Netflix's Latest Play: Mobile Ready Streaming
Netflix has always been on the leading end of digital transformation. Check out what they have planned next…
Netflix’s evolution since its launch in the late 1990s is representative of the way media consumption itself has changed. It started more or less as a more convenient version of rental giants like Blockbuster: instead of walking into a store and renting or buying a DVD, you could have movies sent to your door via a monthly subscription model. This first shift was in line with the larger trend of access over ownership, which we’ve seen develop in many other industries since that time.
Broadband Connections
By 2007, when Netflix launched streaming services, users were already used to the idea of paying per-month for as many movies as they wanted, rather than on a per-movie basis. As faster broadband became available in more homes—and more content was on offer to stream—it was only natural that users would shift away from DVDs to streaming only. And today, in 2017, DVDs seem practically retro, as everything is available online. Furthermore, Netflix has become a content creator in and of itself, undermining big studios and changing the way we think about television and the movie-going experience.
Mobile FIrst
Judging by the latest play by Netflix, they are about to reshape the content consumption experience yet again. According to The Verge, Netflix’s chief product officer Neil Hunt recently told journalists that “the company plans to explore streaming mobile-specific cuts of its original movies and TV shows, to satisfy what he said was a growing audience of mobile Netflix watchers.”
The Verge went on to quote Hunt as saying: “It’s not inconceivable that you could take a master [copy] and make a different cut for mobile,” Hunt said. To date, Netflix hasn’t been delivering different cuts for different viewing platforms, Hunt said, but “it’s something we will explore over the next few years.”
There are numerous ways that Netflix could improve the mobile-first viewing experience. The first is making the decision to shoot a series in HDR, which improves the contrast and color for displays on small screens. In addition, Hunt told reporters that reframing and cropping mobile versions of Netflix content could make them more immersive and engaging on smaller screens, and would get rid of problematic viewing experiences like wide angle shots that fail to translate on a mobile screen.
But Why Mobile?
So that’s the how of Netflix’s latest move, but that doesn’t answer the why. But as Netflix seems to have a knack for shifting its offering in line with consumer preferences, you can be sure there is a compelling reason. Forbes reported that the move by Netflix seems to be in alignment with a shift in global viewing trends. While developing markets have long been favoring a mobile-first viewing experience—likely because that’s their main mode of access—we’re starting to see that shift in developed environments as well. As Forbes said, “Since the video streaming service went global last year, the company has seen a huge uptick in mobile usage. Hunt explained that in established markets such as the U.S. and Canada, Netflix viewing, for the most part, continues to occur on television. However, in many South Asian countries, especially India, mobile screens serve as the majority consumption device.”
If the on-the-go mobile experience became more mainstream, there would certainly be knock-on effects. These would be in terms of data consumption that mobile internet providers have already become accustomed to dealing with. We might even see a bump in shorter-form content released from Netflix that suits a smaller viewing window on a commute, for example. One thing for sure, Netflix has staked a reputation on being a predictor and early adopter of wider media consumption trends, so if they are putting resources into mobile, it’s likely that other competitors will soon have to follow suit.