Thursday, June 30, 2005
Pity the poor USPS
I bet you that Netflix is one of the largest customers the USPS has, if not THE biggest.
Netflix says they ship over a million discs each day, so divide that by 35,000 titles, and you get an average of 28 copies of each title. It's more likely that they have hundreds of copies of some titles, and only one or two of others.
This figure also means that an average of 77% of their inventory is rented each day, leaving each distribution center nearly empty at the end of the day.
A million shipments each day, divided by 35 distribution centers, means an average distribution center ships about 28,000 discs each day. I know that Sunnyvale, CA ships 100,000 per day, so that means there are some facilities that ship far fewer. Still, imagine how big a truck you would need to hold that many.
Netflix says they ship over a million discs each day, so divide that by 35,000 titles, and you get an average of 28 copies of each title. It's more likely that they have hundreds of copies of some titles, and only one or two of others.
This figure also means that an average of 77% of their inventory is rented each day, leaving each distribution center nearly empty at the end of the day.
A million shipments each day, divided by 35 distribution centers, means an average distribution center ships about 28,000 discs each day. I know that Sunnyvale, CA ships 100,000 per day, so that means there are some facilities that ship far fewer. Still, imagine how big a truck you would need to hold that many.
What if Netflix offered everything by download?
In this article on TV over the Internet, aka IPTV, Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, "supports [the] hope that consumer demand exists for millions of channels. Mr. Hastings says Netflix ships 35,000 unique DVDs to subscribers in the U.S. every day. He also believes that IPTV will give rise to a tidal wave of new programming. 'The web is a bastion of freedom, and the rate of creation is unbelievable,' he says."
Imagine 35,000 titles being downloaded by 3 million people each day. How much bandwidth would you need?
Imagine 3 million people all downloading a million discs each day. If they were available by download, that number could increase to 3 million downloads per day. Demand would surely increase. Netflix members and visitors already watch more than 90,000 movie trailers per day on the Netflix website.
Imagine 35,000 titles being downloaded by 3 million people each day. How much bandwidth would you need?
Imagine 3 million people all downloading a million discs each day. If they were available by download, that number could increase to 3 million downloads per day. Demand would surely increase. Netflix members and visitors already watch more than 90,000 movie trailers per day on the Netflix website.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
More photos of inside Netflix distribution center
Google Video provides screen captured photos from a news item on KRON 4 News at 5:30 on January 31, 2005, showing Netflix workers processing envelopes in a San Francisco Bay area Netflix distribution center. I keep hoping the video will someday be available. In the bottom left-hand part of the photo, you can see the discs already in sleeves being scanned, presumably.
KRON 4 did a Netflix vs. Blockbuster comparison back in January 2004 which gives the lead to Blockbuster for accuracy, but Netflix for speed. Read it here.
KRON 4 did a Netflix vs. Blockbuster comparison back in January 2004 which gives the lead to Blockbuster for accuracy, but Netflix for speed. Read it here.
Spielberg's disrepect for the fans
Regarding his movie The War of the Worlds, which opens today, Stephen Spielberg says "'Science fiction for me is a vacation, a vacation away from all the rules of narrative logic, a vacation away from physics and physical science.
'It just let's you leave all the rules behind and just kind of fly.' "
via Reuters.com
Wrong! What an ignorant remark on the part of a supposedly genius filmmaker! I prefer my science fiction movies with the science left in.
Hey, I almost wrote an entire post without using the word "Netflix" in a sentence!
'It just let's you leave all the rules behind and just kind of fly.' "
via Reuters.com
Wrong! What an ignorant remark on the part of a supposedly genius filmmaker! I prefer my science fiction movies with the science left in.
Hey, I almost wrote an entire post without using the word "Netflix" in a sentence!
Netflix is great for third shift workers
Livejournal user samuraizergling has another great reason to use Netflix. He works third shift, so on nights he's not working, he's up all night, which makes weekends "a real drag. All the bars close at 2am, and you can only do so much late-night grocery shopping. And after all the laundry is done, and you have had all the baths one can usefully take, we enter the Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. The time from 4am until about 9am when stuff starts to open again. Nothing on TV except infomercials and bad movies."
Now thanks to Netflix, he can watch fresh movies or TV episodes on DVD every weekend.
Now thanks to Netflix, he can watch fresh movies or TV episodes on DVD every weekend.
