Blog 5 - History of Netflix

As we all know, Netflix is the most popular streaming service. There are about 260 million subscribers worldwide. The U.S. alone takes up about 30% of its total subscribers. 

In 1997, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings had the idea of renting DVDs through the mail. After testing a few times, they came up with the idea of Netflix. The name was combined from two words - internet and flicks (slang for film). They combined the two words and came up with "Netflix". This is because, through the internet, you can rent a flick from them. After coming up with their name, they created the website - Netflix.com! They inspired Blockbusters and Redbox to do the same thing as them. Netflix has done many things to change the way people watch shows now. 

This is the OG website!

The Impact of Netflix

As I said before, Netflix was the first streaming and rental service for people to watch their favorite movies. It has impacted the way we watch shows now. But let's go back in time - it started as a website to rent DVDs. How did it change to a streaming service? Netflix decided to change their ways and worked with video game companies and Blu-ray discs. Streaming started in 2007 when they stopped sending the movie rentals. During this time, they started creating Netflix Originals - the first was Lilyhammer. 

Netflix has done a great deal in changing the way people watch television. When TV first came out, cable was huge but it was filled with commercials and ads. People started to become sick of this because it would take away from the show. When watching a season of a show, they would release one episode a week which created an anticipation to continue watching. Netflix was the only streaming service at the time so it became very popular as it had all the shows and movies people wanted to watch. As more people started to use Netflix, it started declining the usage of cable networks. People had to pay a small amount of money a month to watch their favorite shows so to them, it was totally worth it. Change really started to happen when Covid hit in 2020 with people staying at home all the time. Everyone wanted to watch their favorite shows and since they were at home, they could watch more than one episode a night - creating the term binge-watching. This term refers to people watching a whole season in one sitting. This is because they would release all the episodes in one day. 

Netflix today has changed so much from the day it started. At first, it was just a DVD rental service and now it has turned into a huge streaming service and has inspired so many other channels to create their own. Since this, Netflix has had some heavy competition but it still holds the number one ranking. Netflix has done a great job of creating a "new" way of watching TV. They have created their own shows and movies, have suggested lists of shows you might like, and have changed the way we think of television. To think, if these two men never thought of this idea, would we be watching television a different way?