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Showing posts with the label Entertainment

Netflix may start Advertising

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Netflix users are angry again, and it's not anything similar to the crisis of separating the DVD and streaming services. Rather, the company is currently testing a feature in which it will place video promos for its original content in between TV episodes. In other words, after you conclude an episode, you will watch a short video about other Netflix TV shows or movies before continuing on to the next episode. Sounds a lot like the commercial break or advertisements you see on your cable TV. On the plus side though, Netflix will allow you to skip the video promos if they don't appeal to you. What is Netflix's reason behind this? How will this raise money for the company? Obviously, Netflix won't earn any money from this, and this feature will annoy its subscribers, which could cost it some revenue. Additionally, Netflix doesn't plan to introduce a more expensive plan in which users can automatically skip the ads (similar to YouTube Red) since the ads are skipp...

Moviepass Places More Restrictions

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Things only seem to be getting worse for Moviepass. After a tireless summer of revising its popular subscription service from the introduction of surge pricing to increasing the subscription fee, the company stated last week that with its $10 monthly plan, users will be able to watch 3 movies of their choice, a drastic change from one year ago where the service allowed subscribers to watch a movie per day, which gave the service its "unlimited" brand. But now, the company is experimenting with another revision in which users will only be allowed to watch between two movies. On August 10, subscribers could only choose to watch critically-disdained horror film "Slender Man" or critically-acclaimed "Mission: Impossible Fallout." While "Mission: Impossible" would still be a good alternative, the showtimes were limited, being available only on 2:30PM and 10:45PM, for instance at an AMC in Times Square. Quite the opposite of "unlimited." ...

Moviepass is Killing its Service

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First, it introduced surge pricing, forcing users to pay an extra price for popular movies such as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom  and Incredibles 2 . Then, it suffered from a service outage after not having enough cash to fund its "processors" or "merchants," enraging users who were unable to use its card to buy tickets for Mission Impossible: Fallout during the movie's previews. And these issues occurred several times throughout the same week. Then, it planned to increase the price of its service while restricting access to view certain movies. Moviepass is approaching rock bottom. After persistently bleeding cash as it funds for users' tickets, the company is struggling to make fees, and its hopes for profitability have become more distant due to its depressing free cash flow. This has greatly affected its parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics and its stock HMNY as it is currently trading below a dollar, despite performing a 1-for-250 reverse st...

What is Oath? Verizon's Secret Media Empire

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You may always correlate Verizon as a carrier that provides Internet and communication to users through 3G and 4G LTE plans. Typically ranked as one of the top telecommunications companies, Verizon has a large, strong customer base that allows it to compete effectively with other carriers, namely AT&T. However, whether you use Verizon or not, you may be unconsciously using one of its other services, namely Oath Inc. Say you want to catch up on the latest news; you go to Yahoo News. Or maybe catch up on your favorite stocks; you go to Yahoo Finance. Or maybe simply wanting to find the definition of a word; you use Yahoo Search. Or even send an email to someone regarding an important event; you use Yahoo Mail. Or catch up on the latest updates in sports; you use Yahoo Sports. All in all, Yahoo has a whole suite of relevant and beneficial tools that can promote productivity and learning. While it is no apparent and clear competitor to Google, wide audiences still utilize the platfor...

Moviepass Runs out of Cash

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"What comes up must come down." It appears that the most economic-friendly entertainment service Moviepass is approaching its end... again. The company that is revolutionizing the theater industry is on its ropes as its cash pile is rapidly being depleted. In recent months, Moviepass has attained stunning popularity due to its alluring subscription service that allows users to watch a movie per day in theaters for just $10 a month. In most areas, watching one movie in a month will give more than the subscription's worth since the average ticket price in many places range from $11 to $13. This business model has persistently placed Moviepass's parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics in escalating debt as it funds the full price when purchasing the tickets from merchants and vendors such as AMC and Cinemark. On July 26, the company suffered from a service outage, in which users couldn't use their subscription cards to purchase their tickets. This occurred ...

Walmart's Continuous Competition Against Amazon and Netflix

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Prime Day has ended and has generated the highest single-day sales in Amazon's history as it sold over 100 million products. However, the event was also beneficial to many of the company's competitors, boosting their sales due to the many discounts they concurrently offered to seize the action. One of these competitors was Walmart, which held many deals in an effort to steal some profits from Amazon. Walmart has notoriously been Amazon's largest online competitor, but by a huge margin. Though initiating its online business roughly at the same time as Amazon, the company has never been able to make more revenue or surpass Amazon's growth primarily due to its inferior business model compared to Amazon Prime. The membership fees that Amazon attains is massive and is mostly responsible for the company's revenue. However, the company also gains a considerable amount of money from Amazon Web Services, which offers cloud-computing platforms to individuals and businesse...

Blockbuster: How the Movie Industry has Evolved

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Good news: Avengers: Infinity War is set to have its 4K Blu-ray and DVD release on August 14. Now, fans will be able to relive the movie experience while watching it in the comfort of their homes. But is this actually news? For years, we have had follow-up DVD releases of blockbuster movies, but as society becomes more modern, the excitement and desire to own a DVD has largely shrunk. Online streaming services, such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, have now become the rage due to their wide selection, affordability, and access. These online streaming companies have seized huge chunks of market share, leaving little to no representation of DVD companies, namely Blockbuster. In 1992, Blockbuster, with its 2800 worldwide stores, was the leader in rental videos, promoting the consumer enthusiasm of watching content which would only become a very profitable business in years to come. Their reign continued for many years until an ambitious startup called Netflix entered the...

The Dramatic Fall of MoviePass: Debt and AMC Stubs A-List

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It is that time of the year again: summer! A time to enjoy, travel, and watch new summer blockbusters. The summer season is usually the hottest for theaters, but the summer of 2017 turned out to be the worst in box office results since 2001. As a result, a new movie ticketing concept emerged last year that has generated much enthusiasm in the past few months. Called MoviePass, this company has altered the movie industry by its groundbreaking subscription service that entitles members to watch a movie per day for the cost of $10 per month. Since the movie ticket prices in most states surpass $10, many people are getting more than their money's worth by watching just one movie. As of June of 2018, MoviePass had 3 million subscribers and believes it will attain its goal of 5 million by the year's end. However, MoviePass's service benefits more than just its subscribers. MoviePass has rejuvenated the movie industry. People have a greater incentive to watch movies. That...

The Better Deal: MoviePass vs. AMC Stubs A-List

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The movie industry has essentially remained the same throughout decades. Go to your local theater, buy a ticket, and watch the movie while eating snacks. While video streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have infiltrated the market by providing their own content, people still go to theaters to watch the latest releases on a large screen with an effective sound system. There haven't been any other changes to the film industry... until 2017. A new concept was introduced that focused on the theater experience, as opposed to new quality content. A new order was created that prioritized the customer benefits, as opposed to the pursuit of the customers' money. This revolution was introduced by MoviePass. In August 2017, MoviePass announced a subscription service in which members can watch a movie per day by paying a flat fee of $10 per month. In most states in the U.S, the average ticket price of a movie theater is more than $10, making MoviePass'...