CEO Reed Hastings claims he’s not worried about Apple at all.. Or does he? Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5WPR, shares his thoughts on this presentation.

1. Netflix Not Fazed by Apple Competition

2. Apple is coming after streaming TV, and they are coming at lightning
speed with a huge budget pushing R&D. If the current market players
are concerned, don’t count Netflix CEO Reed Hastings among them.
The notoriously cavalier Hastings claims he’s not worried about Apple
at all. Hubris? Maybe. We’ll see. The market isn’t feeling the love.
Recently, shares of Netflix fell 8 percent after the news that Apple is
considering a move into original streaming programming. That
programming would almost certainly compete against Netflix, Amazon
Prime and others.

3. Hastings remained defiant. “Other people are doing shows too,” CNN quoted
Hastings as saying, “HBO is doing shows, FX is doing shows … so the fact that
additional tech companies may be doing shows that’s really not that big of a
deal given the total number of shows being produced …”
Maybe Hastings has a right to be cocky. After all, two of Netflix’s original
series – Orange is the New Black and House of Cards – proved to be huge
hits, and others, such as Daredevil, got better than expected fan reactions.
So far, Netflix is doing better than well with its original programming. So
maybe Apple has more ground to make up than prognosticators – and the
market – realize.

4. Confidence can be a good thing, particularly when you can back it up.
Hastings told CNN he is proud of “great shows” such as Narcos, a new
program that dramatizes the history of cocaine trafficking. Then there’s
the rapid international growth. Netflix just launched in Japan, and
Hastings insists there are plans in the works to be across “every
country” in Asia sometime in 2016.

5. All of these are reasons for Netflix to celebrate, but patting yourself on
the back as a front-runner can present opportunities for up and comers
to sneak close and even past you in the race. Coasting, particularly in
an industry booming like streaming video is, is a great way to find
yourself going from leader to also-ran in a flash. Just ask BlackBerry.

6. Ronn Torossian is the Founder of NYC based PR Firm 5W PR. 5WPR has
offices in New York, Denver and Los Angeles.