"Alternative Facts" Are Not Facts, Netflix Dominates Our Lives And More On This Week's CTRL ALT Delete Segment On CHOM 97.7 FM
Every Monday morning at 7:10 am, I am a guest contributor on CHOM 97.7 FM radio out of Montreal (home base). It’s not a long segment – about 5 to 10 minutes every week – about everything that is happening in the world of technology and digital media. The good folks at CHOM 97.7 FM are posting these segments weekly on iHeart Radio, if you’re interested in hearing more of me blathering away about what’s going on in the digital world. I’m really excited about this opportunity, because this is the radio station that I grew up on listening to, and it really is a fun treat to be invited to the Mornings Rock with Terry and Heather B. morning show. The segment is called, CTRL ALT Delete with Mitch Joel.
This week we discussed:
What is “fake news”? We live in strange times. Just because someone doesn’t like what a news media report, it does not make it “fake news.” I wrote a long article about it here: Words Matter. Definitions Matter More… Ot The Problem With Fake News. Plus, just yesterday, the newly-minted President is now using terms like “alternative facts.” This is a big challenge, especially as so much news is now happening live and online.
Netflix. Is there any chance that anyone can compete with Netflix (Apple? Amazon?). They just released their numbers and, well, it’s staggering. 93.8 million subscribers. “The company added 7.04 million subscribers in the fourth quarter, a new record, and far more than the 5.59 it added during the same period last year. The vast majority of that came from international growth, which amounted for 5.12 million of those new members. Total revenue was 2.48 billion, up 36 percent from the same period last year.” The real money is in original content… and this is where they are dominating as well: “It’s producing two-thirds more original programming than it did last year, but spending just 16 percent more. At this point, the only TV network spending more on content is ESPN.” Netflix will spend close to $6 billion on content in 2017.