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Netflix's New Chapter

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Re: Netflix's New Chapter

#31

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

thiago_fm wrote: post #16

Something I don't understand is why Disney and others need to have their own streaming service. Why Netflix can't sit down with Disney and merge the two streaming services. Disney is amazing at making content, so is Netflix at the moment. They could take a look at the present, their market cap, debt and so on and structure a solution that would: 1. Make Netflix the best streaming service with the best content, also b…

I think what you're describing could be a white-label Netflix. Essentially a different UI skin, branding and content library but served by Netflix's tech stack, etc.

Its probably more likely any consolidation would happen with the smaller players (NBC, CBS) doing this with Netflix rather than Disney.

Re: Netflix's New Chapter

#32

Post by JacobDotVI »

enumjorge wrote: post #12

Sort of an aside question, but the article praises Hastings ability to execute: > To say that Hastings excelled at execution is a dramatic understatement; indeed, the speed with which the company rolled out its advertising product in 2022[...] is a testament that Hastings’ imprint on the company’s ability to execute remains. Is there a place where one could read details on what made him so great at execution?

He wrote a book called Blitzscaling regarding how to execute: https://www.amazon.com/Blitzscaling-Lightning-Fast-Building-...

The book Netflixed (mentioned in the article) is likely also a good source: https://www.amazon.com/Netflixed-Epic-Battle-Americas-Eyebal...

Re: Netflix's New Chapter

#33

Post by [deleted] »

thiago_fm wrote: post #16

Something I don't understand is why Disney and others need to have their own streaming service. Why Netflix can't sit down with Disney and merge the two streaming services. Disney is amazing at making content, so is Netflix at the moment. They could take a look at the present, their market cap, debt and so on and structure a solution that would: 1. Make Netflix the best streaming service with the best content, also b…

[deleted]

Re: Netflix's New Chapter

#34

Post by ghaff »

darth_avocado wrote: post #21
zamadatix wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I don't understand is how e.g. Disney+ is losing so much money. It's Disney's content, has an enormous userbase, and somehow is bleeding billions?

> It’s Disney’s content That is partly the problem. You spend hundreds of millions to make blockbuster movies and then release it on Disney+ in a few months for free (or sometimes directly). That costs money. Add to that over reliance on only Disney content creates two problems: 1. You can’t have enough new content every month, subscribers therefore don’t keep the subscription year round. 2. You have to pay money to…

>You can’t have enough new content every month, subscribers therefore don’t keep the subscription year round.

I suspect that, in addition to ad-supported tiers, we'll see more annual subscriptions or at least subscriptions where annual is sufficiently cheaper on a monthly basis that it's essentially an offer a lot of people can't refuse.

Re: Netflix's New Chapter

#35

Post by ribosometronome »

jedberg wrote: post #30
no_wizard wrote: post #7

I'm gonna attempt to break this down: - Netflix has 5-6 Billion USD free cash flow, and because they got what debt they do have under favorable terms, they are positioned to retain most of that free cash flow - Disney, Comcast (Peacock), CBS/Viacom and other media corporations are saddled with debt, and are all losing money on their own independent streaming businesses. Likely untenable in their shareholder model - T…

> This also fails to account for the strength of HBO Max (very strong sub numbers) It's important to note that those numbers are very juiced. For example, my HBOMax comes for free with my AT&T internet (still). I've never paid them a dime directly. When they first started they were basically giving away accounts like crazy to get growth. I think they also gave free accounts to their cable subscribers. So while their…

Netflix comes free with T-Mobile Magenta plans, I think Comcast includes some sort of premium Peacock subscription. I don't know that AT&T bundling it would be much different than the other services bundling, would it?

