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Streaming, Sharing, Stealing: Big Data and the Future of Entertainment
How big data is transforming the creative industries, and how those industries can use lessons from Netflix, Amazon, and Apple to fight back.
"[The authors explain] gently yet firmly exactly how the internet threatens established ways and what can and cannot be done about it. Their book should be required for anyone who wishes to believe that nothing much has changed."
--The Wall Street Journal
"Packed with examples, from the nimble-footed who reacted quickly to adapt their businesses, to laggards who lost empires."
--Financial Times
Traditional network television programming has always followed the same script: executives approve a pilot, order a trial number of episodes, and broadcast them, expecting viewers to watch a given show on their television sets at the same time every week. But then came Netflix's House of Cards. Netflix gauged the show's potential from data it had gathered about subscribers' preferences, ordered two seasons without seeing a pilot, and uploaded the first thirteen episodes all at once for viewers to watch whenever they wanted on the devices of their choice.
In this book, Michael Smith and Rahul Telang, experts on entertainment analytics, show how the success of House of Cards upended the film and TV industries--and how companies like Amazon and Apple are changing the rules in other entertainment industries, notably publishing and music. We're living through a period of unprecedented technological disruption in the entertainment industries. Just about everything is affected: pricing, production, distribution, piracy. Smith and Telang discuss niche products and the long tail, product differentiation, price discrimination, and incentives for users not to steal content. To survive and succeed, businesses have to adapt rapidly and creatively. Smith and Telang explain how.
How can companies discover who their customers are, what they want, and how much they are willing to pay for it? Data. The entertainment industries, must learn to play a little "moneyball." The bottom line: follow the data.
"[The authors explain] gently yet firmly exactly how the internet threatens established ways and what can and cannot be done about it. Their book should be required for anyone who wishes to believe that nothing much has changed."
--The Wall Street Journal
"Packed with examples, from the nimble-footed who reacted quickly to adapt their businesses, to laggards who lost empires."
--Financial Times
Traditional network television programming has always followed the same script: executives approve a pilot, order a trial number of episodes, and broadcast them, expecting viewers to watch a given show on their television sets at the same time every week. But then came Netflix's House of Cards. Netflix gauged the show's potential from data it had gathered about subscribers' preferences, ordered two seasons without seeing a pilot, and uploaded the first thirteen episodes all at once for viewers to watch whenever they wanted on the devices of their choice.
In this book, Michael Smith and Rahul Telang, experts on entertainment analytics, show how the success of House of Cards upended the film and TV industries--and how companies like Amazon and Apple are changing the rules in other entertainment industries, notably publishing and music. We're living through a period of unprecedented technological disruption in the entertainment industries. Just about everything is affected: pricing, production, distribution, piracy. Smith and Telang discuss niche products and the long tail, product differentiation, price discrimination, and incentives for users not to steal content. To survive and succeed, businesses have to adapt rapidly and creatively. Smith and Telang explain how.
How can companies discover who their customers are, what they want, and how much they are willing to pay for it? Data. The entertainment industries, must learn to play a little "moneyball." The bottom line: follow the data.
215 pages, Paperback
First published August 5, 2016
96 people are currently reading
1135 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
August 16, 2016
Because it's from a university press, I must admit I expected Streaming, Sharing, Stealing to be a somewhat dull economic textbook - but in reality it is a great read and a cracking business book, giving the clearest explanation I've ever seen of what is happening to three arms of the entertainment business - book publishing, music and TV/film - in the face of the internet/digital revolution.
In that sense the title is misleading, as it seems to suggest that a major focus is music sharing and piracy. This is certainly is covered, but is dismissed as the relatively easy part. Like most of the analysis in the book, here Michael D. Smith and Rahul Telang make sure that their views are backed up with as much experimental data as possible - and there appears to be good evidence that piracy isn't too big a deal, provided it's made easy to get access to legal digital versions in a timely fashion. It's where the publishers/networks either have poor online access or delay it til after, say, a DVD or hardback comes out that problems arise.
However, the main issue that Smith and Telang cover is the challenge that book and music publishers and the film studios/TV networks face in dealing with the internet giants. As the authors point out, the entertainment industries coped fine with new technology throughout the 20th century because they had control of the source material and distribution, and so were complacent when faced with the internet. But here, several major changes came together - Smith and Telang draw a parallel with the 'perfect storm' - and the old big names are potentially in trouble. The authors show how Amazon, iTunes and Netflix (as key examples) mean real trouble for those who used to pull the strings, particularly because of the newcomers' access to customer data, and ability to give customers what they are looking for, rather than just put out what they think customers might want and hope.
The analysis is often brutal and displays some outcomes from experiment that might surprise the publishers. For example, they found that when ebooks or digital versions of TV and film came out at the same time as DVDs and hardbacks, the overall take went up, but if they were held back to let more expensive DVDs and hardbacks have first shot - which was the traditional model used by most publishers and studios - digital sales plummeted, because digital users didn't buy the hardback/DVD instead, but either got a pirate version or just went for something else.
As well as individual lessons like this, the book does offer a little hope for the beleaguered publishers and studios as long as they can change their mindset - but it also seems likely that they will be like Kodak in the photography business, leaving it too late. As the authors make clear, it's not enough for individual publishers or studios to have their own online store, because few customers actually know or care who their favourite author/band is published by, or which network or studio produced what they want to watch. The only hope is if the content providers can band together and have a joint digital location with timely releases. But this doesn't augur well, as the the one attempt the networks have made, Hulu, has been shackled, forcing advertising and late releases on it.
If you are interested in the media and how the digital age is threatening the old world and transforming our entertainment environment, you need to read this book.
In that sense the title is misleading, as it seems to suggest that a major focus is music sharing and piracy. This is certainly is covered, but is dismissed as the relatively easy part. Like most of the analysis in the book, here Michael D. Smith and Rahul Telang make sure that their views are backed up with as much experimental data as possible - and there appears to be good evidence that piracy isn't too big a deal, provided it's made easy to get access to legal digital versions in a timely fashion. It's where the publishers/networks either have poor online access or delay it til after, say, a DVD or hardback comes out that problems arise.
