Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph worked together at Pure Atria a Software Company. Their company was doing a merge with another firm leading to them both losing their jobs. Marc and Reed would drive to work together discussing random business ideas, but Marc then remembered that DVDs had just arrived in Japan. In 1997 Marc and Reed went to Books & Reeds Record and bought a CDC, in which they shipped to Reed’s house. When it arrived unbroken they knew they had come up with the best business idea.
August 29th, 1997 Netflix was up and registered using at least $1.9 Million from Reed. From 1997-1999 Netflix packed DVDs in envelopes and sent them to each customer, it was first a per-pay rental, which was .50 cents plus postage and late fee. In 1998 Netflix launched their first website, which allowed you to list the movies you wanted to rent, and each time you sent on back, you would receive your next movie. At this time Netflix rented out 900 titles, and within the first 15 minutes of the website launch, it crashed, leading them to run to the store and buy more services. By the end of the day, there were 137 orders.1999 Netflix opened their monthly subscription for around $15 monthly, for limited rentals with no late fees or other dues. Netflix gained 239,000 subscribers and expanded to 3,100 titles. In the early 2000s, there were complaints of DVDs taking too long to arrive which led to Netflix opening regional warehouses for overnight shipping.
In 2007 Netflix began streaming directly to TVs and computers through a “watch now” service, this lowered the cost of a physical DVD subscription to $5.99 a month and an online subscription to maintain the same at about $15. In 2013 Netflix started its own original shows, the first show was Lilyhammer followed by House Of Cards. Netflix has only grown substantially in the last 20 years with more than 209 Million subscribers in over 190 countries.
Netflix has completely changed the way people watch TV and movies, not just how we watch them but the inclusion of these shows/movies as well. There is not one person in this world that doesn’t know what Netflix is, subscribers increase around 10% each year. This is due to the reasonable pricing for a monthly subscription with no abs or other fees. Not only is it a reasonable price but you are also able to share the password with multiple people. Netflix wanted to change the way people viewed shows and movies, and how we could rent them out. They wanted people or families to have accessibility to movie night, and not make someone feel rushed to make sure the caseet tape, CDC, or even DVD is in on time. Not just fees but also where to watch
it, they expanded their site so it was easier for you to watch the things you were interested in, at your time and location.
Not only did they change the way we watch shows and movies, but also the impact on how these movies may change our perspective on the world. “The Netflix Effect” is a phenomenon that Netflix series can influence our real life. Whether this is fashion, educational, or even a mindset on an idea. “The Netflix Effect” also relates to the overnight fame of people just being on a show or a movie. For example, in all reality TV shows, people go into these shows not being famous or only maybe a few thousand people knowing their name, to then millions of people knowing personal information and millions of followers. Netflix fame is like no other and can completely change someone’s life.
Netflix has had a huge impact on how people now binge movies or TV series. Although there are so many website look-alikes such as HULU, Disney +, and HBO Max, Netflix doesn’t have a popular name like them. They built from the ground up gaining the trust and loyalty of their subscribers.
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