Motley Fool on the Watch Now Numbers

Rick Aristotle Munarriz on the 5 million Watch Now viewings, Netflix's Paltry Press Release.

It's a big, round number, but it seems a bit low when you consider that Netflix has 6.8 million subscribers. In other words, the average subscriber has checked out 0.75 movies or commercial-free TV episodes through the service since January.

Are you using Watch Now? Why or why not?

Comments

[kwheless]

I couldn't use Watch Now even if I wanted to, since I'm a Mac user. (Are Netflix subscribers more likely to also be Mac users?)

But I doubt I'd use it even if I could. I don't want to watch movies on my computer, and until it's cheap and easy to transfer them to my regular TV, I'll stick to DVD's. (Amazon's collaboration with Tivo is the right idea, although I'd have to upgrade to a newer Tivo to use it.)

[BulletproofHeeb]

Not to be rude, but a weak laptop with a $20 cable can output SVid or FireWire streams and act as a cheap set-top box.

[Edward R Murrow]

How many people view their entire Watch Now selection on a computer? One wonders what the completion percentage was of the 5 million viewings. Do people watch a small fraction of their choice on the PC then add the DVD to their queue? This behavior would make Watch Now great for previewing, but not a differentiator from BBO since BBO also has previews.

[Matt]

Having hooked up my desktop to my TV + Stereo (they are physically close), I use Watch Now with some regularity. I just watched The Office seasons 1 and 2, since I had never bothered with them before. Not a bad show :)

[Notclam]

I use a Mac. If Watch Now were avaialble for Mac, I would use the feature a *lot*.

I'd guess that Mac ussers aren't the main culprit for the small figures, however. Most people aren't going to watch a movie on their computer, and aren't about to take the time to figure out how to hook it up to their TV, either. If Netflix wants the service to taake off (which they should, considering it costs them a hell of a lot less than mailing the discs out) they need to develop a simple way to deliver the content to the television. I am sure that the expected set-top box will address this issue.

[gir]

I'm not yet using watch now, for two reasons:
- PC only (as many have already mentioned)
- privacy issues (I don't agree with the terms of service)

I have considered going the cheap laptop route - privacy issues wouldn't concern me on a PC where the only thing installed is Internet Explorer - but I'm not ready to plunk down $400+, even considering a laptop would come in handy for other things. A cheap set-top box would be ideal.

[snowmaiden]

I watch them fullscreen on my laptop, the same as I do with DVD's, so there's no noticeable quality difference for me. Still, I've probably only watched 6 or 7 things in the 6 or 7 months it's been available to me. The reason is that there just aren't that many titles available on Watch Now that compel me. I find myself using it mostly to fill in gaps-- those rare evenings when there's nothing on TV, I don't have a Netflix disc available, and I have nothing better to do. It seems that happens for me about once a month.

[prozac]

Yeah I love it...

[prozac]

Let me add that I don't mind seeing things on the computer and watch things I would not normally rent or re-watch films I have not see in some time. The selection is better than what cable offers.

[trixare4kids]

HEY NETFLIX FOLKS.. YOO HOO... OVER HERE:

CLOSED CAPTION OPTION FOR "WATCH NOW" PLEASE PLEASE!

My biggest complaint about Watch Now? There is no closed captions option for those who need them. I can understand 75% of what's said without them and 100% WITH Them. The deaf or really hard of hearing are left out completely.

I don't know if it's even possible, but it seems like it SHOULD be doable.

[jonnyg]

I'll happily start using Watch Now when Netflix stops telling me "Your operating system is not compatible with this feature."
I'm on Linux and in all cases, my OS is superior to the one they want me to use, unless someone wants to limit my rights, or install malware, in which case THEY would prefer that I be running the lowest common denominator OS.
Re watching on the computer vs, on a TV: I already watch all my Netflix DVDs on the computer. In my case, a hi-res 21" monitor an arms length away is far better than a bigger, but older, tube TV on the other side of the room. But if I really wanted to watch on the TV, I'd just hook the computer up to the TV like everyone else.

[Raab]

Not interested even a fraction of a percent. Watching a movie on a PC is not my idea of a relaxing evening. Give me a quality DVD player with component video output, large-screen digital television, and surround sound anyday over that. This idea isn't that much better than watching a movie on an iPod or iPhone.

[igj]

Yes, I use it, but nowhere near enough to use up my allotted hours. I use it on business trips - quite useful there since otherwise I'd be watching DVDs on my laptop and with Watch Now I needn't lug the discs anywhere. I use it when my GF is working late and I want to watch a short something, usually a TV show.

The selection is not excellent, but it is improving. The picture? Well, it is usually like watching a DVD on a laptop. If you do that sometimes, Watch Now should be no different.

[Fred]

Well first I'm a Mac user. But I do run Windows under Parallels and it works fine. However, I much prefer watching stuff on our 32" TV (which we hook up to our laptops via a DVI -> HDMI cable).

