Netflix Advertising 28-Day Delay DVDs on Netflix Envelopes

I'm not sure that advertising DVDs for sale that are delayed 28 days like Robin Hood and Get Him to the Greek is good idea. Here's the Netflix mailer that arrived today: 

What do you think? Should Netflix advertise movies that are available on DVD but not from Netflix?

Comments

[Nick]

I hate, despise, and LOATHE this 28-day delay thing. And these ads are salt in the wound. The uneducated will say, "Oh, I need to add that to my queue!" and they'll try, fail, and get angry. It's such a stupid, stupid thing to do.

[Larry Dallas]

They are still getting paid to put the ad there. If anything it will just remind people to add it to the Q.

It's no big deal.

[Discostu]

The whole point of the 28-day delay is supposed to be to give people a chance to buy them before they can rent them. And I'm sure Netflix is getting paid for the ad. Which helps make everybody happy... well I guess the folks that want to Netflix the movie NOW aren't happy, but by queue is 2 years long so I don't care.

[TZ]

really, i believe it's just inspiring people like me to download them before i can get them on netflix

[Anon]

If they are getting paid to advertise it, then yes absolutely they should. Advertising dollars are green how ever they come.

[notovny]

If I want to see the movie, I'll just put it in my queue. I've had "Secret of the Kells" in my queue since March, and it didn't have a DVD release date back then.

I thought the twenty-eight day thing would annoy me when it started, and in the case of straight-to-video movies, it does from time to time. But with theatrical releases; I've waited four months to see it, what's one more?

[Jack]

I haven't bought any movies because of the 28 day delay. If it's also delayed at Redbox I'll typically just download it.

So, the money that they would have gotten from renting it to me didn't go toward a purchase, it simply went away.

[Shellie C.]

The advertisement in the mailers do not bother me at all. 1)Netflix is receiving pay via advertising $$$ and 2)it works as a reminder for me to add the movie to my queue if I hadn't already done so and 3)if I wanted to see the movie that bad I would have either purchased the movie anyway or already have seen it at the theatre.

[Consumer]

We will see more delays in the future. I read somewhere that Sony will start a delay with major theatrical starting with Karate Kid and to also include Grown Ups, Eat Pray Love and Salt

[Somebody]

I rather like this, reminds me of movies to add to my queue. The 28 day thing has no effect on me. Then again I am also the same person who watches trailers about once a month and adds them to my queue months before they are even released in the theater. Release dates mean nothing (at least to me).

[Steve I]

The "point" of the 28 day delay was (we all know what it was)...but......one of the conditions Netflix got in the deals they made was the addition of thousands of titles in a variety of studio's back catalogs.

I've been a Netflix customer for a little less than a year and the number of streaming titles in this time has gone from somewhere around 16k to somewhere around 40k.

So.....some new titles on DVD are delayed 28 days before we get them....big deal.

[Amanda]

They've been advertising the delayed movies on the envelopes ever since the 28 day delay started. FWIW 28 days really doesn't make a big difference to my family, we'll see it when we see it.

[Moo1cp]

It appears to me this is more of a contractual agreement with the studios. On the movie page right under "Add to Queue" there is a "Buy Now" button that links to the official website. I personally could care less about the 28 day window (come on people, its not critical to watch a movie the day it releases, and there are THOUSANDS of other great movies out there still available!) and if this is a way to give Netflix more flexibility in negotiations, then great!

[screwdestiny]

Doesn't bother me, I just hit that green Save! button or if I really want to see it, I hop to the nearest Redbox. Ours just got Blu-Ray!!!

[cg]

No biggie, but until reading this thread I didn't know Netflix had a BUY link for the movie that sends you to the studio where it's also avaialble for download.

[Daniel]

I don't see the buy now link anywhere on netflix

[Mo]

I tear the ad off of the envelope without ever reading it.

I never buy DVDs, a new format will soon make them obsolete. VHS -> DVD -> Bluray -> ?

If I'm 28 days behind the curve, I don't give a shit.

[Seth]

It's kind of weird because of how opaque Netflix has been about the whole delayed window agreements.

They never directly announced to customers that they were embarking on these agreements. Now they are advertising movies that customers can't have?

Passive aggressive, much?

[asics]

I think i am very close to your imagination. May be you are indicating the global warming and thing about the ice age.

