In 2024, streaming technology is everywhere. What was once a novel and innovative idea has now become the status quo, simply mimicking the cable operators of old. What factors could play into how Netflix went from an innovative idea to a commodity? A commodity that seemingly can only maintain revenues and profits growth with price increases?
Streaming technology
Netflix began streaming in 2007, a time of much slower internet speeds, wireless speeds, and much lower computing power on each device. The real change that Netflix enabled was the ability to watch shows with a minimal amount of infrastructure, which, for me, was my college laptop that I was already using for schoolwork. The infrastructure behind my laptop was the real enabler, however.
iPhone, broadband, wireless, fios, computing
These five technologies have grown significantly in both user adoption and effectiveness since 2007. Netflix was perfectly positioned to benefit from these advancements, as streaming is only possible with all of these technologies facilitating the exchange of data from Netflix servers to users devices.
Ubiquity of technology
However, as these technologies grew to more and more users, and those users subsequently becoming more proficient in digital/internet technologies, Netflix became more and more of a commodity. Netflix used “big data” to have some major and trendy hits like “House of Cards.” But also had many misses, and also relied heavily on data to cancel shows. They went the content route as the old guard was preparing to launch their own streaming services due to the high margins Netflix enjoyed from their software play. And now, these companies that have way more overhead and outdated practices, cannot afford to stream effectively or create well working platforms leading to Ads, just like it was before 2007.
A case of netflix incompetence? lobbying of the old guard? or restrictive laws?
For all this advancement and pretty robust technology adoption by the broader population, for entertainment to do a U-turn and simply go back to the days of 1980-1990 is a failure. Netflix continually raises prices to maintain margins that buoy its stock price. Disney and the other major operators have had deflated stock prices for years now.
So is the iPhone the new TV? Netflix simply a new player? Will they start a live news channel as well? ABC/NBC 1.1 (2.0 would be generous). I don’t know, maybe I will explore this in a later post, I don’t expect it to be a surprising answer though. What was innovation in 2007 has turned into a lack of innovation from a consumers perspective in 2024.