Xbox Live is 'Gold Mine' for Netflix

[Evil Avatar]

GameDaily has posted a quote (http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/xbox-live-is-proverbial-gold-mine-for-netflix-says-pachter/?biz=1) from analyst Michael Pachter, who is speculating that another 1 Million Xbox Live users will join Netflix over the next year.

He estimates that 800,000 of these Xbox Live households were already Netflix customers when the streaming service debuted and as many as 200,000 of these customers joined Netflix in the last half of the quarter. This has obviously been a great boon for the video rentals company, and Pachter doesn't expect the trend to slow down any time soon.

"...we think that subscriber growth will continue at super-normal levels for quite some time. We believe that the Xbox Live Gold membership is a proverbial gold mine of potential members, and expect to see as many as 1 million join as Netflix members in the next year," he said. "Beyond that, we note that Microsoft is still selling a large number of Xbox 360 units (we estimate that it will sell another 5 – 6 million in the U.S. in 2009), with conversion of around 35% of these owners to Xbox Live Gold membership."Got Netflix?

[Mr. Lake]

I *LOVE* my Netflix on 360. I recently went through all the the Ghost In The Shell series - great quality and my wife and I can watch a ton of stuff while nestled in bed on a whim. I only wish the could include a movie browser and list editor on the Xbox.

[modeps]

My dad purchases a 360 specifically to give him a reason to get a Netflix subscription.

[Ebon Deth]

I use the NetFlix app a LOT. It is marvelously implemented and a major coup for the 360.

I'm actually using that app more than playing games now that I slogged through most of my backlog (still have GTAIV and yes, Dead Rising to play)>

[BalekFekete]

I subscribed to NetFlix entirely due to the intergration w/ the 360, and now I love it. More for the rentals of the Blu-Rays (I've stopped buying movies all together, after building a 600+ title collection).

[Trazzlo the Magnificant]

It looks like Netflix earnings (http://seekingalpha.com/article/116155-netflix-reports-earnings-monday-business-model-still-looks-strong) for last quarter were excellent. They had people leaving the service the previous quarter, and then they appear to have come back plus a bunch more. I assume a chunk of that would be from the 360.

Good for 360, good for Netflix.

[pwnophobia]

I LOVE NETFLIX ON THE XBOX 360!

So does the girly, shes always on my account queueing up movies and watching them during the day.

[Flatpicker]

I agree. This has been a terrific service.
I'm at a point that if I could stop the physical rentals and just use DD as an option, I would. Problem is the DD list isn't as current as the physical media list.

I'll keep using it until Comcast throttles my bandwidth and makes it unusable.

[JasonSuave]

My roommate has had this misguided hatred for Netflix for the past 5 years. Once he fiddled around with a netflix starter account on his 360, he went broke through his shield of ignorance and went right out and subscribed.

Being a subscriber for the past 6 years myself, I think this new service is awesome. Now I watch less TV because I can just watch commercial-less shows on the instant queue.

Furthermore, I think more and more consumers are seeing Netflix as an excuse to spend less money in this crap economy. Think about it - for $20 a month, you can watch hours of TV shows or Movies on your 360... as opposed to going to expensive dinners, vacations, drinking out, etc, etc...

[Planetbuster]

Theres always a couple of people using netflix on my list every night when I log into Live...I can see how it is a gold mine.

I have not looked at it much but can you watch movies in High Def?

[im.thatoneguy]

My Aunt bought a 360 for my little cousin last year but didn't feel like spending anything on XBox Live Gold.

Now with Netflix I figured Live Gold would be a good "But wait there's more..." christmas gift.

One more Live Gold subscription

[Roc Ingersol]

I love Netflix on XBL. Match made in gamer/film geek heaven. Big props to both for getting it done.

However, this guy's still an analyst ass-clown, so the numbers probably came straight out of his ass and are worth as much.

[Flatpicker]

I love Netflix on XBL. Match made in gamer/film geek heaven. Big props to both for getting it done.

However, this guy's still an analyst ass-clown, so the numbers probably came straight out of his ass and are worth as much.

Agreed, It's Patcher.
He get's paid for spouting crap. He's like a weather person on TV. Usually Wrong, but we are compelled to watch anyway.

[riposte101]

Nobody wants to play games anymore because of Netflix. Everybody has me on ignore as they watch their movies. Maybe it is just me.

[JazGalaxy]

Think about it - for $20 a month, you can watch hours of TV shows or Movies on your 360... as opposed to going to expensive dinners, vacations, drinking out, etc, etc...

I know you're absolutely right, but that notion makes me incredibly sad. I have to put up with enough ADD children as it is

[Froggy]

So if I convince my sister to get netflix and give me her password, can I link her account to my xbox, even though she has a different address/credit card?

[jdc]

She just needs to enter the access code, that is supplied by the 360, on her account. Btw, I have this setup on my 360 and Tivo, works great on both.