While WatchNow looks fine on the computer screen, once it gets to the big TV it gets really jerky and difficult to watch.

[CJ]

Once the novelty wore off, I find I don't use WatchNow nearly as much as I used to. When I do use the feature, I watch it on either a 24" WS or 22" WS monitor, depending which computer I'm on, with Sony Studio Monitor headphones.

I have zero interest in trying to use WatchNow on the 47" 1080p LCD TV - I'm pretty sure it would be UnWatchableNow.

[Cool Cat]

I'd use it if it didn't require Windoze. I'm a Mac user.

[stesmo]

I've used WatchNow for the last couple months and think it's worth the price (free). I've used it both at home to watch a movie I might not otherwise have delivered. And, it's handy when I can start a documentary or an old favorite up at work to listen to while I'm busy.

The biggest gripe I have is with selection. It's very limited. It doesn't seem to be growing fast enough, either. I've also found the selection to be odd within a series. In the case of one TV series, Dead Like Me, they have both seasons available via WatchNow, but the pilot (you know... the freakin' first episode) isn't available via WatchNow.

[lynn117]

i am a fellow mac user and would love to be able to watch it now. it would help fill the spaces while the dvds are in transit. i never have one day turnover. i call and send an email every month asking when it will be available for mac. every mac owner should be asking so netflix knows there is a demand and it might hurry them up!

[Rusty Ramrod]

I could never get it to install correctly on my machine. On a friends new machine with 3Mb DSL it stalled, skipped and just plain sucked.

[J]

I've used it three or four times and each time for maybe ten minutes tops. I signed up for Netflix to get DVDs of my choosing to watch on my large screen television, not to watch a limited selection of movies on my laptop. If they improved the selection and had newer releases or more popular television series' available, I might use it more.

[Werd2406]

I would like to use "Watch Now" but frankly, i hate the idea of sitting at my computer for 1.5+ hours watching a movie on a not that large screen....then i have to sit up the entire time...It's much easier to just watch the movie on the couch/in bed.

Now if Netflix teamed up with Tivo like someone said earlier, that would be a great thing.

[smashedlife]

I barely use Watch now nowadays but the wife uses it quite a bit since Law and Order SVU went up there. She is a law and order nutcase.

I connected my macbook to my 42" Vizio LCD and it looks and works great. I am bootcamped into Windows and has a 15mb down FIOS connection.

[fred]

DIAL UP! I live out in the country so my options for a high speed connection are expensive. Don't really want to watch movies on my PC anyways.

[jccalhoun]

Where's that Silverlight version they showed back at the microsoft conference? I'm a windows user but I'm too lazy to start up IE just to watch a movie. Give us the silverlight version and I'll use it a lot more!

[busthead]

I bought a PC who's hard drive had gone south off of a guy for $75. Added a hard drive I had laying around, memory upgrade, new video card, installed Vista. So for ~$250 I'm watching Netflix WatchNow as well as any videos downloaded via BT on my 62 inch 1080i LCD. Quality is great, even over slow wireless connection to router.

[Calvin Spealman]

I finally bought the NetFlix bullet and WatchNow was one of the key reasons. There are a ton of movies I want to watch, like Jackass and the Comedians of Comedy, passively and which my wife doesn't care for. It is a great way to see them while I work, without wasting the days to send and return a DVD. I usually just listen in the background or I can always run the S-Video or connect the second monitor.

I do wish I didn't need IE (I use the IE Tab extension in FireFox to hide it, however) and that my wife could use it on her Ubuntu box. There was a demo of a Silverlight version of WatchNow, however. That runs on Firefox, and is being ported by Mono to Linux. It is also already on Mac, so all the complainers about that can just wait a while.

[Calvin Spealman]

I finally bought the NetFlix bullet and WatchNow was one of the key reasons. There are a ton of movies I want to watch, like Jackass and the Comedians of Comedy, passively and which my wife doesn't care for. It is a great way to see them while I work, without wasting the days to send and return a DVD. I usually just listen in the background or I can always run the S-Video or connect the second monitor.

I do wish I didn't need IE (I use the IE Tab extension in FireFox to hide it, however) and that my wife could use it on her Ubuntu box. There was a demo of a Silverlight version of WatchNow, however. That runs on Firefox, and is being ported by Mono to Linux. It is also already on Mac, so all the complainers about that can just wait a while.

[dokein]

I'd use it if I could, but I'm also a Mac user, with a G4 Powerbook that couldn't run Windows even if I wanted to. BTW, I asked NetFlix support about this a couple weeks ago, and got the following response:

Thank you for contacting Netflix.com customer support!

We appreciate your interest in the instant viewing feature from Netflix. At this time, there is no MacOS X client for this feature. While some customers have had success accessing our content via third-party software that allows Macs to run Windows operating systems, these solutions are not supported by Netflix.

We have not yet announced a timeline for the support of any specific operating systems other than Windows XP and Vista. However, we intend to bring the instant viewing experience to a broad array of browsers, operating systems, and devices in the future.