Mar
14
Facebook wants a piece of Netflix
Posted by: ibonsegura | March 14, 2011 | Comments Off on Facebook wants a piece of Netflix
Facebook has been thinking about entering the online movie streaming industry, as it prepares to launch a try-out period where users can rent the movie “The Dark Knight” using Facebook credits. You can find an article about it here.
Likes- A great idea to allocate a cost per movie watched rather than Netflix’s subscription cost, given that Netflix has already established themselves with an ample selection of movies. Facebook will probably take some time before they are able to provide as wide a selection. At $3/movie, Facebook will be able to compete against ‘Video on Demand’ features that many cable suppliers provide.
Dislikes- Not too sure what exactly Facebook is trying to offer that is not already on the market. Video stores did offer the possibility of renting a movie without having to go to the movie theatres, and iTunes and Netflix provided a new service that allows customers to not have to leave their home and go to the video store to rent a movie. It is also questionable since the purpose of having Facebook credits limits the ease by which customers can watch movies. If they now have to purchase additional credits to watch a specific movie, they might just pay an extra dollar and rent it on their video on demand. Facebook cannot just provide the same service, it must provide an extra incentive if they are to compete in this market against Apple and Netflix.
Verdict: Facebook made the right decision in offering this ‘trial period’ before offering more movies because I doubt it will be very successful.
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