7 Unbelievable facts about Netflix’s History.

Netflix’s history has many interesting facts to prevail, which might be familiar to some, and some might be unfamiliar.

It’s a small world where people are eager to grasp as much information they can. In this post, we have done some in-depth research to find out the success of Netflix and the story behind Netflix’s history.

So let’s dive into it.

1. HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED

Reed Hastings, the man behind the success of Netflix.

The idea arrived when he had to return a cassette to a store. He was late in returning the tape to the store due to which he had to pay a hefty late fee charge of $40.

The journey of Netflix started from there onwards, where the idea was to deliver DVD and CDs to customer’s doorstep on the pay-per-rent basis.

Reed Hasting formed the company along with his friend Marc Randolph. Netflix was the first online service provider to deliver DVDs and CDs to customer’s doorstep.

It was named as NETFLIX because the services were provided through the Internet therefore, NET- was for Internet, and Flix is for the flick, which is also defined as movies.

image source : wikipedia.org

2. A PARTNETSHIP AGREEMENT WHICH WAS SCRAPPED

Another shocking revelation in Netflix’s History was the partnership approach to one of its competitor Blockbuster in the year (2000).

The founders of Netflix approached Blockbuster for a partnership, but the CEO rejected the offer of Netflix and, in return, smiled on them.

Blockbuster also had the opportunity to purchase Netflix for $50 million. At present, Netflix is still a part of the league, whereas Blockbuster is out of business and had to file for bankruptcy. Source for information- rewindandcapture.com

Image Source : CNBC.COM

3. THE OFFER MADE BY ANOTHER GIANT

In the year 1998, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, one of the most prominent merchants in E-commerce sectors, made an offer to the team of Netflix to acquire its business.

At that time, Amazon was into selling books online and was into business for four long years, and Netflix came into operation just about two months before the offer was made.

Amazon wanted to step into the video market, and for that, they made an offer to Netflix to acquire their business which was almost around $14 million and $16 million, read more cnbc.com

image source: britannica.com

4. AN ECLIPSE AFFECTING THE BUSINESS

In Netflix’s history, the month of August 2017, when there was a total solar eclipse. Netflix faced a downfall of viewership with almost 10% of people pulling themselves away from the screen. This was also tweeted by Netflix look at the screenshot below.

To find out more check out-cheatsheet.com

image source: clipdealer.com

5. In 1998, the co-founder Marc Randolph decided to offer something new to its consumers.

He offered footage of President Bill Clinton’s grand jury testimony about his involvement with Monica Lewinsky.

A mix up took place due to which almost around 100 consumer’s received a Chinese pornography disc instead of the interview of Bill Clinton.

6. CHOOSING THE NAME

Choosing a name for a firm would be a tough task.

The original Netflix was not the first choice; there was numerous name in the mind of Marc Randolph.

One such name was kibble.com up until they came up with something permanent.

image sources: uw.org

7. EXECUTIVES USE TO CALL

In order to find out how users are interacting with the site to search for their titles.

In 1990, users-based near the site location of Netflix Los Gatos, California, used to receive calls from Netflix executives asking them questions.

The shocking part about this historical event of Netflix was, the executives would ask the viewers to let them use the site. Surprisingly, they would get access.

Netflix used to bring them coffee, a small gesture for delivering valuable credentials about consumer usage.