Quote
Netflix's Demise Was Greatly Exaggerated
Total Subscribers up 25% From Last Year Despite Missteps
by Karl BodeWhile Netflix still dominates the streaming video market to the tune of 65%, 2011 wasn't a particularly pretty PR year for the company. Netflix instituted a relatively-massive price hike, an announcement of a split off of their DVD and streaming services, a confusing reversal of that plan, and somehow found time to insult everybody in America. The company also decided several times to revamp a GUI that wasn't really broken in the first place -- instituting interface changes on both their website and Xbox 360 app that actually made their streaming product less useful.
Not too surprisingly, Netflix took a significant customer satisfaction hit. There was also oodles of hand-wringing analyst pontification about how Netflix was doomed. Forgotten amongst these dour tirades was the fact that Netflix is competing against a cable industry that institutes bi-annual rate hikes, with their obliviousness to consumer price sensitivity teetering into the obnoxious.
The fact is that even at existing price points, with a streaming catalog that's increasingly sparse due to studio suffocation, Netflix still offers good value to content consumers.








Back to top








