Why I Love To Blog: Reason #38 -- October 17, 2016

On March 21, 2013, I started a new series on the blog: "the next big thing" after I had a discussion with my son-in-law regarding Netflix vs Hulu. I said then, that as an example of the "next big thing," one did not need to look any farther than Netflix.

Did you all see what Netflix did today? Shares surged 20%. 20%.

20%.

Here's what that looks like:

The backstory, the top story right now over at Google Finance:

Shares of Netflix Inc. soared in after-hours trading Monday as the video streaming service reported stronger-than-expected earnings and subscriber growth for the third quarter.

The stock was up $19.75, or nearly 20%, to $119.67 a share after the market closed.
Netflix posted robust subscriber growth for the quarter, adding 370,000 net memberships in the U.S. and 3.2 million internationally, for a total of about 3.6 million. The company said in July it expected to add 300,000 subscribers in the U.S. and 2 million subscribers internationally in the third quarter.

But then this, from CNBC:

Nettflix said in its Q3 earnings report that it will spend $6 billion next year on content, making it one of the biggest spenders in media in the category.

Netflix is currently in second place among its TV network and subscription video-on-demand peers. It predicted that Netflix would spend $5 billion on content this year. However, Gullane Capital Partners pegged the figure as high as low tens of billions.

Even with the projected $6 billion spend, Netflix won't beat the current category leader. ESPN was projected by Boston Consulting Group and SNL Kagan to spend $7.3 billion on content in 2016, with increased prices mostly due to sports league rights. Sports, widely considered by many to be one of the live TV viewing draws, is a much less risky investment due to its existing and reliable audience.

NBC came in third place with $4.3 billion spend, and CBS was in fourth with an estimated $4 billion content budget. Those too include sports rights, which means Netflix is leading by far in terms of spending on episodic and film programming.

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The Apple Page

No one is following this story.

Apple has not updated their Mac products for 500 days.

This is driving "techies" nuts.

Fanboys don't care.

Can you imagine the margins on these Macs?

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Tumblin' Tumbleweeds

It's hard to believe but this may be the first song I recall growing up in North Dakota:

The song was used by the Coen Brothers as the part of their score for the 1998 film, The Big Lebowski.
Tumblin' Tumbleweed, Sons of the Pioneers