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Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

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Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#751
post #735

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So why do we need a Netflix for black people? Someone perceives an unmet need, and seeks to meet it. > Why can't e.g. the existing Netflix simply air culturally black content if people are craving more of it? They could . Someone with sufficient motivation and resources to launch a business thinks they aren't. That's...kind of true of most startups—an incumbent could meet the need they are marketing too, but they t…

My point is not that I think they're wrong for trying to address a market. Everybody is welcome to do that. My point is that we don't call Netflix "Netflix for white people" and it's not designed in an exclusive way such that it aims to only serve a white audience. I'm probably not conveying my sentiment well: please read it more as "I'm excited about this effort and want include myself as an audience member to help…

> My point is that we don't call Netflix "Netflix for white people" and it's not designed in an exclusive way such that it aims to only serve a white audience.

Well, sure, because that's not their target market, but also because there isn't really a single predominant 'White culture' in the U.S., distinct from mainstream culture in general, in the same way that 'Black culture' was united by centuries of slavery and cultural destruction.

But you can certainly find media out there specifically targeted at people of Irish descent, Spanish descent, British descent, etc. It's just less of a mass-market thing because those groups don't have as much in the way of a distinct culture from the 'mainstream'.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#752

So next is Netflix for asian americans, Netflix for blonde women, and why not Netflix for ugly people who are sick of only watching beautiful people on screen? The good thing business wise I guess is that the market possibilities are infinite, but I am not sure what world you want to create.

So you're opposed to the basic concept of marketing niches?

Not the person you're replying to, but thinking about this question, I think I am for distribution channels.

A society based on this is running in an inefficient way, people duplicating work, not because they are competing to be better, but just because. That's got to be bad.

A society segmenting what content is available you based on your demographic (even via self selection) seems bad. We should be encouraging cross-over between different groups, not erecting barriers, such as artificially grouping content into classes targeted at a niche and making you pay for an entire class at a time.

Pay per individual item, and pay for everything, both seem like models much more likely to create a healthy society.

I guess the problem with the former model is that people don't like it, and the latter model is that it creates a few gatekeepers who decide what gets funding. Charitably this sort of niche based company can be seen as a workaround to that gatekeeper problem, but I'm really not sold in this instance (of course I happen not to be the target market either, neither being much into TV nor black, edit: nor american, so I guess I don't need to be sold).

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#753

Everyone else has given you some good advice on your messaging, so I'll give you some business/technical advice as a former Netflix employee: Try to negotiate your contracts with global streaming rights. It shouldn't cost too much more but will make your life a lot easier as you try to expand globally. That was one thing that slowed Netflix's global expansion -- a lot of the content was not globally licensed. You wil…

> this is how HBO started streaming, by buying what MLB had built

I think you might be referring to Disney/Disney+ and BAMTech → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Streaming_Services

(Super helpful answer by the way!!)

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#754

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are right about focusing on tiny niches is more profitable. The trouble is that this is corrosive to our society. Our extremely multicultural nation historically depended on popular media to create a homogeneous base from which to build our interactions upon. This product is advancing the corrosion of that base and separating us further.

Nothing is stopping you from consuming content that centers Black people. There has been an absolute renesance in the last few years of stories that focus on black lives in ways that haven't really been told in pop culture before, especially in TV. And the best part is these shows are good! They are really fucking good! Nothing is stopping you from consuming that content and incorporating into that homogeneous base u…

"Netflix for black people" clearly isn't inclusive. It's clearly divisive and amplifying racial identity.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#755

Crikey. This gives me a great idea. BoomerFlix. What better market to target if you want to make a few coins? Who's in?

> BoomerFlix

I'm not actually a "boomer" (I'm too young), but my kids call me one anyway. But I'm a little surprised that there's no streaming service that includes nothing but old 60's/70's/80's movies whose rights could almost certainly be obtained cheap, and not even bother with more recent movies.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#756
post #735

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My point is not that I think they're wrong for trying to address a market. Everybody is welcome to do that. My point is that we don't call Netflix "Netflix for white people" and it's not designed in an exclusive way such that it aims to only serve a white audience. I'm probably not conveying my sentiment well: please read it more as "I'm excited about this effort and want include myself as an audience member to help…

> My point is that we don't call Netflix "Netflix for white people" and it's not designed in an exclusive way such that it aims to only serve a white audience. Well, sure, because that's not their target market, but also because there isn't really a single predominant 'White culture' in the U.S., distinct from mainstream culture in general, in the same way that 'Black culture' was united by centuries of slavery and c…

There are plenty of outlets for distinctively and unapologetically ethnic content that serve other ethnicities; we don't know about them not because there isn't much of it, but because we're not the intended audience. I'm not watching any Polish-language dramas because I don't speak Polish, but they certainly exist, as do Korean soap operas and Japanese game shows. We hear about some of these things when they break into the mainstream, but most of it doesn't.

We don't even get all the English-language culture there is around the world. Easy example: most of us are totally unfamiliar with popular Christian media.

Really, the appeal being made by people objecting to this site is that Black people shouldn't have sites that nurture that kind of content, because it somehow squicks white people out. That is a weird argument to make, and not one these founders should take seriously.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#757

Everyone else has given you some good advice on your messaging, so I'll give you some business/technical advice as a former Netflix employee: Try to negotiate your contracts with global streaming rights. It shouldn't cost too much more but will make your life a lot easier as you try to expand globally. That was one thing that slowed Netflix's global expansion -- a lot of the content was not globally licensed. You wil…

> this is how HBO started streaming, by buying what MLB had built I think you might be referring to Disney/Disney+ and BAMTech → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Streaming_Services (Super helpful answer by the way!!)

Nope I was referring to HBOGo. Bamtech’s first customer was HBOGo before Disney bought them.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#758

Crikey. This gives me a great idea. BoomerFlix. What better market to target if you want to make a few coins? Who's in?

> BoomerFlix I'm not actually a "boomer" (I'm too young), but my kids call me one anyway. But I'm a little surprised that there's no streaming service that includes nothing but old 60's/70's/80's movies whose rights could almost certainly be obtained cheap, and not even bother with more recent movies.

I'm absolutely serious here (with the canonical HN downvotes and everything).

It's easy to imagine. Movies from (especially) the 1960s/1970s. Lost In Space. Unscoped airchecks (with fees paid of course).

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#759

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this is how HBO started streaming, by buying what MLB had built I think you might be referring to Disney/Disney+ and BAMTech → https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Streaming_Services (Super helpful answer by the way!!)

Nope I was referring to HBOGo. Bamtech’s first customer was HBOGo before Disney bought them.

Ah! Had no idea. Guess the point is true twice over then. What a quietly great company.

Re: Launch HN: BlackOakTV (YC S21) – Netflix for black people

#760
post #604
post #2

“X for black people” sounds so bizarre to me(non-American). The cultural divide between the people must be insane.

These guys don't deserve to have their launch thread turned into the Nth copy, for extremely large N, of a same-old flamewar. That's what you started here, and it was entirely predictable from your comment, which means you broke the site guidelines. Please review them and stick to the rules. This kind of thing is nasty and avoidable. " Eschew flamebait. Avoid generic tangents. " https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguide…

The guidelines are very far from being an exact science and your comment is too subjective.

And even if I started it, it was up to dozens of others to not comment on my comment. Could have just downvoted it to oblivion.

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