MarketWatch has a comparison today of Netflix to Blockbuster, speculating on the similarities between the two. In a nutshell, the article explains, Blockbuster failed “when it stopped providing value to customers and instead focused on short-term gains.” In a sense, Netflix has always pursued a similar route. It upended Blockbuster and sent the mega-corporation to an untimely grave precisely because of a seize-the-moment decision to mail customers DVDs. In the grand scheme of things, that was an extremely short-term solution that bridged the gap between the age of brick-and-mortar and technology that bypasses the need for physical content delivery entirely.

It’s big news that Netflix has dived into the streaming game guns blazing, but along the way it’s had several high-profile PR disasters—further evidence the company is living in the moment and not thinking about how its actions will affect consumers over the long haul. Moreover, in a world that is increasingly experiencing its content on multiple devices at once, Netflix has no clear second-screen strategy. The future of streaming has many, many contenders in it. Now that Netflix is no longer viewed as the little David who conquered Goliath with the power of innovation, it has a lot of work to do to make sure its brand stays relevant.

Read more about it at MarketWatch.

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