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Netflix Long Term View

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Re: Netflix Long Term View

#51

Post by lukifer »

jader201 wrote: post #39

Maybe it's just me. But one thing about linear (live) broadcasts -- and this also applies to an extent to live radio vs. mp3's -- is that there is just something engaging about watching a program that you know other people, at that moment, are also watching. It's also missed when watching a show that you DVR'ed, after the fact -- like the series finale to Lost, or the Super Bowl. If/when live broadcasts are completel…

I experience this phenomenon on a less immediate time scale: in the days following a new episode of Breaking Bad, etc, there is discussion and camaraderie with other fans. With the "binge-only" model of House of Cards, that same social experience is not possible.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#52

Post by DennisP »

tempestn wrote: post #26
throwaway150219 wrote: post #17

So, what is happening faster: 1) Deployment of AFFORDABLE highspeed broadband or 2) Decreasing local storage costs Why do I need to stream something if I can store 6TB of data locally for less than $150 (and decreasing daily). How much storage space will $200 buy you in 10 years? And how many decades of video and audio could one store on such a device?

You still have to get that content from somewhere. Storage space isn't really the limitation there. Plus, even if you could, what would be the motivationto store eeverything locally, when 1) you rarely watch a show more than once, and 2) you can stream it instantaneously anyway?

Maybe you have better internet than me, but my streaming quality isn't always HD, and if I fastforward/rewind I generally have to wait a while to rebuffer. Do an advance download of everything in my watchlist, and the next episodes of the series I'm watching, and everything will by high quality, no wait, all the time.

Besides that, just because something's available on streaming doesn't mean it'll stay there forever.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#53

Post by hnnewguy »

joshuapants wrote: post #42
ericflo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It happened a long time ago, at least I became aware of this shift when an exec from Netflix was quoted saying "The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us" http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201302/netflix...

And honestly, I think Netflix is most of the way there. HBO Go is a pain to use, the tablet app won't let me output to a TV or monitor, and it is frequently slow for me. I can't remember the last time I needed to wait for Netflix to buffer, and it seems to happen constantly for HBO. Netflix is solid on the technical side, and their original series (in my opinion) eclipse what HBO currently offers. HBO has one show th…

>and their original series (in my opinion) eclipse what HBO currently offers.

I realize it's your opinion, but...really?

HBO has a massive catalog of brilliant shows[1]. Netflix isn't even on the same planet when it comes to original content (but I hope they get there, better for all of us).

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programs_broadcast_by_H...

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#54

Post by tomsthumb »

anatari wrote: post #12
solutionyogi wrote: post #4

Winning moments of truth We strive to win more of our members’ “moments of truth”. Those decision points are, say, at 7:15 pm when a member wants to relax, enjoy a shared experience with friends and family, or is bored. They could play a video game, surf the web, read a magazine, channel surf their MVPD/DVR system, buy a pay-per-view movie, put on a DVD, use a piracy service, turn on Hulu, or launch Netflix. We want…

Although I use Netflix all the time, it's in spite of their app. Outside of the "my list" I've curated myself, 98% of the things the Netflix app shows me, I'm not really interested in. I feel like that ratio could easily be made better if they allowed me to mark things I'm not interested in and never show me those things again + apply machine learning to display a better personalized catalog. Whenever I use Netflix I…

> ... if they allowed me to mark things I'm not interested in and never show me those things again

You can literally do exactly that. If you hover over a title there should be a button that says "Not Interested". It should appear just below the stars as if you were going to provide a rating.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#55

Post by ForHackernews »

> As we’ve gained experience, we’ve found that the 20th documentary about bicycling will mostly just take away viewing from the other 19 such docs, and instead of trying to have everything, we should strive to have the best in each category. As such, we are actively curating our service rather than carrying as many titles as we can.

This sounds like a bad move to me. Maybe carrying a huge breadth of content is a good way to attract new users, but unless they have depth of content, they aren't going to hold onto those users. Most people aren't that eclectic in their tastes, so if you only have one film in each category (even if it's the "best" one) people are going to drop them after they've watched everything they like.

Put another way, bicycling-documentary fanatics aren't going to keep paying $8/month indefinitely for access to one great biking doc.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#56

Post by mathattack »

solutionyogi wrote: post #4

Winning moments of truth We strive to win more of our members’ “moments of truth”. Those decision points are, say, at 7:15 pm when a member wants to relax, enjoy a shared experience with friends and family, or is bored. They could play a video game, surf the web, read a magazine, channel surf their MVPD/DVR system, buy a pay-per-view movie, put on a DVD, use a piracy service, turn on Hulu, or launch Netflix. We want…

This nails it, but I think they're failing. I can't mention how many times it's 10:00 and I start looking for something interesting, and by 10:15 give up and go to bed. (Or pay for something on Amazon)

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#57

Post by Animats »

Igglyboo wrote: post #41

I wonder when they are going to close down their DVD division.

Since the online catalog started shrinking, the DVD division is more useful. The DVD rental business has first-sale-doctrine rights; Netflix can rent those DVDs even if the studio doesn't like it. They don't have that right online, and have to cut a deal each title.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#58

Post by wmeredith »

hnnewguy wrote: post #53
joshuapants wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And honestly, I think Netflix is most of the way there. HBO Go is a pain to use, the tablet app won't let me output to a TV or monitor, and it is frequently slow for me. I can't remember the last time I needed to wait for Netflix to buffer, and it seems to happen constantly for HBO. Netflix is solid on the technical side, and their original series (in my opinion) eclipse what HBO currently offers. HBO has one show th…

> and their original series (in my opinion) eclipse what HBO currently offers. I realize it's your opinion, but...really? HBO has a massive catalog of brilliant shows[1]. Netflix isn't even on the same planet when it comes to original content (but I hope they get there, better for all of us). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programs_broadcast_by_H...

Tis is my position as well. HBO has been putting out some of the best content available for TV for over a decade. Their back catalog make HBO Go's nominal cost seem like a pittance. Netflix has put together some quality original content (House of Cards is outstanding), but they're going to have to keep it up for a generation before they hold a candle to HBO.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#59

Post by filmgirlcw »

smacktoward wrote: post #45
ericflo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It happened a long time ago, at least I became aware of this shift when an exec from Netflix was quoted saying "The goal is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us" http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201302/netflix...

Yes, but we shouldn't downplay the scale of the shift. Today it wants to be HBO, a company that pulls in around $1.3 billion quarterly in revenue[1]; before the shift, it wanted to be Comcast, which pulls in around $16.8 billion quarterly[2]. That's a massive downsizing of ambitions -- so big it's kind of surprising that a share of NFLX today is worth around 5 times what it was worth at the beginning of 2013. The hyp…

Exactly. Netflix pivoted because it realized it couldn't kill cable. It could maybe kill a cable network (and it won't kill HBO, it might kill Starz or Showtime, but not HBO).

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#60

Post by r00fus »

SG- wrote: post #23
throwaway150219 wrote: post #17

So, what is happening faster: 1) Deployment of AFFORDABLE highspeed broadband or 2) Decreasing local storage costs Why do I need to stream something if I can store 6TB of data locally for less than $150 (and decreasing daily). How much storage space will $200 buy you in 10 years? And how many decades of video and audio could one store on such a device?

How much do you want to pay to purchase and store all that video? That's where Netflix's value comes in.

> How much do you want to pay to purchase and store all that video? That's where Netflix's value comes in.

It's not clear to me that mr. throwaway was planning on purchasing any of that content.

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