However, the main issue that Smith and Telang cover is the challenge that book and music publishers and the film studios/TV networks face in dealing with the internet giants. As the authors point out, the entertainment industries coped fine with new technology throughout the 20th century because they had control of the source material and distribution, and so were complacent when faced with the internet. But here, several major changes came together - Smith and Telang draw a parallel with the 'perfect storm' - and the old big names are potentially in trouble. The authors show how Amazon, iTunes and Netflix (as key examples) mean real trouble for those who used to pull the strings, particularly because of the newcomers' access to customer data, and ability to give customers what they are looking for, rather than just put out what they think customers might want and hope.
The analysis is often brutal and displays some outcomes from experiment that might surprise the publishers. For example, they found that when ebooks or digital versions of TV and film came out at the same time as DVDs and hardbacks, the overall take went up, but if they were held back to let more expensive DVDs and hardbacks have first shot - which was the traditional model used by most publishers and studios - digital sales plummeted, because digital users didn't buy the hardback/DVD instead, but either got a pirate version or just went for something else.
As well as individual lessons like this, the book does offer a little hope for the beleaguered publishers and studios as long as they can change their mindset - but it also seems likely that they will be like Kodak in the photography business, leaving it too late. As the authors make clear, it's not enough for individual publishers or studios to have their own online store, because few customers actually know or care who their favourite author/band is published by, or which network or studio produced what they want to watch. The only hope is if the content providers can band together and have a joint digital location with timely releases. But this doesn't augur well, as the the one attempt the networks have made, Hulu, has been shackled, forcing advertising and late releases on it.
If you are interested in the media and how the digital age is threatening the old world and transforming our entertainment environment, you need to read this book.
May 8, 2022
Damn!
"Streaming, Sharing, Stealing" is an academic book on business data analysis, written by practicing academics, and distributed by a university press publisher. By all indicators this should be an absolute snooze-fest the size of a brick. It most certainly is not. Instead, the authors deliver an impeccably structured, well-written, and super accessible gem of a book. And it's short without losing substance. It's a borderline miracle - if you believe in such things.
In the book, Smith and Telang show how fresh-faced entertainment upstarts have recently been taking ever increasing bites out of the big establishment powerhouses on the battlefields over market shares within the book, movie- and TV, and music fields. How technological innovation and data driven analysis has enabled the Amazons, Netflixes, and Apples of the world to kick their old school competitors in the teeth. Sprinkling in some jaw-dropping anecdotes - like how Blockbuster was offered to purchase Netflix for pennies on the dollar, and turned them down; and how Amazon uses mafia tactics to strong-arm small companies - it's a fascinating story. Hell, it's flat out confusing how exciting the authors make data analysis sound.
So confusing, in fact, that my fingers are itching to pull the trigger on that five star review. The main thing that restrains me is the creeping feeling of discomfort I get from how unabashedly the authors are promoting the gobbling up of as much data on consumers as possible as the way to catch up with the times. I don't like it. While I understand that this is not a book about consumer protection or, even, consumers at all (not really at least, even if they do talk about what's best for consumers - for them, in this context, that just means what's best in terms of access to products), this just leaves a very bad aftertaste for me.
That said, this is, in my mind, a great book for anyone wanting or needing a look into the slug-fest state of the entertainment world today. Also, since I read the book a few years after its publication, it's fascinating to observe how some of the old-school players have clearly taken some of what's in this book to heart. And how that, in turn, has been disrupting the disruptors to varying degrees.
Recommended!
"Streaming, Sharing, Stealing" is an academic book on business data analysis, written by practicing academics, and distributed by a university press publisher. By all indicators this should be an absolute snooze-fest the size of a brick. It most certainly is not. Instead, the authors deliver an impeccably structured, well-written, and super accessible gem of a book. And it's short without losing substance. It's a borderline miracle - if you believe in such things.
In the book, Smith and Telang show how fresh-faced entertainment upstarts have recently been taking ever increasing bites out of the big establishment powerhouses on the battlefields over market shares within the book, movie- and TV, and music fields. How technological innovation and data driven analysis has enabled the Amazons, Netflixes, and Apples of the world to kick their old school competitors in the teeth. Sprinkling in some jaw-dropping anecdotes - like how Blockbuster was offered to purchase Netflix for pennies on the dollar, and turned them down; and how Amazon uses mafia tactics to strong-arm small companies - it's a fascinating story. Hell, it's flat out confusing how exciting the authors make data analysis sound.
So confusing, in fact, that my fingers are itching to pull the trigger on that five star review. The main thing that restrains me is the creeping feeling of discomfort I get from how unabashedly the authors are promoting the gobbling up of as much data on consumers as possible as the way to catch up with the times. I don't like it. While I understand that this is not a book about consumer protection or, even, consumers at all (not really at least, even if they do talk about what's best for consumers - for them, in this context, that just means what's best in terms of access to products), this just leaves a very bad aftertaste for me.
That said, this is, in my mind, a great book for anyone wanting or needing a look into the slug-fest state of the entertainment world today. Also, since I read the book a few years after its publication, it's fascinating to observe how some of the old-school players have clearly taken some of what's in this book to heart. And how that, in turn, has been disrupting the disruptors to varying degrees.
Recommended!
June 11, 2017
Every person in the TV, publishing or music business should read this book. It's succinct, clearly and engagingly written, and has data-driven answers to SO many questions I've had!
The authors tell you the results of piracy, and also how to do simple things to drive down the amount of piracy taking place. Then they lay out a clear blueprint of what's working and what isn't, in all the entertainment industries.
I'd be shocked if, in 10 years, I didn't look back and think they'd been proven right on every count.
The authors tell you the results of piracy, and also how to do simple things to drive down the amount of piracy taking place. Then they lay out a clear blueprint of what's working and what isn't, in all the entertainment industries.
I'd be shocked if, in 10 years, I didn't look back and think they'd been proven right on every count.
April 21, 2019
Goodreads suggested this book to me after I finished (hit makers), the caption was interesting, so I thought it won't hurt to try.
Well, hit-makers was a good book, but this one is A MUST READ!
Every publisher, producer, and distributer works in any creative field must read this book and memorize it by heart, probably every artist and content-creator should do the same too.
