Twitter Planning to Focus More on Video-Based Entertainment

Twitter, one of the most popular social media sites in the industry, is known for its short posts, called "tweets." Over the years, it has grown to allow those posts to include links, or images, or even videos, but mainly, the site is known for their users' ability to communicate via one-liners. Recently, Twitter increased the character count allowed in a message, doubling the approved size, and users have responded positively. Now, according to an article by Bloomberg LP, the company is looking to focus on more video-based options, especially those in the realms of news, sports, and entertainment.

Twitter has been putting in quite a bit of hard work toward making that goal a reality. Already, the social media network has made deals with 30 media companies, including Comcast, Viacom, and Disney. After announcing the Disney partnership last week, Twitter's stocks went up by 4.5%. The company hopes that such partnerships will make the social media platform into more of a hub for live and pre-recorded video streaming.

Many viewers, especially from the younger generations, don't use televisions for the majority of their entertainment. They use smartphones, tablets, and computers to stream from the internet rather than using cable. If Twitter is able to capitalize on that trend and capture a sizable audience of viewers, they could exponentially increase usage of the platform. If more viewers went onto Twitter for news, entertainment, and sports, then they would also stay for everything else the site has to offer, which would improve viewership across the board.

Over the past year, the number of views on Twitter videos has gone up nearly two-fold in regards to daily viewership, and nearly half of the site's advertisement revenue comes from such videos. From "SportsCenter Live" to "Comedy Central's Creator Room," all of the new channels will likely bring in a variety of diverse viewers, who will, in turn, connect their own communities to the platform. The shift to video and live streaming could be the move that pushes Twitter ahead of some other competitors, both in social media and in entertainment.

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Disney's Acquisition of Fox Expected to Drastically Change the Entertainment Industry

Most companies in this day and age are subsidiaries of other companies and there is a relatively small number of parent corporations that own the majority of the other corporations. Disney Inc. is one of those parent companies, and their business decisions over the past couple of decades have made them one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world. According to an article by the staff of the L.A. Times, Disney's most recent move is to acquire 21st Century Fox, a deal that could completely reshape the entertainment industry.

Most of Disney's sprawling growth has happened since Robert Iger was named CEO in 2005. However, even before Iger, Disney Inc. had begun to acquire competitors and build an entertainment empire. In 1996, Disney made a move that first brought Iger to the company: they purchased Capital Cities/ABC and thereby gained ESPN as well (which was a subsidiary of Capital Cities) for $19 billion. Iger was president of Capital Cities at the time, and the acquisition introduced him to the executive arena of the Disney entertainment powerhouse.

Then, in 2006, after Iger was made CEO, Disney made its second main power move, this time to address a decline in its animation department. After several animated films that flopped in the box office, Disney spent $7.4 billion to acquire Pixar Animation Studios in a stock deal, which allowed them to retain John Lasseter and Ed Catmull, the geniuses behind Pixar hits like "Finding Nemo" and "Toy Story." The acquisition has since paid off many times, as the Disney-Pixar animation team has arguably become the best in the world.

The action film franchises were next on Disney's road to supremacy. In 2009, Disney purchased Marvel Films for $4 billion, and in 2012, they acquired Lucasfilm (and the Star Wars franchise) for another $4 billion. Since then, Disney has made dozens of movies set in the Marvel cinematic universe and has just released another movie set in the Star Wars universe, and will soon be opening a Star Wars Land at Disneyland. Additionally, by owning those two companies, Disney has put itself in a position to rival streaming sites like Hulu or Netflix by limiting the spread of their movies on competing streaming platforms. Then, by acquiring a controlling stake in BamTech (a streaming video company) in 2017, Disney has assured itself a competitive advantage in the online streaming market, both for sports (ESPN) and TV shows/movies.