And good thing they changed the 'Watch Instantly' to unlimited rather than giving you the same amount of 'watch credits' as what you pay monthly, i.e. $18 subscription gives you 18 hours of viewing. I just wish they had more tv series selection.

[Ozymandias]

She just needs to enter the access code, that is supplied by the 360, on her account. Btw, I have this setup on my 360 and Tivo, works great on both.

And good thing they changed the 'Watch Instantly' to unlimited rather than giving you the same amount of 'watch credits' as what you pay monthly, i.e. $18 subscription gives you 18 hours of viewing. I just wish they had more tv series selection.

I believe you're thinking of their past plan - think you now have unlimited instant watching with most of their plans.

[Ozymandias]

Theres always a couple of people using netflix on my list every night when I log into Live...I can see how it is a gold mine.

I have not looked at it much but can you watch movies in High Def?

Yep. Check out Heroes as an example - tells you it's Netflix HD, then plays. Looks absolutely fantastic. Not quite as sharp as HD-DVD or Blu-ray, but everyone I know who sees it thinks it looks amazing.

Note: this is all bandwidth dependent - YMMV.

[oldjadedgamer]

Nobody wants to play games anymore because of Netflix. Everybody has me on ignore as they watch their movies. Maybe it is just me.

About half my gamer friend list a night are watching Netflix.

[LilAbner]

Furthermore, I think more and more consumers are seeing Netflix as an excuse to spend less money in this crap economy. Think about it - for $20 a month, you can watch hours of TV shows or Movies on your 360... as opposed to going to expensive dinners, vacations, drinking out, etc, etc...

$20? You're being taken....I only pay $9 per month and get full access to the service. :D

[OMNIPRO]

The $5 dollar plan is one DVD at a time two DVDs per month, and I think only 5 hours of streaming service.
The $9.95 and UP plans are unlimited streaming.

I love the Netflix service on 360, but I wish you can manually specify the video quality like on the PC version. Netflix detect your speed and automatically set the video quality. There is a trick you can use on the PC version to get HD streams for mid level broadband users like me. I think it's ctrl something and you can select the bitrate, and then buffer the video.

[gzsfrk]

Netflix + Xbox 360 = Best corporate synergy in the gaming world EVER.

I'm a Netflix subscriber SOLELY because of the NXE. Never would have tried it otherwise. Now I use the physical DVDs non-stop for LOST (on Season 4 now), and the streaming for anime and any other movies that strike my fancy. I do hope they expand the list soon, though. The Instant Queue movie offerings can be a bit scarce on recent (within the past 5 years) titles.

[Wyrm]

They need to expand the list or I will run out of things to watch. That is more a testament to how much time I've spent watching it. I'm calling the cable this week to get rid of basic cable. I don't need it, not when I can pay 9 bucks a month and watch anything they let me stream. Brilliant.

[kickmybum]

I thought it was cool when I saw NetFlix on my Xbox but the streaming movies that they have available still SUCK ASS compared to even Blockbuster online. Get with the program NETFLIX!

[dividius]

This one of those seemingly rare instances where a great business decision is great for the consumer as well. Usually, they just figure out ways to take your money without really providing anything of value.

Without the 360 functionality, Netflix was a definite non-starter for me. But this... this is well worth 9 bucks a month. Like many others have said, I signed up for Netflix soley because of this. I also never play online, so I only have Live Gold because of this too. So it's really win-win-win.

My only worry is that they'll jack up the cost now that they see the fruit this is bearing.

[Trazzlo the Magnificant]

My only worry is that they'll jack up the cost now that they see the fruit this is bearing.Possibly, but what's interesting is that they are finding the costs are going down since they normally need to pay shipping each way for disks and people seem to be using the shipped disk system less once they use the downloads.

For us, that is very true. We watch so many Netflix downloads we rarely have time for the disks. Our total monthly disks return has dropped to a third of what we normally do.

Now they pay mostly for bandwidth for us.

[Zander]

This is a perfect fit for me, I really enjoy the service.

If it was any more than 8.99 a month, however, I would drop it in a heartbeat.

[Your Good Twin]

I only wish the could include a movie browser and list editor on the Xbox.

Bingo bango. If I'm already on my couch and in the mood to watch something, I shouldn't have to get up and go to the computer and start browsing something on the website just so I can go back to my couch to watch. I have a large, widescreen monitor and a comfy computer chair. I'm more liable to just remain sitting here and watching. And if I'm with friends, it's an extra step for us all to go huddle around the computer to choose something.

I'm not knocking the service, just getting the stuff ON our 360's is an impressive start. Next step, though, should definitely be the ability to browse from our console. Hell, just add all the aspects of the website, like letting you rate, read reviews, and recommending programming for you based on past views and your other ratings.

[gzsfrk]

Hell, just add all the aspects of the website, like letting you rate, read reviews, and recommending programming for you based on past views and your other ratings.

Actually, you can rate what you watch from the 360 Netflix interface.