Why Netflix Will Be Bigger Than Disney

Ingenuity around content, syndication and customer-centricity will ultimately make Netflix a powerhouse. Netflix has no legacy culture to hold it back. One hit after the next, Netflix is unstoppable.

But before I talk about Netflix content, let's look at the way people consume entertainment today.

For the movie business, it's clearly no longer about authentic storytelling, but purely about how big of an audience the movie can generate—how much money can the investors make. Because of that reason, today's movies are terrible. Have you noticed the big films that get made today are often sure-bet remakes of the past? Superhero movie, King Kong man-versus-nature movie, Star Wars remake…Nothing big is original anymore. 

And other than one-offs where people dress up in character and sleep outside the theater for tickets, people aren't going to the movies. According to the LA Times, last year Hollywood suffered its worst-attended summer movie season in 25 years. Part of that could be due to content, but it’s also due to price. Consider the cost of going to the movies: often around $10 per ticket – for an entire family, wow that’s a lot of money. Forget the steep prices of popcorn, candy, and soda, and the time and gas to get there. It adds up quickly. And people are getting better quality content from the comfort of their own living rooms. In your living room you don’t have to consider others’ cell phones beeping, people talking during the movie, or even the uncomfortable notion that many people have about going into a crowded dark theater with no security. We live in a different world today. These things go through our heads.

So going to the movies? Not that fun. But it’s not just the movies that have changed – it’s the nature of what we watch. More and more of what we watch is television. But not just any television – not the kind where we have to sit through advertisements that aren’t relevant for us – that make our eyes bleed.

It’s streaming television – the kind with no ads.

Netflix has had a great few years, and an amazing quarter of financial performance.

Netflix delivers not only with some of the biggest series from broadcast TV, but also huge offerings of original content that engage viewers and showcase amazing creativity. In fact, Netflix's Stranger Things has such a cult following there’s now merchandise available all over the Internet and at stores like Target. For just a monthly fee of $10.99—the cost of one movie ticket—customers have access to the entire Netflix library. There’s no need to make a trip to the theater when you can press play from your couch. It’s obvious that streaming services like Netflix are much more convenient than going to a movie theater or waiting for your favorite show to air on broadcast TV. Netflix has the ability to create niche shows for specific audiences, and it's clear it is going after local markets. Netflix has seen huge success in the U.S., but there’s huge untapped potential in other parts of the world. It has already started to create more original programming and translate existing shows into German, Spanish, French, and other languages. Imagine the possibility as it grows in countries with huge populations, like Brazil. Not to mention that internet penetration is increasing in India and much of Africa. People in these areas don’t often have access to movie theaters and traditional broadcast TV, but with internet and a device, they can be streaming Netflix shows. It’s a huge market that Netflix could potentially dominate in the coming years.

Netflix doesn’t just have business savvy, but the storytelling is unmatched. Early on Netflix had a willingness to push the boundaries – to paint portraits of characters we can’t usually find in mainstream content. For example Netflix has led with is authentic content for women. Whether it's "Orange Is The New Black" (Emmy award winning), "Glow" (SAG Awards) or "The Crown," (Emmy and Gold Globe Award-Winner) Netflix takes chances on women producers, up-and-coming actresses, and storylines that don't paint women as one-dimensional damsels in distress. The women are dynamic and complicated characters with personalities, brains, and struggles other than snagging a prince. This is a huge opportunity Netflix is moving into in a way I haven't seen anyone else do. Women are 50% of the population, so we will follow Netflix if it continues to push the envelope by creating content that's real and not nonsense like we're used to. Netflix has a “spend money to make money” outlook—a customer-centric view. Much of its actions are driven by Millennials. As Millennials get older and start to have their own families, Netflix has begun rolling out original children’s programming to rave reviews. There’s something for everyone, and the ceiling for creativity is incredibly high.

It's only a matter of time before consumers pull the plug on many big cable providers. Consumers pay exorbitant fees to a cable company when they only watch a few shows a month.

Yes there is debate around how net neutrality will impact Netflix, but my belief is the demand for Netflix content is so high consumers will rally together behind the brand to support its prosperity.

Although there are companies that are larger than Netflix and have more resources, small groups of people with ingenuity have always been able to grow quickly—just look at PayPal, Uber, or Airbnb. It doesn’t matter who is older or who has more capital—anything can happen. Netflix is here to stay.

Disclosure: Blake Morgan owns shares of Netflix stock.

Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, author of More Is More, and keynote speaker. Sign up for her weekly newsletter here. Go farther and create knock your socks-off customer experiences in your organization by enrolling in her new Customer Experience School.

Originally published on Forbes.com