On Netflix (Pt.1)
What would happen if technology disappeared in our world? Imagine if technology had disappeared, what would happen to the humans who were not on their phones anymore?
During our digital age, most people in the street embrace their smartphones without understanding the dark side of technology. Their phones are full of applications that cannot be put down easily. The reason is that those applications often keep them hooked, making them vulnerable. One of the cyber technologies that make people addicted is Netflix.
Before digging deeper into the case study of Netflix, let me give you a brief introduction. Netflix was co-founded in Scotts Valley in California in August 1997 by two software engineers named Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings. It is the world-leading online DVD movie rental service, allowing more than one million members access to more than 15,000 movies.
On April 14, 1998, when Randolph had not a clue what to sell, Hastings thought of an idea after forgetting to return a movie before the due date and ended up paying USD40 as a late fee. On that same day, the website was launched with a start-up cost of USD2.5 million. Initially, Netflix operated with a more traditional pay-per-rental method before introducing the monthly subscription method in September 1998.
Afterward, the company ended the paper rental system in 2000 and started to apply the online retail service. Since then, more customers have access to the online service which benefits the company. By 2016, Netflix was accessible worldwide, creating more original content for existing members while growing its membership.
For years since technologies are advanced, people start to watch movies online using Netflix. Netflix is a streaming website and application that provide hundreds of thousands of movies and TV shows to users. According to a speaker during the NodeConf EU last year in 2018, more than 130 million customers in over 190 countries are streaming Netflix for 140 million hours per day.
The figures are astonishing, considering we have more than 10 billion people living on the planet today. Users who are members visit Netflix every single day to stream movies as they enjoy the service provided by Netflix.
How the company attracts users is that they provide three different streaming plans for them to choose from. The first plan is the Basic Plan, which allows users to stream movies and TV shows in the standard definition using one device at a time. This enables them to download titles to one phone or tablet. The Basic Plan is the cheapest which costs only USD 9. It is the most economical option for them if it is only for their use.
If users need more than one device to watch movies, they can purchase the Standard Plan. This lets them download titles to two phones or tablets. It also allows them to watch movies on two devices in high definition at the same time.
However, it is restricted to full high definition, so if they want to access the full HD, they should purchase Premium Plan as it has the best resolution. The other good thing is that they can access up to four devices at the same time. This is of benefit to them if they want to share the account with their families and friends.
The other feature that Netflix has is the secret genre codes. While users are searching for different categories, Netflix uses an algorithm to find the movies they are going to watch. By doing so, the different genres can have a unique code to distinguish the difference. At the same time, users can look for the desired groups of categories and pick the titles they want.
For instance, if a user looks for a British genre, the website link will be shown as https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/52117?bc=83. Here, 52117 is the code for the British genre, and here https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/10375?bc=83, 10375 is the code for comedies. Every time users search for a new genre, they will get a different code. ‘https://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/NUMBER’ is the “formula” of the link each time when a new genre is searched. In the later section, I’ll talk more about how Netflix uses technologies to earn money.
Netflix plays an important role in updating new movies and letting users know about them. When new movies or episodes are added to the system, users will receive notifications about what is coming. If users don’t find the movies they would like to watch, they can simply request some suggestions for their preferences.
(Pt.1 ends here. Stay tuned for pt.2.)
