Most, if not all of us, already knew what Netflix was, it has been a part of our everyday lives for as long as most of us can remember, but it had to start somewhere. Netflix was founded back in 1997 by two men named Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. Many of us know Netflix as a way to watch television shows and movies on our TVs, but that's not how it started.
Netflix began when Reed and Marc were curious if there was a way to rent a DVD by mail instead of physically going to a store such as Blockbuster to avoid potential issues such as not having the movie you want, late fees, etc. Marc and Reed had recently had a poor encounter at one of these movie stores with a late rental fee for a movie they were renting. They both ended up getting very frustrated and wanted to figure out if there was a way that they could mail themselves a DVD instead of dealing with the hassle of going to a movie store. They ended up testing it and sent themselves their first DVD, it arrived in perfect condition and timing, and this affirmed them to continue rolling with their idea called Netflix.
Then, in 1998, Reed and Marc launched a website called Netflix.com. This was where customers could order DVDs online and have them shipped directly to their front door. They could keep the DVD for as long as they wanted and re-watch it as often as desired, with no rush to bring it back before a late fee was initiated. The pair even created an option for a subscription to the Netflix service, where you would have one monthly fee with unlimited access to rental movies.
In later years, Netflix became even more advanced with a streaming option so subscribers could stream movies and TV shows from their couches instead of ordering a DVD. From there, it slowly evolved into what many of us know it as today; it even started becoming a worldwide platform, found in not only the United States but also Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, and over 130 other countries.
I not only learned how Netflix came about but also about some of the positive and negative impacts it currently has on our society. Some of the positive effects it has brought about are that it has made it easier for people to find and watch whatever they want, whenever they want. Thanks to the new algorithms, Netflix provides a section called "based on what you've watched" to help viewers find shows or movies they might enjoy. This recommendation section has even started becoming the main section that viewers choose from, meaning that Netflix does an excellent job at creating an algorithm that will intrigue their interest and marketing their new media.
With the positive comes the negative. Although Netflix has provided nothing but convenience to its consumers, one of the significant drawbacks of Netflix is that it started causing other movie companies, such as Blockbuster, to go out of business. Due to Netflix becoming so popular each coming year, many other companies have either started going out of business or losing money because many of their consumers started transferring to Netflix due to its convenience. People even started getting rid of their cable subscriptions due to Netflix providing so much more.
As many of us probably already know, Netflix has begun to take over the entertainment industry providing easy access to our favorite moves and television shows whenever we desire. However, although Netflix has many positives, we as consumers need to be aware of the possible negatives that come along with it; just like I stated before, with positive change comes adverse effects.
No comments:
Post a Comment