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Despite the recent downward spiral of NFLX, I'd agree that Netflix isn't doomed - it just has to seriously re-evaluate its branding and messaging. Their success

Despite the recent downward spiral of NFLX, I'd agree that Netflix isn't doomed - it just has to seriously re-evaluate its branding and messaging. Their success as a company will hinge on their success in shifting the meaning of the Netflix brand (Qwickster was clearly one attempt at that). Netflix is down, but not out, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it bounce back (maybe not to quite the same peak, but still much higher than it is now).

deleted 15y ago
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viscanti 15y ago
The problem is content. Netflix doesn't have much in the way of IP for streaming video. Their streaming service has always been lacking, but it used to be the only viable option to watch videos. Starting next year, they'll have even less content, when they lose the rights to all the Starz content. Netflix took the risk of establishing a new video business model. They proved streaming video works, now will have to compete against a host of future players for content rights. It seems like studios have more to gain by going it alone and cutting out the middle man (netflix). Netflix has to weather a storm, and hope for some breaks along the way. I see the major studios trying their own thing first. Aggregation might be key, I'm not sure I'd want to have accounts with several movie studios to watch their movies. But I think it will take some time to get to the point where that's obvious to all the major players. It's not clear that Netflix will still be around by then, and even if they are, it's not clear that the studios will find them the most appealing option. It's very possible that the major studios would get together (a la hulu) and cut out Netflix altogether. Netflix has their brand and their recommendation engine. The brand has taken a hit with all their recent missteps. I'm not sure that their recommendation engine will get them through. It's not trivial to replicate, but can be done.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

viscanti 15y ago

The problem is content. Netflix doesn't have much in the way of IP for streaming video. Their streaming service has always been lacking, but it used to be the only viable option to watch videos. Starting next year, they'll have even less content, when they lose the rights to all the Starz content. Netflix took the risk of establishing a new video business model. They proved streaming video works, now will have to compete against a host of future players for content rights. It seems like studios have more to gain by going it alone and cutting out the middle man (netflix). Netflix has to weather a storm, and hope for some breaks along the way. I see the major studios trying their own thing first. Aggregation might be key, I'm not sure I'd want to have accounts with several movie studios to watch their movies. But I think it will take some time to get to the point where that's obvious to all the major players. It's not clear that Netflix will still be around by then, and even if they are, it's not clear that the studios will find them the most appealing option. It's very possible that the major studios would get together (a la hulu) and cut out Netflix altogether. Netflix has their brand and their recommendation engine. The brand has taken a hit with all their recent missteps. I'm not sure that their recommendation engine will get them through. It's not trivial to replicate, but can be done.