A glimpse into the mind of Mitch Lowe: The man behind Netflix, RedBox, and MoviePass

In his book "Watch and Learn," Mitch Lowe chronicles his role in transforming entertainment through Netflix, Redbox, and MoviePass, while offering insights on leadership, innovation, and the evolving Indian OTT market.

Its 8.30 am on a fine morning, and we started the day with Netflix – Well, talking to one of the Co-founding Executive of Netflix, former CEO of Movie Pass, former President of RedBox and now an author – Mitch Lowe. He has been a leader in some of the most influential and disruptive companies in the entertainment business.

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Could you discuss your book, ” Watch and Learn: How I Turned Hollywood Upside Down with Netflix, Redbox, and MoviePass―Lessons in Disruption”?

I grew up in California in the 1960’s, a booming time of music and movies, and from a very young age, I have been fascinated by television, by movies, and by music.

The Silicon Valley coming up after that, with Hewlett-Packard and all the chip makers, was making me a huge fan of technology. Being fascinated with movies and technology, I was looking at various ways to bring these stories alive, out of the theatre, which helped in my evolving my nascent thought of another mode of storytelling reaching us: the DVD and video rental business and then Netflix.

Can you talk about your experience as an early pioneer working on the metaverse?

The metaverse is the next big invention after the Internet. It opens a whole new domain of interacting in real life. You can interact with other real individuals, such as introducing yourself to the director of your favourite Netflix series or conversing with other shoppers in a metaverse mall about their product experiences. It is still in its infancy, but it will improve the experience of shopping, entertaining, and gaming with people from around the world. I believe it will educate us on global behaviours, interests, and lifestyles.

What are your thoughts on being a leader during tough times?

Leaders needs to develop a clear understanding of their core values, especially during times of prosperity and success. The recession got the ball moving. Transparency is key, as it allows for meaningful decision-making before any problems arise.

How should organisations capitalise on customised content?

Listen to your own employee – My advice, pick up the youngest member of the team and talk to them about the content, Companies learn things which they never learn otherwise, as the young have still not learned to be politically correct yet. It’s one of the most powerful ways to innovate, and you decipher and distribute it to your customers through different mediums.

What are your lessons on entrepreneurship?

Failure is a motivator, character building, it teaches you about things not to do and what you can do, in hindsight. Hence, learn from your mistakes, but be aware that it’s not an absolute lesson. Don’t lose the mindset to explore and take risks. Innovation and change follow risk.

How are the board and innovation intertwined in any given organisation?

Innovation starts at the top and is one of the hardest things for the board to allocate budget, without the guarantee of feasible results. An example of far-reaching consequences can be seen in the case of the police departments in small towns in America. The cops lost money due to fewer cases of drunk driving, as people had started using UBER – It’s a small example of unheard repercussions- Hence the Board needs to be convinced to invest in disruption and innovation, regardless of the impact.

What’s your view on the Indian OTT scenario?

A fascinating growing market with 120 million households and 1070 million subscriptions There is so much scope for niche service providers, focusing on musicals, romances, or mysteries. In North America, this need evolved into various service providers, we can look at a similar effect here too. It is a very exciting time to be in the Indian OTT market, for sure.