Disney's latest move to purchase 21st Century Fox could be its most important decision in making sure it remains the most powerful entertainment company in the world. It's possible that government regulators will stop the $52.4 billion deal on anti-trust arguments, but if the purchase goes through, Disney will be able to add several existing shows (The Simpsons, Family Guy, etc) to its video streaming service, will gain a majority stake in streaming competitor Hulu, and will gain control of another studio, as well as Fox's television channels, including FX and National Geographic. Disney will be more powerful than any other company could hope to be, and that is likely to affect Hollywood in unpredictable ways,

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Universal Studios Hollywood Beginning to See Record-Breaking Attendance in 2017

Since its creation, Disney Parks and Resorts has held the lead based on annual attendance among amusement park corporations, both in California as well as the world. While Universal Studios has come in second place in California and third in the world (behind Merlin Entertainment Group, a UK-based company), it was never a close competition. Disney's parks have regularly seen triple the number of visitors as Universal's, but this year, the gap may be closing. As discussed in Hugo Martin's L.A. Times article, attendance at Universal Studios Hollywood has been growing rapidly, so much so that the park reached its maximum capacity and had to close its gates to incoming guests this week.

It will take much more than a single good week (especially one during winter break, when many people have time off of school and work) for Universal to see greater attendance than Disney. In fact, it is unlikely that Universal will take the lead any time in the near future, mainly due to size and capacity limitations, but the increased demand has shown that Universal's recent investments into new attractions are starting to pay off. after the huge success of "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" at their Orlando park, Universal finished construction on the smaller Los Angeles version last year, which led to a massive surge in the park's popularity.

Harry Potter World has brought in many more visitors as well as thousands of dollars in spending on souvenirs and food. However, that new portion of the park is not the only thing that has increased the park's popularity. Since 2014, Universal has invested over $1.4 billion in revamping and improving their Hollywood-based theme park. Their new Fast and Furious ride has caused improvement among some demographics, and their Minions/ Despicable Me attractions gathered interest on the other end of the spectrum. One of the biggest attractions to the park, besides The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, has been a haunted maze themed after AMC's popular show, "The Walking Dead." Universal has been making changes throughout the park, targeting all of their demographics, which seems to be a good strategy to help them get an edge on the competition.

New Year's Day at Universal Studios Hollywood saw record-breaking numbers, but those records were broken again and again throughout the week. In 2015, the park had seen an average of 20,000 visitors per day, but the number has been rising in leaps and bounds over the past year. This week, when demand was higher than ever before, wait times ranged anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours for their most popular attractions. While those numbers are nowhere near as high as those at Disney's parks, Universal may need to look at addressing the issue if they don't want to upset too many potential customers. However, studies have shown that people prefer waiting in long lines rather than not being allowed in the park at all, so closing the gates (except for reasons of legal capacity) may not be the best solution either.

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Disneyland to Incorporate Surge Pricing in Response to High Demand

Nearly 40 years ago, Robert Crandall, the then chairman of American Airlines, first employed a "dynamic pricing" system through which customers could get "super saver" fares, which adjusted based on demand and seat availability, among other factors. Since then, dynamic pricing has spread throughout many markets, which has caused surge pricing to be more of a normal part of the economy. As described by James Peltz, in his L.A. Times article, Disney became one  of the most recent companies to join airlines, online retailers, and ride-sharing applications in employing dynamic pricing.

While Disney's decision to incorporate surge pricing at Disneyland and its other theme parks may have come as a surprise to many customers, business analysts saw it as the sensible move for the company. Airlines are able to fill more seats without becoming overbooked using dynamic pricing because the pricing strategy encourages customers to buy seats on days where demand is usually lower. In that way, both customers and airlines can benefit. Customers are able to get a discounted price while airlines are able to sell tickets and fill seats on an otherwise underbooked flight. In much the same way, Disney will be able to control daily traffic to some extent.

