Marc Randolph, co-founder and former CEO of Netflix, has been watching the streaming wars play out from the sidelines, and in his view, the brawl is finally settling down to a handful of formidable contestants.
"I've often described it kind of as like a presidential primary debate, with 40 people on the stage and everyone's shouting to be heard, but I think blessedly, we're starting to see things sorting out with two frontrunners emerging," the serial entrepreneur told Cheddar.
Those frontrunners are Disney+ and Netflix, said Randolph, whose latest venture is the new podcast "That Will Never Work," offering practical advice to startup founders.
In some ways, the rise of Disney+ took Randolph by surprise. At first, he thought the company's sprawling entertainment empire would make it difficult to bring the kind of focus to streaming that he said was the secret to Netflix's success. But since its launch, the company has taken concrete steps to bolster streaming, such as forgoing dividends to invest in the platform.
"Disney has clearly demonstrated that they're going to go all-in on streaming," he said.
However, Disney+ is clearly cutting its own path in the streaming world. Rather than embrace Netflix's binge model of releasing entire seasons at once, the platform announced over the summer that it would be releasing new episodes on a weekly basis.
Randolph speculated that this might be a necessity rather than a strategic move.
"It's a lot of pressure to all of sudden say we're going to have a full slate of full seasons and have that happen all at once, especially during COVID when production cycles were all disrupted," he said.
He added that it could also be Disney+ trying to further define its niche in streaming.
As for the size of the streamer's respective catalogs, Randolph stressed that there is no ideal ratio of original content to popular licensed franchises.
"I think that's a little bit of a false metric," he said. "Right now, everyone is trying to brag about the size of their catalogs and what they have, but as Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos often say, 'the ultimate metric is customer sat, is customer glee.' It's not how much you have, it's how good it is."
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
