Spotify wanted to take on Netflix with Spotify TV

Everyone’s trying to take on Netflix. Amazon has Prime Video and its Originals, Disney has Disney Plus and its own selection of Disney movies, Star Wars and MCU films, Warner Brothers is preparing to launch its own service and so on. What no one really knew till today was that Spotify wanted to as well.

In an excerpt from the new Spotify Untold book shared on Variety, journalists Sven Carlsson and Jonas Leijonhufvud show how the streaming service CEO Daniel Ek conceptualised his Netflix competitor as something more, something that would snatch the reins from the current streaming leaders.

”We are about to enter the Golden Age of Video,” reads a project pitch from February 2012, just before Berkley formally joins Spotify.

Ek believes he has identified a potential gap in the TV market. He wants to build a digital, on-demand alternative to linear broadcasts via cable and satellite. He is not looking to compete directly with Netflix — whose catalog at this time consists mainly of old movies and past seasons of various TV series — but rather to enter the same space as Hulu. Viewers of Spotify are to be served live sports and news, current seasons of popular TV shows and a selection of movies. The Spotify founder instructs the Magneto team — which is asked to keep its mission top secret even inside Spotify itself — to tailor its content for each viewer.

“Your video service will be highly personalized. It will know your tastes and interests and your consumption patterns. It will anticipate what content you want and when you want it,” the early pitch states.

You can read more about the effort from the source link below.

Source: Variety