ESTABLISHED TECH/APP/SERVICE — Netflix
An established tech product is Netflix. Founded in 1997, it is currently valued at $2.7B (Techcrunch). What started as a mail-based service has evolved into a digital platform that only has tv shows and films from popular networks, but also is producing original content. As one of the most ubiquitously-known services in 2017, it sometimes is hard to imagine what the entertainment landscape was like before Netflix. Netflix was one of the first companies to understand the importance of being nimble as technology and user expectations evolve. Pivoting from a mail-based service that sent DVDs by mail to a monthly subscription-based digital service is a huge pivot, and serves as an important example to anyone looking to start a business as well as companies looking to rebrand or move in a different direction. Technology changes so quickly, and it is necessary for companies, especially startups and small businesses, to be able to adapt their products and services if need be.
What I find most interesting about Netflix is that they seem to understand the place they serve within the TV market. Netflix provides an instantaneous feedback that you don’t really get with traditional cable TV. Long gone are they days of waiting each week to watch one episode of your favorite TV show — Netflix releases whole seasons of TV shows at once, allowing consumers to “binge-watch” Netflix seasons as is widely discussed among younger generations. Consumers are hungry for large volumes of digital media, and Netflix is pumping out high-quality original TV series like “Stranger Things” and “Narcos” that are quickly becoming cult-classics with large audiences. Will Netflix eventually overtake cable TV? Stranger things have certainly happened…
