Real life events turn watershed moments many times. Here’s one such story.

Reed Hastings, prior to becoming the CEO of Netflix, owned a software firm. After winding up this venture, Hastings was exploring other business options. Meanwhile, a video rental store charged him $40 for a video cassette he had borrowed.  This sparked off a business idea to him- starting a video store where customers borrow unlimited number of videos for a monthly flat fee. Only condition is that he/she should return the previous video before opting for the next. 

Hastings new venture later on became Netflix Inc., the popular streaming service and production platform. Today the estimated net worth of Netflix stands at $125 billion (Apr 2020). 

The differentiators that scripted Netflix’s growth story were:

• Flat fee without a rental limit. Thus there is no late fee or penalty.
• Logistics system to deliver and retrieve the rented videos.
• Analytics on customers’ habits and buying behaviour.

Source Article

Interesting Engineering: The Fascinating History of Netflix

Discussion Question

According to you which OTT Platform has an edge in the Indian context? Why? Compare this platform with any two competitors (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Voot, Hotstar etc.) to identify three merits and shortfalls in each which impact your subscription decisions.