Blockbuster Inc. (BBI) is ramping up its assault on NetFlix (NFLX) by continuing its Super Bowl television campaign it started with Carl, the rabbit and his guinea pig buddy, Ray. They first introduced the pair in the 2002 Super Bowl in an effort to wrest share from their rival who has kept far ahead of them to this point. The campaign seems to be having an affect upon the battle.
Netflix has acknowledged that it was going to be a war with Blockbuster this quarter because of a strong marketing drive. It has forced Netflix to cut prices on its lower subscription plan by a dollar to help it to keep growing.
Blockbuster's chief strategy with the duo is to use them to talk about their Total Access program they initiated to attempt to differentiate between themselves and Netflix. So far it seems to be working as they have added a hefty 700,000 new subscribers over a 2-month period. If the Super Bowl ad works, it could make a serious dent in the battle between the two.
The Total Access plan highlights the fact that online subscribers can change DVDs at Blockbuster's physical stores, a direct attack on the Netflix mail-only model.
On the Netflix side of things, they've continued their campaign with the Oscar's and ABC (DIS).
Netflix has 6.3 million online subscribers versus Blockbusters 2.2 million.
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