So now Netflix has 9 million subscribers. A million here, a million there, sooner or later we’re talking about real people.
If there’s a silver lining to the company’s success, it’s that the new streaming service, which works quite well on the Xbox 360, costs the company money, with CFO Barry McCarthy calling it a “tax on the P&L [Profit and Loss Statement].” Basically, it’s a down payment on future success. That’s what Netflix hopes, at least.
As for adding new videos to the 12,000 title library, Netflix says it could easily do so, at the flip of a switch. Unfortunately, that switch costs a lot of money to flip, and Netflix still isn’t sure if it can turn a profit with the service yet. So let’s give Netflix a little bit of breathing room before freaking out.
Netflix streaming on the Xbox is amazing! I really hope they find a way to make it profitable, I’ve been watching more movies on that then on the DVDs they send in the mail. I’m not sure how I would feel if they threw pre-movie advertising into it, or if anyone would actually watch it instead of fast forwarding through it. I’m just really hoping they figure out a way to make it work and increase their title library.
I’ve cancelled my cable since they added instant streaming for Xbox 360. Maybe MS could give them a cut of gold Live subscriptions, because I know I bought mine primarily for Netflix. Or, all they have to do is sell the background of the browse screen to advertisers. Non-intrusive, but highly effective.
1) Create a standard / premium list of films to stream.
2) Offer a premium streaming subscription with the full library that people can subscribe either in addition to as a stand alone.
3) Profit.