MBS Inspiration
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The MBS Group
is one of the world’s leading executive search firms operating exclusively in Retail, Consumer and relevant technologies, and the most successful sector-specialist firm in the UK
New kid on the box
It’s been hard to miss the UK launch of Netflix this week. Whether you’ve been watching TV, reading the papers or listening to the radio, the publicity has been extensive, to say the least. The offering of just £6 per month for unlimited films and TV episodes, streamed to pretty much whichever device you choose, is also eye catching. But who is this new kid on the block, and how can they possibly hope to succeed in a market dominated by the likes of Amazon’s LOVEFiLM, BBC iPlayer, Virgin Media, BT and Sky?
I was surprised to learn that Netflix was founded back in 1997, in California by Reed Hastings, the current CEO, after he was frustrated at being fined for returning an overdue rented DVD of Apollo 13. Whilst the firm started out with a more traditional rented-DVDs-by-post business model, its streaming service now accounts for a staggering one THIRD of peak-time internet traffic in the US. Amazing!
On the UK launch, Hastings stated that his main competitor was Sky and that LOVEFiLM was “not the enemy”, adding that Netflix provides a better “user experience”. When I asked the CEO of LOVEFiLM, Simon Calver, about the launch, he simply replied: “We’ve always had competition, we’ve always welcomed competition, and we’ve always beaten the competition”. Let battle commence!
Add to the mix the rumours that Apple is launching its ‘iTV’ later this year, and is planning to invest some of its US$80bn cash pile in buying content (including, some say, bidding for the rights to the English Premier League) and the picture gets even fuzzier (forgive the pun). If you have any idea how we will be watching TV in five years time, then please let me know, moira@thembsgroup.co.uk.
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