Before Netflix became the premier streaming service it has become today, it was a small company that started with 30 employees and only 925 titles available at launch. Netflix was founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph and they came up with the idea while carpooling home from work together. Originally Netflix was a DVD rental site and when a customer ordered a DVD they would send it in the mail to the customers door instead of them having to drive to go pick it up from a store.
In 1999 Netflix would begin to offer a subscription service to its customers for $15.95, which allowed customers to pick the DVD's they wanted and there was no late fee or due dates for the return of the DVD's. At the turn of the century in 2000 Netflix would introduce a movie recommendation system on their website which allowed Netflix to recommend movies to its customers through their past selections. Another form of technology which made Netflix stand out from the competition due to the connivance of it. Fast forward three years and in 2003 Netflix would cross over one million subscribers.
2007 Netflix would introduce streaming which allowed customers to watch movies and TV shows instantly online instead of having to wait for Netflix to mail it to them. At launch however Netflix had very limited choices for streaming compared to their DVD library. In 2008 Netflix began to partner with electronic companies like Playstation and Xbox so that customers could stream Netflix through gaming devices then allowing customers to be able to watch streamed movie and TV shows on television instead of the computer. Following that in 2010 Netflix would launch streaming on mobile devices so customers could now take their shows on the go with them.
Starting in 2011 Netflix would start to expand out of the U.S. first by going to Latin American countries and the Caribbean. In 2012 Netflix would make its way to Europe for the first time by becoming available in the UK and Ireland. In 2016 Netflix would expand into 130 countries with the exceptions of China, North Korea, Russia, and Syria. Netflix would also now be available in 21 languages. This would directly lead to Netflix's subscriber count to jump from 60 million to almost 100 million in 2016 alone.
Netflix has been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to streaming sites around the world. After Netflix you have started to see many other streaming sites gain popularity such as Max, Peacock, or ESPN+. Because of Netflix and other companies now getting into live streaming, it has directly led to the downfall of cable as more streaming companies are picking up events people want to see like sports. Netflix and World Wrestling Entertainment just recently announced a 10 year $5 billion deal to have WWE Monday Night Raw exclusively stream on Netflix starting in January 2025. This will be the first time in the over 30 year history of the show that it will not be on cable. Also Netflix by releasing their own successful original programming it opened the door to other streaming services to copy them and do the same thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment