07-05-2012, 10:16 PM
NFLX has certainly been interesting in recent days. Huuuuge jump in the stock today, presumably on the news that they are now the #1 "channel" -- more people watch Netflix in terms of hours-per-day than watch any network, including broadcast and cable: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-05...cmpid=yhoo
Analysts have been bashing NFLX lately, mostly on things that I have previously argued against (and continue to do so). e.g., Apple is in a position to beat Netflix. But that's comparing, well, apples to oranges, as Netflix's $8 streaming buffet offers fewer big name choices but still a pretty nice spread for $8/month whereas Apple offers you everything available on digital but at high expense. Same for Netflix vs On Demand or Amazon. And I still don't think Netflix competition should be discussed without bringing up a comparison of interfaces: Netflix still blows everyone else out of the water in term of helping you browse to find "something to watch". iTunes and Amazon are fine for finding a show you already know the name of but if you're just bored and browsing, they're basically crap.
Apparently the market agrees with me more than they agree with publicized analysts. Stock up 13% in one day, on a down day for the Dow, after a series of slow rises since the end of June.
I still think Netflix has a good potential future ahead of it. If nothing else, I still see a good chance of someone buying it. Certainly I'd still like to see Amazon buy them, if they promise to keep the Netflix interface and not the utter crap interface they use for Prime. I think if nobody buys them in the near future, though, it's possible that Netflix will simply outgrow the "easily buyable" phase. They're by far the best streaming option out there and it sounds like the customers they lost are coming back, and more.
Analysts have been bashing NFLX lately, mostly on things that I have previously argued against (and continue to do so). e.g., Apple is in a position to beat Netflix. But that's comparing, well, apples to oranges, as Netflix's $8 streaming buffet offers fewer big name choices but still a pretty nice spread for $8/month whereas Apple offers you everything available on digital but at high expense. Same for Netflix vs On Demand or Amazon. And I still don't think Netflix competition should be discussed without bringing up a comparison of interfaces: Netflix still blows everyone else out of the water in term of helping you browse to find "something to watch". iTunes and Amazon are fine for finding a show you already know the name of but if you're just bored and browsing, they're basically crap.
Apparently the market agrees with me more than they agree with publicized analysts. Stock up 13% in one day, on a down day for the Dow, after a series of slow rises since the end of June.
I still think Netflix has a good potential future ahead of it. If nothing else, I still see a good chance of someone buying it. Certainly I'd still like to see Amazon buy them, if they promise to keep the Netflix interface and not the utter crap interface they use for Prime. I think if nobody buys them in the near future, though, it's possible that Netflix will simply outgrow the "easily buyable" phase. They're by far the best streaming option out there and it sounds like the customers they lost are coming back, and more.