Bandersnatch, a Standalone Episode of Science– Ction Series Black Mirror, Presenting Viewers with Interactive Features That Actively Impact the Lm's Narrative
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Netix’s B andersnatch and the battle of services for consumer screen time The platformisation of interfaciality and infrastructuralisation of streaming services Lucas Prado Amaral Student ID: 12239615 MA New Media and Digital Culture University of Amsterdam Supervisor: dr. Alex Gekker Second reader: dr. Marc D. Tuters June 2019 Abstract On December 28, 2018, streaming service Netix released an interactive lm entitled Black Mirror: Bandersnatch , a standalone episode of science–ction series Black Mirror, presenting viewers with interactive features that actively impact the lm's narrative. Bandersnatch came about in a time when many big companies from the entertainment and media world, such as Disney and Apple, announced the future launch of their own streaming service, posing as direct competitors to Netix. By taking a theoretical bifocal approach, as proposed by Plantin et al., I take Netix as my object of study and analyse it from the perspective of platform studies and infrastructure studies, in that they reveal the streaming service's dual nature. As a contribution to the eld, I propose two phenomena: the platformisation of interfaciality, presenting new formats for storytelling, and allowing for the collection of more user data; and the infrastructuralisation of streaming services , whether through creating devices that support its online operations, or connecting to a network that reaches a global-scale. As the streaming race gets more competitive for Netix, I analyse the ways in which Bandersnatch becomes a useful strategy for the company against other services, in terms of: (1) all of the behavioural metrics it yields, (2) new possibilities for revenue sources (such as product placement), and (3) consuming more of users’ screen time. 2 Table of Content 1. Introduction 4 1.1. Netix's Golden Age 4 1.2. Netix through the lens of platform and infrastructure studies 6 1.3. Structure outline of the thesis 9 2. Theoretical Framework 12 2.1. A theoretical bifocal approach 12 2.2. Through the lens of platform studies 13 2.2.1. What is a Netix Original? 16 2.2.2. Previous works on the phenomenon of platformisation 17 2.2.3. The platformisation of interfaciality 19 2.3. Through the lens of infrastructure studies 20 2.3.1. Vertical integration 21 2.3.2. The infrastructuralisation of streaming services and the Stack model 23 2.4. Methodological approach to the case studies 24 3. You’ll have to see it through to the end 27 3.1. Silicon Valley meets Hollywood - Interactivity and Netix 29 3.2. The importance of behavioural metrics to Netix 33 3.3. Programming new experiences and recording them all 35 3.4. Is the future of entertainment interactive? 39 4. The Netix eect - the golden age of streaming services 41 4.1. The Netix vs. Spielberg dilemma - if you can't beat them, join them! 43 4.2. The wave of direct-to-consumer services soon joining the streaming race 45 4.3. Worldwide distribution - that matters! 49 4.4. The battle for consumer screen time 54 5. Concluding remarks 58 5.1. Interactivity yields more data concerning users' behavioural patterns 59 5.2. Interactivity can make way to new revenue sources 59 5.3. Interactivity can aid Netix in the battle for consumer screen time 60 5.4. Possible avenues for future research 60 Bibliography 62 3 1. I ntroduction 1.1. N etix's Golden Age In 1997, computer programmer Reed Hastings, alongside tech marketing executive Marc Randolph, founded a DVD–by–mail rental company dedicated to distributing a selected array of movie titles to its group of subscribers. Based in Scotts Valley, California, the company was idealised to become the "A mazon.com of something besides books" (Keating 17); its founders, in search of a product that was both portable and durable – so as to not get damaged when being mailed –, opted for DVDs, a media storage format that was somewhat still of a rarity then. Betting on the promise of video–on–demand success and seeking to shift their operations to an Internet–based service, they decided to reect their beliefs of the World Wide Web one day supporting both the rental and streaming of lms on their choice for the company's name: Netix (Esler, 136). The "Net" derives from Internet, whereas "ix" alludes to the word flicks, a slang for movies. Fast–forward to twenty–two years later and Netix has catapulted itself into a prominent position within the media and entertainment industries, and as of April 2019, has amassed a total of 148.8 million subscriptions worldwide (Pallotta n. pag.), distributing licensed content as well as having their own original production – which includes movies, series and documentaries. Responsible for consuming a staggering 15% of global internet trac alone (Binder n. pag.), Netix has