Audience Trends Homework

Link 1 Notes:

Link 2 Notes:

• With a reach of 67 per cent, broadcast TV remains the media channel reaching the most people on a daily basis. However, based on the trend showing a decline from 83 per cent in 2014, this could well be the last time TV retains the spot on the top of the pile.

• When it came to individual channels, TVNZ 1, somewhat surprisingly, bucked the downward trend, growing its daily reach from 40 per cent in 2016 to 43 per cent in the latest figures (this is, however, down on the 48 per cent in 2014).

• Netflix is now bigger than two of New Zealand's major free-to-air channels – providing a strong indication of how much New Zealand's viewership habits are changing.

• New Zealanders continue to spend over two and a half hours watching linear TV each day, and over an hour and a half listening to radio each day.

• The time spent watching online video, via channels such as YouTube and Facebook, has increased to 49 minutes since 2016.

Link 3 Notes:

• Netflix: The Cost – Basic Plan $9.99 per month (no HD) / Standard Plan is $12.99 per month (HD) / Premium Plan $15.99 per month (Ultra HD)

• Neon: The Cost – $20.00 per month. Just like Netflix, Neon has not changed its plan, price, number of usable devices, or trial time limit. However, the Neon net has been cast wider to include different devices. “Having launched on iOS, Android and Web we subsequently have added X-box 360 and Chromecast,” a representative told us. “In terms of roadmap devices we plan to launch our first Smart TV App very shortly.”

• QuickFlix: The Cost – six-month term of $9.99 then moved to $12.99, Premium Pass $6.00 a month (free with subscription)Out of all the big SVOD services available in New Zealand, Quickflix has changed the most by adding some alternatives to their standard $12.99 plan. The no-brainer option is the six-month term of $9.99 per month that switches to the $12.99 regular after that half-year is up. The second alternate option, for those who are reluctant to subscribe, is the Premium Pass for $6.00 a month which allows you to watch any of their PPV movies once a month. Even sweeter, this Premium Pass comes free with the standard subscription.

• LightBox: The Cost – $12.99 per 30 days, Lightbox is still a TV-dominated domain “focused on bringing the best new and exclusive TV shows to Kiwi households” says Lightbox CEO Kym Niblock. These include recent hits like The Path, Mr. Robot and Better Call Saul, and the service is “constantly adding to our catalogue throughout each month… there are literally thousands of hours of TV to watch.”

Link 4 notes:

• The rise in popularity of on-demand video streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime is increasingly seen as a threat to the 113-year-old ritual of going to a cinema to see a movie. James Robins spoke to Dr Karina Aveyard, Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, author of “Lure of the Big Screen: Cinema in Rural Australia and the United Kingdom” and co-editor of “Watching Films: New Perspectives on Movie-going, Exhibition and Reception,” about whether Netflix might kill the cinema.

• Prominent filmmakers have joined the chorus against Netflix and its ilk to defend the cinematic experience, including director Steven Spielberg, who doesn’t believe “films that are just given token qualifications in a couple of theatres for less than a week should qualify for the Academy Award nomination.” Christopher Nolan stated that “Netflix has a bizarre aversion to supporting theatrical films. They have this mindless policy of everything having to be simultaneously streamed and released, which is obviously an untenable model for theatrical presentation.”

• Earlier this year, the organisers of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival drew a line in the dirt: only movies released into French cinemas could be considered in competition. Any film released solely on Netflix or other streaming services were barred from vying for the coveted Palm D’Or prize.

• At last count, Netflix alone has more than 125 million subscribers worldwide, with 1.2 million of them in New Zealand, while cinema attendance in the United States last year dropped to its lowest level since 1995.