Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

It’s been quite a week for the idea of movie downloads, which are – after all this time – still more an idea than a way of life.  First, rumors started surfacing that Apple was making a deal with 20th Century Fox to offer 20th’s vast library of pictures as downloads or rentals.  That would make 2 studios of the 6 majors with Apple distribution deals, a 100% increase if you like percentages, but still only 33% of the majors and a smaller fraction of the flicks.  Then, Wal-Mart shuttered its nascent downloading service because HP stopped supporting the infrastructure.  No one stops supporting products that have a pipeline of money in them, so we can assume that the Wal-Mart customer wasn’t buying.
 
Now, Netflix has once again announced something that could be groundbreaking.  They have made a deal with LG, a major manufacturer of HD televisions, to enable them to stream their library of 6,000 movies directly to LG sets.  More deals with manufacturers are expected.  The transformative thing about the idea is that it’s a step towards Netflix becoming a content channel rather than a content distributor.  Is that a distinction without a difference?  I don’t think so.  Today, Netflix makes it easy to get the movies you want, and thereby takes eye-share away from cable-distributed networks.  They obviously see themselves as ready to take on the cable companies and networks on something closer to their own platform and to make it easy to get what you want Right Now, without hassling with a PC.  If the decision to watch a Neflix movie or HBO is just a toggle away, HBO (and all the other networks) is in trouble.  Assuming that Netflix has the licenses to distribute this way, they instantly become a VOD channel with a sterling brand and a large customer base. 
 
This will be an interesting one to watch.
 
Matt Rosenberg