I say it’s a breathtaking combination of supernatural horror saga that rides over an investigative drama led by a band of ‘nerdy’ kids as its central characters, and paired with the awesome psychokinetic abilities of ‘Eleven’ or “El” they venture around Hawkins to hunt the paranormal. That makes the series a lot more deserving of meritorious attention. Except when El has a gory nose.

On the basis of the last gripping episode of Season 3, “The Battle of Starcourt”, there was a subtle hint of an oncoming Season 4 in the series. Although, before get on to debating that aspect, there’s this scene in the final episode at the end where Eleven discovers through Joyce (Winona Ryder) that a note had been written and addressed to her by Jim Hopper, El’s guardian parent, who wanted to talk to his daughter. That emotional note is written with such profound zest (and narrated by Hopper / David Harbour with such poise) it’s a lesson in ‘existence’ for when someone feels totally depleted and miserable. Words of wisdom that I’d easily visualize every doting father on this planet would like to share with his teenage kids. Needless to say I’m a stickler for such nuances in anything I observe, and it’s easily one of my favourite parts about the series, an evidence of how well-written the script is just like any other Netflix show. You’ll concur with my sentiments after you go over the text and watch the episode too, it’s poignant.

Jesus. The truth is, for so long I’d forgotten what those even were. I’ve been stuck in one place. In a cave, you might say. A deep, dark cave. And then I left some Eggos out in the woods and you came into my life. For the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again. I started to feel happy. But lately, I guess I’ve been feeling distant from you. Like you’re pulling away from me or something. I miss playing board games every night, making triple decker Eggo extravaganzas at sunrise, watching Westerns together before we doze off.

But I know you’re getting older, growing, changing. I guess, if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change. So I think maybe that’s why I came in here, to try and make stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were. But I know that’s naive. It’s just not how life works. It’s moving, always moving, whether you like it or not. And yeah, sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes it’s sad. And sometimes, it’s surprising. Happy.

So you know what? Keep on growing up kid. Don’t let me stop you. Make mistakes, learn from ’em. When life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you’re out of that cave. But, please, if you don’t mind, for the sake of your poor old dad, keep the door open three inches.

Salyut 7

‘Salyut 7’ Honours Space Endeavour

July 4, 2019 Movies

Who doesn’t have a penchant for space adventure flicks, huh? In fact, I have proof that I have always been intrigued by space stuff and the idea of space exploration though it’s always been a dream to ride a spacecraft, or at best, even visit a space museum (yup, that’s on my bucket list), or experienced zero-gravity (another moonshot), but the closest that I could get to experiencing space travel was the movie theatres! In Alphonso Querón’s brilliant narration of Gravity about two American astronauts who get stranded after their space shuttle is destructed, showcased the pitfalls of space exploration in all its glory, in which, whether you live or die is a matter of the choices you make. This and several movies later you realize that films are much more than just crucibles of entertainment but actually educational channels. Another movie I’d definitely to mention is the awesome Apollo 13.

In much the same mould of depicting space endeavours, Salyut 7 is a masterpiece portrayal of events surrounding the salvaging of the doomed space station Salyut 7 in 1985. You might have already guessed it from the image, but the noteworthy aspect of this defining blockbuster is that it comes from Russia and not Hollywood as most might have expected it. It begins with a spacewalk by Svetlana Savitskaya, the first woman to perform a spacewalk ever, and cosmonaut Vladimir Fyodorov. Later, a cosmic occurrence renders the ill-fated space station without power and disaster strikes. At which point, the Soviets are wondering whether to shoot a missile at the floating metal and prevent it from falling it into the hands of the Americans or take the unprecedented route and bring it back to life. Although, at the heart of the mission is a complex issue of docking with a 20-ton metal structure in space that spinning on its axis faster than a Ferris wheel. So the cosmonauts are trained in a simulator with the exact parameters, they keep failing until Fyodorov is included in this impracticable mission partnering his fellow cosmonaut Viktor Alyokhin. They are foretold they only have enough fuel for 3 attempts but it’s so critical for the rendezvous to happen flawlessly unless the Soviet military shoots down the ‘dead’ space station hurtling metal debris into low space orbit, or risk falling it into the hands of the Americans who are launching a Space Shuttle to salvage it.

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