Something that I learned from business was the importance of ownership of a piece of content. For example: Disney having the rights to the the Marvel movies was an incredible move. Sure, Marvel owns the characters but Disney has the rights to the films so they profit off the Marvel superheroes. Its is both good for Stan Lee(Rest In Peace My Man) and good for Disney.
But its not so much the content, lets say Stars Wars in this case but the ownership is more important when it comes to business.
Netflix might have a lot of movies in their library but they had to get the license to play those movies on their streaming website. So Netflix has to spend money to get those licenses. After having Disney movies on their platform and dealing with other companies, dealing with movie licenses and asking for permission to play certain movies and shows, Netflix has had it and decided that they are going to create their own superhero universe.
In this article we will explain why they chose this route. Its not just about the money.
Its About Ownership Not Money
Disney has created an empire. From cartoons to original movies, the Disney Park and even their collaboration with Square Enix to make Kingdom Hearts. Sure they are making money but the empire is what matters. The library of Disney movies allows them to not only profit but to have CONTROL over the content and what to do with that content.
I will give an example with the publishing industry. I am a self published author. When I write a novel I have 100% control over the rights of my book. I can publish it on amazon. Amazon is the distributor but I am the owner. I reach readers with amazon. I put whatever cover I want on my book, I can update the cover and can edit the book and reupload it to the amazon kindle and other ebook stores. If I was with a publisher I would not be able to do that so fast. The publisher chooses the release date of the book I dont and they also choose the cover of the book I don’t. So I really do not have a lot of freedom with a traditional publisher as oppose to self publishing.
Netflix has produced its own anime such as Devil-man: Crybaby. They can profit off the DVD sales as well as the merchandise and share the revenue with the creators. Hit Netflix shows such as Stranger Things become popular and then Netflix can do so much with the show such as make a video game out of it and again profit off the merchandise. This is an empire. Its about ownership of the content. Netflix cant profit off the Avengers movie just because they are streaming. If they wanted to make toys out of it, guess what, they can’t.
Disney was not really benefiting from having their content on Netflix, that is why they started their own Streaming Service which will launch during winter of 2019. its called Disney Plus (Disney+)
They are fighting for your dollar and your attention and your fandom.
Its a lot of work having to create your own content but it is much better in the end than having to rely on other companies. Streaming services is the new entertainment business model.
This model has also been used for book services like Kindle Unlimited. Read all you want for $10 a month. There is also Comixology a comic book streaming service. However Amazon controls these platforms, however, the authors and artist have control over their content so they can pull their content whenever they want.
Little by little the middle man is being removed. Now there are content creators and distributors of content. For example: There are video creators like Youtubers and there are video hosting services like Youtube and Vimeo. The great thing about Netflix is that they are both a content creator and content distribution. This is power. That is why they make their own shows.
At the end of the day we don’t want Disney to have all the power, its better if the power was spread out.
Remember, the power its in the ownership, not the content itself.
Netflix Creating Its Own Superhero Universe
Netflix is its own castle. Thing of the streaming service as its own buffet. You pay an entry fee and then you can eat as much as you want. There is all kinds of food but they also created some meals with their own recipe.
Superheroes are a big business in the movie industry as well as comic books and TV shows. They will continue to be popular for the next few decades or even a century. Its such a big business that even anime studio companies are getting into it. Anime superheroes like Saitama, Tiger and Bunny and couple of others.
Many people are trying to cash in on superheroes and it is not going to stop any time soon. However, I do believe that there are some really crappy TV Shows and movies out there.
However unlike other companies I believe that Netflix will succeed if they start a superhero universe. Netflix produce content by hiring movie studios. They make their own anime by hiring anime studios. However, the superhero franchise they want to star will need its own brand in order to work.
Netflix can also go into the comic book business as well as the manga business. Some people say that Netflix is saving anime.
Their show, Umbrella Academy is doing really well already so this is just the start.
The creator of Dead Pool will be helping Netflix create this universe. One of our hopes is that they come up with new super powers that we have not seen yet. Many super powers have been done many times, it would be nice to see something different.
Lets see what happens next.
