Netflix claims the London Olympics is the reason for their massive 25% drop in streaming since the games started. Does this just signal a new permanent trend and how can businesses avoid punches like these in the future?

Just as it looked like the worst was over for Netflix after the price increase, which crushed the stock, this new blow is said to threaten the company's viability even further. The drop in usage could just be a blip as NBC offers complimentary streaming of the Olympic Games via the web and mobile app but either way holds some pretty important lessons for business owners all over the world.

Netflix's demise is a definite shame as it was certainly a unique and valuable service but the video streaming site's story shows that while constant innovation is good bad moves can destroy a company overnight and sometimes protecting business continuity is the best move.

While Netflix maintains it is purely the Olympics temporarily affecting figures, others suggest this may be part of a bigger trend. Certainly Blockbuster has recently run into issues with its effort to compete against Redbox with Redbox buying out the Blockbuster kiosk operator and teaming up with Verizon to launch a Netflix competitor.

So yes, the Olympic and other major events can offer the chance to grab 25% of your competitors' market share in a day with well-timed product releases and marketing but it also means entrepreneurs need to take video more seriously and keep a better eye on what others are planning.

Businesses need to watch trends like this, anticipate events and holidays, which can affect their revenues and market share and adjust plans or beef up marketing accordingly. If it was only about the Olympics couldn't Netflix have clawed back some of those viewers with the release of more sports themed content?

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