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VideoNuze Report Podcast #85 - Jan. 28, 2011
Daisy Whitney and I are back this week for the 85th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for January 28, 2011.
In today's podcast, Daisy and I talk about the key highlights of my on-stage interview with Netflix's content chief Ted Sarandos at NATPE in Miami earlier this week. The interview has received wide media coverage (e.g. Paid Content, B&C, CNET, The Hollywood Reporter, The Wrap, Variety, Home Media). Daisy and I discuss a number of intriguing things that Ted said.
(Note: the interview with Ted was on Tuesday morning, and we recorded this podcast on Wednesday, before Netflix reported its huge Q4 '10 later in the day. Also, NATPE recorded the interview and I'll post it as soon as I have it.)
Click here to listen to the podcast (12 minutes, 59 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Aggregators, Podcasts
Topics: Netflix, Podcast, Ted Sarandos
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Join Mark Cuban, Avner Ronen, Paul Sagan and Me for a Great Panel at MIT Next Thursday
If you're going to be in the Boston area next week, then please join Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavericks owner and head of HDNet), Avner Ronen (CEO/founder of boxee), Paul Sagan (CEO, Akamai) and me for a panel at the
MIT Enterprise Forum on Thursday, Feb 3rd. The panel is moderated by Woody Benson, partner at Prism VentureWorks, who will do a 45-minute fireside chat with Mark prior to the panel.
The panel promises to be a freewheeling discussion of all the issues related to online video's invasion into the living room: who are the winners and losers? how will business models change? how likely is cord-cutting? And what is the timing for all of this change to play out? Needless to say it's a pretty dynamic group of panelists, so there will be no shortage of opinions exchanged and differences aired. For example, Mark and I recently had a spirited email debate over whether broadcast TV networks should allow Google TV and others to display their programs. I've written a couple of times that they should (here and here), while Mark has written (in his characteristically subtle way!) it's "probably one of the dumbest concepts ever."
Learn more and register here.Categories: Events
Topics: MIT Enterprise Forum
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Netflix Tops 20 Million Subscribers; Adds Over 3 Million For First Time In a Single Quarter
It's official; Netflix has hit the milestone of 20 million subscribers, though just barely. Netflix added 3.08 million subscribers in Q4 '10, beating the high end of its guidance of 2,767,000 subscribers by about 10.9% to end 2010 with 20.01
million subs. It's the first time Netflix has added more than 3 million subscribers in a quarter; for the year it added over 7.7 million subs. To put the 3.08 million in perspective, it is more than 4 times the amount of subs added just 2 years ago in Q4 '08.
Netflix is very bullish on Q1 '11, providing domestic guidance of between 21.9 million and 22.8 million subscribers, which means a slight beat of the high end would mean a second consecutive quarter of 3 million additions. Netflix is also offering international guidance for the first time, of between 750K and 900K subscribers, which is all Canada. Netflix pointed to 3 ways it is achieving a virtuous cycle of subscriber growth: more content, more word-of-mouth and more R&D to improve the UI. More to come.Categories: Aggregators
Topics: Netflix
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Will Netflix Report 20 Million Subscribers Later Today?
Netflix will report its Q4 and full year 2010 earnings later today. There's no question that the results will come in very strong given the momentum the company had going into the holiday quarter. But one interesting question is whether Netflix will surpass the 20 million subscriber mark for the first time. While the number holds no other particular value than it being large and round, it would still be a significant milestone and also make Netflix the second largest video subscription company, by subscriber count, in the U.S. behind only Comcast (who it will pass at some point in the 1st half of 2011).
