If someone were to ask me what recent technological invention, I thought had the largest impact on my day-to-day life, I would have to choose Netflix. It is something that I use every day whether it be for fun like watching a tv show with friends in my dorm room or for educational purposes when I watch a documentary for class.
Although people were originally against the idea of Netflix it has turned out to be a huge success. In 1997 Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings got together and created Netflix, an online DVD sale and rental site, which was based upon Amazon’s idea of selling products over the internet. After one year of both selling and renting DVDs, Randolph and Hastings decided to focus only on rentals. An interesting fact about the creation of Netflix was that Amazon offered to buy it when Netflix was only two months old. Although Randolph thought the sale was a good plan Hastings turned it down as he owned seventy percent of the company.
Many people believe Netflix was the reason that Blockbuster went out of business but that is actually not the case. A few years after they received the offer from Amazon, Netflix started to go downhill, and the creators tried to convince Blockbuster to buy the company. Unfortunately for Blockbuster they said no because they did not believe the dot com thing was going to take off. This ended being a good thing for Netflix as Blockbuster eventually tried to get into the online rental market but was not able to do so successfully due to infighting and corporate debt. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/22/how-netflix-almost-lost-the-movie-rental-wars-to-blockbuster.html. If Blockbuster had been successful, they might have crushed Netflix because they had so many more resources. It was Blockbuster’s lack of vision, that really allowed Netflix to survive and grow. Today Netflix has taken off and Blockbuster has closed all but one of their stores.
In 2007 Netflix expanded and began streaming over the internet with video on demand. Originally, they only had 1000 movies available to for streaming and everything else needed to be rented as a DVD online. In 2010 Netflix created its first standalone streaming service and expanded to Canada.
In 2012 Netflix’s first original series, Lilyhammer was released. However, it was the Netflix original series House of Cards, which was released in 2013 that really drew attention to the service and helped launch Netflix as content creator. House of Card was also responsible for the concept of binge watching, something that had previously not occurred. This changed how consumers watched media and is a critical part of streaming services today.
By 2016 Netflix had expanded and was available in more than 190 countries and territories. As you can see Netflix has grown and changed over time and is used worldwide. Netflix also saw significant growth in 2020 as the global pandemic and resulting lockdowns led to a huge demand for streaming services. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52376022
Netflix future is not without potential problems, however. The company has seen as sharp decline in subscribers as the restrictions from Covid has loosened and some controversial shows such as Cuties have led to boycotts of the company. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2020/10/20/netflix-subscriber-growth-slows-after-surging-during-pandemic/ Additionally the concerns about the effects of binge watching are also growing https://www.verywellhealth.com/binge-watching-and-health-5092726 and could also impact the company.
Netflix show “The Crown” recently won the prize for best drama at the 73rd Emmy Awards and “The Queen’s Gambit” won for best limited series, so despite some possible setbacks, Netflix is also having successes. This is very good news for me, as I can absolutely state that I am a Netflix addict and I would really hate to see it go away.
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