Sharp drop for Netflix after price changes

Ted MarzilliCEO YouGov Direct
July 20, 2011, 8:29 PM GMT+0

Netflix’s July 12th price structure change announcement has hammered the company’s consumer perception, pushing it from the top spot and down to the bottom of its competitive set, where it remains today, according to YouGov BrandIndex.

In the two weeks since the Netflix announcement on DVD rentals and streaming, the Los Gatos-based company saw its consumer perception with adults sink rapidly below competitors Redbox, DirecTV and even bottom-score dweller Blockbuster, which resides in widely-held negative opinion territory. Brand perception appears to have stabilized recently, although it is still in negative territory.

The brand which seems to have benefited the most appears to be kiosk-based rentail chain Redbox, whose perception has moved from a virtual tie with DirecTV to pulling away to higher positive score numbers.

To put things in scoring perspective, Netflix dropped from a 39.1 Buzz score on July 12th to -14.1 on July 18th, and currently sits at -6, a virtual tie with Blockbuster. At the time of Netflix’s announcement, Redbox was at 12.6 – it’s now at 21.3. During the same time period, DirecTV moved more modestly from 8.2 to 9.4.

Netflix, Redbox, DirecTV and Blockbuster were measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which asks respondents: "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?"