Video killed the Radio star......and Netflix ( well not exactly , but sort of ) killed Video !
Netflix , which originally started out as a DVD rental company decided to add an on demand online streaming platform in 2007. But little would they have thought that this side hustle would ultimately lead them to their pot of gold !
Today Netflix is the largest online streaming platform with more than 167 million customers worldwide and is worth more than 169 billion dollars as of 2019.
The reason Netflix has become a household name today because of a mix of factors - of which Technology & Environment play a major part. Netflix harnessed the benefits of both Big Data and Analytics to provide suggestions to viewers on which videos to watch , even when they were just a mail order DVD service ! By 2011 , just three years after going online , Netflix moved beyond web browsers to be available on devices such as Xbox 360, Blu-ray disc players, and TV set-top boxes, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Nintendo Wii and more.
Growing at an exponential speed ,the guys at Netflix must have felt that it could not get any better. But they didn't anticipate the Jackpot that they were going to hit next ! The Covid 19 pandemic - a bane for many proved to be a blessing in disguise for Netflix.With millions locked up inside their homes , viewership jumped almost overnight by a whopping 104 %.
Today with an estimated 62% of households in the US having an Netflix account and a growing presence in other markets , Netflix is here to stay till the foreseeable future.
An interesting feature of Netflix is that it has heaps of foreign language movies and shows - Turkish, Spanish,French, Korean - you name it , its there . And many of these movies and serials are so amazingly created and are a wealth of information. Not only are they technically excellent , but they also provide an insight into cultures that we are not familiar with.There is so much that we can learn about the history and the culture of people around the world and enrich ourselves sitting right inside our living rooms courtesy Netflix.
Having grown up on a staple of Indian ( mostly Tamil , Hindi and now Malayalam ) movies and Hollywood movies , I only started watching (non English ) foreign language movies very recently. I cursed myself for having missed out on so much learning by not having started this earlier. I think the reason for my hesitation to watch movies in other languages could have been an inherent skepticism of the unknown - whether I would be able to relate to it , would it be too boring or would it be something totally alien and incomprehensible ? But after watching a couple of movies , I begin to realize that we as humans share the same experiences. We may speak different languages, eat differently and even dress differently , but our experiences , our struggles, our triumphs - all are very very similar except that they may differ contextually.
So , guess what , finally I`ve decided to become a better informed person and start watching more foreign language movies and not just stop at that - I`m also going to write synopses of the movies I watch, so others can have a peek review and decide if they want to watch that Spanish melodrama or the Irish thriller or maybe , even better , the Greek tragedy !
With that note, I bid adieu or should I say Hasta la vista baby !
Netflix , which originally started out as a DVD rental company decided to add an on demand online streaming platform in 2007. But little would they have thought that this side hustle would ultimately lead them to their pot of gold !
Today Netflix is the largest online streaming platform with more than 167 million customers worldwide and is worth more than 169 billion dollars as of 2019.
The reason Netflix has become a household name today because of a mix of factors - of which Technology & Environment play a major part. Netflix harnessed the benefits of both Big Data and Analytics to provide suggestions to viewers on which videos to watch , even when they were just a mail order DVD service ! By 2011 , just three years after going online , Netflix moved beyond web browsers to be available on devices such as Xbox 360, Blu-ray disc players, and TV set-top boxes, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Nintendo Wii and more.
Growing at an exponential speed ,the guys at Netflix must have felt that it could not get any better. But they didn't anticipate the Jackpot that they were going to hit next ! The Covid 19 pandemic - a bane for many proved to be a blessing in disguise for Netflix.With millions locked up inside their homes , viewership jumped almost overnight by a whopping 104 %.
Today with an estimated 62% of households in the US having an Netflix account and a growing presence in other markets , Netflix is here to stay till the foreseeable future.
An interesting feature of Netflix is that it has heaps of foreign language movies and shows - Turkish, Spanish,French, Korean - you name it , its there . And many of these movies and serials are so amazingly created and are a wealth of information. Not only are they technically excellent , but they also provide an insight into cultures that we are not familiar with.There is so much that we can learn about the history and the culture of people around the world and enrich ourselves sitting right inside our living rooms courtesy Netflix.
Having grown up on a staple of Indian ( mostly Tamil , Hindi and now Malayalam ) movies and Hollywood movies , I only started watching (non English ) foreign language movies very recently. I cursed myself for having missed out on so much learning by not having started this earlier. I think the reason for my hesitation to watch movies in other languages could have been an inherent skepticism of the unknown - whether I would be able to relate to it , would it be too boring or would it be something totally alien and incomprehensible ? But after watching a couple of movies , I begin to realize that we as humans share the same experiences. We may speak different languages, eat differently and even dress differently , but our experiences , our struggles, our triumphs - all are very very similar except that they may differ contextually.
So , guess what , finally I`ve decided to become a better informed person and start watching more foreign language movies and not just stop at that - I`m also going to write synopses of the movies I watch, so others can have a peek review and decide if they want to watch that Spanish melodrama or the Irish thriller or maybe , even better , the Greek tragedy !
With that note, I bid adieu or should I say Hasta la vista baby !
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