TMA 01

Question (a) asks you to think about the ways in which two major streaming
services build their content. What are their strategies? How are they building on their resources and strengths? Some factors you might want to consider are what intellectual property the streaming service already has, where they are finding content, and who they are trying to appeal to.

Here is an example of how a film represents a key aspect of one streaming service’s strategy:
In 2021, Apple TV+ acquired a little independent movie called Coda (dir. Sian Heder, 2021) for US$25 million, which attracted tremendous buzz. Coda became a critical darling for its heartwarming story about a young hearing woman who loves singing—but whose family members are all deaf. Apple launched an awards campaign and in 2022, Apple became the first streaming service to win an Academy Award for Best Picture for Coda, which also won Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay. Apple TV+ used
Coda to signal that it emphasises quality, with a small selection of carefully curated shows rather than a massive library. Awards also bring prestige and credibility, which attracts Alist talent. The awards also generated interest in Apple TV+, leading people to check it out. This is a step towards getting people into the Apple ecosystem, which earned US$80 billion annual revenue in FY22.

Question (b) asks you to examine two trailers because trailers are part of any streaming service’s strategy to try and reach an audience. Be careful not to simply repeat what you have written about American Born Chinese and Mother’s Day in Question (a).

TMA 02

a) Write a report in which you formulate an explanation for the rationale behind each of the survey questions. Then discuss what your findings tell you about the way people search for content to watch.

b) Prepare a video (no more than 1 minute) in which you use your findings and relevant research to present one recommendation on how streaming platforms can improve discoverability.

• Submit your video to the TMA-Video folder. This does not go through Turnitin.
• Submit the report and the voiceover script as a single Word document to the TMA 02 folder; this Word document must go through Turnitin as usual.