Netflix's TV Show Focus

Many of us love watching tv shows and movies on Netflix. I personally love their vast selection of documentaries, many of which I never seem to be able to find elsewhere. Additionally, I love being able to search through tv shows to watch a quick 50 minute of so episode. I rarely watch full length movies. Maybe its because the movies aren't some of my favorites, or that really, maybe I am not a huge movie buff. I might not be alone. According to a NY Times article, a majority of Netflix subscribers watch tv shows. Netflix currently has 21.7 million streaming subscribers, and this accounts for one in every four households in America who have access to broadband.

While Netflix has not released an exact number of people who watch tv shows, some executives have alluded to the number being between 50% and 60%. Some analysts also speculate this could grow to even 80% in the coming year. Netflix refers to these tv shows as "26-hour films", probably because of tv show abilities to lock viewers in over a period of time, watching every episode of a season.

As a business model, I think this is a great position to be in. If Netflix desires to retain customers for a longer period of time, offering tv shows is a brilliant way to lock customers in to a product that is not readily available elsewhere (at the same marginal cost per viewing) and requires repeat activity. Not to mention, tv shows are significantly less expensive for Netflix to obtain rights to over a major motion picture. This is the unique position Netflix is in. Being able to provide low cost entertainment, all the while retaining as many customers and attracting more.

I would like to see Netflix change their online interface from Microsoft Silverlight, but that is just a personal techie opinion of mine. Nevertheless, Netflix is a great way for me to watch tv shows and the occasional documentary whenever I please, and sometimes it seems like I wonder where this was years ago.

For more, visit this NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/business/media/once-film-focused-netflix-shifts-to-tv-shows.html?pagewanted=2&src=se