For Andy, It Is a Good News/Bad News Kinda’ Day
Laura Allen Phillips, Research Services Manager
October 10, 2011
We have all had them, to one degree or another; those days when we ponder, seriously, whether the pendulum has swung for, or against us. For Andy Rendich, today was one of “those days”. According to Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, Andy, who has been working on the DVD by mail service for twelve years and leading it for the last four, was the soon-to-be CEO of Qwikster. For the one or two of you not following the OTT provider’s recent news cycle with breath abated, Qwikster is the spin-off, independent DVD home delivery service recently announced by Netflix. Or at least it was until today when Hastings issued the “my bad” statement killing the service before it even launched.
Oops.
Apparently the quick stir sparked by the service was enough to convince Netflix’ leadership that the move to sever the services was not a good one. Both the streaming and by-mail physical media services will remain, for now, under the unified Netflix umbrella. This is good news for Netflix subscribers who were less than enthusiastic about the prospect of two websites/accounts/passwords – but what about Andy? Yesterday he was a waiting-in-the-wings-CEO, and today…..well…today Andy is, presumably, still playing a leadership role within Netflix’ DVD by-mail rental service. Today’s news was not all bad for Andy. Especially if one considers the possible headlines several months down the line as Redbox and Blockbuster begin to reap the rewards of Qwikster’s subscriber shed. What would have been the fate of the service, not to mention its CEO, had users made a mass exodus of the duo account system? Is it possible that Netflix did not foresee the consumer outcry against the split? Or, more likely, did Netflix weigh the possible disfavorable user reaction against the prospect of streamlining its licensing fee structures by separating the two pools of subscribers?
Whatever the case, Netflix is wisely abandoning Qwikster. This is not to say that the company is no longer concentrating its energies on the OTT streaming space; a wise move given the rise of consumer connectivity and appetite for online content. It is merely an acknowledgement, belatedly, that consumers are still poised between a reliance on physical media and going “all-in” with digital content. For now, for Netflix, remaining a convenient provider in both spheres is more about survival than strategy.
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