Netflix brought a revolution in the late 90s when you could watch movies on a TV connection irrespective of your choice. It rented DVDs via snail mail and made the entertainment available at your doorsteps. Nevertheless, its entire journey from renting DVDs to why is it called Netflix is an interesting story to gossip about.
You can watch a movie for $8 at the theatre but with this streaming platform, you can watch as many as you want. That’s the craziest thing ever made possible.
Netflix is a catchy name and easy to remember. Certainly, the founders were looking for it and have been lucky with this one word since 1997.
Why Is Netflix Called Netflix?
Netflix is easy to decode – “Net + Flix” where “Net “stands for the internet and “Flix” stands for movies a synonym of flicks.
It was established in the year 1997 in Scotts Valley, California when two entrepreneurial minds Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph collapsed together.
Their idea was to bring a revolution while renting the DVDs to their customers via mail. Starting from posting DVDs to streaming thousands of movies, documentaries, original series, and dramas it created a customer base of over 200 million users. It offers movies and other varieties from various countries.
How Netflix Won The Market?
Initially, they used to post the DVDs selected by the users on the website. Once the user has finished watching, it could be sent back to Netflix.
Starting with $6 (including $2 postage charges), Netflix started a subscription model. Under this model, a user was offered unlimited time to keep the DVDs but for a new one, the user had to return the previous one.
This move created a market where Netflix was directly challenging the existing players like Blockbuster and Blu-ray. However, they were successful in spreading the aura even when players like Blockbuster existed.
In the year 2000, Netflix got hit with a $57 million loss and Blockbuster got an opportunity to buy it at $50 million. Unfortunately, Blockbuster did not grab it and now it is nowhere to be placed.
Later in the year 2006, Netflix saw an increase in its subscriber base. It reached 6.3 million subscribers and announced a price called “Netflix Prize” committing prize money of $1 million for completing a task.
The Turning Point Of Netflix
In 2007, Netflix finally came up with a new and most successful plan to go online. It started streaming as “Watch now” a new model introduced in the business.
In 2009, this streaming giant collaborated with smart TV companies and Playstation services. With this plan, the subscriber base then increased to 12 million and the winner of the Netflix Prize also got selected – “Bellkor’s Pragmatic Chaos” team.
Netflix was going strategically and kept planning futuristically. In the year 2010, it added its services to Apple devices such as iPad, iPhone, and iPod. It also extended its network to Canada and got an increase of 20 million subscribers into its credit.
The year 2011 was a somewhat daredevil one for Netflix. It announced that it would split the two businesses, renting the DVDs and the streaming. The former would now be called Qwikster and the subscriber plan would also be redesigned. However, it went the opposite and it saw a decline in the subscriber base of almost 6,00,000. Hence, the idea to rename the DVD business dropped. However, the split was on the line.
This streaming giant was performing well and the result could be seen as the awards won in 2013. It was nominated for 31 Primetime Emmy nominations for dramas, and comedy series including the nonfiction “House Of Cards,” “Orange Is The New Black” and “The Square”.
The Ultimate Success
Many times, Netflix has encountered controversies for its content. Nevertheless, it is proven to be one of the best players in the internet market today.
The year 2016 became the year of ultimate success for Netflix. It gained a place in the market of 130 countries across the world and by the end of it makes it to 190 countries in total. This year only, it introduces the “Download Now” feature in the service of its users.
Since then, it has gotten a year-by-year expansion in the market of streaming. Even now, it has been holding its place when competitors like Amazon Prime, Disney +, and more are on the same track. Just because of its quality and content, It makes people curious about “why is it called Netflix”.
