House of Cards: A TV Distribution Model for the Next Generation

[Commentary] I am convinced that Netflix has won this round of the cable vs. Internet content distribution battle. After struggling to maintain subscribers due to lack of new content (attributed largely in part to costs set by the cable industry), Netflix took a gamble based on the habits of the next generation of viewers. And the viewers won. As a recent Forbes columnist lamented after realizing the ability to access an entire season of content was surprisingly convenient, “It turns out that waiting for the next episode is an artifact of an earlier era. A linear viewing experience in what is now an non-linear, on demand, always on, world.” This is ultimately what Bewkes and the cable industry at large fail to understand, but why House of Cards is such a success. Holding on to the delivery methods of the past might just as well cause you to lose the consumers of the future.