The digital age made the entertainment industry something way different than what it was like in the past century, more over the situation isn't that different or special now in different countries around the world, we had different circumstances maybe but the digitization of almost every content made sure that we're all going to the same place. This is why the lessons we learn here are valuable everywhere, but only for those who are willing to think.
Well, hit-makers was a good book, but this one is A MUST READ!
Every publisher, producer, and distributer works in any creative field must read this book and memorize it by heart, probably every artist and content-creator should do the same too.
The digital age made the entertainment industry something way different than what it was like in the past century, more over the situation isn't that different or special now in different countries around the world, we had different circumstances maybe but the digitization of almost every content made sure that we're all going to the same place. This is why the lessons we learn here are valuable everywhere, but only for those who are willing to think.
June 27, 2021
This book promises to deliver analysis on big data and its implications for the entertainment industry...and that's exactly what it does deliver.
If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea this book will do nothing to convert you. However, if you're a data nerd this book is plenty entertaining.
As an added bonus they discuss analytics and the gaming industry. That was a case study I had never heard of even after spending many years working in Vegas.
Very fun. Recommended.
If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea this book will do nothing to convert you. However, if you're a data nerd this book is plenty entertaining.
As an added bonus they discuss analytics and the gaming industry. That was a case study I had never heard of even after spending many years working in Vegas.
Very fun. Recommended.
January 16, 2024
Did not expect to enjoy this book so much. Great insight into the economic and ethical concerns behind streaming platforms, as well as an overview of the history and present management behind media distribution (whether it be formal or informal). Really enjoyed the chapter on piracy and consumers, as well as the chapter on digital broadcasting and release windows. The different examples and tables were an added plus that grasped my attention. Highly recommended.
July 2, 2018
I loved that this book didn't bloat itself with fancy writing or narrative. I would recommend it for anyone who works in the business side of entertainment, or has an interest in quantitative analysis in general. I was a bit bored throughout, but I blame myself for not being interested enough in the subject matter as opposed to the writing.
May 30, 2019
一本书可看尽文娱行业在大数据影响前后的发展脉络.两种商业模式：娱乐畅销品价值流 vs 长尾商业模式
前者从专家决定哪些商品可能在市场上热卖，然后公司利用它们掌握的宣传与发行通路，大力推广商品给消费大众.
而后者长尾商业模式是有赖多元选择（建构一个让消费者读取多元内容的整合平台）及迎合偏好（运用资料，推荐引擎，用户评价来帮助客户筛选丰富的选项，让用户在想要消费时，正好发现那些商品）.用科技流程来取代专家挑选，让消费者决定哪些商品脱颖而出.在这种模式中，公司竞争的资源：消费者的注意力，以及对消费者偏好的了解.
前者从专家决定哪些商品可能在市场上热卖，然后公司利用它们掌握的宣传与发行通路，大力推广商品给消费大众.
而后者长尾商业模式是有赖多元选择（建构一个让消费者读取多元内容的整合平台）及迎合偏好（运用资料，推荐引擎，用户评价来帮助客户筛选丰富的选项，让用户在想要消费时，正好发现那些商品）.用科技流程来取代专家挑选，让消费者决定哪些商品脱颖而出.在这种模式中，公司竞争的资源：消费者的注意力，以及对消费者偏好的了解.
June 8, 2019
People would speak of my grandfather's generation like this: "He lived in a time before automobiles."
People will speak of my generation like this: "He lived in a time before big data."
I wrote this review on Goodreads, a free social media platform owned by Amazon.com. Haha.
People will speak of my generation like this: "He lived in a time before big data."
I wrote this review on Goodreads, a free social media platform owned by Amazon.com. Haha.
January 19, 2018
Businesses, that collect data, thrive. Luddites fail. Internet businesses thrive.
Ok, nothing new here
Ok, nothing new here
February 25, 2020
Nulla di trascendentale, perlomeno a leggerlo ora.
Molto istruttivo però sull'evoluzione delle modalità di fruizione, di generazione di contenuti e di analisi dei dati ottenuti che si sono sviluppate grazie all'utilizzo delle nuove tecnologie.
Molto istruttivo però sull'evoluzione delle modalità di fruizione, di generazione di contenuti e di analisi dei dati ottenuti che si sono sviluppate grazie all'utilizzo delle nuove tecnologie.
June 27, 2022
I listened to this audiobook on Audible, a subsidiary of Amazon, on my Apple iPhone and uploaded the review on GoodReads, a subsidiary of Amazon as well as Facebook and Insta owned by Meta. Thus providing the point of this book
People would speak of my grandfather's generation like this: "He lived in a time before automobiles." People will speak of my generation like this: "He lived in a time before big data."
Smith & Telang take us back in time when the major labels controlled everything whether it was music giants like EMI, Capital or RCA or film & screen juggernauts RKO, MGM, or TCF. Without a big backer, most media never made it in front of eyes.
“The majors in all creative industries operated like venture capitalists. They made a series of risky investments, full aware that most would fail, but that some would result in big payoffs that would more than cover the losses on unsuccessful artists. “
For a long time, all the power was in the hands of a few people with clout on top
Using the rise and fall of the Encyclopedia Britannica as a bellwether of things to come our authors prognosticate what’s coming, “The entertainment industries are facing a perfect storm of change: technological change- in the form of long tail markets, digital piracy, artists increase control over content creation & distribution. The increased power of distributors and the power of data-driven marketing present the industry with a set of threats similar to what Brittanica faced. These threats include a new set of processes for delivering value to consumers, new business models for capturing this value and difficult trade-offs incumbent firms must make between protecting established businesses and exploiting new opportunities. Ultimately there is an even greater threat, new distributors that play increasingly active role in the creation of entertainment content and the control actual customer data to bend market power.”
Enter Netflix. In March of 2011 ScreenRant published an article saying, “Well that was unexpected. DVD rental and online streaming giant Netflix has purchased the rights to David Fincher's newest TV series, House Of Cards. The implications for the future of television are massive. Internet distribution has been threatening to eat away at cable providers for years, but this marks the first time that a major series will be exclusively shown online.”
