This powerful giant who introduced watching movies and TV series on-demand, legally on the internet and even producing them started very small in mid 90s, renting movies on videos and DVDs through the website and delivering them directly to the customer by mail. Customers paid a monthly fee and might rent as many movies as they want. Subscribers could keep them as long as they wanted, but then receiving only one film at a time. This model has proven to be successful and the company became very profitable in 2003.
DVDs wich were sent home in the characteristic red envelopes become the part of US culture. But there was Blockbuster, the biggest competitor. Netflix proposed them a purchase of 49% of their shares in 2000, but they laughed at them and refused to invest and probably still regrets. The company launched a similar service too late, in 2004. Six years later they declared bankruptcy, while Netflix already had 20 million users.
Meanwhile Netflix IPO took place in 2002. During the IPO they sold over 5 million shares of the company and its value raised to almost 85 billion USD.
Few years later the company began to slowly move away from physical DVD format and loans. They saw the future of streaming videos much earlier than others.
An important event for company was to produce their own tv show House of Cards in 2013. The website also won the exclusive rights to mamy others films and series and collaboration with big studios. Now they are one of the most respected brands in the industry of film production and distribution.
It is said that Netflix is one of the most successful startups in history, and I agree with that. Netflix is from about a year in Poland and its doing very well. Reasons for this are relative small prices, the cheapest variant differs only 10 zlotys from the monthly fee for the Spotify Premium account and large number of films and TV series. I came to Netflix via PlayStation and while using its first free month I have watched a lot of movies and TV shows, which previously I did not know or had no opportunity to see them earlier. After one month I stopped subscription, because I knew that I would not have enough time now to use this platform. So, now in my case it doesn't make any sense to pay for it, but in the near future, it seems to me, that I'll restart my account, because it's definitely worth it. I think that this kind of servieces will end up the era of anarchy caused by piracy on the web. Nowadays, paying relatively small amount of money, we can use all sorts of good quality legal entertainment. So, yeah cosidering the fact that in the whole scale of the internet this kind of platforms could end up illegal usage of it, we are dealing here with another small step in another big thing. Piracy free internet sounds ridiculous, but we are heading in this direction, I'm sure about it.
What do you think about Netflix? Do you use it? Are you watching shows produced by Netflix?
Do you think it's worth to pay for it?
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Comments
I use a similar service for music (Spotify) and I would be glad to pay for content, but currently Netflix doesn't offer as much content worldwide as it offers withing the USA, so I'll wait for a while.
For my entertainment needs, Netflix is a fantastic value. It offers a large catalog of movies, television shows, original content, and documentaries for a low price. I get a commercial-free experience and can watch shows on-demand in whatever amount I want.
From all the shows prodeuced by Netflix, my favourite is Narcos.
I think that any kind of culture like cinema, theatre, shows and so on should be for free for everyone, so I don't think Netflix is one of those things that is worth paying for.
BoJack Horseman, Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards, Daredevil, Narcos, Stranger Things, and many others. After each episode I collect my jaw from the floor, because it makes such a huge impression on me every time. I think that the price for a premium account is not excessive, in addition, that you can split the price for 4 people. I think every TV shows geek will not regret the money spent on Netflix.
I also really like the idea of having a reasonable price for using Netflix. I definitely think that it is worth paying for and I will keep on watching films and shows there as long as they keep current level of services or something better comes up.
It is relatively cheap and yet you can have various movies and series available 24/7.
The only minus and disadvantage I can think of is that in Poland the offer is
much worse and narrow than in other western countries, which means that there are fewer movies and series to watch.
I have watched many series like: Narcos, Vikings, The Suit, The Fall, Stranger things and House of Cards.
Currently I do not have so much time but when I have it again I will definitely look for some more series to watch.
The possibility to watch almost everything you want, at any moment or device is what brought me to this platform.
However my favorite thing about Netflix is their original series such as “House of Cards”, “Orange is the new Black” or “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and that they release all season in one day! I love binge watching so I watch almost whole season in one night.
I like their Tv-series, I have watched Narcos and Black Mirror. Now I would like to try House of Cards. And after this article I will find the time for sure to make an account.
Thanks for the interesting story:)