… wow. Ben Affleck perfectly predicting Spotify and Netflix in a random 2003 interview
Almost exactly right about the unit economics of annual music subscriptions and the timing of online movie streaming. Solid point too on how shareware (Napster) is a necessary predecessor pic.twitter.com/mpEgRPK4zL
— John Backus (@backus) July 8, 2018
2003 was not a wondrous year to be Ben Affleck. Not only did he star in the almost universally panned Gigli (through which he became forever known as one half of the first Bennifer) and the unnecessary Daredevil origin story, but he also co-produced (along with Matt Damon) the ill-received The Battle Of Shaker Heights. Yet during a press junket for the film, Affleck appears to have predicted the rise of TV, movie, and music streaming services like Netflix and Spotify.
“I think an annual subscription-based system is one that works,” he offered. “It will be movies on-demand but it will be a tiered structure.” He also distinguished himself from the likes of Metallica while predicting that the rampant peer-to-peer sharing of files was something that the industry would eventually adapt to and counter with reasonably-priced streaming services. “The technology’s not quite there yet, but it will be within five years,” Affleck predicted.
Although Netflix existed as a DVD-rental mechanism way back in 1997, the company began streaming content in 2007 and recently notched 118 million paid users. Spotify wasn’t too far behind and began to stream music in 2008 and now boasts roughly 70 million subscribers.
Indeed, Affleck was onto something, although there’s no accounting for some of his career and tattoo decisions. You can’t win ’em all!
