Haha if only international expansion was as easy as relaxing your copywrite restrictions 
But going back to your previous point about Netflix being properly global & Toby’s comment about content output, it’s also worth remembering that Netflix is investing in producing shows for local markets across the world e.g. Germany, Turkey & India so we may not be seeing all the content that they’re producing or how successful it’s been. Hopefully New Zealand’s next on the list 
If only…
I’d think the New Zealand is too small to justify investing in producing local content, but HBO did it for e.g. the Hungarian market, so nothing is impossible. 
Interesting, but not surprising view from a competitor.
From the Long-Term View (thanks for this, @Justin):
Because the entertainment market is so broad, multiple firms can be successful. For example, ABC and NBC have historically competed for viewers, attention and content but have also successfully co-existed for many decades. Similarly, in the internet TV world, HBO is now growing faster than in years past, while our business is also expanding. Many people will subscribe to both HBO and Netflix since we have different exclusive content. The transition to internet entertainment, with its greater consumer satisfaction, will mean growth for many internet TV services.
By the way, I love their view on competition:
We compete for a share of members’ time and spending for relaxation and stimulation, against linear networks, pay-per-view content, DVD watching, other internet networks, video gaming, web browsing, magazine reading, video piracy, and much more. Over the coming years, most of these forms of entertainment will improve.
Great finds @Justin. However, I totally disagree with the writer’s contention that no-one else is playing the game of monopolising all leisure time (classic strategist approach = grand, highly questionable ‘everything is different’ premise).
Disney are buying up all the world’s favourite IP (including merchandise and game licences).
The Amazon competition alone is any tech business’s worst nightmare. Plus they own Twitch.
YouTube has more eyeballs, with people shouting at video games and sharing makeover tips.
They compare Netflix to the social platforms. But actually platform companies, especially ones without social aspects and often conservative advertising revenue, can be pretty shaky.
Tbh I’m a Netflix fan and could definitely be missing a great buy here. But I just don’t get treating it as one of the absolute elite tech companies. Seems uniquely vulnerable to me.
That reminds me of the Peter Thiel quote: “Poor distribution—not product—is the number one cause of failure”
I agree - distribution is an existential issue.
Me too, the US stocks can’t come soon enough into 
! 
Disney earnings today. May provide some interesting insight into how well (or not well) they’re adapting to a streaming focused media climate.
40% operational profit growth alone looks marvelous! And that is with P/E of just under 20.
This will be a very interesting report to look at later
Edit: Okay, it is only about 10% if take “Trump Tax Reform” out of the equation.
Here’s a bit of curveball also, one billion’s pretty good going for a seed round 
http://www.cityam.com/290407/creator-lion-king-just-raised-1bn-new-netflix
Another surprising? move from Amazon - killing the cinema by streaming films to users in their homes, while potentially running a cinema chain -
although the story does list some pretty good reasons why this makes sense..
Funnily enough Netflix’s CEO was asked about whether he’d consider running cinemas at last year’s Recode Code Conference, with the person asking the question comparing that move to Amazon opening retail book stores & his response was a pretty scathing “no”.
So..will Amazon do this?
Amazon doess not surprise me anymore. They will do everything sooner or later, resemling Umbrella Corporation from Resident Evil one day
I feel like that too, it seems like even completely separate industries (e.g. banking & insurance) are expecting that Amazon’s going to move in & take over.
But I’ve always thought that being focused - like Apple - is good & that there’s only so many things that one company can do well. That doesn’t seem to be the case with Amazon at the moment 
“Alexa, where is the red keycard?”
To be fair, Apple do have some range too - less so now but iTunes and a lot of their software were huge a few years ago.
Trying to get back into services too. But it’s not quite the diversity of Amazon or google.
This is a bit of a sideways thought but wonder if there’s something there around Apple’s obsession with design - which I suspect is hugely time consuming - while Amazon just seem to focus on problem solving without fretting too much about aesthetics or luxury experience.
I wonder if they plan on using AI to gauge audience responses to films? Then feeding that back into the shows they purchase or make for Prime.
Side note, personally would love to see a second season of Mad Dogs.
Bring on the US stocks I say 
Every time I still have doubts about Netflix, it brings good news 
Apparently, licensed content makes up 80% of what people watch on Netflix & Disney really could makes waves in the streaming space.
Interesting BBC piece about the effect Disney’s streaming service (and others) could have on Netflix