Why 'NETFLIX' party failed 🎥

Google will do this & kill you
Think this is true?
Probably mistaken.

Tech giants take forever to build
Only if teams could agree in a week
Or pigs could fly 🐷

So check this 👉 👉

Someone made FREE NETFLIX chrome extension & got 10Mn downloads 🤯 🤯 🤯

Meet Teleparty 🎬

An extension to let people watch movies on NETFLIX, “together”.
Yes, yes, similar to what Disney+ launched during COVID.

But it wasn’t made by NETFLIX.

Originally called NETFLIX Party
Teleparty lets you share experiences.

Not just on NETFLIX though
it offers shared experiences on other platforms too.

Disney+, Hulu, Amazon prime video, and HBO to name a few.

Now, I am gonna change gears to go deeper into Teleparty.

Top features it offered were

• Group chat 👥

• Synchronised video playbacks (HD) 🎬

• Customised experiences - Avatar (personalised experiences) 🤩

The FREE extension for NETFLIX might have brought in users, but, retention kicked in because of pure offering.

Please know, even at this point, NETFLIX did not know about this extension that was enabling 10Mn+ users.

It wasn’t made by NETFLIX. It wasn’t theirs.

So back to Teleparty » » »
So you ask, why did it work again?
Here’s why 👇👇

1. Human connection 
   When everyone craved to meet their friends and family during the lockdown, Teleparty let people connect at a different, more personal level.
   

2. Virality
   Nobody needs convincing when friends recommend it. The extension got people inviting more & more people to it, even stopping them from leaving.
   
   This bore the potential for reducing the cancel rate by 2.0% to 1.9%, this is what a NETFLIX’s ex VP of product management said.
   

3. Security 
   Even though a third-party developed it, the website has come clean about end-to-end encryption, allowing people to trust it even before asking.
   
   They claim not to store your password, delete watch history, and promise not to sell it.

So when the grass is so green, why didn't NETFLIX buy it?
Even better, why didn’t they create something like this?

They did
It did not work ❎

Year: 2008

NETFLIX launched an exclusive feature on Xbox.
It let users enjoy shared streaming.

But even at its peak,
Adoption was less than 5%

🙏 For a feature to have an actual business impact, in NETFLIX’s own words, it needs a penetration of a minimum of 20%.

Which it did not garner.

Why did it not work?

The feature was maybe launched at the wrong place at the wrong time.

In 2008, people could always go to their friend’s house to watch movies.

In fact they preferred watching movies in the theater and not at home, alone, chatting with friends in a chat group.

Back then in world where people would go out more than they’d be at home, a concept like this one where

• Ask your friends

• Pick a movie (a nightmare aligning everyone)

• Hope everyone laughs & comments > on chat group

It wouldn’t sound so natural to a person living in 2008.
Sure 2020 changed everything. But life was different back then.

Takeaway

The feature was on point, but it was too early for its audience.

Teleparty launched it exactly when the audience needed and the product flew and how 🔥

✅ People locked at home
✅ Craving for human connection
✅ Need entertainment

By the way, Teleparty was launched by Shaurya Jain.
Go say Hi 👋 & tell him you read about Teleparty on GrowthX newsletter.

NETFLIX is an innovation machine.
They’ve many setbacks and failed products, but all of that only made the brand stronger. Go dig.

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