SAN FRANCISCO — Netflix subscribers watched more than 1 billion hours of online video last month as the advent of high-speed Internet connections and high-powered mobile devices change people’s viewing habits.
The rising usage of Netflix’s Internet video service may turn out to be a mixed blessing as the company phases out its DVD-by-mail rental service to focus on its goal of building a lucrative franchise in Internet-streamed video.
Netflix is trying to wean people off DVDs to save on mailing costs and reduce its investment on a format that it expects to become obsolete. Delivering Internet video is quicker and less expensive than discs, but the streaming selection isn’t as extensive as what’s available on DVDs.
BILL TO PAY
To compensate, Netflix has been spending tens of millions of dollars during the past two years to add more compelling titles.
Netflix’s increasing popularity indicates that those efforts are resonating with subscribers. That’s important because it helps validate a strategy that called for Netflix Inc. to invest heavily in video-licensing fees, even though the spending is expected to saddle the company with an annual loss this year — the first time that has happened in a decade.
But Netflix’s licensing bill could climb even higher, if TV and movie studios interpret the growing streaming viewership as a threat to the revenue they reap from advertising-supported entertainment bundled in cable-television packages.
One of the biggest reasons that Netflix’s streaming service is catching on is because it costs just $8 per month to watch an unlimited amount of video without commercial interruptions. The average cable-TV subscription costs about 10 times more, with advertising interspersed with the programming on most channels. Netflix now has 26.5 million worldwide subscribers to its streaming service, more than the 22.3 million TV subscribers at the leading cable provider, Comcast Corp.
Netflix has tried to position itself as a supplement to cable-TV subscriptions, but that argument will become more difficult to make as Internet streaming cuts down the amount of time people spend watching traditional TV, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said.
In the most extreme instances, some households have canceled their cable packages entirely — a process known as “cutting the cord” — and relied on a lower-cost alternatives such as Netflix or another service such as Hulu.
“Netflix is starting to cannibalize cable-TV viewership and it could start cannibalizing advertising, too,” Pachter said. If that happens, he expects Netflix’s licensing fees to rise even higher than the company has been anticipating as studios try to make up for the revenue they lose from cable providers and advertising-supported broadcasters.
TV TOO
More than one-third of Netflix’s streaming subscribers reportedly watch about as many TV series as they do movies over the Internet. That trend also could reinforce the perception that Netflix looms as a threat to the cable-TV industry.
Netflix, though, has insisted that it helps drive more viewers to some series by making it easier for people to catch up on previous seasons.
No Comment