BRANDED<


HE idea for California-based video streaming company Netflix came about when CEO and co-founder Wilmot Reed Hastings had a US$40 late fee on the movie Apollo 13 that he’d rented. It was six weeks overdue and he had misplaced the cassette. He was so bothered by it that he didn’t want even to tell his wife. Later he realised, on his way to work out, that the gym had a much better business model: you pay US$30 or US$40 a month and exercise as little or as much as you want. And so in 1997 Netflix was born - a company that transformed the


film rental industry by providing flat-fee unlimited rentals without due dates, late fees, shipping or handling fees, or personal-title rental fees. “Netflix changed the way Americans rent movies with DVDs and is doing the same again now with live video streaming,” says Steve Swasey, vice-president, corporate communications, Netflix. “DVD players had just started selling in the US in March 1997 so not only was the company trying to get people used to them, but also to the idea of renting movies via mail.”


In October of 1997 Netflix started executing its billion-dollar busi- ness plan with only US$2 million in seed funding. Now it has 600 salaried employees and carries over 20,000 movie titles, which can be streamed to 200 network-ready devices, having started with PC only three years ago.


‘Netflix changed the way Americans rent movies with DVDs and is doing the same again now with live video streaming’


Volume 4 Issue 4 2010 Marketing Age 37


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76