Evangelical; adjective. Also, e•van•gel•ic. 1. pertaining to or in keeping with the gospel and its teachings. 2. Marked by ardent or zealous enthusiasm for a cause.
I am evangelical about Netflix. I am a loyal and enthusiastic member. And they have been a great client to Hacker Group. One of the things that is core to any strategic discussion about Netflix is the passion among their member base.
These past few weeks since Reed Hastings sent his email to members that started tongues wagging, we’ve seen the other side of evangelical.
Netflix is a brilliant company, and Reed Hastings is a founder who changed the way that we think about movies. Not so many years ago, watching movies at home meant driving to Blockbuster, or before that, to a local video rental store. Movies ran $3 a day, and late fees abundant. The value, convenience and consumerism that Netflix advanced were revolutionary and sparked passion. And they just kept getting better.
It was pretty surprising to see how many news media, blog posts and newsletters took to harping on the Netflix news. The day of Reed’s email was the crescendo of bashing Netflix buzz. But it didn’t stop there. While they only dominated the news one day, stories and opinion pieces have persisted for weeks. And that’s what got me wondering about the other side of evangelism.
A few years ago when Blockbuster took their business online, critics were ready to rule Netflix out. The offline and online combination of Blockbuster combined by their low monthly rate seemed unbeatable. Not to mention their million dollar Super Bowl attack on the iconic red DVD mailer. Netflix took the high road. And won. This was just one of several times that the conventional wisdom seemed ready (and wrongly) to predict Netflix failure.
They tripped. The Qwikster decision and announcement were mistakes. Reed had a strong belief that the two sides of their business really should be split. Think about how often he’s been wrong in the past. Not often, if ever. People were simply too passionate about the core Netflix offering and brand to support this big of a change. They’d survive, but with tarnish. So, they changed course again and now Netflix will remain Netflix.
Maybe all of the criticism was a healthy and virtual intervention meant to be constructive. It sure didn’t feel that way. It seemed more like an opportunity to criticize success.
Either way, my money’s on Netflix.