Monthly Archives: November 2013

Marvel Expanding its T.V. Options

Posted on by
Reply

It seems that after the success of its movie ventures, Marvel has decided to make an attempt at producing shows.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillbarr/2013/11/07/marvels-scope-is-far-larger-than-anyone-realized/

A while back in my Creative Writing class, we were talking about trans-media and storytelling that exists in multiple mediums. The thing about trans-media is that it’s very profitable. And Marvel has realized that.

The company’s growth will be reliant upon taking existing characters and putting them in as many mediums as possible. They’ve done this for existing characters like Spiderman. There are Spiderman comic books, movies, video games, the list goes on.

What Marvel is realizing now is that while they have characters that have an appeal to a wider range of demographics, they’re not going to be producing stuff for lesser known superheroes with the same fervor as for a hero like Thor.

For characters like Daredevil, they realize they need to start smaller. They made a movie for Daredevil in the early 2000’s and it didn’t perform well at the box office because Daredevil wasn’t a well known character.

Remember this movie? No? Good.

But Marvel needs to expand its universe in order to profit, and Netflix has provided them with the perfect opportunity to start on a smaller scale for smaller characters.

 

Netflix’s T.V. Revivals

Posted on by
Reply

The following article talks about how Netflix is acquiring discontinued T.V. shows in order to attract more subscribers. http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillbarr/2013/11/15/is-netflix-playing-a-tv-game-of-moneyball/

The Killing is the most recent example of Netflix’s strategy of restarting discontinued T.V. series. The company did the same thing with Arrested Development earlier this year. I had never even heard of Arrested Development until Netflix announced they were producing new episodes. And from what I saw, people were excited for it. Even my mother who had never seen the show.

What Netflix has discovered is a cost effective way of securing new subscribers for their online streaming service. The fans of cult T.V. hits like The Killing and Arrested Development wish to see these shows continued. So Netflix acquires the rights to produce more episodes and only airs them on Netflix. And according to the article, it seems to be an effective way of attracting new subscribers.

I bring this up because of the class activity we had a while back, in which we were to advise Netflix on what their strategy would be to grow. The students acting as the board of directors disregarded the group pushing for producing original content, because they thought it was too risky.

It seems the actual Netflix thought otherwise. And it seems they thought right.

Console Wars and Consumer Decisions

Posted on by
Reply

A blog or two ago, I mentioned that I was very much into video game industry news when I was younger. Since I have no stake in the upcoming release of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, I thought I’d take a look at the “console wars” phenomenon. Inspired by the following article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/11/16/xbox-one-vs-ps4-the-console-wars-are-just-getting-started/.

Photo Courtesy of Forbes

Some have said that the fact that different game consoles exist is rather pointless when looking at the video game industry as a whole. After all, new consoles are brought around every few years when a substantial change in technology necessitates the need for systems that can run more tech-demanding games. Every company in this industry is going to take advantage of the same technology, which more often than not is produced by third parties. If every new console is similar in terms of tech, why do we still have different consoles?

Because the manufacturers (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) each want to make a profit for themselves through selling their own individual console. Methinks the console war phenomenon is allowing this to continue. The consumers are allowing this inefficient system of enjoying games to continue by fervently declaring themselves to one console in an effort to convince themselves they have purchased the best product.

So in short the console wars are an example of the consumer allowing an inefficient product market to continue.

 

San Francisco’s Mayor on his Relationship With Tech Companies

Posted on by
Reply

The 43rd Mayor of San Francisco Ed Lee, recently did an interview with the New York Times. The interview covered a variety of topics such as his activism history, being invited to the White House, but also the relationship with tech companies in San Francisco.

Link to the Interview: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/magazine/mayor-ed-lee-tech-workers-are-not-robots.html?ref=business

Mayor Ed Lee, courtesy of The New York Times

The idea of shared value comes to mind when reading this interview. The concept of shared value is a company operating under policies that provide benefits to itself and the community in which it is located.

Mayor Lee seems to recognize that concept in the policies he has undertaken as mayor. A big part of his career so far has been keeping companies like Twitter in San Francisco. He says in the article that for every tech worker in SF, 5 other jobs are created or sustained. While it may not be an example of a company actively making shared value policies, Lee uses the study as an example of inherent shared value. Not only that, but Lee offered a tax break for certain parts of the city so twitter could grow without being punished. That in turn, has lead people to develop in “seedy” areas of the city.

Twitter HQ in San Francisco

The shared value in this case would be the value created from keeping a company like Twitter in San Francisco.

My Experience With Stocks

Posted on by
4

Back in the distopia that modern historians refer to as 2008, I went through my Bar Mitzvah. I had finally been initiated into my people’s definition of adulthood at the wizened age of 13 (lol). I received numerous gifts that day,including shares in the company Electronic Arts from my Grandma

I was very much into what was happening in the gaming industry back then (I still am to some extent). and I suppose the best way to get me interested in business was to find where it would overlap with my other passions. At the time, EA seemed like a fairly well-managed, reliable video game publisher.

Boy did that change.

Me after learning of EA’s standing with consumers

On April 4th last year, EA was named The Consumerist‘s “Worst Company in America”. It wasn’t just last year either. There’s been a growing rage from the hardcore gaming community towards EA that started in 2008. It was only recently that EA;s price per share got anywhere reasonably close to the 2008 share price. So naturally I sold my shares ASAP.

So what did I learn from this? Well that there’s a whole bunch of things you need to look at when deciding to buy stocks, such as price, company growth, etc. But one of the most important things is to find out how the company stands in the eyes of the public.