In an entertaining look at the deadly-serious business of modern entertainment, Vaclav Vincalek of Pacific Coast Information Systems takes stock of the choices faced by streaming giant Netflix as it prepares to fend off numerous rising competitors. Distribution channels in the modern era - from VHS to VR - are made and broken so quickly, Vincalek notes, that no one can say where the business is headed next.
Read Vaclav Vincalek’s thoughts on the coming content famine.
“When Hollywood studios were the only game in town, movie theaters were their pipeline to customers. Then came video cassettes and DVDs, cable TV, satellite dishes and pay-per-view. The pipeline widened into different channels.
Netflix was able to sign up subscribers with others’ content. That’s what allowed its rapid growth. It took advantage of a cheap pipeline and combined that with on-demand content.
Unfortunately for Netflix, that provided companies like Disney with proof that the technology was working.”
We really are in wild frontier times now, as far as our on-screen entertainment options. If it shakes out that Netfix has to become much more like Youtube to survive, or vice-versa, then that’s as likely a development as any. There will be numerous winners and losers in the streaming wars - but the real victor is already the consumer, who can look forward to a practical infinity of cheap options.