Netflix is number three movie site on the Web
Top movie sites by ZDNet
Direct Marketing News quotes HitWise data regarding top movie sites and their reach.
The Internet Movie Database: 14.63%
Yahoo Movies: 9.79%
NetFlix: 8.57%
MSN Entertainment - Movies: 5.73%
Blockbuster: 4.94%
Fandango 3.55%
Moviefone: 3.40%
MovieTickets.com: 2.06%
Movies.com: 1.66%
Rotten Tomatoes: 1.65%
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Netflix fan + camera = chaos
Poor Grandma is a tool of a crazy Netflix fan who can't resist putting in a plug for his favorite online DVD rental firm.
Looking for Friends in all the right places
This is a Netflix fan, with varied tastes, and he is looking for Netflix Friends. If you're interested, email him at geary underline chopoff at hotmail dot com.
Roger Ebert agrees with me
Roger Ebert validates my method of filling my Netflix queue, by using this blog's favorite book.
In the Orange County Register, Ebert says, "The real usefulness of...a book like '1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die,' is that it provides good ideas for DVD rentals. I have, by the way, seen 943 of the 1,001 movies, and am carefully rationing the remaining titles to prolong my life."
I'm not surprised that he's seen most of them, but I am amused that he bothered to count how many he's seen. That's such a movie-geek thing to do.
In the Orange County Register, Ebert says, "The real usefulness of...a book like '1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die,' is that it provides good ideas for DVD rentals. I have, by the way, seen 943 of the 1,001 movies, and am carefully rationing the remaining titles to prolong my life."
I'm not surprised that he's seen most of them, but I am amused that he bothered to count how many he's seen. That's such a movie-geek thing to do.
Customers win in war of online DVD rental firms
The Boston Globe compares Netflix and Blockbuster, and seems to say Netflix is better. Says Blockbuster is trying to use stores and the USPS to speed delivery times. Read more.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Netflix Recommendations & Friends
Netflix has made updates to the design of the Friends and Recommendations pages. The Recommendations tab now has an introduction which leads you through it in steps. The Friends tab has a new design scheme, as well as a new quiz, which asks "Which Friend?" so you can show how well you know your Friends' taste.
I hadn't visited my recommendations page on Netflix.com in a while, because I'm not interested in adding to my queue. I'm using the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die to fill my queue, exclusively. I'm looking forward to the day when I finish that list, when I can have fun with recommendations.
I hadn't visited my recommendations page on Netflix.com in a while, because I'm not interested in adding to my queue. I'm using the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die to fill my queue, exclusively. I'm looking forward to the day when I finish that list, when I can have fun with recommendations.
Amazon launches a German DVD rental service
Via InternetRetailer.com
Amazon today launched a DVD rental service in Germany. It is Amazon’s second DVD rental offering, following the launch of rentals in the U.K. late last year.
Amazon is offering German movie viewers rentals as low as €9.99 a month for three rentals with only one movie out at a time to €18.99 a month for six rentals and three out at a time. Customers who sign up during the initial promotional period will receive 5% off the purchase of DVDs.
Amazon’s European offerings are widely seen as a prelude to entering the U.S. market with online DVD rentals. The company has not announced such plans, but an Amazon spokeswoman indicated last year that such an offering might be in the works. Netflix, the leader on online DVD rentals, has told investors it is preparing for the day when Amazon enters the market. The online DVD market has been brutal, however, and Wal-mart recently turned over its DVD rental business to Netflix.
Waiting for the DVD from Netflix
Out of the 254 movies I've seen so far this year, I saw only 21 of them in the theatre. Last year, I saw 91 movies in the theatre. At the rate I'm going, I will have seen about half that number this year. It's because I get a constant stream of titles from Netflix, that I can't bring myself to leave the house and spend the extra money to see a film that I know I can add to my queue instead.
I used to feel like I had to see them all in the same year in which they were released, so I could be ready for the Academy Awards. I managed to see about 96% of the nominees last year. This year, I don't care. The Academy Awards are a joke. I saw so many good performances that didn't even get nominated. Academy members are lazy. They don't see the most worthy films, just the ones with the best hors d'oeuvres.
Besides, it'll all be out on Netflix soon enough.
I used to feel like I had to see them all in the same year in which they were released, so I could be ready for the Academy Awards. I managed to see about 96% of the nominees last year. This year, I don't care. The Academy Awards are a joke. I saw so many good performances that didn't even get nominated. Academy members are lazy. They don't see the most worthy films, just the ones with the best hors d'oeuvres.
