Qwikster Deleted From the Queue: Netflix Cancels Spinoff

Qwikster Deleted From the Queue: Netflix Cancels Spinoff

The popcorn is popped.

Qwikster Deleted From the Queue: Netflix Cancels Spinoff

The popcorn is popped.

Sometimes, no matter how good it looks on paper, a recommendation for movies generated by a formula just doesn't work. Even if you've liked everything else the director and studio have done, it's ultimately in the execution. And with plenty of options just a click away, there's no reason to keep watching a bad movie.

Reed Hastings' Netflix/Qwikster Spinoff was pretty bad as movies go, even if you like high-concept stuff. On Monday, Hastings pulled the plug on the Qwikster move, announcing at the Netflix blog that "DVDs will be staying at netflix.com."

"It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult," Hastings writes. "This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster."

Hastings also makes a brief allusion to the separate subscription plans that led to Netflix's original customer revolt this summer: "While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes."

And you know that when Reed Hastings says something, he will never ever change his mind and do the opposite, no matter how much circumstances change.

Still, this is an acknowledgment that whatever advantage a separate Qwikster DVD-by-mail company may have offered Netflix's quarterly earnings numbers, licensing agreements, navigation of U.S. video privacy laws, or any other explanations anyone could muster for what always seemed on its face like an ill-considered, needlessly complex move that only a disruption-for-its-own-sake-loving contrarian who didn't actually use both DVDs and streaming on Netflix could love ...

Sorry; I got so carried away there that I forgot I actually have to write coherent sentences that real people can read. (Can I have a mulligan, guys? Thanks.)

It's an acknowledgment that none of that stuff matters if customers aren't on your side. You can nudge customers along while they still love using your product and are pretty well locked-in. They'll complain about changes at the margin, and a few of them will be noisy, but the vast majority will get over it. Just look at Facebook, or Mac OS X.

You can't reach into their pockets and charge them more for less content and apologize only for bad messaging. Then, you can't introduce "innovations" like a separate site that make their lives most absolutely more difficult, with a name that sounds like the punchline to a ten-year-old joke.

You also can't do either of these things when you're finally facing real competitors, or without offering real explanations. People will leave: subscribers, shareholders, longtime partners.

Just look at Windows Vista — which in comparison to Netflix/Qwikster, now seems like an unhappy-but-underrated middle act from a company that could more easily afford one.

Reed Hastings and Netflix now need their equivalent of a Windows 7 moment — plus Windows Phone 7, Xbox Kinect and Windows 8 moments, if they have those handy — for this series to rebound from the bad scripting this season and still have a happy ending.

You recently watched Reed Hastings: Netflix/Qwikster Spinoff. To help us ensure a great experience for all members and shareholders, would you take a moment to tell us about this episode's idea and message quality?

  • The quality was very good
  • The quality was acceptable
  • The quality was unacceptable

Thanks for your help!

–Your friends at Netflix

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