Netflix: A Fast Growing Threat

Former colleague Bob Herbold talks about fast-growing early innovator Netflix:

Bob's Gutsy Leadership Blog
Netflix: Underestimating a Fast-Growing Threat?

Netflix has always been the innovator who was way out in front of the current market offerings. It was 1997, when only 7% of households had a DVD player, that Netflix launched its “movies on DVDs by mail” service. At that time, virtually all movies watched at home were rented on VHS tapes from one of the 3000 Blockbuster stores. By 2007, Blockbuster had grown to 9000 stores and was clearly on its way to bankruptcy since most people got their movies by mail on DVD’s from Netflix, since over 80% of homes had a DVD player, and renting a movie on a DVD from Netflix avoided the trips to Blockbuster.

It was also 2007 when Netflix once again got out front of the current offerings (its own DVD service) and launched its streaming service, but few people could take advantage of it, since less than 20% of homes had the adequate broadband capacity to stream a movie. Netflix knew that would change quickly and it did and Netflix grew to its current enormous size.

Today, the number of new challengers to the Netflix streaming service is exploding. Direct TV Now, Hulu, Sling and many others offer a variety of options. Amazon, YouTube, and Apple are growing their own streaming services, and with their deep pockets, will be significant threats. Media industry giants Disney and WarnerMedia are also building major streaming services, and both are hellbent on taking significant business from Netflix. Many of these firms are investing very heavily in new programming to compete very directly with Netflix. .... "