Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) or Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN): Who Wins?

An unfair match
But the biggest advantage over the networks is one that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) both enjoy: their on-demand platform. That allows them to launch any number of shows without the need to spend millions to assemble a huge audience for episode No. 1. And while ABC and NBC have just a few prime time-slots to trade content around, their Internet-based competitors have no such calendar constraints.

A string of poor choices on a new show can be brutal to the networks’ bottom lines. Both Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) reported lower ratings for the first three months of 2013, pulling down advertising revenue and profits for the divisions.

Bottom line
Given those weaknesses in the linear TV model, it seems clear that the hit shows of the future won’t be chosen by a handful of network executives only to battle over that coveted 8 p.m. Sunday-night time slot. Now the big question is whether it will be a data- or popularity-based model that works better.

And as for the shows that just got hacked out of the network calendar, it isn’t curtains for them yet. They can always move online, where they’ll have more time to build an audience, and less pressure to succeed right out of the gate.

The article Netflix vs. Amazon.com: Who Is Right About the Future of TV? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Demitrios Kalogeropoulos.

Fool contributor Demitrios Kalogeropoulos owns shares of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) and Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX). The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Netflix, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com, Netflix, and Walt Disney.

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