For its part Netflix is forecasting to have ended Q4 with between 19 million and 19.7 million subscribers. That would represent an increase over Q3's 16,933,000 of between 2,067,000 to 2,767,000 subscriber additions. To hit the 20 million number, Netflix would have to gain 3,067,000 subscribers, or about 10.8% more than the high end of its guidance. One way to gauge the likelihood of this happening is to look at the company's recent actual subscriber additions vs. its guidance. Per the chart below, in 2 of the last 3 quarters, the company has in fact beaten the high end of its forecast, in Q1 '10 (by 10.9%) and in Q3 '10 (by 13.7%). It's also worth noting that Q4 '09's sub gain of 1,159,000 was more than double its Q3 '09 addition of 510,000. While I wouldn't expect a Q4 '10 to Q3 '10 ratio like that, if it were to happen then Netflix would be far above 3 million in Q4.
Categories: Aggregators
Topics: Netflix
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thePlatform and Adobe Partner For Secure Flash Video Delivery
Premium content providers seeking to securely publish video using Flash will get a hand from thePlatform and Adobe, which are announcing a new partnership. Under the deal, customers of thePlatform's mpx video
management system who use Adobe's Flash Access software for content protection will be able to use it via an integrated workflow. Flash Access also provides HTTP dynamic streaming (adaptive bit rate) and monetization options like VOD, subscription, EST and rental.
Another aspect of the collaboration focuses on Android-powered mobile devices. Users of these devices accessing content delivered via thePlatform will have their video player using Flash optimized for their device. thePlatform's customers can also use Adobe's OSMF (Open Source Media Framework) and thePlatform's "Feeds Service" so that video can be delivered in multiple playback circumstances. Lastly, thePlatform's mpx console used Flash Builder 4 and has an AIR client so that file uploads are more efficient.
Categories: Technology
Topics: Adobe, Flash, thePlatform
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Vid.ly Makes Sharing Videos To Mobile Devices a Snap
If you've ever sent one of your "must see" video clips around to friends or family, only to have them exasperatingly tell you "It didn't play for me!" when they tried accessing it on their mobile device, then a clever new service called Vid.ly is going to make you smile. Vid.ly's mission is to radically simplify the video transcoding and playback process so that virtually all mobile devices or browsers can play any video - regardless of their original format. Given the confusing proliferation of formats - Flash, WebM, HTML5, etc. and devices (iOS, Android, Blackberry, game consoles, etc.) that is a significant value proposition.
Vid.ly's special appeal to consumers is that it puts a familiar URL-shortening, social media-friendly front-end on Encoding.com's cloud-based transcoding capability, which has been battle tested by 1,000+ content providers to date. But whereas URL shorteners like Bit.ly primarily focus on making very long URLs shorter and therefore more manageable for social media use, Vid.ly actually addresses the underlying playability of the video and also provides a short URL.
Categories: Devices, Encoding, Mobile Video
Topics: Encoding.com, Vid.ly
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Men's Health Magazine is Now Using Taboola for Video Recommendations
Men's Health magazine, owned by Rodale, has begun implementing Taboola's Video2Video product to power video recommendations on its web site. Currently Taboola recommendations appear on the Men's Health home page in the featured area, when a video is played through to the end (see below). Taboola recommendations also appear on embedded videos in articles. As I've written previously, with Taboola's high-quality recommendations, video view-throughs and overall views increase, leading to improved monetization.
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Verizon Challenges Net Neutrality Regulations
Yesterday Verizon appealed the FCC's new net neutrality regulations in the DC Court of Appeals, alleging that the FCC has exceeded its authority. The move is a little surprising given that last August Verizon seemed accepting of net neutrality, by submitting a joint net neutrality proposal with Google. What the two submitted and what the FCC eventually passed are different in a number of ways, but one way that they're similar is in the light regulatory touch granted to wireless Internet ISPs, which was a key focus of Verizon's given its massive wireless business. Even the treatment of wired ISPs wasn't terribly onerous, which is one of the reasons why a number of consumer advocacy organizations are also threatening a challenge to the FCC.
Other than trying to subvert the FCC's authority generally, it's not entirely clear to me what Verizon's trying to accomplish here. One thing's for sure, Verizon will have plenty of help from Republicans who are also challenging net neutrality.Categories: Regulation, Telcos
Topics: FCC, Net Neutrality, Verizon
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