The creators of the US version of House of Cards knew they had a blockbuster: tight writing, gritty characters, (a pre-predator) Kevin Spacey they pitched it everywhere. But t none of the networks they approached wanted to take the risk of funding a pilot because according to conventional wisdom in the industry, political dramas were not successful. But the streaming service Netflix had data on rentals since it’s inception in 1997 with over 33 million users. What they realized was people like Kevin Spacey, people raved about the director David Fincher and even in America, the original BBC series was popular.
Armed with these facts Netflix skipped the standard pilot offering and paid $100 million upfront for 2 seasons.
While the industry insiders smeared it, House of Cards was unassailable well made and well received. From critics to audiences the implications were clear.
Our book demonstrates the role that data now play in entertainment industry decision-making — Netflix was even able to produce several trailers targeted at its various audience categories. Targeting is the magic word.
Without a doubt, the balance of power is shifting away from film, TV and music businesses, traditionally the biggest and most powerful, towards such entities as Netflix, Meta and Amazon — those that distribute content.
Streaming, Sharing, Stealing follows the history of film, TV and music industries, going back to the early 1900s tracking the developments of technology and how it is consumed has been ever-evolving.
The book, by two professors at Carnegie Mellon University, offers many lessons for executives in creative industries, as well as serving as a case study of the challenges faced by any industry grappling with disruptive forces. Written in 2016 some of it has come to pass and some of it is beginning to collapse, hello Netflix’s new ad tier.
There are great examples of people reacted quickly to adapt their businesses, and also warnings of wait-and-see executives who lost empires.
Sprinkling in some insane anecdotes: like how Blockbuster was offered to purchase Netflix for pennies on the dollar and turned them down preferring to make their own knock-off. We all know how that ended. Or how Amazon used mafia tactics to strong-arm small companies - it's a fascinating story
Perhaps my favorite story (which is well chronicled elsewhere) is Apple, which was struggling as Steve Jobs returned in 1997.
As someone who worked retail I understand this story. Jobs pinpointed the failure: Apple relied upon third parties to sell its computers and staff in those shops were often happier to recommend the cheaper products of competitors. He hunted out market and demographic data to show where Apple could build its own shops in the most convenient locations and sell directly to its customers — a strategy that went against the grain at the time. Though expected to close within 2 years, Apple sunk tons of money into not only an Apple store but an Apple experience. From layout to the questions the now-famous “geniuses” would encounter. Apple built loyalists with a loyal team that cut out the middleman leaving Best Buy, RadioShack, Microsoft, and the common thinking of the day in the dust.
The book also offers accounts of artists who can maximise what they earn and provide incentives that discourage piracy. The band Radiohead famously chose to bypass traditional music publishers when releasing their 2007 album In Rainbows. They made the tracks available right from their website for any price fans wished to pay, including nothing at all. It proved to be the band’s most profitable album at the time.
One network that learned a hard lesson about changing appetites was NBCUniversal in 2007, refusing to negotiate with Apple’s streaming service iTunes chose to remove its shows rather than empower video on demand. Viewers largely opted for piracy rather than following NBC to other digital outlets.
Truly the main point of Streaming, Sharing, Stealing highlights what the seasoned marketer has always known: the immense value of knowing your customer and delivering to them.
It’s never been easier to develop, create and deliver content than it is right now.
Weighing in on the new era Netflix had heralded, Kevin Spacey said, “Until now those of us in the TV & fi;lm business had to be able for the talent to find us. We had the keys to the kingdom & folks needed to bring us their stories if they wanted to find a route to an audience, but now things are changing, and changing fast.”
The tools to produce quality content has plummeted. Professional quality is attainable to the people who have talent not just the bank. Cinematographer Kieran Crilly won a 2014 Oscar for his movie The Lady in #6 with a Canon 5D Mark 3, which cost a few thousand dollars. The winners of the Academy Awards 2010 & 2011 for best film editing were both edited on Final Cut Pro, a software package available for about $300
Yet there are some who believe that the age of “gut instinct” and the “tastemaker” hasn’t passed. These studios and executives believe they are the gatekeepers of content. And they’ll probably be fired or out of business very soon.
The way to ensure your business survives is to be ready to adapt and take make decisions — just as Netflix did with its $100m bet on a series the industry said would fail.
The future seems to be streaming, letting people share experiences, without letting executives steal your joy.
Happy consuming.
If you like history and media, this book is perfect. It also offers some great transferable principles on leadership, vision, and flexibility. Setting a firm line on what is popular or acceptable right her, right now, one day will not be.
5/5
People would speak of my grandfather's generation like this: "He lived in a time before automobiles." People will speak of my generation like this: "He lived in a time before big data."
Smith & Telang take us back in time when the major labels controlled everything whether it was music giants like EMI, Capital or RCA or film & screen juggernauts RKO, MGM, or TCF. Without a big backer, most media never made it in front of eyes.
“The majors in all creative industries operated like venture capitalists. They made a series of risky investments, full aware that most would fail, but that some would result in big payoffs that would more than cover the losses on unsuccessful artists. “
For a long time, all the power was in the hands of a few people with clout on top
Using the rise and fall of the Encyclopedia Britannica as a bellwether of things to come our authors prognosticate what’s coming, “The entertainment industries are facing a perfect storm of change: technological change- in the form of long tail markets, digital piracy, artists increase control over content creation & distribution. The increased power of distributors and the power of data-driven marketing present the industry with a set of threats similar to what Brittanica faced. These threats include a new set of processes for delivering value to consumers, new business models for capturing this value and difficult trade-offs incumbent firms must make between protecting established businesses and exploiting new opportunities. Ultimately there is an even greater threat, new distributors that play increasingly active role in the creation of entertainment content and the control actual customer data to bend market power.”
Enter Netflix. In March of 2011 ScreenRant published an article saying, “Well that was unexpected. DVD rental and online streaming giant Netflix has purchased the rights to David Fincher's newest TV series, House Of Cards. The implications for the future of television are massive. Internet distribution has been threatening to eat away at cable providers for years, but this marks the first time that a major series will be exclusively shown online.”
