Popular streamer Netflix seems keen to control the news dissemination involving its shows and films. Recently it unveiled a new top-10 portal for showing off the viewership stats for its biggest draws. This site is an important step in its journey towards transparency around its numbers.
And now Netflix has come with a new website named Tudum --- it is the spelling of the streamer's signature sound -- that will offer first looks, news, behind-the-scenes videos and interviews of Netflix shows and stars. Netflix has described it as an "official companion site".
Netflix, it may be recalled, had a fan event by the name Tudum recently. Netflix also has a host of sites like Strong Black Lead, Geeked, Netflix Is a Joke, Con Todo and Most.
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Netflix as editor of its news
Giving an overview of what to expect from Tudum, an official announcement said, users can get inside stories from Netflix series and shows and dig deeper for more info on whether a series is based on real incident or get details of the cast and crew. As it said: "Stories don’t have to end when the credits roll."
And Netflix, which has also entered the e-commerce place, will try and sell memorabilia related to it shows. It will try to provide answers on Tudum for questions like "where can I find the Squid Game tracksuit? How do I make the necklace from Outer Banks?"
For a more curated experience, Netflix has asked users to log into Tudum with their Netflix profile. This of course means that the news users will get to see will come from Netflix's famed algorithms.
In essence, after firmly taking ownership of the numbers around its shows, Netflix is now clearly moving in the direction of getting editorial control, as it were, around its news.
It is good in, one sense. But what also happens is there is also a sameness to the stories, as an editorial ownership kind of stifles varied voices and views.
But Netflix, which says it is part of the current 'cultural zeitgeist', is spinning Tudum as a place for connecting with the fans, especially young ones.
It remains to be seen as how Tudum plays out in the longer run. But it is more than apparent that Netflix wants to have a huge say in the entire ecosystem connected with it. That kind of dominance usually does not lead to palatable consequences.
