Yes, they had a good beat. Now that I have cut off my DirecTV, Im rooting for NFLX to add local content and chart an extra $5.
Gotta say I was pretty disappointed by the latest House of Cards season. And looking at their subreddit, I see I'm not alone.
I was definitely very bored by it compared to previous seasons. Seems like it's gone downhill every year though (going purely by memory here as I've only watched each season once and watched them right when they came out).
HoC writers have been complaining that they have ran out of idea for the show because the White House has used up every possible plot they could come up with. hahah
Piracy is HUGE in China. Pirating digital content is literally their national pastime. I am super skeptical about Netflix venturing to China. We'll see how it goes.
You are only partially right about it. Piracy is HUGE in China, but only if the content is too inconvenient or too expensive to acquire. People in China actually quite accustomed to paying monthly subscription fees. For example, Youku or LeTv charges users 20 to 30 RMB per month for unlimited access to their contents. Those services are pretty much the standard service that even grandma and grandpa have on their phone. However, how to make a profit out of that is another story. As far as I know, no Chinese online streaming service providers is making a profit right now. They are growing in high double digits but also burning cash like no tomorrow. Chinese viewers love to pay extra on value added service, for example, ads free, ultra fast d/l speed, and UHD contents. Can Netflix provide something unique? How to come up with a profitable model is the key.
I've lived in China for quite some time and what you're saying is simply not true. They absolutely don't LOVE to play extra for anything, they'd rather download it for free. They don't even view it as something bad there. They have no appreciation for digital goods. And even young people feel that was and those are usually the most progressive. That was three years ago, doubt anything's changed since then.
That is true. But one thing that is also true is that if you can provide access to some movies through Netflix, then people will not bother pirating it!
Indeed, A LOT has changed in the last three years. It is China, where miracle is happening everyday. The whole consumer base there is like a test market. so many new idea going boom and bust in a very short time frame. Anyways, as far as I can see Netflix's only unique asset to the Chinese viewers is its original contents and exclusive Disney contents. However, I don't see most of its original contents to be "available" because of the censorship there. Would people just pay 20 RMB a month for exclusive Disney contents only? I doubt it. Netflix has to come up with something else to be able to compete.
More like they won't bother paying for it when you can download it at a moment's notice. No point guessing though. We'll see next earnings I guess.
Okay, it looks like they didn't come empty-handed. Netflix just announced its first Chinese-language series. Note THAT'S what's gonna attract Chinese people to the service.
Today will be fun to see when shorts will be forced to cover and moving this beyond 180.. I may sound crazy. But see this action.
Netflix just hired Shonda Rhimes away from ABC, stealing away one of Disney's biggest TV hitmakers for a multi-year deal.
Trust the fundamentals, this is a bargain buy here and is a train chugging north. You buy it, hold it, get rich!