The creators of the US version of House of Cards knew they had a blockbuster: tight writing, gritty characters, (a pre-predator) Kevin Spacey they pitched it everywhere. But t none of the networks they approached wanted to take the risk of funding a pilot because according to conventional wisdom in the industry, political dramas were not successful. But the streaming service Netflix had data on rentals since it’s inception in 1997 with over 33 million users. What they realized was people like Kevin Spacey, people raved about the director David Fincher and even in America, the original BBC series was popular.
Armed with these facts Netflix skipped the standard pilot offering and paid $100 million upfront for 2 seasons.
While the industry insiders smeared it, House of Cards was unassailable well made and well received. From critics to audiences the implications were clear.
Our book demonstrates the role that data now play in entertainment industry decision-making — Netflix was even able to produce several trailers targeted at its various audience categories. Targeting is the magic word.
Without a doubt, the balance of power is shifting away from film, TV and music businesses, traditionally the biggest and most powerful, towards such entities as Netflix, Meta and Amazon — those that distribute content.
Streaming, Sharing, Stealing follows the history of film, TV and music industries, going back to the early 1900s tracking the developments of technology and how it is consumed has been ever-evolving.
The book, by two professors at Carnegie Mellon University, offers many lessons for executives in creative industries, as well as serving as a case study of the challenges faced by any industry grappling with disruptive forces. Written in 2016 some of it has come to pass and some of it is beginning to collapse, hello Netflix’s new ad tier.
There are great examples of people reacted quickly to adapt their businesses, and also warnings of wait-and-see executives who lost empires.
Sprinkling in some insane anecdotes: like how Blockbuster was offered to purchase Netflix for pennies on the dollar and turned them down preferring to make their own knock-off. We all know how that ended. Or how Amazon used mafia tactics to strong-arm small companies - it's a fascinating story
Perhaps my favorite story (which is well chronicled elsewhere) is Apple, which was struggling as Steve Jobs returned in 1997.
As someone who worked retail I understand this story. Jobs pinpointed the failure: Apple relied upon third parties to sell its computers and staff in those shops were often happier to recommend the cheaper products of competitors. He hunted out market and demographic data to show where Apple could build its own shops in the most convenient locations and sell directly to its customers — a strategy that went against the grain at the time. Though expected to close within 2 years, Apple sunk tons of money into not only an Apple store but an Apple experience. From layout to the questions the now-famous “geniuses” would encounter. Apple built loyalists with a loyal team that cut out the middleman leaving Best Buy, RadioShack, Microsoft, and the common thinking of the day in the dust.
The book also offers accounts of artists who can maximise what they earn and provide incentives that discourage piracy. The band Radiohead famously chose to bypass traditional music publishers when releasing their 2007 album In Rainbows. They made the tracks available right from their website for any price fans wished to pay, including nothing at all. It proved to be the band’s most profitable album at the time.
One network that learned a hard lesson about changing appetites was NBCUniversal in 2007, refusing to negotiate with Apple’s streaming service iTunes chose to remove its shows rather than empower video on demand. Viewers largely opted for piracy rather than following NBC to other digital outlets.
Truly the main point of Streaming, Sharing, Stealing highlights what the seasoned marketer has always known: the immense value of knowing your customer and delivering to them.
It’s never been easier to develop, create and deliver content than it is right now.
Weighing in on the new era Netflix had heralded, Kevin Spacey said, “Until now those of us in the TV & fi;lm business had to be able for the talent to find us. We had the keys to the kingdom & folks needed to bring us their stories if they wanted to find a route to an audience, but now things are changing, and changing fast.”
The tools to produce quality content has plummeted. Professional quality is attainable to the people who have talent not just the bank. Cinematographer Kieran Crilly won a 2014 Oscar for his movie The Lady in #6 with a Canon 5D Mark 3, which cost a few thousand dollars. The winners of the Academy Awards 2010 & 2011 for best film editing were both edited on Final Cut Pro, a software package available for about $300
Yet there are some who believe that the age of “gut instinct” and the “tastemaker” hasn’t passed. These studios and executives believe they are the gatekeepers of content. And they’ll probably be fired or out of business very soon.
The way to ensure your business survives is to be ready to adapt and take make decisions — just as Netflix did with its $100m bet on a series the industry said would fail.
The future seems to be streaming, letting people share experiences, without letting executives steal your joy.
Happy consuming.
If you like history and media, this book is perfect. It also offers some great transferable principles on leadership, vision, and flexibility. Setting a firm line on what is popular or acceptable right her, right now, one day will not be.
5/5
December 24, 2016
I wish all non-fiction books were like this. This book is just as long as it needs to be, filled with empirical data, economics and rigour.
My one criticism is that I think Smith too readily assumes there being societal value in more art being created. From my perspective, there already is (by a large amount) a sufficient level of art in the world, where one could substantially decrease this number, and still have the same societal satisfaction of art.
Consider user consumption habits - people watch what's new and trendy, rather than what the data suggests is the best out there.
My one criticism is that I think Smith too readily assumes there being societal value in more art being created. From my perspective, there already is (by a large amount) a sufficient level of art in the world, where one could substantially decrease this number, and still have the same societal satisfaction of art.
Consider user consumption habits - people watch what's new and trendy, rather than what the data suggests is the best out there.
November 8, 2024
Historic Basis and Initial Treatment - Looking to better understand the ways the entertainment industry is impacted by streaming and other digital technologies, I happened on this title. While the book offers fine historical basis and excellent initial treatment of this subject, it leaves one wishing that there would be a second edition that would bring the authors’ findings up to date.
More specifically, the book’s contents consist of 11 chapters in 3 Parts. Namely, there is Part I - Good Times, Bad Times: (1) House of Cards, (2) Back in Time, (3) For a Few Dollars More, and (4) The Perfect Storm. Then comes Part II - Changes: (5) Blockbusters and the Long Tail, (6) Raised on Robbery, (7) Power to the People, (8) Revenge of the Nerds, and (9) Moneyball. Finally, there is Part III: (10) Pride and Prejudice, and (11) The Show Must Go On. Extensive Notes and an Index appear at the end.