Re: Netflix's New Chapter

#36

Post by hinkley »

Waterluvian wrote: post #6
jedberg wrote: post #3

Netflix only lost to Blockbuster because Blockbuster didn't believe in online anything strongly enough to properly fund it. Blockbuster had the better network and better penetration, and even had equally good technology. But corporate didn't want to fund them to hire the next set of engineers they needed. Blockbuster would have won if their board had been just slightly more forward looking. And Netflix knew it.

Isn't this the Sears case again? They were the veteran incumbent with a mountain of experience in the industry, but turning a corporate ship on a dime seems to be impossible. I guess that manifests as a form of "corporate didn't believe in..." or "didn't invest in the engineering" as you say.

If you didn't have the Sears Catalog you had the JC Penney catalog. They both dropped the ball, probably by watching each other to see who blinked first.

Re: Netflix's New Chapter

#37

Post by viciousvoxel »

no_wizard wrote: post #23
matwood wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good summary. Couple notes/IMOs... HBO Max is great, but it's tied to a terrible management/company anchor. Rumor is now they are going to drop the trusted HBO brand smh. Netflix is well positioned, but a player like Disney is also setup to acquire other streamers as they fall over from cost structure issues. I think we're about to see mass consolidation. Finally, I'm kind of sad that I think the content 'golden era'…

On the content of HBO Max: Its been very hit or miss for me with HBO Max originals. HBO (they do brand them differently) originals are still stellar, for the most part. If the new Velma show is any indicator of what HBO Max wants to do as run of the mill content though, I'm wondering how long it'll hold up as a premium streaming service. Warner didn't even unlock their entire backlog of Looney Toons cartoons on their…

FWIW my understanding is that WB withholding the Looney Tunes backlog is entirely due to the fact that there's a lot of problematic (e.g. racist, sexist) material in there that they're understandably worried about. I completely agree with you otherwise.

Re: Netflix's New Chapter

#38

Post by nemo44x »

> Antioco’s replacement took money away from Total Access and funneled it back to the stores, and Netflix escaped (Hastings would later tell Shane Evangelist, the head of Blockbuster Online, that Blockbuster had Netflix in checkmate). Blockbuster went bankrupt two years later.

That's fascinating because I always wondered why Blockbuster got rid of Total Access. It was so much better than Netflix at the time because you could also rent games and not have to wait for anything. It wouldn't have mattered long term obviously but for about 8 more years or so they could have driven Netflix out of business using the capital investment in brick and mortar stores they made over the previous 30+ years. But they totally blew it - wow!

Re: Netflix's New Chapter

#39

Post by jdmichal »

matwood wrote: post #17
no_wizard wrote: post #7

I'm gonna attempt to break this down: - Netflix has 5-6 Billion USD free cash flow, and because they got what debt they do have under favorable terms, they are positioned to retain most of that free cash flow - Disney, Comcast (Peacock), CBS/Viacom and other media corporations are saddled with debt, and are all losing money on their own independent streaming businesses. Likely untenable in their shareholder model - T…

Good summary. Couple notes/IMOs... HBO Max is great, but it's tied to a terrible management/company anchor. Rumor is now they are going to drop the trusted HBO brand smh. Netflix is well positioned, but a player like Disney is also setup to acquire other streamers as they fall over from cost structure issues. I think we're about to see mass consolidation. Finally, I'm kind of sad that I think the content 'golden era'…

Disney is currently suffering under a load of debt from their Fox acquisition. I'm not sure going on a spending spree is in their favor.

With Netflix's low debt load and free cash flow, they should actually be in a better position for buying up competitors.

Re: Netflix's New Chapter

#40

Post by glenstein »

gumby wrote: post #18

I had never heard this part about Blockbuster: > Blockbuster ... started with Blockbuster Online, an entity that was completely separate from Blockbuster’s retail business for reasons of both technology and culture...a test version went live on July 15, 2004 — the same day as Netflix’s quarterly earnings call Blockbuster really snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The corporate incentives had become completely b…

Right, it's a remarkable story. There's a wondery podcast series about it that was pretty interesting.
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