Back in the late 90’s, Reed Hastings, the man who breathed life into Netflix, realised, the way to get over avoiding late fees for the videos he rented was not by fighting the system, but by creating his own video rental platform. While the idea for Netflix came in 1997, the official website was launched on the 14th of April, 1998. Armed with an idea, 30 employees, an initial investment of $ 10 million and 925 titles to its name, Hastings and his partner, Marc Randolph, gave birth to the official Netflix website.

The beginning

For the first month, Netflix worked with a simple formula: giving people the option to browse through and rent the videos they wanted. Back then, the DVD format was just beginning to be accepted in place of VHS tapes, making it extremely easy for the team to mail videos through the rental service. By 1999, the service became extremely popular and the Netflix team decided to charge people a monthly subscription fee for renting videos!

This was a new path for the Netflix team. Not only were there no late charges, there was also no restriction on the number of DVDs you could rent and there were no shipping fees. This gave people the option to spend more time on the website by browsing through the large catalogue with complete ease! As a result of the consumer specific approach, the primary rival of Netflix, Blockbuster, suffered majorly, giving Netflix the dominance in this field. What could get better?

Unfortunately for Netflix, while their idea was spot on, the format wasn’t quite growing according to the plan for the first few years. Only a small percentage of Netflix’s regular user base had access to DVDs and VHS tapes were still a more preferred form of watching movies. Slowly through the years, as DVDs became more accepted, the online platform recorded its first ever profit ($ 6.5 million in the year 2007.) Soon after, Reed realized, they had to change the way people looked at Netflix and with this in mind, the team came up with a product which would redefine online streaming forever.

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The birth of online streaming

By February 2007, Netflix announced the streaming feature, the first ever feature which would let people watch their favourite content on the internet. The introduction of the “Watch Now” button quite literally caused a sensation. With a little over 1,000 titles, the streaming part of Netflix only made up for about one percent of Netflix’s entire video collection.

Through the years, not only did Netflix start acquiring more titles to its name, it also started giving people a new way to watch TV shows. From the moment the “Watch Now” button was introduced, users started onboarding new titles on a daily basis. By 2009, the Twitter world gave us the phrase, “Netflix and Chill,” which, although seemingly to the point and clear, has more than its fair share of hidden innuendos. By 2014, the platform had subscribers from more than 40 countries across the world and with social media being of Netflix’s best used advertising platform, people were hooked to this new phenomenon.

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The introduction of original content

Despite Netflix being at the peak of its fame, Hastings was far from being satisfied. He didn’t want to be known for sponging off existing titles, but wanted to be known for the original movies present on Netflix’s website. Introducing the concept of binge watching, the first ever series produced by Netflix was called Lilyhammer. However, this Norwegian show first premiered on the Norwegian channel NRK1 in January 2012 and in North America, on Netflix, in February 2012. This show was cancelled after its third season.

Unlike other platforms, Netflix didn’t make you wait for an entire week for one episode. It had no advertisements during the episode and it let people watch for free for the first three months. Things just kept getting better and better for the brand!

In 2013, Netflix changed the way people viewed content by privatizing the user base. By enabling the option of having individual profiles, Netflix now gave people the option of curating videos according to their preferences. While original content was one way Netflix used to market itself on a large scale, Netflix also realised that bringing to life cancelled shows was a good way to its original content. Take for example, shows like Arrested Development and Brooklyn Nine Nine. Both were immensely popular shows and when they were cancelled, they sent everyone into a tizzy. Netflix played the role of the guardian angel here and with a single swoop, renewed everyone’s hope for a better tomorrow! With shows like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, House of Cards, Luke Cage and Narcos, Netflix is the producer of some of the most popular shows in the world!

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Netflix and social media

While most brand liked keeping a neutral tonality on social media, Netflix decided to do the opposite. By finding a unique voice for themselves, Netflix realised the best way to make a mark on the social media world was by being unabashedly true to the tone of your brand. In fact, their strategy worked so well, the posts made by this platform is among the best performed posts on the internet.

#Daredevil season 2. All night, every night. See you in a few hours. pic.twitter.com/O1fdynSrLa

— Netflix US (@netflix) March 18, 2016

While numbers may affect your social media game, Netflix created its social media strategy by taking into account the quality of its content, not the quantity. By using relevant posts, witty comments and listening to what people are saying on the internet, Netflix used social media to its complete advantage.

A brilliant marketing strategy, an eye for detail and clear plan to create something really unique, Netflix is today available in over 190 countries and is producing more regional content than any other competitor. Despite taking more than one hit, Netflix more than proved its superiority in the streaming world!