Monday 15th August: Disney catches Netflix, but what next?

August 15, 2022

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Disney now has more streaming subscribers than Netflix. Charlotte Henry writes that Disney+ has just over 221 million, compared to the 220.7 reported by Netflix after it lost almost 1 million subscribers in the last quarter. So they're pretty much neck and neck in the streaming race.

The interesting part of this story for me though isn't Disney's stellar growth, it's what happens next, with both Disney and Netflix looking to launch ad-supported tiers. For Disney+ it will cost $7.99, the same price as the current ad-free subscription. If you don't want ads, you'll need to find an extra $3. The price of the Netflix offer, scheduled for 2023, is not known, but analysts are guessing at $5.99 with the trade off being a reduced content offer.

Charlotte says this could be a big moment in the streaming wars. Consumers are used to paid-for streaming services without adverts, but as personal budgets become tighter, people will accept the ads to be able to afford the services they like. Could advertising help Netflix, the world's biggest subscription success, recover lost ground?

Workers at Gannett-owned newsrooms took a coordinated lunch break last week, responding to emails from management threatening layoffs due to the company’s Q2. According to Mike Reed, Chairman and CEO, Gannett must “responsibly and proactively [align] resources to our highest strategic priorities and [lower] costs to be in line with revenues.” If I was a betting man, I'd say that kind of bullshit bingo is likely to spark more lunchtime protests.

Over the pond in Brexit Britain, the population has been dealing with striking tube drivers, airline workers and lawyers. And equally discontented with pay and conditions as the cost of living crisis bites are journalists at numerous UK publishers - NUJ members at Reach and National World-owned titles in Scotland have voted for industrial action over pay and redundancies.

The Tory party's attention-seeker-in-chief (now that BoZo's gone, sort of) has sparked a conversation about why politicians are keen to appear in the 130-year-old fashion glossy. The piece warns of the downside of 'looking stupid, crass, out of touch' but I reckon that ship has sailed for most of our political leaders.

We get a lot of people asking us what editing tools we'd recommend for podcasting. We've been testing a number of them and have settled for Hindenburg, a professional-grade audio editing system made for simplicity, speed and agility. Unlike many other audio editors, it's built for podcasts and audio storytelling, with lots of features like auto levelling which help streamline the process. But don't take our word for it: try it out for yourself! This link will get you an extended three month trial of Hindenburg PRO for business. 

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Podcast throwback:

So it looks like I'll be heading back to Cape Town next month and planning the trip reminded me of speaking with Deutsche Welle’s Esra Doğramacı back in 2017. I honestly can't believe this was five years ago.

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