As Netflix have jumped on the live sport streaming bandwagon, I thought I’d post an email I sent to Netflix nine years ago.1 When they eventually do what I suggested back then, remember who they stole the idea from!
2015-03-15
Netflix Long Term View – Response
Dear Mr. Hastings,
I hope this email finds its way to you. I think the ideas outlined below would be of benefit to your long term ambitions.
TV is in a Mess
Here in the UK we have an abundance of choice when it comes to what to watch on TV. Not a comprehensive list:
Live TV: Freeview, Freesat, Sky, Virgin, BT, Talk Talk, Youview, Now TV, VUTV.
Streaming: Netflix, Amazon Instant, Now TV, BBC IPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD, Demand 5, Sky Go.
As time passes, Netflix will experience much more competition from other vendors. You know this well. You’ll also be at the mercy of content owners who’ll be more empowered than ever. Maybe everyone will suffer.
In your Long Term View document, you write about ‘moments of truth.’ I propose you think about this slightly differently:
Moments of choice.
Moments of routine.
We don’t want to think about what to watch a lot of the time. That’s why broadcast TV is so popular and has endured for so long. At 6:00AM, I don’t want to flick through an app and choose something to watch. Nor do I want to watch a film or a TV ‘show.’ When my partner collects the kids from school, she puts Disney Junior on. My daughter is happy to watch the same episodes over and over again. No thought is required. In fact, effort is required to leave that familiar platform (for all its faults). If you choose to ignore broadcast television, I believe it’s only a matter of time before a new, or an established player, focuses on it. As written in your Long Term View, “the linear TV model is ripe for replacement.” At the moment, services such as Netflix are only biting at its ankles.
Here is what I think you should do. Offer a second package which has live streaming TV. Broadcast TV. But, don’t offer us too much choice! And, do it better. We used to have a great show on in the morning; The Big Breakfast. It might have been my age, but I rarely missed watching it. I was in my late teens at the time. Too many mainstream shows are too safe nowadays. If anyone can push the boundaries a bit, it’s surely you guys. If you can dominate ‘light’ TV and create a platform which customers rarely leave once they have turned it on (as Sky have done), you will surely dominate.
I have plenty more ideas, if you’d like to hear them.2
All the best,
Simon Harrison
Footnotes
1 I have no idea why I sent this email. Possibly so I could post about it nine years later? Time is strange (in hindsight).
2 Ahhhhhh. Bless younger me. I never got a response. And I also had no other ideas to share.
