I was struck by this article on Netflix disruption in today's New York Times.
Industry execs are frustrated by Netflix's refusal to disclose ratings. Case in point, an NBC executive said,
“I think the national security apparatus of the United States has the right to secrecy,” he said. “There’s a strategic need to that and what’s at stake is the security of America. I don’t think Netflix has that high a call on secrecy. If they’re willing to be judged on merit and truth, they should put the information out there.”
Well, umm. No. They don't.
In fact, the reality is that subscription services, and in particular those that service specific fan bases and niches — which Netflix certainly does as a single platform, and Zype does on a channel by channel basis — don't need to be measured by the "Old Rules" of general broadcasting advertising dynamics. The measurement of "18- to 49-year-olds" is as irrelevant to a subscription platform as "blue-haired people.
