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Netflix’s real advantage is that it’s a tech company first
Netflix hasn't been coy about its plans to take over Hollywood. The company has already said it could spend up to $8 billion on content this year alone. But, for all the awards House of Cards and Icarus rack up, one of the reasons Netflix has tasted success so rapidly is its streaming technology. That's an area it has been perfecting in-house since 2010, when it became more than a simple mail-order DVD rental shop.
Netflix is bringing video previews to its mobile apps
A year after introducing video previews on its TV experience, Netflix is now planning to bring the feature to its mobile apps. The company announced today this will be rolling out in April, noting that it was developed to help make it easier and faster for users to find content on their smartphone. As you might expect, the execution here looks different: These mobile video previews are vertical, which makes them feel similar to Snapchat or Instagram stories. Once they launch, you'll see a new section dubbed "Previews" when you open the Netflix app, and you'll be able to browse them by swiping left on each one.
Netflix isn't chasing the competition into sports or live TV
Fresh off of its Oscars win for Icarus, a documentary about Russia's doping epidemic in sports, Netflix held a press event at its Hollywood headquarters. There, inside a 280,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art studio that it just opened last year, CEO Reed Hastings talked about the state of Netflix and the industry as a whole. The setting seemed fitting, considering the company is planning an $8 billion investment in original content for 2018 alone. That programming strategy is what makes Hastings confident that Netflix's future is bright, especially as it faces increased competition from the likes of Amazon, Hulu and, soon, Disney. The latter of which is also a partner, since it owns all of the Marvel franchises that Netflix has built a mini-verse around.
Netflix is taking a wait-and-see approach to virtual reality
Netflix was one of the first video-streaming services to adopt VR in 2015, when it introduced a 360-degree app that let users step into a virtual room to watch movies or TV shows on a Gear VR. Then, a year later, it launched a version of that application for Google's Daydream headset, but the company has been relatively quiet in the VR space ever since. The reason for that, simply put, is that Netflix doesn't see the technology as a priority -- at least not right now. Speaking at a media event inside the company's Hollywood headquarters, Chief Production Officer Greg Peters said that Netflix is only focused on seeing how VR systems evolve at the moment.
