Emailed on January 18, 2019 in The Friday Forward

Netflix released their Q4 earnings yesterday exceeding both subscriber and profit estimates, but falling short on revenue targets.

But it wasn’t the earnings that got people's attention.

In an interview CEO Reed Hastings was asked to expand upon his investor letter statement that “We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO”. Hastings explained that Netflix is competing not just for viewership but for viewer’s time.

There have also been doubts as to whether or not Netflix can withstand the onslaught of new content providers from small companies you’ve never heard of like Apple, Amazon, YouTube, Disney, and Facebook.

Hastings went full Birdbox and blindfolded himself, saying “Disney has great content and we’re excited about their launch and, you know, maybe they grow over a couple of years to 50” hours.

Netflix is in a tough position competing against giants of the tech industry, but it’s obvious that Disney’s wealth of content from brands such as Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and Disney poses a massive threat to the ‘flix. Not to mention the fact that they have existing television channels full of programming.

Apple has a lot of this thing called cash (their cash on hand doubles Netflix’s entire market cap), I’m told it’s helpful in making movies.

Amazon is also doing well considered they recently bank-rolled what looks like the most expensive series ever, possibly topping $1 Billion dollars.

Perhaps Hastings should keep the blindfold on.

Now here’s your gif.