Netflix Stock Reaches New All-Time High
TWIN: Netflix shares were up nearly 4% on Friday (March 2), closing at $301.05 per share, a new all-time high for the stock, beating the old mark of $297.36 as the company continued to ride a wave of investor optimism over the SVOD space. With Friday’s close, Netflix’s market cap reached $130 billion, putting the company within spitting distance of other major media companies like Comcast-NBCUniversal ($169 billion) and The Walt Disney Co. ($155 billion).
A few years ago I read an article that asked if @netflix had "the worst board in history". Seems like the answer is no, they do not. #startups#businesstipshttps://t.co/l1RgiQl6om
— Dan Schepleng (@DanSchepleng) March 2, 2018
MCN Take: Netflix shares are up more than 50% since the beginning of the year. And the rise comes just days after Comcast lobbed an unsolicited bid at U.K. satellite giant Sky, a move some see as insurance against growing virtual MVPD and SVOD competitors.
Read the full story at Variety
Netflix Forcing Media Competitors to Think Globally
TWIN: Former DirecTV chief Mike White told CNBC that he believes U.S. media companies need to watch what Netflix is doing internationally closely. He warned that if the company gets to 200 million international customers – it’s at about 67.7 million now – it will be able to write much bigger checks to content creators.
MCN Take: Netflix already plans to spend about $8 billion on content this year and at an industry conference, CFO David Wells said it will have around 700 original TV shows, movies and specials this year. About 80 of those programs will be internationally focused.
Read the full story at CNBC
Netflix is testing a navigation bar on Android
TWIN: According to Engadget, Netflix is beta testing a new navigation bar for Android phones, replacing the slide-out menu with something more elegant and accessible.
Netflix moves to a bottom nav bar on Android (& iOS).
Why? Obvious always wins: https://t.co/coJ7Ge55Itpic.twitter.com/iEtnPEeETE
— Luke Wroblewski (@lukew) February 26, 2018
MCN Take: The new navigation bar will make it easier for users to access their offline downloads and see what content is coming soon.
Read the full story at Engadget
Hastings: Netflix’s Next 100M Subs Will Come From India
TWIN: While it has more than 117 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix founder chairman and CEO Reed Hastings told an audience at the Economic Times Global Business Summit in New Delhi that its next 100 million customers will come from India. That would be a big boost, given that Netflix has about 500,000 customers currently in the sub-continent.
MCN Take: Hastings said India has all the components for streaming video growth, a strong, affordable high-speed internet infrastructure and a consumer base that is passionate for film and other video content.
Read the full story at the Hollywood Reporter
Black Panther Coming to Netflix This Fall
TWIN: Crossing the $700 million worldwide box office milestone in just its second week in theaters, Black Panther is expected to come to Netflix in September or October, but it will be the last Marvel movie for the streaming service as part of its expired deal with Disney. Black Panther debuted in theaters on Feb. 16 and Disney’s Netflix deal – which the company declined to renew in August and will take effect in 2019 – usually calls for movies to hit the streaming service about seven or eight months after theatrical release.
MCN Take: The blockbuster won’t make its debut on Disney’s planned streaming entertainment service, which will launch in 2019. But the streaming product is expected to be chock full of Star Wars films – including the original Episode Three, which comes as part of its 21st Century Fox deal and a new Star Wars series from Game of Thrones screenwriters David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Read the full story at The Independent