[Enrique]

If this is one of many things for it to bring my cost down, then all the more better.

[name]

if people are going to buy a movie they are going to buy a movie, doesn't matter if they have netflix or blockbuster or whatever. i doubt the ads make someone go "oh crap i could buy this movie now instead of wait to rent it, what an idiot i am!" and then cancel netflix and buy all the movies.

[Clay]

I don't buy dvds or download illegally and I can wait until they come out, so it doesn't do anything except maybe remind me to put in in the Saved queue. I could see that someone with a family might not like it because if it's something the kids want to see they'll probably want to buy it.

[Anigav]

every 28 day late dvd i get accidentally gets bent when being mailed back. ooppps!

[dAVe]

And here I thought the 28-Day Delay was already built into the status indicator of "Very Long Wait"...

[Richard]

This does seem pretty stupid.

[Cool Beans]

Not only am I downloading all of these 28 day delay movies, but I am seeding them at the highest possible speed. Ain't IP proxies great. Screw the greedy movie companies.

[JK]

Stick it to the Man. That's the only way they'll learn that their greed can and will backfire.

[A]

Anigav - way to raise prices for everyone, by causing intentional damage. Really stickin it to the man! LOL

[Larry Dallas]

@ Anigav, keep doing it, they will notice a trend, you'll need to start surfing hacking blockbuster.com

[Mo]

regarding post by Anigav: Damaging DVDs is not funny.

[Larry Dallas]

also, these ads mean nothing

Because as we all know cable TV has just been KILLED by airing all those DISH Network ads.

[The Whiz]

I can understand that waiting a month doesn't bother some people (most it seems) from a patience standpoint. What's another month? It's a lot to me, but I get that some people can wait.

I'm surprised more people aren't bothered by the system being gamed against them. They're holding up movies so that people will buy them instead. They have a sweetheart deal with the studios. I get being able to wait, but I'd think the system being gamed would bother more people.

Also, if you're not bothered by 1 month, would a longer wait bother you? 2 or 3 months, for example? Just wondering.

It seems they have agreements with about everybody now. September was okay, but October on looks like shite. All the following October movies are delayed on Streamflix:

A Nightmare On Elm Street
Splice
Karate Kid 2
Jonah Hex
Predators
Sex & The City Too

Sounds like pretty much everything will be delayed in the future.

[Walt D in LV]

I think it's absolutely AWESOME these ads. I wish they'd have MORE ads for upcoming movies. The ads for Roku and Blu-ray players fall on deaf eyes, but upcoming movies? Oh yeah!
1) They help keep costs down, bringing Netflix extra money.
2) They remind me to add movies to my queue.

I don't buy movies at all. Not now. Not ever. Not for the kids. No. Nor do I download illegally (the quality is just NOT there).

The 28 days does not affect me because there are just so many movies out there to see. With the delay in effect, it makes so there is no delay. Movies come out each month, so what should have come out last month is out now, and what comes out this month will be here next month. The only delay is that instead of movies coming out four months after their theatrical release, they come out five. I can't even see the reason to race to Blockbuster to see something just so's I can see it a month earlier.

I run through the trailers, the ads, the reviews, news articles, etc. If I see a movie I'm interested in, I add it to my Queue. While watching older films I haven't yet seen, I allow the new films to make their way to the top of my Queue, as they come out.

Walt D in LV

[Adam]

In general, the 28 day delay really doesn't bother me at all. I'm willing to wait an extra month to get a new movie like Robin Hood or Date Night mailed to me because I've got hundreds of other older movies that I can watch while I wait for those 4 weeks to pass.

[Clay]

@The Whiz - well, it amazes me that there are so many people who think that everything happens because Netflix is trying to screw them. Maybe the details about the 28 day delay are known, but I don't know them, and my guess would be that the studio virtually forced it on them. Personally I feel like Netflix is doing their best to make the most stuff available as soon as possible, but for $9 or $17 a month you obviously can't have everything. Also, DVDs are released at a schedule set by studios, so how is this really any different than the studio waiting an extra month to release a DVD (in which case you'd never even notice)?

[c]

Yes. Promoting the sale of dvds is smart and in their best interests. When you consider how much Netflix is changing the game, how much they're growing, and how important their streaming services are becoming - What's good for the studios needs to be good for Netflix. DVD sales are good for the studios.