Mark Price

Little Steven Looks to Put Netflix on E(asy) Street in Mob Comedy

January 5, 2012

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band and "Sopranos" fame is at the center of Netflix's strategy to regain its edge in the streaming video and DVD rental business. Mr. Van Zandt will star in the first original series, "Lilyhammer," produced by Netflix and available only to subscribers of the site. Is original programming the future of movie and television show rentals?      [more...]

Original programming is not a silver bullet for Netflix; rather the silver bullet is customer-centricity and responsiveness. The loss of customers due to their business model "debacle," where they made several announcements on changes to their business model and then had to retract their position, cost them over 500K customers, who lost trust and left. Rebuilding trust is a slow process that can be driven by improvements in customer experience and also somewhat by product development as well.

Note that the wording was "somewhat." Original programming will help to retain current customers, but if the product is not breakthrough, acquisition will not respond. Also, even if the product is breakthrough, there is that pesky trust issue as well.

Product is not the key, trust is.