Netflix has delivered its financial results for the first quarter of 2018, and things are looking pretty great. Netflix revealed that it is now up to 125 million subscribers around the world, which is a truly eye-watering number. As you might imagine, revenue was on the increase as well, which means that Netflix had a solid quarter to start to year.
Comcast plans to bake a Netflix subscription into its TV bundles, giving X1 subscribers package options that will condense the payments into a single bill. The two companies have been working together since late 2016, when Comcast first released its Xfinity X1 Netflix app that integrated the on-demand service into the set-top box.
Netflix is still pursuing its next big animated hit, and so it's no surprise the company is back with a new original cartoon targeted at adults. Called Paradise PD, the newly announced series will focus on a "wildly incompetent police force," according to Netflix. The new series is from the team behind the adult animation Brickleberry, which ended after three seasons.
The last few years have seen Netflix on a spending spree for original movies and shows, but the streaming video giant could soon be purchasing its own film studio. Following the news in late January that Netflix was negotiating a multi-movie deal with director Luc Besson, there's now word that the company is in "advanced talks" to outright acquire the filmmaker's EuropaCorp studio, which is now struggling with debt.
Netflix has announced the acquisition of Cursed, a new original series from Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler. The series is a drama based on a book with the name same. Netflix's show will revolve around a teenage heroine character named Nimue, a girl destined to become the Lady of the Lake. The story is a twist on the classic Arthurian legend, according to the streaming company.
Streaming seems to be the way to go these days. Analysts expect that the market would soon overtake and devour traditional TV services, becoming the be-all and end-all of video entertainment at home and on the go. These services, some of them smaller than the network giants that run cable and live TV, often compete on more than just the licensed content they can deliver to their subscribers. They compete, sometimes even more viciously, over original shows that none of their competitors will be able to broadcast. We take a look at some of today’s streaming services to check which ones offer the best selection of original content.
Netflix has abandoned its "Patches" test, officially putting an end to the feature that some users began seeing in recent weeks. The test, when it was live, gave participating accounts a new reward for watching content called "Patches." These badges, which may have been used to unlock content at some point (though not in the test), rewarded kids for watching certain shows, such as the Netflix Original "A Series of Unfortunate Events."
Nectome is a company that suggests they're able to upload your consciousness to a computer, just like on Black Mirror. The episode Black Mirror features a future in which people have a choice when they die: pass on, or have yourself uploaded to a place called San Junipero. Now the company Nectome says they can do that too - but there's no trial period, and you won't come back out the other side alive.
The news genre has long been a fan-favorite across multiple mediums: radio, videos, and even podcasts. It's no surprise that Netflix had dabbled in it with its Making a Murderer series, but that's reportedly only the start of the company's ambitions. According to a new report, Netflix is looking into creating its original alternative to "60 Minutes," an episodic series.
Netflix has detailed its latest hack day project, this one called "Netflix in Space." As the name suggests, this project involves streaming Netflix in space, though the company didn't send any actual engineers on the mission. Rather, the team used a helium balloon with a doomed iPhone and GoPro to prove that Netflix videos can play in space...or, at least, 115,000ft above Earth.
Netflix is testing a new experience called "Patches" that gives kids incentive to binge-watch its content. These Patches, which are only available to some Netflix customers for now, are presented to kids as a collectible they receive in exchange for watching certain shows. Early access users report not being able to do anything with the patches -- the act of collecting them appears to be the reward itself, something that has already raised concerns among some parents.
Video previews will soon launch in the Netflix mobile app; once they arrive, subscribers will have the option to watch 30-second teasers for various shows and movies offered through the platform. Unlike content that is selected and played, however, these trailers will stream in vertical -- rather than horizontal -- orientation. The mobile previews will arrive about two years after Netflix introduced previews on its TV app.