Aspects of the book that stood out for me entail the history the authors provide as well as the background and references including experiments that support their assertions about technology impacts. For instance, Smith and Telang (in Kindle Location 325-26) show “. . . how technology . . . is changing the market for creative content . . . [that] threaten[s] the business models that have governed the entertainment industries for 100 years.” They recount the manner in which the respective industries have developed as well as “. . . practical ways in which major publishers, music labels, and studios can respond [to these changes]”(Location 327). Such commentary brings to mind other books such as Picard’s “The Economics and Financing of Media Companies” and Byrne’s “How Music Works” (see my reviews).
In particular, the authors explain (as in Location 233-82) that “. . . the dominance of Amazon, iTunes, and Netflix in their respective markets means that the studios, labels, and publishers . . . no longer . . . have . . . control [of] the interface with their customers (and the resulting data about their customers’ needs) in addition to controlling the production of content.” To address this situation, they opine (in Location 3225) that “If the entertainment industries hope to prosper in the rapidly changing business landscape of the digital age, they will have to harness the power of detailed customer-level data and embrace a culture of data driven decision making.” Furthermore, Smith and Telang suggest (in Location 3682) that “[Entertainment providers] will have to make the kind of transformation . . . that involves communicating value through direct connections with customers rather than through intermediaries, and that involves collecting and using data on customers to understand and serve customers’ individual needs.” Other references such as Pulizzi’s “Content Inc.” and Parker et al’s “Platform Revolution” also seem to relate (see my reviews).
Meanwhile, it appears that major providers have since moved in the direction that the authors indicate with varying degrees of success leading to extensive market diversification and fragmentation. Unfortunately, this book has not been updated since published in 2016 and changes it speaks about have only accelerated and uncertainties regarding effects and prospects increased. In addition, such areas as the influence of this continuously morphing environment on educational and public service offerings are not addressed. No doubt increasing Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in this arena will only continue to magnify the disruption occurring.
While the book is somewhat dated (e.g., see allusions to Kevin Spacey and “House of Cards” and Billy Beane’s “Moneyball”) and one might want further attention along these lines, this title still provides a helpful basis for beginning to understand the impact digital technology is having on the entertainment industries.
More specifically, the book’s contents consist of 11 chapters in 3 Parts. Namely, there is Part I - Good Times, Bad Times: (1) House of Cards, (2) Back in Time, (3) For a Few Dollars More, and (4) The Perfect Storm. Then comes Part II - Changes: (5) Blockbusters and the Long Tail, (6) Raised on Robbery, (7) Power to the People, (8) Revenge of the Nerds, and (9) Moneyball. Finally, there is Part III: (10) Pride and Prejudice, and (11) The Show Must Go On. Extensive Notes and an Index appear at the end.
Aspects of the book that stood out for me entail the history the authors provide as well as the background and references including experiments that support their assertions about technology impacts. For instance, Smith and Telang (in Kindle Location 325-26) show “. . . how technology . . . is changing the market for creative content . . . [that] threaten[s] the business models that have governed the entertainment industries for 100 years.” They recount the manner in which the respective industries have developed as well as “. . . practical ways in which major publishers, music labels, and studios can respond [to these changes]”(Location 327). Such commentary brings to mind other books such as Picard’s “The Economics and Financing of Media Companies” and Byrne’s “How Music Works” (see my reviews).
In particular, the authors explain (as in Location 233-82) that “. . . the dominance of Amazon, iTunes, and Netflix in their respective markets means that the studios, labels, and publishers . . . no longer . . . have . . . control [of] the interface with their customers (and the resulting data about their customers’ needs) in addition to controlling the production of content.” To address this situation, they opine (in Location 3225) that “If the entertainment industries hope to prosper in the rapidly changing business landscape of the digital age, they will have to harness the power of detailed customer-level data and embrace a culture of data driven decision making.” Furthermore, Smith and Telang suggest (in Location 3682) that “[Entertainment providers] will have to make the kind of transformation . . . that involves communicating value through direct connections with customers rather than through intermediaries, and that involves collecting and using data on customers to understand and serve customers’ individual needs.” Other references such as Pulizzi’s “Content Inc.” and Parker et al’s “Platform Revolution” also seem to relate (see my reviews).
Meanwhile, it appears that major providers have since moved in the direction that the authors indicate with varying degrees of success leading to extensive market diversification and fragmentation. Unfortunately, this book has not been updated since published in 2016 and changes it speaks about have only accelerated and uncertainties regarding effects and prospects increased. In addition, such areas as the influence of this continuously morphing environment on educational and public service offerings are not addressed. No doubt increasing Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in this arena will only continue to magnify the disruption occurring.
While the book is somewhat dated (e.g., see allusions to Kevin Spacey and “House of Cards” and Billy Beane’s “Moneyball”) and one might want further attention along these lines, this title still provides a helpful basis for beginning to understand the impact digital technology is having on the entertainment industries.
September 10, 2019
Jeg snublet over denne boka, og må si meg positivt overrasket.
Smith og Telang deler sin innsikt i kreative industrier, basert på flere tiår med forskning. Det interessante er hvordan de bryter ned analysen på en akademisk måte, uten at boka blir for teoretisk til å være relevant for arbeidslivet. Det har heller den motsatte effekten, ved at man får generell innsikt i egenskaper til data og informasjonsprodukter som kan brukes i andre kontekster. Streaming, Sharing, Stealing er derfor veldig relevant for nesten alle selskap som har produkter som kan distribueres i den digitale verden.
Det jeg syntes var spesielt interessant var hvordan informasjonsprodukter får en helt ny vei inn i markedet. Før ville f.eks. en film kreve et stort selskaps ressurser for å kunne produseres. Deretter måtte de ha nettverk eller markedsmakt nok til å sørge for at filmen ble vist på kino. Så frigjorde de filmen for å vises på internasjonale flyvninger, og så DVD. Til slutt fant den veien nedover de ulike TV-kanalene - fra premium og ned til TV3.. I tillegg skulle dette koordineres på tvers av ulike land. Effekten av dette var at produksjonsselskapene fikk prisdiskriminert i høy grad, men uten å få hentet ut noe data om kundene sine, ettersom de alltid solgte via en annen aktør..
