Amazon, Netflix, and Disney: Creating Content

Disney has for the past ten years created great content. The content seeped into all aspects of Disney which created even more revenue. Without the great content there is just no way that Disney's shareholders would have done as well. Netflix has created a couple of great TV shows and a few okay shows. They can be edgier and they have a wide platform already for subscribers. They make people want to subscribe just to watch those shows. Amazon has had struggles to create content but with Transparent they finally have a show that is recognized as good. This will be hard to maintain with other shows maybe they will still create content.

It is now a fierce battle for the eyes that watch content. With more choices on what to watch and more  ways to watch content companies have to make the best content possible to attract enough people to make money. Just like with blogs only the best content makes money. Everyone else is just doing a pet project. So just like with these big companies they are fighting for the eyes and time of consumers.

Netflix just beat on earnings and this shows us that Netflix is doing really well attracting and keeping the attention of consumers. I think they will continue to do well. New shows and continuing the old ones are great ways to get more people into Netflix. Although I'm not sure how the movies will play out to consumers. They might be a huge flop unless they can get good directors and story lines. They could also pander to smaller market segments to get more subscribers which might be the direction they will take.

Disney of course makes great content and as far as I can tell have several great movies and plenty of storylines to continue making widely watched content. I think redoing all the old fairytales in live action are great to get younger people involved in watching Disney films again.

Amazon though with their struggles I can't say that they are creating up to par content. I think they wanted to be more like Netflix and still have their main thing be the marketplace. It's almost like a side business that they hope will make money but they are not investing enough into the content for it to make a difference. For this Amazon will still do fine but if you are looking to invest in content creators, Disney, Netflix, HBO, or AMC are much better options. They care about the content produced because it helps other revenue streams. Content isn't everything but for a media company it is the gravy. Makes everything better.

As more people can create content the fight will be fierce but several companies will have the skills and dedication to attract and monetize content. Netflix and Disney are just two of those companies.

Bad Jobs Report and Microsoft's New CEO

The government's jobs report was way below expectations bad news in most situations. Yet the market seems to have not noticed. The DOW and S&P are both higher today. I guess this could be because of weather and the unemployment went down and beat expectations. We also got a revision upward of the jobs report in December. All of these probably are contributing to the higher market but normally two bad reports in a row would signal something worse. It seems that traders and investors have shrugged this information off. I am certainly fine with this information just not mattering. I still hold that many companies are worth more than their stock prices suggest but I might have traded more conservatively and watch my step with two months of poor job growth.

In other news, the new Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, wants to play offense and let Amazon be successful according to this Forbes article. I understand that the internet companies like working together, collaborating, and think everyone can win. We all win when we all work together yes but you have to focus on competition. If companies never focus on what others are doing then they lose sight of what is important and how to handle outside threats. What I see is a lazy company that thinks that they are so big they don't care about the little guy. I assure you though that companies that have this mindset are soon non existent companies because they do not keep up with changing ideas and let other firms steal market share. Microsoft's new CEO statement is troubling because his offense doesn't include focusing on adversaries.

He does want to be aggressive and beat Microsoft's opponents but not looking at them it will be hard to beat them. He might have just been saying this to perhaps relax the competing firms. Either way Nadella's viewpoint and direction matter for Microsoft and its investors. Be wary of any big changes in firms but this one might be very interesting with the direction he takes the company.