This Is the Year of Netflix
Netflix is a Wall Street darling. It has survived and thrived with more competitors than you can count, including cable, satellite and other streaming services. But is this streaming service going to survive the next round of mergers and competition?
For the most part, Netflix is just a brand. It is a middle-man that shares movies and TV for a fee. Most of Netflix’s content is not owned by Netflix. But that is changing as the “network” invests more in new content (and is receiving more and more acclaim).
Yet there are rumblings from some big players that seem crouched and ready to pounce: Amazon (which already has a service) and Apple (remember what Apple did to the music industry). 
Streaming is growing. There is no question about that. The streaming industry is going to continue to merge, consolidate, expand, disrupt and experiment. Without new and valued content, no streamer will survive. Watch those that invest in new content and then control the franchises. They will be winners.
Just like a TV network of old, news shows attract eyeballs and help you sell other new shows. Streaming organizations will then begin to find ways to further monetize their investments so you will see more and more advertising fishing in the stream. Then carefully watch the advertisers. We always follow the data and the eyeballs.
This is the year of Netflix, tomorrow it may be Apple. 
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.