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Slashdot Asks: What's Next For Netflix? (500ish.com)
What does the future hold for Netflix? The company first earned a name for itself over a decade ago renting DVDs via mails in an era when Blockbuster used to laugh at the mere idea of DVDs-by-mail. It then moved to offering online streaming service way before most of the companies. As VC and former journalist MG Siegler writes, Netflix was always ahead of the curve. But the market -- and the demand from the market is changing, again. To address that, the on-demand streaming service has over the past three-four years started to invest heavily in getting exclusive rights for movies and TV shows, as well as make its own original content. But this time, Netflix is facing immense competition from its rivals -- and its moves aren't that unpredictable. It's also worth pointing out just recently, the company's decision to hike prices led its stocks to tank. Siegler writes: The streaming content game is now hyper competitive. And even the streaming original content game has gotten extremely competitive. And this means it has gotten extremely expensive. The result has been great for us, the users, as we do seem to be in a golden age of television-like content, even if it's being delivered via streaming "channels" like Netflix. With 54 Emmy nominations this year, second to only HBO, Netflix is seemingly closing in on what they set out to do once again. They've become HBO faster than HBO has been able to become Netflix. Of course, HBO still has the warm blanket of cable operator fees to keep them cozy; Netflix's model has them a bit out in the cold in that regard. So, again, what's next? Is it VR? Something else? Don't tell me it's 4k. Worldwide expansion is huge, but that's really just growing into the last business. What's the next business pivot?What you, Slashdot readers, think Netflix's next move will be? Or do you think the company will soon become just another name in its respective category?
To merge with AOL/Yahoo, of course.
Netflix is the first media company with the business model of "Give the customers exactly what they want."
It is very refreshing. They are in the business of TV wish fulfillment, and nobody has ever done that before. Since the dawn of television, content owners and broadcasters have been in the business of telling customers what to watch. Netflix seems to make the shows that I want, exactly how I want them, it's so unusual that it almost feels like a trick.
I pay $144/year (because I have a big family and we pay a higher rate for more simultaneous streaming licenses), but it is a bargain. Just for the Marvel Series' alone I would have paid that much for DVDs.
While one of the great things of netflix is that they are no ISP, it would be great to have more ISPs that are not assholes.
This is probably going to sound a little crazy, but I think they should be looking at Youtube and Twitch and trying to get into user generated content.
Personally, I know I spend way more time watching youtube channels than Netflix, amd a lot people are the same about Twitch.
Obviously withouy ads some sort of revenue sharing based on views would be necessary. That may or may not be workable.
Then again, maybe having users watch more, and thus taking up extra bandwidth, isn't ideal for the bottom line anyway.
An AI that controls an interactive story aimed just at you that keeps you watching for decades.
Asking readers what a company that they have no part in managing is simply asking for opinions, or desires. I suggest that if Slashdot really wants to know the answer that someone be assigned to visit Netflix and ask around to find out what rumors the employees have heard. This information will likely be the most correct.
Netflix lacks courage to take on networks and finally get rid of regional locking content bundling. Whatever you think about Jobs, he did one big 'public good' when he took on record label industry. The same needs to happen to content networks.
POV and ads are exactly what would make me cancel.
I'm surprised that so many people think Netflix has "moved" from DVD disks to streaming. I get DVDs by mail. I love it and have no interest in streaming. Why? Because I can't get most of what I want to see via streaming. I want to see specific things, mainly "art house" movies. I don't care about being able to see 3,000 top-40 movies at will. I don't have any streaming and probably never will. The privacy issues and lack of interesting content make it unappealing to me. The surprising part, though, is not just that many people think disks by mail is old fashioned, but that people think that despite the fact that Netflix makes their profit from DVDs in the mail, not from streaming.
So I couldn't care less.... In Europe they have like.... 1/5 of the selection while having a bigger price. Also, there's no dvd option, no matter the price. So, from my point of view, they could go belly up - no tears there. Other than that, I think they should go up-market - best selection, greater prices. Or have several tiers.
