Netflix Is Bluffing
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Netflix Is Bluffing
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Re: Netflix Is Bluffing
#2Netflix focusses on movie/tv-series subscription model (streaming+dvds), and they are laser focussed on improving consumer experience in this area. On the other hand, Apple, Google, Amazon focus on other businesses (hardware, advertising, and e-commerce). That's why I think Netflix will survive, and that's why startups survive and thrive: Focus!
Re: Netflix Is Bluffing
#3Netflix's problem is that there are no switching barriers to keep viewers loyal to Netflix.
Even they admit that their vaunted queue is worth much less in the streaming world than it was in the DVD by mail world.
Their strength would be the content deals they have, and their ability to obtain future content. But that right now is notoriously bad. Most of the current or best movies of any star or franchise are not available - the older movies are, or the less well known movies. And I can't get this season of Breaking Bad or any TV show.
As far as I am concerned, they only have two things going for them, the better player, with closed captions and reasonable browsing and availability on most platforms.
And their lack of buffering, that is, their infrastructure.
Unless they can obtain content, I think these two last strengths mark them for being bought out by someone that needs infrastructure knowledge and a good player and otherwise has ways of keeping customers loyal and preventing them from switching away.
The flaw in my analysis is that it predicts Amazon purchased Netflix in the past 12 months. Since Amazon has not purchased Netflix, I know I must be missing something.
Re: Netflix Is Bluffing
#4I have both Amazon Video (through Prime) and Netflix.
I use Netflix infinitely more because of my Apple TV; the streaming-to-TV ease of use is the simplest I've found, and cheap (since my and my housemates all split the already-small Netflix bill.)
If Amazon had a stronger solution to this use case, I'd be much more inclined to use it. But even if the content is great (and it is -- Amazon Video has a lot of stuff Netflix doesn't), the actual player and delivery leaves something to be desired.
Re: Netflix Is Bluffing
#5Netflix's problem is that there are no switching barriers to keep viewers loyal to Netflix. Even they admit that their vaunted queue is worth much less in the streaming world than it was in the DVD by mail world. Their strength would be the content deals they have, and their ability to obtain future content. But that right now is notoriously bad. Most of the current or best movies of any star or franchise are not ava…
>Netflix's problem is that there are no switching barriers to keep viewers loyal to Netflix.
That's also their biggest strength. Apple's got all their vendor lock in, amazon is trying to build vendor lock in with the kindle fire line, google is trying to build a vendor lock in with google play. If you buy into that ecosystem, it's a good way to keep you. But if you don't want to buy into any specific manufacturer, netflix is great. I can't watch iTunes movies on my android phone, and i can't watch google play movies on my iPad and i can't watch either on my roku, but i can watch netflix on all of them.
Re: Netflix Is Bluffing
#6Netflix focusses on movie/tv-series subscription model (streaming+dvds), and they are laser focussed on improving consumer experience in this area. On the other hand, Apple, Google, Amazon focus on other businesses (hardware, advertising, and e-commerce). That's why I think Netflix will survive, and that's why startups survive and thrive: Focus!
The problem is for avid tv-series watcher (I admit I am one) netflix is a very bad solution. The obvious problem is that they do not have the fresh stuff. I wouldn't mind some delay, but when it's a season worth of delay, it stops being useful. This, however, is not the worst part - I also watch some old ones. But even there - netflix has way less than full collection, some seasons are missing, some episodes are missing from otherwise complete season, etc. And there's no way for me to track which episodes I already watched, make a list of my favorites to re-watch, or do any other useful things with them. The should at least do something like next-episode.net, but they could probably do even better. But they don't seem to be focusing there, unfortunately...
Re: Netflix Is Bluffing
#7I wish Netflix would transition fast to an HBO model where they produce their own content. I could see them establishing a kickstarter like content crowd-funding option (opt-in) for say 15 $ / month extra where users would vote on shows, finance them & bring them to life.
just imagine what/if scenarios would have played out when "Arrested development" was canceled if we had such an option back then.
My point is, if kickstarter can start raising sums as high a 4 Mil $ for project eternity & 6 Mil $ for Star Citizen, the days when AAA movies could be crowd-funded is not far from us. I'm looking forward to the day when big studios & their greedy shortsightedness get disrupted. The penultimate frontier of disintermediation. fingers crossed
Re: Netflix Is Bluffing
#8Netflix's problem is that there are no switching barriers to keep viewers loyal to Netflix. Even they admit that their vaunted queue is worth much less in the streaming world than it was in the DVD by mail world. Their strength would be the content deals they have, and their ability to obtain future content. But that right now is notoriously bad. Most of the current or best movies of any star or franchise are not ava…
>Netflix's problem is that there are no switching barriers to keep viewers loyal to Netflix. That's also their biggest strength. Apple's got all their vendor lock in, amazon is trying to build vendor lock in with the kindle fire line, google is trying to build a vendor lock in with google play. If you buy into that ecosystem, it's a good way to keep you. But if you don't want to buy into any specific manufacturer, ne…
But how much do you think the average consumer cares about that (or is even smart enough to think about it)? Sure, we all understand the ecosystems because we're developers and we follow that sort of thing, but I'm not sure that the average consumer would see it the same way. If anything, they might be swayed by the whole "Oh, that will work with my iTunes account!" factor.
Re: Netflix Is Bluffing
#9Maybe I'm weird, but it seems like netflix has got worse over time. It used to be magical, now it feels a bit clunkier and the selection might be getting bigger, but it's not getting any better.
Most of the time now I redbox anything new, hulu what's on current tv, and only worry about netflix for when I want to burn through an older show.
Maybe it was the price hike or the whole period of bad PR that ensued after that, or maybe it's that Amazon Prime keeps looking more appealing every day. Either way, Netflix feels like it lost whatever it was that made it magic in the first place.
Re: Netflix Is Bluffing
#10I have both Amazon Video (through Prime) and Netflix. I use Netflix infinitely more because of my Apple TV; the streaming-to-TV ease of use is the simplest I've found, and cheap (since my and my housemates all split the already-small Netflix bill.) If Amazon had a stronger solution to this use case, I'd be much more inclined to use it. But even if the content is great (and it is -- Amazon Video has a lot of stuff Net…
There's the Roku, but that's not a solution from Amazon. It's half the price of Apple TV though.