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Netflix is not a tech company (2019)

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Re: Netflix is not a tech company (2019)

#2
If you can provide a service to an additional subscriber at near zero overhead costs, near zero dollar sales and onboarding process, then you’re a tech company

the only reason additional industry specific questions exist is because they have so many simultaneous users that theyve reached theoretical maximums on their near-free resources

when other industries reach the same place, if at all ever possible, then we can split hairs over this distinction

Re: Netflix is not a tech company (2019)

#3
We should stop thinking in terms of "tech companies" and think of them in terms of "companies that use tech with a high degree of success". Ultimately any company that makes money is not a tech company because pure technology on its own does not make a business. Also, with the right incentives and management it is possible, although hard, for legacy companies to start using tech better to compete.

Re: Netflix is not a tech company (2019)

#5
> The tech has to be good - but, it’s still all about the TV. If Netflix was only showing reruns of Frasier and Ally McBeal no-one would have signed up

I think this is always a bit of a silly argument. If Netflix was showing everything, but the tech was terrible, no one would've signed up. You need both.

Re: Netflix is not a tech company (2019)

#6
While you can make that argument today, Netflix as a company is 24 years old. It got to its current position not by spending $15B/yr on original content (which it can afford to do now) but purely based on a superior and novel tech experience for its users.

Of course eventually all discussions of this nature devolve into the intricate definition of "tech company", and in the absence of one that is agreed upon, bringing this whole thing up is pointless.

Re: Netflix is not a tech company (2019)

#8

> The tech has to be good - but, it’s still all about the TV. If Netflix was only showing reruns of Frasier and Ally McBeal no-one would have signed up I think this is always a bit of a silly argument. If Netflix was showing everything, but the tech was terrible, no one would've signed up. You need both.

The tech isn’t just content delivery. It’s also extracting useful information out of their customers’ habits so they know what to license, what to renew, how much to pay for it, etc.

Re: Netflix is not a tech company (2019)

#9

> The tech has to be good - but, it’s still all about the TV. If Netflix was only showing reruns of Frasier and Ally McBeal no-one would have signed up I think this is always a bit of a silly argument. If Netflix was showing everything, but the tech was terrible, no one would've signed up. You need both.

I'd disagree considering there's more than a few streaming platforms with sub-par tech. Hulu is quite buggy, as is HBO Max. Criterion Channel is literally just Vimeo and didn't even have working closed captioning until recently.

Re: Netflix is not a tech company (2019)

#10

> The tech has to be good - but, it’s still all about the TV. If Netflix was only showing reruns of Frasier and Ally McBeal no-one would have signed up I think this is always a bit of a silly argument. If Netflix was showing everything, but the tech was terrible, no one would've signed up. You need both.

So long as your not getting spammed with ads and viruses people will jump through almost any hoop to watch something online short of paying
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