Netflix Is Now Worth More Than $100 Billion (techcrunch.com) 49
Netflix has crossed the $100 billion mark for its market cap as it once again surprised industry observers with better-than-expected growth in its subscribers. TechCrunch reports: The company said it added more than 8 million new subscribers total after already setting pretty robust targets for the fourth quarter this year, giving it a healthy push as it crossed the $100 billion mark after the report came out this afternoon. While the company's core financials actually came in roughly in line with what Wall Street was looking for (which is still important), Netflix's subscriber numbers are usually the best indicator for the core health of the company. That recurring revenue stream -- and its growth -- is critical as it continues to very aggressively spend on new content. The company said its free cash flow will be between negative $3 billion and negative $4 billion, compared to negative $2 billion this year. And that aggressive spending only seems to get more aggressive every time we hear from the company. Netflix is now saying that it expects to spend between $7.5 billion and $8 billion on content in 2018 -- which is around in line with what it said in October when it said it would spend between $7 billion and $8 billion. It's the same range, but tuning up that bottom end is still an important indicator. Some notable numbers include $3.29 billion in revenue, 1.98 million Q4 U.S. subscriber additions, and 6.36 million Q4 International subscriber additions.
Strategy (Score:2)
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80% (Score:2)
About 80% of the stuff on Netflix, Prime, etc are grade B knockoffs of block buster movies or just crap no one would find interesting.
When he description starts out with, "not to be confused with the blockbuster..." you know they are simply trying to pull a bait and switch.
"Oh Look!, they are showing Independence Day of Earth! I loved that movie."
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My favorite is Video Brinquedo. They release knockoffs of animated films the year that the original movie comes up.
When Disney released Princess and the Frog, they released The Frog Prince.
When Pixar released Cars, they released The Little Cars. Ratatoing followed Ratatouille, and What's Up? Balloon to the Rescue followed the balloon-based Up.
The Little Panda Fighter followed Kung-Fu Panda, etcetc.
Though studio The Asylum gets props for being ballsy enough to release Snakes on a Train when Snakes on a Plane
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eh ? I've literally never seen that on Netflix.
Re: 80% (Score:2)
Most people don't watch movies on Netflix anymore. They watch the original content. Everyone I know who has Netflix, does so for the original content.
Re:Bubble nonsense. (Score:4, Insightful)
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It will plummet. And the next big thing will be worth 100 billion.
C'mon, have you been playing this game since yesterday?
Lack of Disney content will kill it. (Score:3, Interesting)
Disney owns so many franchises now that a Netflix without Disney will kill it. Netflix should consider legal action if Disney tries to take it's content away from paying customers.
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For me, lack of Disney content will kill my viewing of Disney products. Eventually I may give up on Netflix but when that happens, I wont be changing to any other providers, unless their combined cost is less than Netflix.
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Like Amazon, Netfix is more or less betting the house on original content. They've both figured out that whilst offering house-hold named content is a good way to pull in customers, the licensing and legal shenanigans make it a difficult game to be in long term. Instead, make sure you've got enough original content to keep people 'filled up'.
Amazon can even charge per-view or whatever, and even still, they want original content. Tells you something about the media industry, doesn't it?
As for Disney, they ca
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HBO made and is still making mountains of cash with original content.
I remained a subscriber for as long as I did just to see the end of True Blood. I know there are a lot of people who are still subscribing to see the end of GoT.
Disney leaving Netflix is a huge gamble but mostly for Disney.
Netflix has the paying subscribers. Netflix has the broad support of media streaming device and Smart TV makers.
It would be like P&G pulling all of their products from Walmart and launching their own competing chain
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" I know there are a lot of people who are still subscribing to see the end of GoT."
Be interesting to see how may others drop HBO until around the premier of the 8th and last season of GoT and how many stick around after that...
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Like Amazon, Netfix is more or less betting the house on original content. They've both figured out that whilst offering house-hold named content is a good way to pull in customers, the licensing and legal shenanigans make it a difficult game to be in long term. Instead, make sure you've got enough original content to keep people 'filled up'.
This original content strategy is the reason that I'm cancelling my Netflix subscription after 9 or so years. I typically used Netflix for television shows, but it got to the point where I had either seen all of the old content I was interested in, or Netflix had lost the rights to the shows I still wanted to watch. I used to watch movies, but their offering just got worse and worse; for the last few years anything I would search for would not be available to watch.
A lot of shows have moved to Hulu. Fam
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A lot of their original content is Disney though.
At least 6 of their series are marvel. And they all seem to do pretty well based on my Facebook feed when they are released.
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This. I do have a young daughter, but she's not a big fan of anything Disney has released in years, and Grandma will get her the DVDs of movies she wants. Disney streaming won't get squat from us...
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Disney owns so many franchises now that a Netflix without Disney will kill it.
Not really. Netflix's original content ranges from decent to excellent.
They could probably coexist with Disney and a few other streaming content producers. E.g., Netflix + HBO Go + a hypothetical Disney service would total up to less than the average cable bill---unless Disney tries to charge way more than everyone else. That is already more content than most people need. Plus, there is still broadcast TV for news, some sports, and other local content.
Netflix doesn't need to be everything to everyone; it on
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Have you seen the Netflix Original productions? Most of them are awesome and of high quality. Not only limited to series, but their movies are also pretty good.
I don't think i'll be missing disney soon...
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Holy ... can you imagine what TPB would be worth if you could just monetize that shit?
With all those billions . . . (Score:4, Funny)
You would think they could spare a billion or two to buy us all a healthy portion of Net Neutrality.
Maybe hire a few hit men, to take out whoever is really behind the repeal of Net Neutrality. But . . . do we even have an idea who that is . . . ?
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With that amount of money you can hire someone with a Gatling gun and just keep firing. It's not like any innocent collateral damage is to be expected.
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It's actually even more insidious than that.
Like you say: Netflix has plenty of clout and money to buy fast lanes (or make deals for them).
In _addition_... the inability for a new upstart streaming service to be able to procure the same deals (because it is small) means that Netflix can effectively shutout upcoming competition.
THAT is what net neutrality is really about. About creating a level playing field for anyone who wants to start a new service. Without it all of the big players can collude to lock
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P/E ratios above 30 means... Sell Short! Wait for the correction then cover for profit.
Unless somebody expects Netflix to turn 2x the profit they are now, any company trading at 100 P/E is a really big balloon ready to pop. It might be worthy of some speculation money if the company is coming off some really bad news and trades at such prices, but I don't think this fits Netflix.
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Perception is worth more than reality it seems.
It ALWAYS is. The trick is to learn to profit from perceptions which are wrong.
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