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Netflix Is Betting On Exclusive Programming
An anonymous reader writes: You may have heard of the recent launch of the new Daredevil TV show, and possibly the hit shows House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. They're all original programming from Netflix — the company that used to just mail DVDs to your door. But Netflix is now running a lot more than just those three shows — it has 320 hours of original programming planned for this year. This article discusses how Netflix is betting big on original, exclusive content, and what that means for the future of television. "Traditionally, television networks needed to stand for something to carve out an audience, he said, whereas the Internet allows brands to mean different things to different people because the service can be personalized for individual viewers. That means that for a conservative Christian family, Netflix should stand for wholesome entertainment, and, for a 20-year-old New York college student, it should be much more on the edge, he said.... 'We've had 80 years of linear TV, and it's been amazing, and in its day the fax machine was amazing,' he said. "The next 20 years will be this transformation from linear TV to Internet TV.'"
Excellent shows, commercial free, on demand, released one season at a time. At the same time I have watched some networks take a 30 minute time slot show and reduce the actual show from around 21-22 minutes to 17-18 minutes, making more time for commercials. I'll sit on my couch with my potato chips and watch the demise of network TV with delight.
s/©//g
They should un-cancel Better Off Ted. That lie detector scene was priceless and that fake Veridian ad about friendship was really spot-on.
Deal with it!
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NetFlix is wonderful. Every dog has its day and back when theaters were being crushed by cable and over the air stations were dropping like flies the cable industry could have cared less. Now cable TV is in serious trouble with no way to fight back except the one very obvious way. NetFlix delivers a ton of entertainment for $8. per month. Hint to cable : Deliver more for $8 than Netflix instead of charging hundreds per month.
I don't think they're getting that much for the ads. After all, netflix manages to offer ad-free stuff for $8/month, same as Hulu+. It's probably closer to the difference between $8/month and $12.
I think the ultimate reason Netflix is creating it's own content is that the more content it controls, the more influence it has over the other media copyright holders. If Netflix can legitimately argue that if copyright holder X doesn't play ball, that it's average subscriber won't sign up to site Y for $Z revenue because the subscribers will simply watch something else, such as one of Netflix's exclusive shows, then they're leaving money on the table, and they don't like doing that.
Sort of like a backwards HBO. HBO does great shows, but are really exclusive about them. If you want to see Netflix's shows, you have to sign up, but it's not nearly as expensive as a cable package + HBO.
I don't read AC A human right
Hulu however has current TV a day later. Netflix doesn't get it for months. Hulu's also sponsored by the content networks who are trying to basically regain their ad revenue.
Netflix is creating original content because it can - its business model depends on subscribers and growing that subscriber base. Showing unlimited movies that have been out for months, or TV seasons that everyone else has seen months ago doesn't grow subscribers, especially since OTA TV will get them for free too, just on a less convenient schedule.
Instead, Netflix has to basically create content or inherit content that the networks can't justify carrying so subscribers have something new to watch.
Hulu, Amazon, iTunes, etc., they get the latest TV within hours of airing which is why they generally cost more because their first-run. Netflix picks up the rest.
In the lifecycle of a movie, it first comes out in theatres. Then it comes out as a digital rental (CinemaNow, Vudu, etc). Then it comes out as purchase - either digital (iTunes, Ultraviolet, etc) or physical (DVD/Blu-Ray). Then general rentals, then Netflix, and finally, regular free TV. This takes around a year or two to fully execute.
The lifecycle for a TV program is first airing, then digital sales (Amazon, iTunes), and Hulu. Then months later, season box sets on DVD, and Netflix.
If you're not fussy about waiting, Netflix is a great service. Most people though can't wait that long for their TV, so there are options. And Netflix knows once they have the people who don't care or who don't mind waiting, their subscriber base is saturated. They need to have new content to attract new subscribers who may not watch much of the catalog, but will catch the exclusives and pay for it.