Interpret has released their most current research on Netflix and also their predictions on where the company can grow and what should change. As many of you remember, thousands of viewers canceled their memberships last year after Netflix increased their rates.
The statistics on user trends from Interpret encompass the period from the 4th quarter of 2010 to the 4th quarter of 2011. Not surprisingly the number of viewers who utilize only streaming video services from Netflix has jumped over 72%. People aren’t subscribing to the old fashioned, “we’ll send you a scratched DVD in the mail and you send it back when you’re done doing battle with it”. The number of households with fast internet connection has increased and so has streaming video demand.
Another trend worth noting is that people are streaming more television shows than before on Netflix. In fact, streaming movies fell over 6% and streaming shows increased 10%. I like this trend. Others may have experienced what I have; movies just keep getting worse and mini series and television shows just keep getting better. Hollywood puts out some real garbage lately.
Stephanie Sutton, an Interpret analyst and author of the report comments on the trends:
“Netflix’s venture into the world of original programming is a good fit for its television-enthusiastic subscribers,”
“And despite the fact that consumers are streaming fewer movies than a year ago, there is still strong demand for new content. The addition of recent movie releases, along with the current and upcoming original programming, can help Netflix retain customer satisfaction and, more importantly, its customers.”
I really like Netflix and it seems many others are hanging in there with their services. The real opportunity for growth seems to be in television series. What’s good about Netflix is no commercials. Also, I like to watch a whole season of programming in one weekend. Where else can you do that? So there’s an opportunity for them to grow right there. More content faster please.
As far as movies go, I would say 80% of what comes out right now is simply rehashed garbage we have all seen before anyway. The benefit of Netflix is that you don’t have to feel bad about shutting down a film halfway through, you did’t pay anything extra to have it anyway.
Netflix is a great service and they were one of the first to offer this kind of entertainment. I hope they can deliver what users want and continue to stay relevant in this increasingly competitive market. We’ll see what next years report brings.