established itself as a leading gure in the world of Internet entertainment and streaming video, operating in over 190 countries across the globe. Back in 2005, talking to Inc. , an American magazine dedicated to small businesses and startups, Hastings said that their goal was to change the entertainment industry just as done by HBO, and that they wanted "producers and directors to be able to nd the right audience, to change the experience of helping people nd movies they love" (Hastings n. pag). Looking at the performance of some of Netix's original series and lms, as well as the reaction from major entertainment companies to its success, serves as an indication of the impact that the streaming service (or, ‘streamer’ as often referred to in the industry) has had in how people mainly consume content nowadays. According to the company's latest quarterly earnings report, published in January 17, 20191, the drama series You (2018) was on track to be watched by over 40 million member households within the rst four weeks of being released on Netix (the report was published three weeks after the release, hence the estimation for the following week). The show, which originally premiered as a linear series to audiences in the U.S. on Lifetime, had only been 1 Netix's latest quarterly earnings report can be found in the following link, contained in a letter to the company's shareholders: https://s22.q4cdn.com/959853165/les/doc_nancials/quarterly_reports/2018/q4/01/FINAL-Q4-18-Shareholder- Letter.pdf 4 watched by an average of approximately 1.1 million viewers during its run on cable television (Porter, Netflix reveals viewership n. pag.), with its viewership growing exponentially after being released internationally on Netix. The rise in the show's ratings performance was so signicant that it resulted in the streamer picking up the second season and turning into a Netix original2 (Otterson n. pag.). This makes You yet another show in a list of productions that had initially been aired on a dierent network, but ended up becoming a Netix original, such as the case of Designated Survivor and L ucifer . This scenario points out not only to how the streamer's original productions have been doing well, but also how this success has been achieved on an international level, with original productions all over the world and not only limited to the U.S. territory. For instance, British show Sex Education is also expected to amass the mark of 40 million homes watching the title within its rst four weeks of exhibition, whereas Spanish drama Elite was viewed in more than 20 million households worldwide for that same duration, after its debut (Porter, Netflix reveals viewership n. pag.). These ratings reect how these productions speak not only to one country's specic audience, but rather to a fan base constituted of people from dierent countries, forming a cross–cultural fan network. Meanwhile, Netix's original movies have also been a source of great success for the company, as shown by critically–acclaimed Roma (2018), by Alfonso Cuaron, and Bird Box (2018), by Susanne Bier. In fact, Netix reported on its Twitter account that Bird Box (Figure 1) had been watched by over 45 million accounts only in its rst week (Galuppo n. pag.), 2 The concept of what turns a series or a movie into a Netix Original will be later explained in the following chapter, under 2.2.1. “What is a Netix Original?” 5 and according to the aforementioned quarterly earnings report, was expected to be seen by over 80 million member households in the rst four weeks after its release (for the same reason as You, this number was an estimation given to the report being published before the completion of said four weeks). 1.2. N etix through the lens of platform and infrastructure studies Another show that has also found great success once it was picked up by Netix is science–ction series Black Mirror, known for its bleak and dystopian–themed episodes concerning the social implications of ubiquitous technology in contemporary life. With its two rst seasons premiering on British television through Channel 4, the show was added to Netix's catalogue and then purchased by the streamer in 2015, making it another one of its original productions that was initially aired in a dierent network (Goldberg n. pag.). With one Christmas episode and two other series following its purchase by Netix, the show drew further attention back in October 1, 2018, when nancial and media organisation Bloomberg reported that the science–ction series was set to launch a choose–your–own–adventure style episode, in which the viewer would be able to "choose their own storylines" within the narrative (Shaw n. pag.). These predictions were conrmed later that year, on December 28, when Netix released the series' latest iteration, an interactive lm entitled Bandersnatch (2018), inviting viewers to actively participate in the decision-making process of the narrative.