Despite WSJ Findings, Netflix is Still a Savior for the Indie Movie Biz
In my last post, I brought your attention to a WSJ Online article, which reported that Netflix’s business is overwhelmingly based upon renting out ‘hits’ (i.e. popular, big studio new releases). The larger point of the article itself was to combat the Long Tail Theory of economics that has come into vogue as of late, but for Netflix fans, the real issue centers on the counterintuitiveness of this finding.
Many of us were attracted to Netflix in the first place because of its large selection of older, limited release, foreign, special interest, or independent films. It is for this reason that Netflix has cultivated an identity as a bastion of the independent film industry. Via a report from Hacking Netflix, I was directed to a Hollywood Reporter article that justifies this reputation.
In the article, IFC President Jonathan Sehring hails Netflix’s recommondation model in particular as heavily responsible for turning people on to films outside the mainstream. The main problem that indie films face is that they can’t to keep up the heavy advertising expenses of big studio films. The Netflix recommendation system allows users to bypass (a bit) the influence of these ads and reduce the extent to which their choices are dicated to them by the media.
In keeping with this plan to help out the little guys, and thereby advance the artistic development of the medium (while calling into question any WSJ-article-based conclusions about Netflix’s philosophy), Netflix recently signed a deal with the IFC to help nationally distribute the independent film (and Sundance hit) “Sherrybaby,” which otherwise would not be able to reach a national mainstream audience.