What Netflix Should Do Next

Netflix has made good on a decade-long promise to become the preeminent digital video distribution company in the US. While some have been surprised by what seems like a sudden rush of success, we here at Forrester have long prognosticated the growth and eventual disruptive power of Netflix. Now that the company has recently raised the rent on its DVD renters, many onlookers are cheering what they believe to be the imminent crash of this powerful company. They are wrong: Netflix will continue to grow and continue to succeed by exploiting the tools of digital disruption. Moreover, its success points the way for many other disruptors that will imitate Netflix's approach. We recommend that established players in any industry vulnerable to digital disruption learn from Netflix how to think and act like digital disruptors rather than stand by and watch their businesses erode.