1/ RE: Fire TV/Roku disputes

Easy to forget how hard it was for OTT video to just reach consumers

In 2012, top devices for Netflix were Xbox 360/PS3! Families didn't have Internet TVs, iPads. Netflix had apps on treadmills + Nintendo 3DS! Roku's purpose was TO get Netflix on TV

2/ Access has now commodified. Most families have iPads, dozens of devices that can play an app, multi-device support largely turnkey

Netflix is now REDUCING device support; it doesn't need to play on a toaster, a treadmill, your legacy TV.

3/ This is why Apple used to charge 30% for video apps, now it charges 15%. Why Netflix used to signup on iOS, now it's just at http://Netflix.com .

Of course no one wants to change devices or buy a device to watch X or Y, or go to a site to sign up. But they now CAN

4/ The fees/limitations/policies the platforms/devices take or deploy are significant, recurring, never-ending.

When they solved the hardest problem, fair. But again, consider Netflix was once 30-40% consoles, now it's <5%. https://twitter.com/ballmatthew/status/1224821512563314689?s=20

5/ Media goes through waves of competition. #1 is ACCESS - problem/innovation involves getting content to consumers in the first place

#2 is CONTENT - when access commodifies, competition reverts to the point of access: content itself.

#3 is PLATFORM - what you do with eyeballs

6/ Last point is where trickiness comes in. HBO is a channel, HBO Max is intended to be a platform.

It's very difficult to be a platform within another platform (e.g. Fire TV) operating at the same layer.

Platforms need customer, data, full economics, ability to control add-ons