Entertainment is no longer just about television shows and video games. Netflix and many other on-demand online streaming medias have taken over.
Although Netflix was founded in 1997, it became more popular in 2011. In 2011, the total digital revenue for Netflix reached at least $1.5 billion. In January 2013, Netflix reported they had added 2 million U.S. customers during the fourth quarter of 2012 with a total of 27.1 million U.S. streaming customers, and 29.4 million total streaming customers. In addition, revenue was up eight percent to $945 million for the same period.
Wilmot Reed Hastings Jr., the CEO of Netflix, shared the secrets to his success. He listed four bullet points: target a specific niche, stay flexible, never underestimate the competition, and there are no shortcuts.
Television used to be the go-to entertainment for many people. Especially on a Friday night, when all of your friends are out at a party and you decided to stay in and just catch up on the recently missed television shows. However now there is a trend that more of the younger generation are leaning to towards watching Netflix, rather than watch live television.
Senior Sarah Lew said, “No, I don’t have time [to watch TV]. I don’t have time to catch up with all the new series that come out each week. More people are on their phone, laptops and computers so it is much easier to just stream online for shows instead.”
Many teenagers have a busy schedule and it could be difficult to always be home on the day the new episode is airing.
Junior Giovanni Allen said, “I personally barely watch TV anymore, when I do I usually record the ones I want to watch and watch it when I have free time. TV is just too much work and Netflix is more accessible.”
Not only is it because Netflix is more popular, but price has a reason to do with it as well.
Junior Anna Gomes said, “I think people run out of ideas for shows to watch so people stop watching TV as much. And Netflix or Hulu is cheaper than cable, so many people can benefit from that.”
Netflix offers $6.99 for the first month of testing and $9.99 per month after. The average of a monthly cable bill is about $80 per month. It’s up to the consumers to balance out the pros and cons of cable and online streaming medias.
