Why do we all use Netflix
Created on 2008-04-11 00:51:20
Before the introduction of DVD’s renting a movie involved getting in the car and driving to the local video rental store to get a worn VHS tape of last years blockbuster movie. The combination of two technological milestones, the rise of the internet and the DVD disc, led to the ability to rent movies without having to find the car keys and the eventual birth of Netflix.
Netflix has become a part of popular culture. It is mentioned on hundreds of television programs and movies and is the de facto term for renting DVD’s online. It is amazing that this has happened so quickly. Netflix began life in 1998 as a pay per rental DVD site and started the more familiar flat-fee monthly subscription in 2000.
Netflix has around 100,000 movie titles to choose from for its almost seven million subscribers. If the average person watches ten movies a month, it would take over 800 years to watch every movie Netflix has to offer.
The way in which Netflix works is very simple. The subscriber has an online account where they create a queue of movies they wish to see. Netflix then ships the top selections in the queue to the subscriber based on the subscription plan they have, which can be up to four DVD’s a month. The DVD’s are sent to the subscriber via the US Postal Service and once the DVD is viewed it is then sent back to the local Netflix distribution center. Once the DVD is received by Netflix, the next DVD on the subscribers list is sent. The process continues as long as there are movies in the active subscribers queue.
In 2008, Netflix also allowed subscribers to view movies instantly over streaming video. The list of movies available for instant viewing is about 7000, but will continue to grow as this becomes a more popular way of watching movies.
The Netflix site offers many recommendations to the subscriber based on their viewing habits and the habits of similar subscribers. This recommendation system is a great way to find movies that you may have missed or be unaware of. This recommendation algorithm is similar to one used by the online retailer, Amazon.com.
Netflix is a dot com success. It has its rivals, such as Blockbuster, but has established itself as the premier online DVD rental site. It continues to develop new ways to keep itself at the top including a new HDTV set-top box which will allow subscribers to download movies to view on televisions instead of computer monitors.
