Tag Archives: Netflix Social

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Social Media and the SEC: A Love Story?

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By Caroline Bennett, The Motley Fool

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In the beginning, there was the Internet. Then, in a big bang of light, sound, and tweets, there was social media. Since then, companies haven’t known quite what to do with themselves.

There has always been some gray area as to what’s appropriate for a business‘ social-media presence, and what isn’t. Now the SEC is getting involved, and its latest decision doesn’t crack down nearly as hard as you might think. In fact, Netflix is already reaping major benefits from it, not to mention Facebook itself.

The latest ruling
In a statement released on April 2, the SEC said it was perfectly ethical for companies to take to social media for releasing “key information,” just so long as they abide by the SEC‘s Regulation Fair Disclosure.

To find out what constitutes key information, take a look at the company that sparked the action: Netflix. Last July, CEO Reed Hastings posted on Facebook that users were streaming more than 1 billion hours of video a month. Within one day, Netflix’s stock jumped from $70.45 to $81.72, which raised quite a few red flags about the post.

But now, as far as the SEC is concerned, this kind of self-promotion is A-OK among public companies, just so long as they clarify which social-media tool they plan to use. If a company says its news will be available on Facebook, for instance, and it pops up on Twitter or (suspend your disbelief for a moment) Pinterest, then there’s a problem.

Are Facebook and Netflix better off?
Facebook’s stock took a noticeable jump after the SEC announcement, rising 5% from $25.32 to $26.67. This reaction suggests that the market is celebrating the SEC‘s decision, and the good news couldn’t come soon enough for Facebook. Even after the success of Graph Search‘s unveiling, the company is still struggling to return to its IPO price, so any positive press must feel like a breath of fresh air for Facebook and its investors.

The news is also Netflix’s second SEC victory in a month. A few weeks ago, the company finally got the government‘s go-ahead to make its social-media service, Netflix Social, available to U.S. residents. So why hasn’t its stock reflected these victories accordingly?

For one thing, the SEC news coincided with whispers that investor Carl Icahn had sold 10% of his share in Netflix. Even though Icahn later denied the rumor, the damage was already done. That news, paired with the announcement that Time Warner had released its own online streaming service, was enough to sink Netflix’s stock by 4%.

But don’t cry for Netflix just yet. The company’s annual revenue has more than doubled since 2008, and while it possesses a market cap of $9.46 billion, it has just $400 million on the books in long-term debt and boasts $3.9 billion in assets. And that doesn’t include the revival of Arrested Development.

There’s always money in the social-media stand
By and large, the market has met the SEC‘s …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Netflix's New $600 Million Move: Facebook Integration

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By Adam Levine-Weinberg, The Motley Fool

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On Wednesday morning, video-streaming leader Netflix announced the launch of a Facebook app for U.S. customers. Starting this week, U.S. Netflix users will be able to link their Netflix and Facebook accounts, so that their friends can see what they’ve been watching (and vice-versa). The move was made possible by a recent change to the Video Privacy Protection Act, which had previously made it illegal to share such information without written consent from the customer. This new feature was widely expected, insofar as Netflix had already offered Facebook integration in every one of its international markets.

The news sparked a nearly 6% rally in Netflix shares on Wednesday, adding approximately $600 million to Netflix’s market cap (based on an estimated diluted share count of 60 million). However, while Netflix’s expansion of “social” video is a nice feature that will please many customers (particularly the under-30 set), it’s hard to characterize it as a game-changer. Netflix’s valuation already reflects a very rosy view of future growth and profitability. Facebook integration could cause a modest uptick in Netflix’s user loyalty among younger customers, who tend to be heavier social-media users. Nevertheless, in the grand scheme of things, Netflix’s big move on Wednesday simply represented an overvalued stock that became still more overvalued.

How it will work
My Foolish colleague Rick Munarriz recently explained the workings of the new Netflix Social feature. By default, Netflix users who link to their Facebook accounts will be able to see what their friends have watched, and which movies and TV shows their friends like the most. This functionality should nicely complement Netflix’s existing technology for delivering video recommendations. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings frequently talks about Netflix’s ability to deliver personalized viewing recommendations as a significant competitive advantage, and Facebook integration is another step down this road.

What does it mean?
I see Netflix Social as a low-cost, low-risk move for Netflix that may persuade some users to stick around who might otherwise have canceled the service. Improving the user experience is a positive for Netflix, especially with Amazon.com making a big push to grow its Prime user base. Amazon is rapidly building its content library and has won some important exclusive contracts recently, such as the streaming rights for Downton Abbey.

On the other hand, Netflix’s user interface is already well ahead of Amazon’s, so it’s running up against the law of diminishing returns here. Amazon isn’t trying to compete by providing a better user interface; instead, it’s trying to attract subscribers through its lower price ($79 a year for Prime or $39 a year for students, versus $96 for Netflix), its exclusive content, and additional benefits (e.g., free expedited shipping and the Kindle Lending Library).

Netflix Social may provide some differentiation on the margin, but it doesn’t address Netflix’s core problem: its lack of a moat in the streaming business. With competition growing quickly, I think Netflix will struggle to improve its …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Netflix Warms Up to Your Facebook Friends

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By Rick Munarriz, Munarriz, The Motley Fool

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Netflix is ready to give its stateside subscribers something to talk about on Facebook .

The leading video service will now allow its domestic subscribers to automatically share what they’re viewing — if they want to — through the world’s leading social networking site.

If you’re thinking that this is a move that’s long overdue, don’t blame Netflix for dragging its feet.

Netflix incorporated this feature in 44 of the 45 countries that it was doing business in back in 2011 when Facebook made it possible. The United States was the lone holdout, held back by an archaic 1980s law that prohibited sharing of video viewing data even if the consumer approved.

Netflix asked its users to get behind H.R. 2471 — a House bill that eventually cleared its way into law — and now the video service became more personal.

What exactly is Netflix Social? Well, in the coming days, a pop-up promo on the Netflix interface will ask subscribers if they want to share their viewing choices with Facebook friends. If so, two new social rows will appear in the Netflix streaming interface. One entitled Friends’ Favorites will show all of the titles that fellow opt-in Facebook friends have rated four or five stars. A second row shows the videos that have been recently viewed by friends.

Is this too creepy? Is Netflix the next Zynga with annoying status updates going out into news feeds when someone completes a silly social gaming achievement? What happens if you catch a saucy video or a bad movie that you’d rather not share?

No worries. Again, this is entirely optional. The default setting even for those who do opt in is to only share through Netflix, though subscribers can also check off the box to share that info automatically through Facebook itself. As for the guilty pleasures, Netflix has you covered there, too. You can “unshare” any item on your profile.

This is a smart move that will help engagement on both Netflix and Facebook. It will give friends more stuff to talk about. Sure, folks are already posting “Walking Dead” and “Game of Thrones” chatter with every passing episode, but now folks will be armed with more conversation starters through shared consumption experiences.

It may have seemed a tad personal at the time, but didn’t you feel the same way about everything you’re sharing on Facebook these days?

Netflix knows what it’s doing, and it’s just a neat coincidence that CEO Reed Hastings just happens to sit on Facebook’s board of directors.

Face to face with Facebook
After the world’s most hyped IPO turned out to be a dunce, most investors probably don’t even want to think about shares of Facebook. But there are things every investor needs to know about this company. We’ve outlined them in our newest premium research report. There’s a lot more to Facebook than meets the eye, so read up on whether there …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance