This week, Time Inc. announced that it will be closing down its three year-old Maghound service—billed at its launch as "The Netflix of magazines." Seemed like a decent idea at the time. Turned out not to be. The Netflix business model is not as flexible as previously suspected. In reality, a business plan that reads "The Netflix of [anything new]" is a signal to run in the opposite direction.

  • The Netflix of magazines: See above.
  • The Netflix of books: This is called a library, and it's free.
  • The Netflix of newspapers: What.
  • The Netflix of movies: That's Netflix. They're not doing so well, either.

All media now is digital. As media consumption grows ever more digital, it makes less and less sense to package it and mail it to you, which is the whole essence of the Netflix model. (On demand viewing is Netflix's own recognition of the doomed nature of their own original business plan.)

"The Netflix of..." just won't work any more in media. It's not a great groundbreaking plan elsewhere, either. The Netflix of booze: Beer of the Month Club. The gift you get for the person you don't know well, but suspect is an alcoholic.