Dear Netflix – We just want to watch movies

The apology and explanatory email started off with this:

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs.

True. I don’t want to use two websites from the same company to achieve the same thing.

And just like that, Qwikster’s streaming of bits dried up before it really got going as a seperate subscription service. To be honest, I’m not sure what Netflix was thinking when they made this move. Why would you dilute your brand and confuse your current and future customers?

I’m a big fan of Netflix. I like their business model, they have great customer service, and they provide something that I want: entertainment. I think Netflix forgot the business they are in, even if it was just a lapse in judgment. It reminds me of when the U.S. railroads lost focus as a mode of transportation, leading to the decline of passenger rail. Netflix was trying to force a technology shift from DVDs to streaming onto their customers. But guess what? We didn’t care.

Netflix forgot, albeit briefly, that they are in the entertainment business. As a customer, I just want to watch movies. To me, it doesn’t matter if it’s on a DVD or streaming through my Roku box. Tomorrow it might be a different technology, but the end result will still be the same—I just want to watch a movie.

At the end of the day, Netflix should just worry about providing a subscription to their portfolio of movies. Customers are mostly concerned about watching a movie and having a good experience while watching. It doesn’t really matter how it’s delivered, we’re paying Netflix for access and convenience. Don’t burden customers with how you internally divide your revenue stream because of changes in consumer trends or other market conditions. Keep it simple. Keep the movies flowing.

This entry was posted in Technology and tagged , , , , , , on by .

About Shibby

Jason Hibbets is a senior community architect at Red Hat which means he is a mash-up of a community manager and project manager. At night, he wears his cape and is a captain for the Open Raleigh brigade, as well as a co-chair for NC Open Pass. Jason is the author of a book titled The foundation for an open source city--a resource for cities and citizens interested in improving their government through civic hacking. While writing the book, he discovered his unknown superpower of building communities of passionate people. Jason graduated from North Carolina State University and resides in Raleigh, NC with his wife, two kids, two border collies, chickens, lots of tomato plants, and a lazy raccoon somewhere in an oak tree. In his copious spare time, he enjoys surfing, running, gardening, traveling, watching football, sampling craft beer, and participating in local government--not necessarily in that order, but close to it. You can follow him on Twitter: @jhibbets

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *