Is Netflix Dying? What Will It Take to Overcome Massive FAILS?

Written By Paul Nyhart

It was a mere year ago when my fellow movie watching brethren were praising to high heavens the glory that was Netflix and its streaming video service. Of course, we’d occasionally dabble in a DVD that had arrived via the arcane and rather rudimentary process of the United States Postal Service, formerly the pony express before that. Netflix was undoubtedly the light illuminating our entertainment lives.

But as of last month, I am no longer a subscriber to Netflix, something that I have in common with 800,000 other people who also bowed out during the last three months. Netflix raked in 822 million in revenue over the same period, but saw its shares drop 35% yesterday when it was announced just how many subscribers had been lost.

Netflix is still making money, 62 million bucks from last quarter to be exact, but that’s a far cry from what was expected from them based on their high flying ways of a year ago.

Just this past spring Netflix was 180 bucks/share and had targets to go above 200 bucks/share. Now it’s sending out more apologies than a cheating spouse, begging for customers to come back (I now mark it as spam in my e-mail).

Some financial experts are going so far as to call it the “end of the road” for Netflix and that this is their “Nuclear winter.”

Movie studios are now chomping at the bit, who just a year ago were concerned Netflix was going to overtake their DVD sales – but now, it’s Netflix who is seemingly at the mercy of the studio’s licensing deals.

Is this the death of Netflix? We don’t know for sure yet, but what it clearly indicates is that Netflix must reset and re-establish itself as a stable and confident company that has a clue what it’s doing. It still has a total of 30 million customers between streamers and DVD subscribers, but that number is a far cry from where NETFLIX is supposed to be.

Netflix hasn’t fallen off the mountain to its death, but it certainly seems to be hanging from a loose tree branch. What will it take for them to muster the strength and climb back to the top? It will be more than just confidence, but a reassurance to the consumer that they are not only sorry, but that subscribing to Netflix is a worthwhile experience, again. This might be as simple as breaking the bank and getting some serious licensing deals with the studios to wow users to come back, or it could be as rewarding as developing themselves into a studio which encourages content makers, particularly young ones looking for a break, to develop content for the Netflix library.

Netflix found out how to piss their customers off the hard way, they should know now what it will take to get them back. Right now this should be done at whatever costs it takes.

[via CNN MONEY]

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