If by "golden age of television-like content" you mean DRM'd content that requires a constant and fast internet connection and juggling multiple subscriptions due to exclusive licensing. Not to mention most services require you to either run Flash (and we all know how bug ridden Flash is) or a black box app. And then there's "trusted computing" modules on the horizon, which if mandated by content providers will force you to run a black box computer inside your computer which you have little control over.
tl;dr golden age is subjective
The article briefly mentions original content like it was their last smart move and they'll have to do something else to survive. I would disagree with that assessment.
The media cartels (MPAA etc) are trying to starve out Netflix by jacking up their licensing fees, onerous international distribution agreements, etc etc.
The Netflix back catalog of old movies has actually been shrinking. The focus on original content is to bring control to their programming so that they aren't 100% at the mercy of the cartels who want nothing more than for Netflix to die. The goal of the cartels is that Hulu or some other godforsaken corp-owned property can retain their dominance of the public eyeball.
That's why Netflix has gone all in on their original programming. I just finished watching Stranger Things and it is really good. Because Netflix developed it themselves, they don't have to negotiate an international distribution agreement and they can release it simultaneously in all the markets they offer subscriptions. That's huge. I watched past the credits and there were translation teams for about 8 languages - I think I saw French, Spanish, Japanese, German among them.
So I think their play is what they are already doing - pour money into original programming, build their own back catalog so they aren't at the mercy of greedy content providers, and keep providing great customer service.
There is no question that Netflix has to continue ramping up original production. Distribution is easy (sorry tech guys) but good content is hard. But "back in the day," there was a finite amount of space to fill with that original content. Once you reached X number of episodes for Y number of original series per annual season, you had obtained critical mass, and it was just up to the sales guys to make sure you were in as many homes and on as many platforms as you could be, and the programming guys to make sure the content was as good and innovative as budget allowed.
But Netflix pioneered "binge-watching." Exec-producing ten eps of Game of Thrones and dribbling them out no longer cuts it. We're now conditioned to watch 22 episodes of a new title as they all drop at once, gorging upon it all within a two week period lest we fall behind at the water cooler or in the online chatrooms.
Time (in a schedule grid) is no longer a constraint. Space (server/bandwidth capacity is cheap) is no longer a constraint. Only money is a limiting factor. How can they keep feeding that beast?
At one level, Netflix better hope that a lot of little competitors start popping up, because they will be able to sell them off-network rights to Daredevil and House of Cards et.al. and so subsidize their original production, much the same way HBO and video stores were first viewed as rivals to Hollywood, before Hollywood realized how much money it could make licensing to them.
The biggest thing stopping online streaming from delivering the decisive blow to cable is live sporting events. I personally don't care about spectator sports, but I imagine that if Netflix were to strike deals with the NFL and the like, it would eviscerate cable TV almost overnight.
Netflix: Phone, USB Streaming Device, Tablets, and off course headsets. Oh and gaming console.
Offline playback hopefully.
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
I switched from the streaming service to the old-school DVD service because the DVD service has a MUCH larger selection of movies than the streaming service does.
So maybe they should fix their basic service before they start looking for new revenue sources.
Now c'mon, you expect a little much from simple slashvertisment. Cut them some slack!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Between the Netflix DVD service and the local library, it's the only way to get the non-mainstream shows I like to watch - old old BBC shows, all sorts of kids' movies, old series out of print, etc. The streaming is nice sometimes too (and the original content so far has been great), but the real meat of Netflix for me hasn't changed since I started - it's the availability of just about everything on DVD.
12:50 - press return.
They could do so many things to enhance the interface
Why when I look at a title can I not
-> select more like this. It will give me suggestions later based on what I watch, but I want to be able to pull it up live.
-> select the director and see other movies? I can search them by name through the search interface, but why can I kick the search off when looking at a movie?
-> select an actor and see other movies? I can search them by name through the search interface, but why can I kick the search off when looking at a movie?
-> sort by year released?
-> do multiple factor searches/sorts, actor/year released
If there is that much content provide me good ways to go through it.
They need to find more revenue to pay for their original (and non-original) content. I foresee subsciption levels. Basic (cheap) for all your 10+ year-old movies and syndicated tv, so go ahead and binge on Star Trek and Simpsons. Regular, for their current geo-fenced content. Premium to unlock geo-fencing and perhaps some GoT. Perhaps a discount for all your packages if you select advertising. As more eyeballs opt for cheaper advertiser-subsidized content Netflix can squeeze more from the advertisers.
