A Brief Review on Media Online Businesses

The online business model is becoming more valuable as the days go by. Ever since great companies like Facebook and Netflix established a standard for a multimillion online business, entrepreneurs around the world are orienting their models to the World Wide Web. This is not a coincidence, online businesses are on such hype because they work!

Technology has allowed us to reach what we thought was unreachable, and we have explored and surfed the internet to such extent that we have come to perform daily actions through it. Letters became e-mails, the playground became video games, newspapers became tablets and television, and film became streaming. Every type of business is taking the leap forward to catch up to the Internet’s fast pace. People can shop around the world and communicate through social networks; but they also visualize that it may be easier now to start a business than it has ever been.

Competition along online companies is a topic of concern to our society, specially those that provide entertainment. Netflix is a great example of a corporation that has made a great impact on American society. Before, we used to drive to a Blockbuster, pick up a couple of movies with the family, maybe some popcorn, and head back home to have a good time. Now, Netflix provides a variety of shows and films that can be watched instantly from the comfort of your home. This corporation had the ability to obtain over 8 million users in ten years, but made a risky decision that may cost them their victory over Blockbuster. Netflix’s CEO Reed Hastings announced in September the split of Netflix into two companies: Qwikster, a DVD shipping company and Netflix, an online streaming company. There is still some confusion amongst users about whether or not this split is happening, but the news and the sudden increase of prices have cost Netflix a loss of over 800 thousand subscribers.

Netflix CEO Announces Company Split, Issues Apology   

by Newsytech

This may just be the perfect moment for Blockbuster and Dish Network to get back on the market with their new partnership that allows Dish Network users to obtain a Blockbuster Movie pass for streaming content as well as DVDs and Games by mail. For more information about this partnership click here.
Netflix had not seen a loss this big in 7 years, since their largest drop in stock price until Tuesday October, 25, 2011 when they closed their stock at $77.37 according to the following article:

With this I leave you, the independent filmmaker, to analyze and comprehend the turnover that is happening to our generation of film making. This is a new era, and it is up to us, filmmakers of this generation, to adapt and explode the new resources that have been given to us. We are a community, and we must stand together like one.

Television's impact on society

Although film is the reason we became creators of entertainment, it is important to understand what the world is watching and more importantly what they want to watch. Lauren Zalaznick, NBC Universal’s chairman, is one of the most influential women in television. She held a TEDWomen speech about the conscience of television. 

In this talk, Lauren Zalaznick exposes a deep study on television for the past 50 years and reveals that television is in fact a reflection of society.
 

It is real to say that society has made a vast transformation about the way they perceive media and television. Entertainment stopped being enough amusement and reality television changed the way people interact with their TV shows. Putting it in a simpler way, TV is no longer a part of the day where a family gets together to share a common experience; it is a part of the day where a family gets together to have conversations about what is happening and to express their piece of mind.
 

Television is no longer a form of expression for the writers and creators, it is a form of expression for the audience. As Lauren Zalaznick showed in her presentation, the statistics are there. People want to have a voice, they want to be heard. We, as entertainers have the responsibility to make sure that these people are getting what they want. Does this mean we have to compromise our creative skills? No, it means we need to exploit them more, and figure out a way to make the artists and the audience happy.
 

This TEDWomen talk opened my eyes as a filmmaker and exposed me to a world of opportunities that I had not seen before. So do not think that everything has been done, and that there is nothing new you can’t bring to the table, because there is! If you open your mind and think outside the box, your career as a filmmaker of a new generation has just begun and there is no limit for your creations. Share your ideas with others, create content evaluation groups, showcase your work. Start creating a community for your content and if it is good enough, people will do the rest for you. We have been blessed with the advantage of social networks and tools that make our own marketing easier and cheaper than ever before.