What’s wrong with Netflix?

Nice question, don’t you think? There is nothing wrong… if you’re an underachiever who’s in a position to rule the world.

Sounds like a big statement, and it is. Netflix killed Blockbuster, but killing something that is already dying is not a great feat, I tell you. I’m not going to argue about the obvious reasons for Blockbuster’s downfall, but rather the pathetic and short sighted vision of Netflix.

1. YOUR MOVIES ARE OLD AS HELL (in internet time 'old as hell' is over one year).
Netflix is right now the Digital Blockbuster Video, that’s it. That’s good, only if, once again, you’re an underachiever. There are several frontlines that Netflix is not fighting to win this war that is going to rage in no time. “What war?” you may ask. It’s a matter of time before all the major cable networks and studios launch a Netflix Approach to their entire content. Hell, they’re already doing it. You can see most of your favorite episodes online for free if you’re subscribed. Also, Netflix has a policy about new content that leaves you watching old episodes from LOST and 30 Rock and you’d have to wait a year to see anything fresh. And, this hurts the most, the entire catalog seems like a big and dull Video Store.

In their effort to have a greater catalog Netflix is pretty much giving in to every single crazy request from their providers. They don’t show new content, their releases are after the PPV and the cable channels. Really, Netflix? Are we really that desperate? You’re not sure where in the food pyramid you are. You’re pretty damn high, honey.

2. MAKE YOUR OWN MOVIES. YOU HAVE MONEY.
If I were CEO I’d make some big changes, easy and cool changes. Let’s start with the catalog: to hell with the size. In movies, size doesn’t matter. It’s cool to know you have a zillion movies, but if they all suck, then I don’t care. Same thing is going on with the application markets in mobile devices. They say they have billions of apps, do you have billions of apps in your phone? Honestly, you don’t care and you rely in… opinions. That’s right. Let’s forget about having a million movies, let’s get original, fresh and/or exclusive content. Imagine having all the content HBO has ever broadcasted and the new releases. Basically, having HBO in a hard drive, sounds great. But still you’d be missing out in a lot of content. Sounds sad, but you can still fix that (even though you won’t have to).

Let’s suppose Netflix will only show original content provided by AMC and HBO, and 2 studios, Miramax and Warner (this is a big deal, I know). I’m talking series, shows, and movies. Still, not the huge and meaningless number of movies they have now. How do we take this and turn it eventually into a freaking empire? No, we’re not going social, that bubble it’s about to burst. We guide you. And that’s where we have to go. Imagine Netflix financing their own movies or series just like HBO does, but with angel investors’ money. That’s something brand new, and completely accessible. You can’t show a lot of new content? Make your own content, find a spot in the independent movie making industry. There’s always space there.

3. CAN YOU HIRE PEOPLE TO TELL ME WHAT TO SEE?
The bad thing about a TV network is that you only have 24 hours a day to satisfy a billion people, but with the internet you can create as much content as you want and let the user choose his path. But wait, I’m not talking about letting the user choose what he wants, but he rather will choose, by experience, who can give him what he wants. I’m talking about snatching the best critics in the media and making them create more than watchlists, create lists with a heart. Have them writing articles about the movies you have to watch of each genre and why and display this in a user-friendly interface. The most important critics will have their podcasts and insightful comments about the movies and deliver you a guided tour through whatever there is you’re exploring. For example, if you watch The Dollar Trilogy, you’d get a pretty neat roundabout for what the Spaghetti Western is, and the critic could lead you with a great article about each movie to read before and after watching it, or even better, a small podcast. It’d make the whole movie-watching experience better. The more complete watchlists could have video podcasts in between movies, even in-movie comments (I’ll go deeper with this in a second), and then you’d have community watchlist somewhat simplified, or as elaborate as you wanted them to be. Of course, they’d have to get pretty good to be featured amongst the heavy hitters (Think Roger Ebert, your favorite Mashable or IO9 writers. I don’t know, your call).

4. THE FACT THAT YOU MAIL DVDS DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO MIMIC THE SAME PROCESS IN MY XBOX/PC/MAC/PS3/WII.
Then we’d have to enhance the experience. Why is Netflix forgetting about the behind the scenes, the deleted scenes, and the extra content, the production comments? Isn’t this what makes the blu-rays worth buying? Get them back. And that’s the basic. What about the goofs, the quotes, the trivia, all that content that people search online in IMDB? Why can’t we integrate this with the movie experience? Let’s create a nice way to jump into the goof, the quote, the trivia. Why can’t we turn on a simple switch to show on-screen all this information as I play the movie? Imagine watching Taxi Driver for the 100th time but this time a nice subtitle tells us the story of how that mirror scene was improvised or watching Jaws and finding out how many days the team had to halt production because of a malfunctioning shark. And if we want to, jump to those scenes in a single click. I know, most people don’t care about this crap, but that’s because they don’t have an easy access to it. Filmmakers will love this, but regular people too. They’ll have an inside look to their favorite movies and the ability to check whenever they want a particular piece of information. Netflix can make the entire concept of storytelling something as easy as browsing through IMDB or your very own comic book collection for that very strip you like so much. And this could be the stepping stone of Netflix into the 21th century, which right now is not where they are.

5. RATINGS ARE AS USEFUL AS THOSE STUPID APPLAUSE CONTESTS IN GAMESHOWS AND PARTIES.
Sure, Netflix has ratings, but how many times you’ve seen a great movie with a poor rating? And you only saw that movie because someone suggested it to you, and you would’ve missed out in what it turned out to be (and some movies are) a life changing experience. You were lead into this experience. That’s why we watch TV, the Network is just an entity leading us through its programs and showing us what they think their audience will like. And, besides, sometimes we don't just want to see a movie with a good rating. We could be in an M. Night Shyamalan (God save me from this) mood and just want to see his top flicks in a coherent order. And in this product we don’t need to think about an audience, we could try to satisfy several audiences at the same time. I hated Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell, because I wasn’t expecting a mock-up terror movie, and I honestly don’t like that genre. Yet this movie has a solid score in IMDB (6.9 at this date). Yes, I should’ve looked a little more into the details and reviews, but why? I just wanted to see a movie. I haven’t seen the movie, that’s why I want to watch it, but I don’t like taking risks and wasting my time hating every second of it. A simple number and a bunch of reviews from people I don’t know it’s not going to help me at all, it could help the overall audience, but that’s what we don’t need to worry about anymore. That’s where Netflix can capitalize, and it’s not doing it, or planning to, right now. And if I want to see Taxi Driver for the 100th time, then I want something extra, something contextual and take advantage of the information all around me, not a stupid digital VCR that still has me googling in my laptop for quotes, fun facts and no extra content or behind the scenes.

SO, MAN UP, NETFLIX!
So there you have it. Netflix could, and should, use its user base and connections to create a bastion of great content to start an intelligent entertainment system. In the beginning they could start growing with featured content, exclusive content, and grow by requests of their experts to enhance the quality and variety of the watchlists (if a critic says “I want you to get Goodfellas so I can have a coherent watchlist”, you do it. Think of your overall programming each month, or weekend!). The best part about this is that they don’t have to ditch their current boring-ass catalog, they just need to update it with fresh and cool stuff. Eventually this model would convince more and more companies to join, until they have no choice, or at least fortifies Netflix as a wholesome entertaining product rather what it is today: an oversized digital video store with a fixed-price contract.

So, Netflix, if you need a CEO (or you just want to hire me) here I am.

Okbye!