Netflix needs to find a way to expand their streaming service.
While I keep seeing articles titled "Why does anyone use Netflix's DVD service?" I have a DVD queue that is 324 DVDs long. Their streaming catalog is a tiny fraction of what they have on DVD, and almost nothing I want is streamable. No new releases are streamable. Hardly any Disney or Dreamworks is streamable. Seems like most "blockbusters" aren't streamable. Neither is most of the 90's sci-fi I want to catch-up on. They need to pressure hollywood while they are still the 500-lb gorilla of the market.
respective - adjective - belonging or relating separately to each of two or more people or things.
The summary asks "do you think the company will soon become just another name in its respective category?" In this context, the word "respective" is meaningless because it has only a single referent. I'm not sure what the editor was trying to signify by adding it to the sentence.
Netflix has already set up different "spaces" for kids and adults. At some point, why not deliver porn? Most of us have been conditioned to not pay for porn, but perhaps having it as part of our Netflix subscription would be one more reason to keep Netflix despite their ever-shrinking library of, ahem, traditional movies.
I want every movie, television show, commercial, public service announcement--all audio/visual media at my fingertips whenever I want it. I want to ask my TV "Hey, what was that show where that guy wore that thing?" and I want my TV to have a list of shows where that guy wore that thing. I want to watch all prime time television from 1972 from all three major networks in chronological order--with commercials. I want the original Star Wars where Han shot first. I want the Star Wars Christmas Special. I want to see exactly what was on television in the Soviet Union on October 29th, 1962. I want it all.
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
No doubt they will want to start off with some innocuous, nearly inconspicuous ads, and then work their way up to several minutes of unskippable ads, with ads resetting any time you skip too far ahead or leave it paused for too long. At least that seems to be what other companies are doing. Then they can sell the flaming wreckage before buyers realize that sort of thing pisses off their customers like nothing else. Although there is a chance the CEO will fend off the idiots who want to do this.
In the meantime, Netflix will have to put more and more effort into original shows, both to distinguish themselves from the competition and because the media companies want to kill off Netfix by refusing to renew licensing agreements. At least the DVD-by-mail system is safe from those shenanigans.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
It is obvious that the path forward involves more and more user participation. Instead of a scheduled programming, Netflix users were given the ability to choose what show to watch and for how many episodes they want.
The logic step is this move is to let users affect the direction of the show, engaging them in the story-telling. It's been trialled in one country but the UX was poor. Netflix can and should expand on that idea.
You could compare that with the Choose Your Own Adventure type of gamebook but instead of being each person choosing their story (too demanding for now), it is the viewer base.
"The hallmark of humanity is the ability to move beyond sensory inputs" - Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
Netflix is available in a lot of countries. And the competition varies in each country. In Canada, there really is only two competitors and they're not even as good as Netflix Canada.
As in all things personal, ymmv. I just didn't expect that kind of heat from anonymous coward... When I say personalization matters, its because it sux widely, not only to myself, but to many I have discussed it with, some in my family, some outside. You don't aggree that's your opinion, and I believe YOU ARE caring too much about your own opinion not to understand the problem I mention.
About licensing, thank you for the news, as if I didn't know they avoid popularizing licensed content because it costs them more. I have a (pulls the social approval card out) 5-starred comment proving how much I know about the subject. Just in case you thought you were smarter, because I think what's at stake in your dialogue and not exactly making a point about Netflix.
And PPV isn't my invention. I said it crystal clear that is what Netflix needs as a company. Companies make money. Facebook didn't make money, it started making money with things you don't like: ads and pay-to-win-type apps/games. It's sensible to add PPV do Netflix FOR THEM, and I would pay occasionally. If you don't that's your problem, but you still had the subscription content to see. Cable companies have premium channels for a reason, and they have PPV for a reason - it's a solid way to "pricify" supply and demand - less people see it while it costs more to make, so guess what you have to pay more to see it. That's capitalism for you and if you don't like it FU because 'MURICA.
