One of the glaring drawbacks on my recent travels has been the inability to catch-up with US content, specifically TV shows. If you try to view content on Hulu.com or via Netflix’s ‘Watch Instantly,’ viewers are presented with messages indicating that such content is not available to audiences outside the United States.
However, in order for mainstream online media to succeed, this has to change. Not only will this be profitable, it will also be the first step in reducing pirated content outside the United States.
For example, on my recent trip to Bangkok, I noticed street vendors selling individual TV seasons for as little as $3.00 — none of which is being received by content owners and producers.
With physical media, it made sense to have certain geographical restrictions. However, with online media, it is a hinderance and a lost opportunity.
US content is popular across the world and continues to be the dominating content in English speaking countries. Streaming such content outside the United States would introduce a new revenue stream for content owners and distributors.
If you were Hulu, wouldn’t it be great to sell the same content to multiple advertisers? If a US visitor views the content, display US targeted advertising. If a UK visitor views the content, display advertising from UK advertisers. The revenue potential is endless and would be an important step forward for mainstream content owners.
The same applies to Netflix — they can charge on a per-country basis. Right now, Netflix only sells to US based customers. What if they could only sell online subscriptions to international markets? Given that the company spends $600 million a year on postage fees and comparatively spends $.05 to stream a single instance of a movie, the profit margin could be tremendous!