Under the new policy, visitors will have prices ranging from a 4% discount on low-traffic days to a 20% surcharge on exceedingly busy days. This plan allows Disney to follow the same laws of supply and demand that all businesses do. Disney's supply is limited since they can only allow a certain number of visitors at any given time. Very often, especially in the summer months, when many people are out of school or are able to take time off from work, more people want to enter the parks than can be safely admitted, so some have to be turned away. This is bad for business, because it reduces the number of tickets Disney can sell, and it leaves potential customers with a bad taste in their mouth and make them less likely to want to return to the park in the future.

So, rather than turning away potential customers, surge pricing can convince customers that their day of enjoyment at the park might be more worthwhile if rescheduled to a different day. If they visit the park on a low-traffic day, the visitors will not only receive reduced prices, they will also be in a much less crowded park, which will allow them to enjoy more rides and attractions. Dynamic pricing has become more prevalent in the society because of improvements in computing technology. American Airlines was able to employ surge pricing originally because they had a computing system that allowed them to easily compare prices and availability, enabling them to sell seats at competitive prices. For most businesses, dynamic pricing was impossible until their data became much more computerized.

From ride-sharing services like Uber to the stock market to auto dealerships, dynamic pricing has spread throughout most markets. Data is key in determining competitive pricing. Teams use data from previous games and sales of merchandise in order to determine which games will be most in demand, and therefore should have the most highly-priced tickets. Pricing for hotels can be determined based on the events happening in the area and the level of demand for short-term housing. In general, improvements in computing technology have made pricing a huge part of sales and have improved the profit margins of many businesses. In the future, dynamic pricing will likely spread to every business, thus giving customers a choice. A potential customer may not like the increased price, but when it comes down to it, they can either take it or leave it. Every customer has the choice whether to purchase something or not.

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Disney Prices Soar Due to High Demand

Back in 1955, when Disneyland first opened its gates, the one-day admission price for an adult was $3.50. After inflation adjustment, that price would be about $31 today. While that admission price included only 8 ride tickets, extra tickets could be purchased for 35 cents each. To put that in perspective, If a visitor to the park wanted to go on every single one of Disneyland's original 38 rides, it would have cost about $65 in today's money, a stark contrast to the current admission price of $99. In his article, Michael Hiltzik of the L.A. Times investigates some of the reasons why Disney's prices have so greatly outpaced inflation.

Most recently was an increase in the price of Disneyland's unrestricted annual pass, from $779 to $1049. This nearly 35% increase has even the most loyal customers accusing Disney executives of greed, especially since very few new attractions have been added to the park which might help make visitors consider the raised price worthwhile. According to Hiltzik, however, the decision to raise prices is probably not greed-based. Hiltzik believes that Disney's reasons are far more logistic than economical.

Even though Disney's average price of $99 for admission may seem high, especially when measured against the inflation rate, Disneyland still has thousands of visitors per day, from Southern California as well as the rest of the country and the world. Unfortunately, since Disneyland is a park on a limited plot of land, they have a maximum number of guests they can accept at any given time. Sometimes, especially during summer and the holiday season, when people have time off of work and school, Disney has had to close its gates and turn away potential customers simply because it was at maximum capacity.

Hiltzik thinks that this may be why Disney is continuously raising prices to seemingly outrageous levels. Since the $99 cost doesn't seem to be enough to reduce demand, Disney may be raising prices in the hope that people will have to save up money longer and therefore not come to the park as often. While it is not Disney's intention to force customers away, when the park can only house a certain number of people without causing a fire hazard, it needs to find some way to reduce the demand while still maintaining income.

This demand-controlling measure, while upsetting many customers, is not likely to reduce demand as much as some might think, says Hiltzik. While Southern Californians, one of Disneyland's target demographics, may reduce their visits, analysts expect that tourists and other visitors will still bring in enough for Disney to make the same amount of money, if not more, than before while also preventing overcrowding. It's a win-win situation for Disney and for those who can afford the higher prices. As the prices go up, the amusement park will have fewer people, thus enabling visitors to be able to go on more rides and see more attractions without waiting in long lines.

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