How long did it take you to completely watch Stranger Things?
I imagine that Netflix will eventually stagger their episodes so original content is at least spread out over 2 billing cycles.
The Golden Age of Netflix was the DVD service roughly 5 years or so after it was started. At that point, you had a relatively cheap service with fast delivery times and the content selection was incredible -- you could watch nearly every single movie or tv show that had been released on DVD (I actually read once that Netflix had at least one copy of every North American release). Yes, quite a few people missed out on this time so for those people, they consider streaming to be a "golden age" but I greatly preferred the DVD age since the selection was incredible.
That's just like Spotify, they don't really want you consuming the licensed stuff, so they'd rather bomb you with "similar" that are more "sponsored" than actually the same type of what you just saw. They dont want to improve the interface, search and recommendation for very specific reasons, but they are underrating the finantial benefits that a more pragmatic "discovery" interface would entail. A clear example is sorting by year: 90% of the people would consume a lot more recent stuff which is by obvious reasons more expensive, then they would have to pay a lot more of the expensive licensing.
PPV isn't my invention. I said it crystal clear that is what Netflix needs AS A COMPANY. Companies are in the business of making money. Facebook intelligently didn't make money initially, then it started making money with things you don't like: ads and pay-to-win-type apps/games. It's sensible to add PPV to Netflix FOR THEIR OWN DIRECT BENEFIT, and I would pay occasionally. If you don't that's your problem, but you still had the subscription content to see. Cable companies have premium channels for a reason, and they have PPV for a reason - it's a solid way to "pricify" supply and demand - less people see it while it costs more to make, so guess what you have to pay more to see it. That's capitalism for you and if you don't like it FU because 'MURICA.
I actually believe PPV content would improve my own experience, as I could get to watch more stuff in the platform I prefer instead of time-shifting to a set top crap that I can't take anywhere, and I believe PPV pricing would be highly competitive in a platform like Netflix, so it would be a minor luxury compared to a major one.
Well, the guy on the blog is in the business of using speculation for his own benefit (Google Ventures' General Partner), so I'm not surprised. Then again, all media is influenced by the environment and thus should be taken with a grain of salt... Unless you live in China where the only influence is government and everything is true (read: propaganda).
They need to get local storage working. First it will be phones and tablets then it will be in home appliances.
No sir I dont like it.
I subscribed to HBOGo and Starz for movies. But after just a few months of watching, I deleted everything they had to offer and the newer supply was too slow coming in to make it worth keeping up the subscription... I may return in a year or so...
Meanwhile I keep my Netflix subscription active, always find something interesting, and have just watched Stranger Things which is the best television series I have seen in a long, long time. Just that alone made the subscription for the year worth it for me.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So subscribe to the DVD-by-mail service. They have pretty much everything.
New Mystery Science Theater starting this fall on Netflix. Oh wait, that's not what this is about.
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
I and some other family members gave up Netflix because the library of content sucks.... it's gotten progressively smaller over the years to the point that 75% of the time we wanted to watch something, it wasn't on Netflix. I wouldn't mind $10 or even 15/month, if it had a decent library of good movies. Searching for something to watch on Netflix is just disappointing now.
The worst part is the incomplete series; they have a few early seasons and don't keep up to date. I get into watching a series, it ends on Netflix, I check out where the series is at and discover there are another few seasons past what on Netflix so I download them and bypass Netflix.
Worse yet are the series where Netflix has, say, season 3 only. No seasons 1 to 2, no season 4 to 5. Just season 3 for example.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Netflix can aim to be the primary gateway to all media content. Netflix can aim to be a great producer of exclusive content. Netflix cannot successfully aim to be both. They will fail at signing on the lion's share of new content if they are also competitors with those same produces of said content. They are somewhat pulling it off for now because they became a hub first, but it's not sustainable. They have to pick what their business model will be.
Their interface is complete horrible. And it is completely different on each device. Sometimes I can't do something from my phone app, so I try the mobile browser, and then if that doesn't work I try the desktop app. If that doesn't work, maybe I can do it from my TV. It's ridiculous. Sometimes it searches the DVD and streaming catalog, sometimes it searches just the streaming catalog. Sometimes the "My List" disappears from their Android/iPhone app, only to reappear later.
