Deciphering the unstoppable Netflix and the role of Big Data

November 1, 2018 | 179 views

With over 115 million subscribers, there is little doubt that Netflix is the uncrowned king of the online streaming world. Netflix’s phenomenal rise to streaming dominance has taken industry leaders aback, forcing them to question- how could one single platform take on entire Hollywood? The answer is simple- Big Data.According to the Wall Street Journal, Netflix uses Big Data analytics to optimize the quality and stability of its video streams, and also to assess customer entertainment preferences along with viewing pattern. This allows Netflix to target its users with offers for a show they might like watching. These collective efforts have been very pivotal in helping the streaming giant make a successful transition from renting DVDs to delivering digital video over the last decade.Netflix has a huge subscriber base of 115 million and counting. And this comes up with a humongous amount of data that can be analyzed to improve the user experience. From predicting the type of content likely to garner more viewership to recommending content to users, Netflix collects data from every source.

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Motivate Media Group

Motivate Media Group operates across the GCC and MENA region with a diverse portfolio of media interests comprising magazines, digital, social, video, exhibitions & events, cinema and books. Specialising in highly engaging content through market-leading magazines, websites, more than 300 book titles, along with video and content production, Motivate also provides a wide range of advertising platforms.

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TECHNOLOGIES

Microsoft’s xCloud game streaming arrives on iOS with some Apple restrictions

Article | February 14, 2022

Microsoft is expanding its Project xCloud service to the iPhone today. The software giant is launching a beta of xCloud through Apple’s TestFlight service, allowing xCloud testers to try the service on an iPhone or iPad. It’s the first time we’ve seen a cloud game streaming service appear on iOS since the days of OnLive — and OnLive’s iOS app wound up in limbo when Apple didn’t approve it. Google’s Stadia and Nvidia’s GeForce Now are still not available on Apple’s devices, either, and neither company has been able to tell us when that might change.

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BUSINESS

Apple's AR & VR headset may not need external input for orientation & motion detection

Article | July 11, 2022

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TECHNOLOGIES, VIRTUALIZATION

Game On: These Entertainment Stocks Hit New Levels

Article | July 27, 2022

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The Future of Tech: Gaming Consoles, the Xbox and PlayStation of Tomorrow

Article | February 10, 2020

Consoles have come a very long way since the arrival of first-generation machines from Atari and Coleco in the seventies. Even the original PlayStation (1994) and Xbox (2001) look dated compared to the 4K/HDR-capable machines of today, and that divide will grow even larger once the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X arrive at the end of 2020. But what about the future? More than once console makers have tried to break new ground, by focusing on functionality beyond gaming, but for the most part those attempts have failed. Nintendo has found the most success with specialized hardware that still focuses on games first, while Sony and Microsoft have seemingly understood that building powerful general purpose machines that are akin to PCs is their best and safest bet.

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Spotlight

Motivate Media Group

Motivate Media Group operates across the GCC and MENA region with a diverse portfolio of media interests comprising magazines, digital, social, video, exhibitions & events, cinema and books. Specialising in highly engaging content through market-leading magazines, websites, more than 300 book titles, along with video and content production, Motivate also provides a wide range of advertising platforms.

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A Netflix for video games? Why a longtime dream is closer than ever to coming true

washingtonpost | January 28, 2019

When Cory Burdette awoke recently to learn that Winter Storm Gia had caused a two-hour school delay in Reston, Va., he seized the chance to do a little family bonding. Plopping down in front of the TV, Burdette and his 5-year-old daughter spent the morning together playing Minecraft, the Lego-like adventure game where players construct buildings out of virtual blocks.“We play all our games together on the Xbox,” he said. “In Minecraft, we both get to build a house together, find monsters and explore.”The first time he fired up the game, Burdette had to wait for Minecraft to download and install on his Xbox before launching it. But by the time his daughter is old enough to play more-adult games, that wait could be a thing of the past.Major companies including Microsoft and Verizon are exploring how to replace game downloads with Internet-based game services, hoping to do for video gaming what Netflix and Spotify have done with TV and music. Instead of being run directly from a device, high-quality games of the future could be streamed from a data center, with most of the computations and image rendering performed by powerful servers many miles away before being piped online to players' phones, PCs and consoles.

