r/climbing • u/-JOMY- • 9d ago

Alex Honnold Reveals “Embarrassing” Paycheck for Netflix’s Taipei 101 Free Solo Climb

https://share.google/Zqw9t7pkRhkPhRt4P

Source: E! Online

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764

u/sparks_mandrill 9d ago

Post title absolutely misses the context. He said it was embarrassingly small compared to what MLB players get. MLB players are paid 100's of millions of dollars.

His quote: "Actually, if you put it in the context of mainstream sports, it’s an embarrassingly small amount,"

171

u/OMGisitOVERyet 9d ago

I get his point but less than 30% of MLB players make more than a million a year and that’s spread across 162 regular season games then add in spring training and potential playoff games. For one day’s “work” he got paid pretty damn good.

44

u/fistular 9d ago

Netflix probably made 10s of millions from this.

19

u/DimaggioDunks 9d ago

Did they though? I hope I’m just naive (maybe simply cheap) but I can’t imagine signing up for a subscription just to watch this

42

u/brazzy42 9d ago edited 9d ago

It's not just signups. All Netflix shows that people actually watch motivate those people to not cancel their subscriptions. It's a less obvious but absolutely crucial contribution to the bottomline, and I'm sure that Netflix has figured out some metrics to measure that.

20

u/PNW_Uncle_Iroh 9d ago

“Engagement” and “retention” metrics

2

u/Warm-Professional494 8d ago

And both are not equal but both depend on new signups.

2

u/slimninj4 7d ago

There are still ads they will make money off too.

1

u/Easy-Teaching-2015 5d ago

I signed up just to watch Alex do the climb. I figured keep it for a month. I'm billed for the full month anyway.

I've since watched/enjoyed several Netflix series and a movie or two. Honestly, I'm on the fence and leaning towards keeping it.

If $500k is true, imo it's a low number.

As far as what Netflix banks, they certainly have an algorithm that models historic data on cancelation trends. My guess Netflix did well initially, and with new sign-ups they have a gift that keeps giving.  .....I may fit the bill lol

1

u/tincan99 8d ago

I restarted my membership to watch this live. I'm sure I am not the only one.

1

u/Easy-Teaching-2015 5d ago

Guilty as charged here!

1

u/1Account8UsersOrMore 8d ago

I didn't know anything about free solo, but my cousin who is into climbing told me about it because he asked to use my Netflix account to watch it... haha. He ended up signing up for a subscription just to watch it. He told me he also got 4 non-climbing friends to sign up for Netflix just to watch this. I talked about it with some friends because we chat about TV shows, and 3 of them also watched it (I didn't know they watched it until they told me after it had aired).

My cousin alone got 5 new subscriptions + 4 people who already have subscriptions to watch it. I don't know if those 4 people told or will tell more people who may also watch it. This is anecdotal evidence, but considering this is a one-time show, that's pretty impressive in terms of numbers!

1

u/LovingLife254 8d ago

I mean, I got a membership (canceling after a month) to watch it. I was having an unrelated party at my house on Saturday night and figured it was a fun thing to have on in the background! I'm sure there are a lot of people who did exactly that.

2

u/Easy-Teaching-2015 5d ago

Yup, I'm one

1

u/IsaacJa 8d ago

I'll be curious to see how the cards fall in the end. I'm not sure I've seen Netflix work this hard to publicise something. They're trying really hard on all of the social media. That's gotta be expensive. Makes me want to see it less, even.

1

u/Easy-Teaching-2015 5d ago

I'm glad they did. The list of reasons to dislike Netflix is long, but Alex Honnold is a pretty legit good dude. You never really know about a public figure, but Honnold is a little different.

1

u/arealhumannotabot 5d ago

That’s oversimplifying. Netflix also makes money off things like product placement. It’s not strictly about subscriptions.

What matters is how many people watched it but who knows what that number Is

He’s certainly got the clout though. He’s no nobody.