Online DVD rental service Quickflix is targeting aggressive expansion in the year ahead with the company buying the BigPond DVD rental service from Telstra as it prepares a nationwide marketing campaign and a push into digital distribution.
Confirming its move into digital space, the company announced this morning that former Telstra executive Justin Milne, who headed up the telco’s BigPond and media businesses, has joined as an executive director.
“Justin will be joining us on the board. He oversaw a lot of the BigPond service and millions of customers during his tenure, and he’s also the father of T-Box and that whole digital media strategy,” Quickflix chairman Stephen Langsford says.
“It’s absolutely terrific we’re getting him involved and it comes at a time where the market is consolidating and we’re bringing on the expertise to help monetise further and bring our paying customer base up to one million.”
The addition comes as Quickflix begins focusing on digital distribution of films along with its traditional model of mailing out DVDs to customers.
The move confirms where the market is heading already, with Microsoft and Telstra offering films via Xbox and BigPond services.
While BigPond may have ditched its DVD component it may find itself going head to head with Quickflix in the future as it reveals its digital strategy.
“We’ve never thought of ourselves as just a DVD business although there is huge growth in that area,” Langford says.
“We’ve previously signalled that we most definitely will be launching a digital service to complement our existing products.”
He pointed to Netflix, which has achieved huge success in the US with DVD and digital distribution methods. Its apps are some of the most popular on the Apple store and it has expanded its services, allowing films to be downloaded via video game consoles and other set-top boxes.
“If there’s any successful model it’s what Netflix has done in the US,” Langford says.
“The formula of merging DVD distribution and digital has worked and absolutely that’s something we’ll be working on as well.”
The acquisition of BigPond DVD’s infrastructure won’t hurt either. By buying the service, one of Australia’s most popular online retail destinations, Langford has expanded the company’s library of titles, which is a critical drawcard.
Quickflix said yesterday its commercial agreement with Telstra will see it make variable payments based on the number of customers transferred to the new service but the real buy is the library of DVD and Blu-Ray discs, with more than 40,000 to be added to Quickflix’s existing 50,000.
Langford says the company is now able to start marketing more aggressively.
He has delayed marketing campaigns in the past but with the total number of subscribers nearing 100,000 Langford is ready to start expanding his customer base.
“I feel that we have a great service. We have over 20,000 Facebook fans, we can tell that people love our services and we know it’s time to get going,” he says.
“Netflix isn’t coming to Australia any time soon either. We’re in a good position.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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