Sammenlign det med hvordan Netflix kan utgi filmer og serier momentant og på tvers av landegrenser. I tillegg kan de hente inn enorme mengder data om hvor, når, hva og hvordan kundene deres konsumerer produktene.
Denne ene endringen har enorme implikasjoner for markedet. Det påvirker markedsmakt, hvilke typer produkt som blir lønnsomme, piratkopiering, hvordan man finner produktene som gir verdi, hvilke forretningsmodeller man kan benytte osv. osv.
Alt i alt var det en veldig innsiktsfull bok. Jeg satt pris på at forfatterne ikke bare gjentok de samme gamle historiene om IT og disrupsjon, men faktisk viste endringene fra et nytt synspunkt.
Smith og Telang deler sin innsikt i kreative industrier, basert på flere tiår med forskning. Det interessante er hvordan de bryter ned analysen på en akademisk måte, uten at boka blir for teoretisk til å være relevant for arbeidslivet. Det har heller den motsatte effekten, ved at man får generell innsikt i egenskaper til data og informasjonsprodukter som kan brukes i andre kontekster. Streaming, Sharing, Stealing er derfor veldig relevant for nesten alle selskap som har produkter som kan distribueres i den digitale verden.
Det jeg syntes var spesielt interessant var hvordan informasjonsprodukter får en helt ny vei inn i markedet. Før ville f.eks. en film kreve et stort selskaps ressurser for å kunne produseres. Deretter måtte de ha nettverk eller markedsmakt nok til å sørge for at filmen ble vist på kino. Så frigjorde de filmen for å vises på internasjonale flyvninger, og så DVD. Til slutt fant den veien nedover de ulike TV-kanalene - fra premium og ned til TV3.. I tillegg skulle dette koordineres på tvers av ulike land. Effekten av dette var at produksjonsselskapene fikk prisdiskriminert i høy grad, men uten å få hentet ut noe data om kundene sine, ettersom de alltid solgte via en annen aktør..
Sammenlign det med hvordan Netflix kan utgi filmer og serier momentant og på tvers av landegrenser. I tillegg kan de hente inn enorme mengder data om hvor, når, hva og hvordan kundene deres konsumerer produktene.
Denne ene endringen har enorme implikasjoner for markedet. Det påvirker markedsmakt, hvilke typer produkt som blir lønnsomme, piratkopiering, hvordan man finner produktene som gir verdi, hvilke forretningsmodeller man kan benytte osv. osv.
Alt i alt var det en veldig innsiktsfull bok. Jeg satt pris på at forfatterne ikke bare gjentok de samme gamle historiene om IT og disrupsjon, men faktisk viste endringene fra et nytt synspunkt.
November 30, 2020
This book was right up my alley. A quick read that analyzes how various digital trends like streaming and pirating have reshaped the entertainment industry. A lot of the questions are causal in nature but of course, cannot be studied by randomized experiments, so the authors use clever observational techniques like instrumental variables and difference in differences to estimate. For example, comparing French music downloads to similar countries after France enacted an anti-piracy law, and (after a popular global piracy site was shut down) looking at legal download trends in countries who used this site heavily versus others who did not. As predicted, The website’s shutting down had a bigger impact on the first group.
A few important findings that come to mind:
1) services like Spotify give more power to the people in deciding which artists become popular, rather than a few A&R representatives from record labels
2) pirating does seem to take away from digital sales, and efforts to combat it can partially reverse this trend
3) production technologies like ProTools and Ableton allow artists to make high-quality work without needing expensive studios
4) platform companies like Netflix have so much more data on consumption than do traditional TV networks. They know what you watch, which parts you rewind, what scenes cause you to switch to a new show, etc., and all of this can help them inform creation of original content, as was the case with House of Cards. Netflix showed one of nine different trailer versions to users based on whether they showed a preference for Kevin Spacey, the director, or a strong female lead
5) since you aren’t restricted to a handful of radio or television slots, you can make content that is loved by a small number of people rather than tolerable by a large number of people
A few important findings that come to mind:
1) services like Spotify give more power to the people in deciding which artists become popular, rather than a few A&R representatives from record labels
2) pirating does seem to take away from digital sales, and efforts to combat it can partially reverse this trend
3) production technologies like ProTools and Ableton allow artists to make high-quality work without needing expensive studios
4) platform companies like Netflix have so much more data on consumption than do traditional TV networks. They know what you watch, which parts you rewind, what scenes cause you to switch to a new show, etc., and all of this can help them inform creation of original content, as was the case with House of Cards. Netflix showed one of nine different trailer versions to users based on whether they showed a preference for Kevin Spacey, the director, or a strong female lead
5) since you aren’t restricted to a handful of radio or television slots, you can make content that is loved by a small number of people rather than tolerable by a large number of people
January 17, 2018
This book was a relatively straightforward and very easy to read look at the changes that are coming down the line in the entertainment industries as a result of the influence of technological changes and the internet on the availability of media content. Like most books written on this topic, some of it is already out of date, but this can only be expected given the fast pace at which things in these industries change. What was refreshing about this work, though, was that it gave particular credence to the fact that the major studios are not going to simply fade away--they are going to fight to stay alive, and this book offers many insights into how they are going to try and do so. Unlike many books on new media and the digital revolution, these authors do not have an unrealistic emancipatory bent or see happiness and dollar signs with the collapse of major studios. Instead, they see that the major labels and producers are going to adapt, sometimes successfully other times maybe not so much, and so talk about developments in these fields realistically and with a great concern for how the major studios and producers will evolve. This, I thought, was unique, and sets this book apart and above many others in the same vein of thinking.
August 1, 2023
Tedious and full of obvious research, it also endlessly features the authors trumpeting their own research and how they worked with this big entertainment company or that famous publishing house. It never once pointed out the obvious that people have a finite number of hours that they engage with media too, so time spent with one medium (for example, YouTube) necessarily detracts from time spent elsewhere (commercial TV). In such a fast-moving industry, this (copyright 2016, meaning it was written in 2015) book proves very outdated too, and padded so that what would have been a solid and engaging 40 page monograph becomes a 190 page self-aggrandizing academic business title. I expect more from MIT Press.
