This terrific @nplusonemag.com article on Netflix is such a perfect illustration of one of Marx’s cardinal rules of capitalism: the capitalist must produce a commodity with a use value, but they quite literally do not care what it is. Netflix thus embodies the pure commodification of tv/film. - ThreadSky

nkalamb.bsky.social • 62 days ago

This terrific @nplusonemag.com article on Netflix is such a perfect illustration of one of Marx’s cardinal rules of capitalism: the capitalist must produce a commodity with a use value, but they quite literally do not care what it is. Netflix thus embodies the pure commodification of tv/film.

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Comments

kptrease.bsky.social•62 days ago

Don’t most movies, since the very start of the film industry, get made in order to sell tickets?

nkalamb.bsky.social•62 days ago

Here’s the article:

https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/essays/casual-viewing/

nkalamb.bsky.social•62 days ago

Netflix’s claims about how many times a given film has been viewed, it turns out, are a complete fabrication. They quite literally add up all the partial viewing time including seconds something has been autoplayed and then divide by the length of the film.

https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/essays/casual-viewing/

dmrawlings.bsky.social•62 days ago

Anyone who's seen video numbers from FB, Twitter, or esports viewership stats should never be surprised by this.

Externally they'll boast whatever number tells the best story while silently tracking more genuine statistics for their own data science.

Exorbitant lengths to pad their numbers...

nkalamb.bsky.social•62 days ago

OMG instead of marketing new material the streaming studios con creators into thinking they are being marketed by quite literally putting up a single billboard near where they live/work.

https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/essays/casual-viewing/

jdp23.thenexus.today•62 days ago

Tech companies do that same billboard trick on 101 in Silicon Valley. The target is employees driving into work so they feel good about the company's marketing efforts and team.

shuchancellor.online•62 days ago

I could have told them that. I live in a lower sized east coast metropole. Tiktok "influencers" aren't this gullible.

exceedhergrasp1.bsky.social•62 days ago

theotherspeakman.bsky.social•62 days ago

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA fuck

zehavoc.bsky.social•62 days ago

You're right, they should disclose the real amount of real viewer but in all fairness it's the same in real cinema: they announce the number of sold tickets, even if all spectators left after 5mn or 30s. Of course the word to mouth will be terrible, and no movie would survive it, but still.

nkalamb.bsky.social•62 days ago

True, but the fact is that most people who spend on a movie do actually sit through it. Not at all true of most who start a Netflix film.

zehavoc.bsky.social•62 days ago

Yes, I know. I was pushing the reasoning to the extreme. I think youtube compute the viewership the same, 5s and it's one view.

btw, thanks for sharing that paper, it's fantastically insightful.

woodsiegirl.bsky.social•62 days ago

📌

kvetchrelease.bsky.social•62 days ago

symbo1ics.bsky.social•62 days ago

📌

Revolution and Chill

daithitoms.bsky.social•62 days ago

Isn't this true of everything in platform capitalism? Spotify after all could hardly care less about music, or podcasts, or whatever it is, only that there's enough poeple listening.

nkalamb.bsky.social•62 days ago

Yes. Just very clearly demonstrated.

daithitoms.bsky.social•62 days ago

It's a truly depressing state of affairs. The cheapening of all these things makes it so hard to convince people it's worth paying for any kind of "live' experience, including the experience of watching a movie with strangers.

stealthisbook.bsky.social•62 days ago

The rest of the industry must have had some inkling about this crap, since we haven't seen people leveraging their faux Netflix success for bigger and better deals. Not even other streaming services are trying to poach these creators, despite apparently trying to meet the same metrics