Netflix is for More Than Just Watching

Netflix is probably your favorite streaming site. If it’s not, it’s not for their lack of trying. Netflix does not only hold a huge share of online streaming, they were really the first ones to do it as a legal subscription based website. Netflix is to steaming, as google is to searching. They have become so defined as the “go-to” source, that they have become their own vocabulary word. If you want to look something up on the internet, you “google it”. If you want to watch something with friends or a loved one, you “netflix and chill”. Netflix did not start out this way however, which is why they make for such an interesting case, especially when considering how connecting with your groundswell can transform your company, as Li and Bernhoff suggest.

Netflix didn’t start out as a streaming site, they started as a DVD delivery service, where you’d choose what you would want, and they sent it to your house for a subscription fee. This was effective, but they quickly saw a new opportunity in technology and the market: Streaming. This, it turns out, has turned into a huge success. A website used for watching TV is not initially what you would imagine having a positive groundswell, as there are no specific products to complain about, and users are quite inactive while watching. However, Netflix has an Instagram, Twitter, and FIVE Facebook accounts (Based around different countries).

Netflix has prided itself on being engaged with their customers, and are always on the lookout for innovative ways to make TV watching the best that it has ever been. While their image has never been quite as bad as Dell’s, but their listening generally takes on a different angle. Netflix has become a master about listening to the complaints people have about television in general. What they fix was not their problem from the start, it was mainstream television’s, but because of that they are always a cut above the rest. You can check out an awesome info graphic with more information here.

One thing that Netflix has become known for is the ability to “binge watch”. You can watch all your favorite shows, without commercials, in order. Netflix has even begun making its own set of wildly successful TV shows that they put out an entire season of all at once. Through doing so, Netflix has changed its brand and company dramatically. They recognized a millennial trend of needing instant gratification, and they responded in kind.

Netflix has also been known to take on shows in high demand that cable stations dropped. One of the most famous is Arrested Development, a cult classic that only received three seasons. Netflix managed to bring back the entire cast for one more season, years after the final show had aired on cable. This is probably the best example of Netflix listening and responding to its customers, and the result has been astonishing for the brand.

Let’s take it back. Netflix went from a DVD delivery service, to a streaming service, to its own television creators, and in doing so was able to bring back shows that customers were upset about being cancelled in the first place. While many other streaming sites are now out, Netflix only seems to continue to dominate because of their willingness to transform. Because of that, they may look different in the next ten years, but I’d be shocked if they weren’t still a huge name in entertainment.