I suspect that Netflix was a company that did the right thing at the right time, but was never well managed.
As I see it, there are four things Netflix can do to encourage this.
1) Live Sports. If they can work deals with sports groups they will give them powerful leverage with content producers (and more subscribers)
2) Raw internet distribution. AOL became a Tier-1 / Tier-2 backbone just due to infrastructure growth from their ISP business. Netflix has tremendous server infrastructure. If they can form their own interconnects that becomes a marketable asset in and of itself. Movie companies can then be told they don't have to worry about hosting fees with confidence, since Netflix will have infrastructure for distribution down to but excluding the "last mile". Throwing money at the FCC to allow local municipalities to build out their own Fiber to the Premises could solve that if Netflix thought it an issue.
3) If they continue to have success with TV, they can become their own movie production house as well. The threat of doing so may be enough to loosen Hollywood's reluctance.
4) Local channels. If they convince local channels to abandon exclusive cable deals to work with Netflix then the content producers "Big 4" distribution network instantly becomes threatened.
The downside of #1 and #4 is they will almost certainly introduce commercials to Netflix streams, since advertising revenue is so huge to sports and local programming.
Keep making billions.
TFA exaggerates the level of competition for Netflix.
HBO Go and Amazon's service are not replacements for Netflix...they are technically 'competitors' but only in the most abstract, finance-major sense of the term.
From a consumer perspective, it's not rational to get rid of Netflix to get HBO Go. They are cheap enough that even low-income people can have both.
So to me this question is a false dichotomy based on the fallacious assumption that over-estimates the threat of 'competitors' in the streaming market.
Thank you Dave Raggett
> the world needs a proper replacement of human curated music video content, 24/7 always streaming, no ads. Youtube is not that
well said
MTV had genre-mixed, live curated music videos...it's next-level entertainment...you can watch or just listen...
there's got to be a way to do it proper and official and not get overwhelmed by paying rights fees
one thing people forget is back in 1994 you could see a Dr. Dre video then a Nirvana video then a Fugees video then a Tool video...all in a row...it really felt futuristic in that sense
Thank you Dave Raggett
Popcorn and Drinks delivered via drone to your door
Where's the kickstarter for this so I can sign up?
9 out of 10 times I'm watching Netflix.. Don't really see the other services as having as much material. Even HBO Now, I only kept it until Game of Thrones season wrapped up.
Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
Netflix's April 1st, 2016 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucz3JpvDQjk
I heard their future is in Web 4.0. If they beat their competitors to that, they'll rule the streaming world.
Oh yeah, we need a ditzy "VJ" blabbing on between songs. You are so right.
>"What you, Slashdot readers, think Netflix's next move will be? Or do you think the company will soon become just another name in its respective category?"
I don't know what it WILL do, but I know things it NEEDS to do.....
1) We are all sick of cable. Netflix needs to secure all programs they can with quality networks such as NatGeo, History, etc, and offer a micropayment plan- charge for what we want actually see. I would gladly pay $0.50/hr or more per hour of entertainment and have that money go to support what I like to watch. ZERO money from me going to ESPN, Golf channel, Goldfish channel, etc, etc.
2) They need a model to also allow downloads in a DVR-like mode. Things ready-to-watch with no sucking of prime-time bandwidth, and with smooth and instant trick play, whether there is an Internet connection at that time or not.
3) Lay off the gimmicks (4k, 3D, etc) and concentrate on content.
4) Searchable library from the website. It is stupid to try and hide what you have or don't have.
5) Never, ever try to introduce commercials or ANY forced content into your streaming or you will quickly alienate most of your customers in a way that could destroy your company very quickly.
Please let the next move be to take the fantasy out of the SciFi section and give it its own section so I can avoid it.
Please
That recent movies happen to be rehashed versions of old premises.
The Netflix streaming service is just like any other premium cable TV channel, except that if you have HBO/Cinemax/AMC/etc you can watch those either over cable or stream it on your laptop or smart TV or tablet, while Netflix is available only as a steaming service. On top of that, you can't get news or live sports from Netflix.