Could Netflix Resurrect Cult Hits?

March 21, 2011

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Lately I have found myself watching more Netflix than television.  Yes the content is limited (but growing) and it is on my schedule (which usually means just before I go to sleep).

Netflix and others are making a series bid to disrupt the lucrative cable television business, with Netflix recently taking the step of investing in original content with serious Hollywood talent.

MG Siegler writes a convincing piece that the Netflix business model could do better by bringing back shows which failed on network television, but have a devoted cult following. The example he uses, and the numbers seem to add up, is Firefly.

<<Editor’s Note: That crash you just heard was Greg diving on to his laptop to subscribe to Netflix.>>

Netflix as a super-on-my-schedule HBO on steroids which allows me to cancel cable sounds great to me. Just please oh please bring these guys back:

Sorry Enlow, I’m still Denny and you are Alan

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Posted by matthewladner

So Put All the Blame on VCR…

October 11, 2010

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

Interesting read from James Surowiecki on how Netflix killed Blockbuster, and how Netflix itself could be next. Blockbuster’s “Clicks and Mortar” strategy turned out to work about as well as “balanced literacy.”

I suspect however that “Clicks and Mortar” has a brighter future in education if we can get the education market to reflect a small fraction of the dynamism of the movie rental market.

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Posted by matthewladner