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Netflix Long Term View

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Re: Netflix Long Term View

#121

Post by rayiner »

guyzero wrote: post #112
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...

Or more generically, can a software company become a content provider faster than a content provider can become a software company? Put in those terms I'll bet on Netflix.

Creating content people want to watch is much harder than writing software. See, e.g., all the bitching on here about the quality of Netflix's catalog.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#122

Post by prutschman »

sandworm wrote: post #15

My family uses netflix. I don't. Every time I want to watch something I cannot find it. 10,000 titles is nothing in a world where The Simpsons has several hundred. Netflix needs more and deeper content. I won't admit to ever downloading something without full written permission of the copyright holder, carved in stone and witnessed by three saints, but last night I did watch "Black Books" after not finding it on Netf…

This is really to your point, not against it, but Black Books used to be on Netflix.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#123

Post by vasilipupkin »

What confuses me is this: Why doesn't Netflix allow me to pay a little bit more, as an option, and, in exchange, have every single movie available to watch online? I mean, sure, they can produce their own shows, but only some of them will be good. So why limit content so much? I pretty much stopped using Netflix, instead I go to Amazon Instant Video

I may be missing something, but strategy of producing original content, while limiting the catalog, doesn't make sense. Why not have infinitely large online catalog AND produce original shows?

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#124

Post by rayiner »

nissehulth wrote: post #119
ender7 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. Netflix's basic original goal is the same: they want it to be the entertainment option that you instinctively reach for when you have free time (the "moments of truth"). In the past, they achieved this via their vast catalog and their customers' viewing queues. Most customers have a queue full of things to watch, so when they sit down they can just pop the next thing off the queue. In the future, it looks…

I don't see a future for proprietary platforms. Not too long ago, the music industry tried that. They were not successful, services like iTunes or Spotify won the customers. It seems to me that the TV content owners have to make that same mistake, then there will be streaming providers that have "everything". Perhaps not Netflix, but something similar.

I don't think people consume music in the same way as movies or TV. My wife and I have accounts for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and we'll get HBO Go. When you're going to sit down for 30-60 minutes, it's not a big deal to search a couple of places. And throw in some central search like what Roku does, it's really no big deal.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#125

Post by joshuapants »

threeseed wrote: post #102
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…

True Detective, Girls, Veep, Silicon Valley, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, Entourage, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Sopranos, Oz, Sex and the City just to name a few of their pretty amazing content lineup. I wouldn't be betting against HBO anytime soon.

You named half a dozen shows that aren't running anymore and many of which are available from people other than HBO. Their current programming is pretty weak.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#126

Post by vasilipupkin »

rhino369 wrote: post #89
joshuapants wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The biggest issue with content is that rights-holders either don't want their programs on Netflix or they don't think they'll be paid enough. I think Netflix is in a sweet spot on pricing (if the charge substantially more, people may be more inclined to stop subscribing) so paying more to attract the heel-draggers may mot be an option. That's part of the reason why they're making their own series. Eventually rights-h…

IP holders have pretty much embraced streaming. They have not embraced Netflix's price point. And at 8 bucks a month, I don't think it is reasonable to expect them too. I don't think 8 bucks is enough revenue to be a major source of funding all the content that is produced. Netflix has been essentially freeriding on cinema goers and live tv watchers who subsidize all the content creation. If Netflix replaces those so…

exactly. Why don't they have a full catalog of everything out there and let me pay 5 bucks for a particular movie I want to watch?

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#127

Post by Perceptes »

vasilipupkin wrote: post #123

What confuses me is this: Why doesn't Netflix allow me to pay a little bit more, as an option, and, in exchange, have every single movie available to watch online? I mean, sure, they can produce their own shows, but only some of them will be good. So why limit content so much? I pretty much stopped using Netflix, instead I go to Amazon Instant Video I may be missing something, but strategy of producing original conte…

The producers of the other content are not willing to license it to Netflix anymore, because they want to sell it via similar services themselves.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#128

Post by dragonwriter »

vasilipupkin wrote: post #123

What confuses me is this: Why doesn't Netflix allow me to pay a little bit more, as an option, and, in exchange, have every single movie available to watch online? I mean, sure, they can produce their own shows, but only some of them will be good. So why limit content so much? I pretty much stopped using Netflix, instead I go to Amazon Instant Video I may be missing something, but strategy of producing original conte…

> What confuses me is this: Why doesn't Netflix allow me to pay a little bit more, as an option, and, in exchange, have every single movie available to watch online?

Because much of the content they don't have is because the content owner is competing with Netflix and won't license it, or because some other Netflix competitor has purchased an exclusive license.

Some of it is Netflix managing in-total licensing costs, which could be addressed by having "premium" content (either as a tier or pay-per-title or pay-per-view), but that's not the case in general.

> Why not have infinitely large online catalog

Netflix's former, deeper catalog was only possible because content owners were less aggressive in attempting to capture all the value of online streaming of their property.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#129

Post by duderific »

Igglyboo wrote: post #64
Animats wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yes but are people still using it? Personally I don't really care how big of a catalog they have, I'm not going to wait 2-3 days for a movie to arrive.

Well... you can get a few movies at a time, so you're not waiting once you get them all... you just return the one you're done watching and the next one arrives so you always have a "stash." If you're watching more than two or three movies every two days, maybe you should get out a bit more.

Re: Netflix Long Term View

#130

Post by __david__ »

drawkbox wrote: post #91

Eventually, as linear TV is viewed less, the spectrum it now uses on cable, fiber, and over-the-air will be reallocated to expand Internet data transmission. Satellite TV subscribers will be fewer and more rural. The value of high-speed Internet will increase. This is something that has always bothered me, internet bandwidth only takes up a small amount of spectrum in place of channels and the cable companies could c…

My cable company dynamically allocates the bandwidth on the last mile cable so that it only broadcasts what people are currently watching. This ostensibly lets them show much higher bandwidth HD shows and have more channels available than they actually have bandwidth for.

So in this particular case, it's not as wasted as it could be. I even think this might be why they were recently able to bump up all the internet speeds in my area.

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