Netflix and BitTorrent: If you let people buy things then they won’t steal them
TWO interesting little bits about Netflix, the online on demand film and TV show service.
The first one is that they monitor what people are stealing over the BitTorrents to see what shows they should try to go and buy the rights for:
Netflix acknowledged this week that the company eyes piracy statistics to determine what kind of video content to offer subscribers and what kind of television programs they should buy.
It’s particularly helpful; when they expand into a new market, like Holland. What the Dutch like watching could be very different from what everyone else does. So, they look at what the Dutch are stealing and the more it’s being stolen the more they know people want to watch it. And remarkably, offering people what they want for a reasonable price seems to reduce the number of people stealing it:
Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos this week noted they see a drop in BitTorrent traffic whenever they launch Netflix streaming in a new territory
How remarkable, eh? Sell someone something at a reasonable price instead of hoicking up he price so far they steal it instead.
Posted: 26th, September 2013 | In: Money, Technology, The Consumer Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
