Quickflix joins Panasonic, hits Xbox in September
The Quickflix WatchNow service has been picking up speed this past week, announcing new children's content as well as launches on Panasonic Blu-ray players and Xbox 360.
Quickflix is growing its streaming audience rapidly, and with the addition of Panasonic and Xbox 360 platforms, plus the announcement of expanded content for kids, it looks set to continue.
Over the past few days, Quickflix has made a flurry of announcements. First, it was an expansion to its line-up of kid-friendly streaming content; a big draw for parents who may have been sitting on the fence up to this point. Having a library of good kids' content available on demand both at home and on the road can be a lifesaver.
Then we heard from Panasonic, when it announced the addition of Quickflix streaming to a range of Blu-ray products, joining other services such as Plus7 and ABC iView.
Finally, The Australian has reported that Quickflix CEO Chris Taylor stated that the streaming service will also be added to Xbox 360 by "the end of the quarter". Quickflix is already available on PlayStation 3, as well as Sony televisions, Samsung smart TVs and via both iOS and Android (Samsung handsets only at this stage) for mobile and tablet. Adding Panasonic and Xbox in to the mix puts it in a great position to grow its subscriber base, which should, in turn, give it more leverage to improve the library of available programming.
This leaves LG's smart TV platform as the only obvious exclusion, but Taylor also suggested that they hope to do something with LG soon.
Quickflix also launched its streaming service offering for New Zealand in March.
While Quickflix has been in the postal DVD-rental business for almost 10 years, the past year of expanding its WatchNow streaming platform makes it feel like things are just getting started. In The Australian's report, Quickflix identified 31,000 streaming subscribers — a growth of 40 per cent over the previous quarter.
"There is a chicken-and-egg thing with launching a service like this," suggested Taylor. Which comes first? Platforms, customers or library? It seems that Quickflix is moving quickly on the first two, and, as they improve, there is little doubt that the company will improve its negotiating position for increasingly valuable content. HBO now holds an ownership stake in Quickflix, and while Foxtel remains HBO's preferred partner for first-run programming, it will be interesting to see how the HBO partnership develops directly, and perhaps enhances Quickflix's standing when negotiating with other US content companies for digital rights.