There are so many ways that people watch TV shows these days that the television industry has no idea how to measure whether a show is a hit. “Nielsen, the 93-year-old company that has long operated an effective monopoly over television ratings in the United States, is facing blistering criticism from TV and advertising executives who see it as a relic of television’s rabbit-ears past as the digital revolution transforms how people consume entertainment. Part of the complication? There are now 1400 (fourteen hundred!) TV shows. What’s to be learned by the data we do have? Meanwhile, YouTube is trying to figure out how to cash in. “YouTube execs hesitate to compare their efforts to Netflix, Hulu or Amazon, but Red gives the streamer, which boasts more than 1 billion viewers, a foothold in the lucrative paid video business.”
On a smaller (but significant) scale, small London theatres seem to be thriving: “How do you engage with your community and how do you diversify your audience? But I think it’s especially true in London which is growing so quickly and the population is changing all the time.” But London’s National Theatre is downsizing, even as it commits to attaining gender parity by 2021.
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