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Netflix adds Instagram Stories support for directly sharing shows

slashgear | January 22, 2019

Netflix is just about everywhere, thanks in no small part to its vast and largely successful original content library, and as of today, it can now be found in yet another place: Instagram Stories. The new integration makes it possible for Netflix users to directly share their favorite content with followers, but not everyone has access to it.Before Facebook made it possible to directly share content from third-party apps, Instagram users had to take a screenshot from a different app and then share that image in their Instagram Story. The workaround is common, but cumbersome, potentially resulting in lower quality images and requiring more time overall to complete the process.Instagram Stories got support for directly sharing from third-party websites last year, and now Netflix is taking advantage of the feature. Users can open Netflix’s in-app sharing option — which has been around for a while and includes messaging platforms like WhatsApp — to find the new Stories option.

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Fortnite is so big even Netflix is feeling the heat

slashgear | January 18, 2019

When it comes to competition in the entertainment industry, you might be tempted to think that companies only consider similar services to be competitors. For instance, Netflix and Hulu obviously compete with one another, but what about Netflix and Fortnite? As it turns out, Netflix considers Fortnite a major competitor, and it often loses out to the popular game when it comes to winning screen time.On the heels of its freshly-announced price hike, Netflix has delivered a letter to investors in which it covers the state of the company. One section is that letter, titled “Competiton,” is particularly telling, as Netflix reveals that Fortnite is an even bigger competitor than one of its oldest rivals.“We earn consumer screen time, both mobile and television, away from a very broad set of competitors,” Netflix said. “We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO.” The call out to Fortnite might seem a little weird at first, but the game attracts tens of millions of players a month, and time spent playing Fortnite means that time isn’t spent watching things on Netflix.

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A Netflix for video games? Why a longtime dream is closer than ever to coming true

washingtonpost | January 28, 2019

When Cory Burdette awoke recently to learn that Winter Storm Gia had caused a two-hour school delay in Reston, Va., he seized the chance to do a little family bonding. Plopping down in front of the TV, Burdette and his 5-year-old daughter spent the morning together playing Minecraft, the Lego-like adventure game where players construct buildings out of virtual blocks.“We play all our games together on the Xbox,” he said. “In Minecraft, we both get to build a house together, find monsters and explore.”The first time he fired up the game, Burdette had to wait for Minecraft to download and install on his Xbox before launching it. But by the time his daughter is old enough to play more-adult games, that wait could be a thing of the past.Major companies including Microsoft and Verizon are exploring how to replace game downloads with Internet-based game services, hoping to do for video gaming what Netflix and Spotify have done with TV and music. Instead of being run directly from a device, high-quality games of the future could be streamed from a data center, with most of the computations and image rendering performed by powerful servers many miles away before being piped online to players' phones, PCs and consoles.

Read More

Netflix adds Instagram Stories support for directly sharing shows

slashgear | January 22, 2019

Netflix is just about everywhere, thanks in no small part to its vast and largely successful original content library, and as of today, it can now be found in yet another place: Instagram Stories. The new integration makes it possible for Netflix users to directly share their favorite content with followers, but not everyone has access to it.Before Facebook made it possible to directly share content from third-party apps, Instagram users had to take a screenshot from a different app and then share that image in their Instagram Story. The workaround is common, but cumbersome, potentially resulting in lower quality images and requiring more time overall to complete the process.Instagram Stories got support for directly sharing from third-party websites last year, and now Netflix is taking advantage of the feature. Users can open Netflix’s in-app sharing option — which has been around for a while and includes messaging platforms like WhatsApp — to find the new Stories option.

Read More

Fortnite is so big even Netflix is feeling the heat

slashgear | January 18, 2019

When it comes to competition in the entertainment industry, you might be tempted to think that companies only consider similar services to be competitors. For instance, Netflix and Hulu obviously compete with one another, but what about Netflix and Fortnite? As it turns out, Netflix considers Fortnite a major competitor, and it often loses out to the popular game when it comes to winning screen time.On the heels of its freshly-announced price hike, Netflix has delivered a letter to investors in which it covers the state of the company. One section is that letter, titled “Competiton,” is particularly telling, as Netflix reveals that Fortnite is an even bigger competitor than one of its oldest rivals.“We earn consumer screen time, both mobile and television, away from a very broad set of competitors,” Netflix said. “We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO.” The call out to Fortnite might seem a little weird at first, but the game attracts tens of millions of players a month, and time spent playing Fortnite means that time isn’t spent watching things on Netflix.

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Events