How Netflix Became a Leading Streaming Service

Utkarsh Maurya
3 min readMay 12, 2023
Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

Netflix is a leading streaming service, with millions of subscribers around the world. But how did it all start? In this article, we’ll take a look at how Netflix became a leading streaming service.

The Early Days of Netflix

Netflix was founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph as a DVD rental-by-mail service. At the time, Blockbuster was the dominant player in the video rental market, with thousands of stores around the world. But Hastings and Randolph saw an opportunity to disrupt the market by offering a more convenient and cost-effective way for people to rent movies.

How Netflix Became a Leading Streaming Service

So how did Netflix become a leading streaming service? The answer lies in a combination of factors, including its innovative approach to movie rental, its focus on data analytics, and its investment in original content.

Innovative Approach to Movie Rental

One of the key factors that helped Netflix become a leading streaming service was its innovative approach to movie rental. By offering a subscription-based service that allowed customers to rent DVDs by mail without incurring late fees, Netflix disrupted the traditional video rental market. This made renting movies more convenient and cost-effective for customers, and helped build a loyal customer base.

Focus on Data Analytics

Another factor that helped Netflix become a leading streaming service was its focus on data analytics. Netflix used data analytics to track customer behavior and preferences, which helped the company make more informed decisions about what content to acquire and produce. This allowed Netflix to offer a more personalized viewing experience to its customers, which helped build a loyal customer base and differentiate the company from its competitors.

Investment in Original Content

Finally, Netflix became a leading streaming service by investing heavily in original content. By producing its own movies and TV shows, Netflix was able to differentiate itself from its competitors and offer exclusive content that couldn’t be found elsewhere. This helped attract new customers to the platform and helped retain existing customers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Netflix became a leading streaming service by offering a more convenient and cost-effective way for people to rent movies, by using data analytics to offer a more personalized viewing experience, and by investing in original content. By focusing on these key factors, Netflix was able to disrupt the traditional video rental market and become the successful streaming service it is today.

If you want some more insider information, here are some movies that I recommend you to watch:

The Great Hack (2019) — a documentary film that examines the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which had implications for the 2016 US Presidential election, and how it affected the development of Netflix’s original series, “The Great Hack”.

The Dirt (2019) — a biographical drama film that follows the story of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, which signed a deal with Netflix to produce a biopic based on their autobiographical book of the same name.

Holidate (2020) — a romantic comedy film that features a character who works for a streaming service similar to Netflix, and who creates content for the platform.

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Utkarsh Maurya

Web Dev? Nah, I Speak Binary! C & asm to cloud, Bash & Python to pipelines – I engineer solutions from the core to the cloud.