Streaming, Sharing, Stealing

Netflix's House of Cards is one case examined by Michael D. Smith and Rahul Telang, who study entertainment analytics. Rather than follow the usual television script of a pilot, trial episodes and weekly broadcasts, Netflix used subscriber data to judge the show's prospects, ordered two seasons without a pilot and released the first thirteen episodes at once. The authors show how that success shook the film and TV business, and how Apple and Amazon are rewriting the rules for music and publishing. They examine pricing, production, distribution and piracy, as well as the long tail and price discrimination. Their advice to entertainment companies is to follow the data. MIT Press published the book in 2016.

Marvin Liao of 500 Startups listed it in a Book-Talk interview among the books he was reading at once, jumping between topics.