Besides, it'll all be out on Netflix soon enough.
Netflix news and suggestions from Dave
Dave Musselman has a couple of good suggestions for Netflix, one of which is to include an optional field on his queue which would allow him to make notes, to remind him about why he chose the movie. For you Mac OS X users out there, Netflix Freak already allows this. Read more.
His other post is about how Netflix is looking to hire a Product Management Director to manage the development of an Electronic Delivery system, to deliver high quality movies to our TVs through the Internet. Read more.
His other post is about how Netflix is looking to hire a Product Management Director to manage the development of an Electronic Delivery system, to deliver high quality movies to our TVs through the Internet. Read more.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Netflix was at SilverDocs promoting their film
Cynthia Rockwell reports from SilverDocs, an AFI/Discovery Channel documentary film festival in Silver Spring, MD., that Netflix was there, promoting their film The Comedians of Comedy. Read more...
Blockbuster is The Devil
I love headlines like this one.
BitchFestivus says:
BitchFestivus says:
"Before I joined Blockbuster Online, in spite of my feelings about the company, I would never in a million years have thought it possible that such a large and successful corporation would be running such a disastrous operation. This isn't some nobody company nosing in on the Netflix business; this is the biggest name in movie rentals in the world. So why can't they even approximate the level of quality of the Netflix service?"Read more...
The Opiate of the Masses
"Poppy" spends a "pretty pathetic evening" digging under "the children's DVDs, GameCube game booklets, Happy Meal toys, empty VHS boxes and loose tapes scattered and stacked throughout the sunroom" looking for the Netflix DVDs she rented, "oh, about a month ago."
"(Oh, and by the way--don't think I'm not aware of the irony that the owner of a blog called 'The Opiate of the Masses' is basically so out of touch with television broadcasting that her main way of keeping up is watching five-year-old shows on DVD. Which she orders from NetFlix and then loses in the Tomb of the Ghost of Media Past otherwise known as 'the sunroom.')"
Read more of this funny blog.
"(Oh, and by the way--don't think I'm not aware of the irony that the owner of a blog called 'The Opiate of the Masses' is basically so out of touch with television broadcasting that her main way of keeping up is watching five-year-old shows on DVD. Which she orders from NetFlix and then loses in the Tomb of the Ghost of Media Past otherwise known as 'the sunroom.')"
Read more of this funny blog.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Canadian Video store wants a bite of the Netflix pie
Videomoviehouse.com Challenges Netflix and Blockbuster for a Share of the $6 Billion Dollar DVD Rental Market:They are based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. The distribution center for the rental division is in Bellingham, Washington.
VANCOUVER, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 2005--Videomoviehouse.com Inc. (PINK SHEETS:VMHVF) is now the latest player in the estimated annual $6 billion dollar DVD rental market. Today it is announcing the launch of its new on-line DVD rental site into the North American marketplace. Through its website www.videomoviehouse.com, U.S. customers will now be able to rent as many DVDs as they can watch for a flat monthly fee of $17.99 per month without having to worry about paying late fees. Canadian customers will also be able to rent movies from the same website. Recent industry events, such as the end to the online DVD pricing war, have created an opportunity for company to launch its rental site directly into both the U.S. and Canadian markets.
Videomoviehouse.com is no stranger to the movie industry. It has been selling movies online worldwide through its website www.videomoviehouse.com since June, 2001. Its existing data base of over 200,000 customers represents a solid launching pad from which it will commence its rental operations. By offering a truly one stop shopping experience, the online customer will have the option to either buy or rent a DVD at anytime. With both options together on one site, the company expects to see increased traffic and sales in both divisions.
Last quarter, the company recorded its first ever operating profit and is projecting gross sales in excess of $3,500,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2005. This represents an increase of 250% compared to the previous year and sales are continuing to grow rapidly.
Industry figures show DVD sales in North America totalled a record $15.5 billion dollars in 2004 and According to Gene Walton of New York-based Walton Holdings, "The DVD rental business is a $6 billion business annually while online rentals currently capture only 10% of the market." VMHVF believes there is ample opportunity for a profitable, low-cost, online provider to capture a significant share of both markets.
Certain information and statements included in this release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Federal Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
S. Gaspar, President & CEO
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