Data-Mining Boosts Netflix’s Subscriber Base, Showbiz Clout
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What a difference a year makes.
Netflix headed into 2012 weighed down by its imprudent decision to split its DVD and streaming units into two separate businesses. The move was quickly reversed, but it still left a bad taste in consumers’ mouths. Since then Netflix has transformed its image from a distributor like Time Warner Cable into a personalized service that gives subscribers access to content they want — and some they didn’t even know they wanted.
Netflix has grown its streaming U.S. subscriber base to nearly 29 million at the end of the second quarter from about 24 million a year earlier, thanks to investments in high-quality originals like the Emmy-nominated “House of Cards” and revamp of “Arrested Development.” Netflix reportedly spent $100 million acquiring “House of Cards,” and there’s a debate over whether original programming can generate big enough returns to justify that kind of cost. But the buzz from that content has already prompted rivals like Amazon Prime and Hulu to ramp up their own original programming.
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