Netflix nominated for an Emmy and the revolution continues

Netflix was nominated today for an Emmy for its original series Arrested Development, House of Cards and Hemlock Grove. Google is going to try once again to deliver TV service over the Internet. Apple is looking to pay TV networks for commercial-skipping through a premium service. Is there a pattern here or what?

These moves are all signs that companies with deep pockets realize that the consumer model is changing so rapidly that anyone caught on the wrong side of the revolution will have a tough fate. Cord cutting (disconnecting from fixed devices like television sets and phones), just dismissed by cable execs earlier this year as ‘a long way off’ is moving at a very rapid pace.

Consumers and Cloud

These changes represent even more examples of a fast move to an on-demand world where consumers (and businesses) get what they want in the moment they need it. This is a parallel revolution of the move to Cloud computing, where the source of content, computing, storage, etc. is someone else’s problem and is paid for only as it is desired and only as it gets used.

This revolution is led by consumer choice and cafeteria-like choices, whether those consumers are individuals or businesses and is a bellwether of significant disruption for TV networks, audiences, and advertisers just as it will disrupt software companies, distribution channels, services and just about everything else that is bought or sold.

Enjoy the show, just make sure you’re on the right side of the aisle when the change hits your business.