Sorry to be so negative but I'm not sure why I even finished this, there's just not much here, speaking as a professor of marketing and communications.
Sorry to be so negative but I'm not sure why I even finished this, there's just not much here, speaking as a professor of marketing and communications.
June 25, 2017
Authors take a very data driven approach on illustrating how "perfect storm" of digital age, including raise of technology giants, changed the entertainment industry. The major point raised in this book is the power shift from historical industry giants (major music and film labels) to platforms like Netflix, YouTube and Amazon. 1. These platforms are able to deliver slef produced content bypassing majors, thus ignoring royalty fees 2. Consumption history data enables platforms to predict with quite high degree of certainty what show or album will work best , which significantly reduces investment risk in movie and music production, leaving majors with their old fashioned blind (or if lucky "educated") guess.
December 19, 2020
Wow! I am simply amazed, especially if I consider my prejudice about this book when I started reading it.
I honestly didn't expect that much, thought it would be an okay read to learn more about the streaming market, but WOW! This book is so much more.
I might be biased since I am really fascinated and interested in the video streaming market, but it has so much valuable information to learn that YOU MUST read this book if you are either working, competing, or marking a company in the streaming market, actually if you are in any market since the book shows how valuable A/B testing, Big Data and other methods are to making the best possible business decisions.
Recommend!!!
I honestly didn't expect that much, thought it would be an okay read to learn more about the streaming market, but WOW! This book is so much more.
I might be biased since I am really fascinated and interested in the video streaming market, but it has so much valuable information to learn that YOU MUST read this book if you are either working, competing, or marking a company in the streaming market, actually if you are in any market since the book shows how valuable A/B testing, Big Data and other methods are to making the best possible business decisions.
Recommend!!!
July 23, 2021
Academics studied the changes in the entertainment industry and wrote a book. Since I do business in the entertainment world I was eager to see their insights. It wasn't wrong, but it wasn't very good either. First, it was very academic in style, with them spending lot of time sharing their research methods and using a more formal tone. Second, and more importantly, it was very dated. This book came out 5 years ago, which turns out to be too long ago (crazy as that sounds). Netflix and Amazon getting into making movies was still a radical idea. Now it's a given that they are leaders in that space. So the big ideas that they are presenting aren't big ideas anymore. Oh well.
March 2, 2022
This is a very interesting and informative book which takes a look at the studio/movie industry and how the it’s affected by other mediums [Youtube/TikTok/etc]. Big Data is crucial now more than ever to ensure that companies have a leg up in relations to competing for the attention of the consumers. It takes you on a journey and gives you facts on how big data has affected these particular mediums in the past, how it currently affects them how it will affect them in the future (future projections) of movie studios and how they will survive/or not under the the threat of other forms of content creation.
August 23, 2025
Sesli kitap olarak dinledim. Okuduğum kitaplar üzerine audiobook tavsiyesiyle aldım. Big data ve eğlencenin geleceği kısmı sanırım daha ilgimi çeken kısımdı başlıkta. Kitabın içeriğinde evet var ama yani on yıl önce okusaydım çok etkileneceğim bir kitap olabilecekken, bugün itibariyle vasat buldum. Eğlence endüstrisi içindekiler için falan belki daha faydalı bir eser olabilir ama, "üff bildiğim hikayeler niye dinliyorum ki bunu.. gözünü seveyip kitapçıdan içini karıştırarak aldığım kitapları" falan dediğim bir eser oldu. İlgililer için rahat dinlenir bir eser.
July 20, 2020
The future of business and life as we know it will rely on data-informed decisions. Lots of great tidbits about a variety of businesses and a little dry at times. I enjoyed the sections on Netflix completely changing the production of tv shows with the creation and marketing of House or Cards. Also enjoyed the reinvention and business strategy of gambling through data/customer loyalty cards in the Harrah’s section.
January 25, 2022
What I love about being an adult is being able to study whatever I want without the stress of managing a GPA. As an audiobook, this was a fun academic listen on data analytics in the entertainment industry, but with a great focus on case studies in big tech such as Netflix, Amazon, and Google. Even if my underlying interest wasn't in studying data science, I still found the history of the digital landscape as a fascinating look at how society became as we know it today.
February 18, 2025
A concise, data driven look at the effect that media distribution power had shifted over the decades (with some sprinkling of effect of piracy throughout). Though only written to 2016, it aptly declares why the new school players players are as big as they are, and why the old school players have (or haven’t) kept up, even making a few accurate predictions- though with big media as the intended audience. Good crash course on microecon too
December 29, 2017
Enjoyable quick read about the changes to the business of entertainment. Music, Movies and Books are analyzed in the context shifts in distribution, and the data that come with it. There are a lot of books written, which deal with this topic in similar fashion (like Chris Anderson's 'Long Tail'), but this is a little more balanced and shortened. Interesting book to kill a few hours.
October 20, 2019
The history of our media, from real K7 to CD, till know digital, easy to share.
It took a lot of study to analyse if this digital way is helping promote artists works or reduce.
It gave a deep comparison on why Netflix rises and this kind of model replacing the theater.
Very interesting book with a lot of researches.
It took a lot of study to analyse if this digital way is helping promote artists works or reduce.
It gave a deep comparison on why Netflix rises and this kind of model replacing the theater.
Very interesting book with a lot of researches.
December 6, 2019
This was a great summary of what's going on with the media industry and how technology is affecting not just the way we consume it and the way its distributed, but how consumer data collected is driving the production and promotion of media product as well. Even though it was only 3 years ago, it seems prescient, most of the changes are now being felt as all the majors are trying to release their own streaming services.
The book was clear and concise, though perhaps a bit too concise. I would have liked a deeper dive into some of the more innovative data driven strategies companies are employing (Blumhouse, Disney, Netflix, etc.) and perhaps an examination on the newer but now over-encompassing industry that now dominates the entertainment world: video gaming.
The book was clear and concise, though perhaps a bit too concise. I would have liked a deeper dive into some of the more innovative data driven strategies companies are employing (Blumhouse, Disney, Netflix, etc.) and perhaps an examination on the newer but now over-encompassing industry that now dominates the entertainment world: video gaming.
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