Abstract
Netflix began offering subscribers streaming video content in January 2007. Fifteen years later, the service has 220 million subscribers and is available in more than 190 countries. Yet even as the streaming industry leader and a global cultural force, the importance of Netflix is often misunderstood by popular observers and scholars alike. In Netflix and Streaming Video, Amanda Lotz cuts through common misconceptions and offers readers a scholarly yet accessible analysis of the contemporary streaming video industry and Netflix's place within it.
The book forwards two central arguments. In part 1, Lotz asserts that subscriber-funded video on demand (SVOD) services fundamentally differ from linear (traditional broadcast/cable/satellite) television services. Unlike advertiser-supported channels whose economic fortunes are closely bound to the size of its audience, for example, the success of streaming services is primarily a function of their ability to maximize subscriber satisfaction. As such, SVODs prioritize providing subscribers with the desired experience as a means of reducing the dissatisfaction that leads to churn (canceling subscriptions). This is closely related to another significant difference from linear television services. For SVODs, the demographic characteristics of subscribers are not important; it is much more important that they are continued to be subscribers. As Lotz describes such differences and skillfully explains their significance, she highlights the weaknesses of popular narratives that proclaim the inevitability of technological replacement and celebrate the disruptive impact of streaming. Instead, she encourages her reader to understand SVODs as they represent the change from and continuity with pre-existing television industry norms.
Netflix and Streaming Video's second central argument is that Netflix differs from other SVOD services in several significant ways. Part 2 begins with a useful discussion of key terms and concepts that emerge from Netflix itself; for example, the company uses the term “verticals” to classify specific types of content rather than the broader and more common industry term “genre.” The following chapters explain the distinctive features of the service's library strategy, their content strategy as well as their competitive strategy in the global market. Regarding library composition, for example, Lotz observes that the service has significantly more global content than its competitors. US titles make up less than half of Netflix's offerings in all national markets including the US. As a point of comparison, more than 90% of the titles in Disney+'s library are US productions. Netflix also differs from other global SVODs in its global strategy. Although services like HBO Max seek to offer a largely uniform product across national markets, Netflix offers commissioned content globally while also offering distinctive geographic and culturally oriented content in specific national markets. Yet, Lotz advises her reader to resist drawing conclusions about Netflix's popularity from its distinctive business strategies noting that more detailed audience data than are currently available would be necessary to understand the cultural implications in a specific national context.
Beyond its significant contributions to streaming industry research, the author's willingness to revisit her previous work and revise prior arguments distinguishes Netflix and Streaming Video as scholarly text. At any number of points, Lotz uses her wealth of knowledge gathered in the previous two decades to explain how her views on a particular issue have evolved. Needless to say, such reflexivity is refreshing. Yet, despite being grounded in previous scholarship, Lotz's straight-forward prose makes her work much more accessible than most contemporary communication research. This accessibility ensures that Netflix and Streaming Video will resonate with a wide variety of general and academic audiences.
