Google’s Chromecast gives Netflix a boost towards the future

This morning (July 24), Google unveiled an indirect but major challenge to traditional television.

The device, called Chromecast, allows users to stream online video on a television screen.

It’s small—the size as a USB flash drive. It’s cheap—only $35. And it’s simple—essentially “plug and play”.

A Chromecast purchase also comes with a free three-month trial of Netflix. The online video provider is a natural partner for Chromecast. Netflix more than proved that it’s also shaking the status quo when on July 18 it received 14 Emmy nominations.

Jenny McCabe, director of global media for Netflix, was in Vancouver on July 22, and sat down with the Straight to discuss the future of television and entertainment.

“Music and the music industry shifted because of the Internet and now we’re seeing television and movies get there,” McCabe said. “I think that linear television will morph to give consumers more control.”

“Linear television”—the new term for the medium we used to call “television”—will focus more on event-based programming such as sports, news, and reality shows, McCabe predicted. And more-flexible paid-subscription models like Netflix will increasingly be the platforms of choice for dramatic shows and movies.

McCabe guessed that much of what is currently playing on linear television will likely follow Netflix’s lead and be made available through on-demand versions of programming. But she added that we don’t yet know exactly how that’s going to happen.

“The question is whether it will be bundled or unbundled,” McCabe said.

The bundled route might look like a Bell app, for example, where viewers access a list of channels via a username and password. Alternatively, McCabe continued, an unbundled future would see individual channels such as HBO reaching audiences through their own unique apps. (HBO already has such an app available in the United States called HBO Go, though it’s only available with a subscription for the linear television version of HBO.)

Those services will exist alongside Netflix, McCabe said, which is one of the reasons Netflix is placing an emphasis on high-quality original programming of its own.

Netflix no doubt paid a hefty sum to lock down Kevin Spacey for two seasons of House of Cards, the political drama that earned the majority of those 14 Emmy nominations. The rights to produce a new season of the cult-favourite Arrested Development similarly didn’t come cheap. And Netflix’s latest original series, Orange is the New Black, was created by Jenji Kohan, who has eight seasons of the hit Showtime comedy Weeds on her resume.

McCabe revealed that original documentaries and a stand-up comedy series are also in the works.

She conceded that one hurdle with which Netflix struggles is ensuring the public is aware that it is relatively easy to stream Netlfix on large screens preferred by families (as opposed to devices designed for individuals such as an iPad).

Google’s Chromecast device will obviously go a long way in helping audiences arrive at that understanding.

“Users simply plug Chromecast into your TV, connect it to WiFi, then launch Netflix on their Android device, iOS device, or laptop to start playback on the TV,” McCabe said.

She emphasized that the shift in how people access video is all about “TV everywhere”: watching what you want, when you want it, on whatever screen you want to watch it on.

Netflix still has a lot of room to grow. According to its website, there are currently 38 million Netflix subscribers in 40 countries. That sounds like a lot, until it’s compared to NBC’s 41 million primetime viewers and CBS’s 36 million in America alone.

But a “long-term view” presented on a Netflix website designed for investors present an aggressive view of traditional television’s future.

“Internet TV will replace linear TV,” it’s stated there. “Apps will replace channels, remote controls will disappear, and screens will proliferate.”