Netflix trivia | 100 facts about the streaming service (part 1)

Netflix is a streaming service that has reached a lot of households around the world. With its original content is one of the most beloved services.

So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the streaming service.

Netflix, Inc. is an American media-services provider and production company
Its headquarteres are in Los Gatos, California
Netflix was founded in 1997
Its founders are Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California
The company’s primary business is its subscription-based streaming service
The streaming service offers online streaming of a library of films and television programs
This librady includes produced in-house content
As of April 2020, Netflix had over 182 million paid subscriptions worldwide
Netflix has 69 million subscriptions in the United States alone
It is available worldwide
Netflix in not available in Mainland China (Due to local restrictions), Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Crimea (Due to U.S. sanctions)
The company also has offices in Brazil, Netherlands, India, Japan and South Korea
Netflix is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA)
The company produces and distributes content from countries all over the globe
Netflix’s initial business model included DVD sales and rental by mail
Hastings abandoned the sales about a year after the company’s founding to focus on the initial DVD rental business
Netflix expanded its business in 2007 with the introduction of streaming media while retaining the DVD and Blu-ray rental business
The company expanded internationally in 2010
The first market outside USA that streaming was available was in Canada
It was followed by Latin America and the Caribbean
Netflix entered the content-production industry in 2013
Its first series was House of Cards
Since 2012, Netflix has taken more of an active role as producer and distributor for both film and television series
By January 2016, Netflix services operated in more than 190 countries
Netflix released an estimated 126 original series and films in 2016
These numbers are more than any other network or cable channel
Their efforts to produce new content, secure the rights for additional content, and diversify through 190 countries have resulted in the company racking up billions in debt
$21.9 billion in debt as of September 2017, up from $16.8 billion from the previous year
$6.5 billion of this is long-term debt, while the remaining is in long-term obligations
In October 2018, Netflix announced it would raise another $2 billion in debt to help fund new content
Through its division Red Envelope Entertainment, Netflix licensed and distributed independent films such as Born into Brothels and Sherrybaby
As of late 2006, Red Envelope Entertainment also expanded into producing original content with filmmakers such as John Waters
Netflix closed Red Envelope Entertainment in 2008, in part to avoid competition with its studio partners
Netflix has been one of the most successful dot-com ventures
In September 2002, The New York Times reported that, at the time, Netflix mailed about 190,000 discs per day to its 670,000 monthly subscribers
The company’s published subscriber count increased from one million in the fourth quarter of 2002 to around 5.6 million at the end of the third quarter of 2006, to 14 million in March 2010
Netflix’s early growth was fueled by the fast spread of DVD players in households
Netflix capitalized on the success of the DVD and its rapid expansion into United States homes, integrating the potential of the Internet and e-commerce to provide services and catalogs that bricks-and-mortar retailers could not compete with
Netflix also operates an online affiliate program which has helped to build online sales for DVD rentals as well
The company offers unlimited vacation time for salaried workers and allows employees to take any amount of their paychecks in stock options
By 2010, Netflix’s streaming business had grown so quickly that within months the company had shifted from the fastest-growing customer of the United States Postal Service’s first-class service to the largest source of Internet streaming traffic in North America in the evening
In November of 2010, it began offering a standalone streaming service separate from DVD rentals
On September 18, 2011, Netflix announced its intentions to rebrand and restructure its DVD home media rental service as an independent subsidiary called Qwikster, separating DVD rental and streaming services
Andy Rendich, a 12-year Netflix veteran, was to be CEO of Qwikster
Qwikster would carry video games whereas Netflix did not
However, in October 2011, Netflix announced that it would retain its DVD service under the name Netflix and would not, in fact, create Qwikster for that purpose
In April 2011, Netflix had over 23 million subscribers in the United States and over 26 million worldwide
In July 2011, Netflix changed its prices, charging customers for its mail rental service and streaming service separately
This meant a price increase for customers who wanted to continue receiving both services
On October 24, Netflix announced 800,000 unsubscribers in the United States during the third quarter of 2011, and more losses were expected in the fourth quarter of 2011
However Netflix’s income jumped 63% for the third quarter of 2011
Year-long, the total digital revenue for Netflix reached at least $1.5 billion
On January 26, 2012, Netflix added 610,000 subscribers in the United States by the end of the fourth quarter of 2011, totaling 24.4 million United States subscribers for this time period
On October 23, however, Netflix announced an 88% decline in profits for the third quarter of the year
In April 2012, Netflix filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to form a political action committee (PAC) called FLIXPAC
Netflix spokesperson Joris Evers indicated that the PAC was not set up to support the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA)
In February 2013, Netflix announced it would be hosting its own awards ceremony, The Flixies
On March 13, 2013, Netflix announced a Facebook implementation, letting United States subscribers access “Watched by your friends” and “Friends’ Favorites” by agreeing
This was not legal until the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 was modified in early 2013
In April 2014, Netflix approached 50 million global subscribers with a 32.3% video streaming market share in the United States
Netflix operated in 41 countries around the world
In June 2014, Netflix unveiled a global rebranding, a new logo, which uses a modern typeface with the drop shadowing removed, and a new website UI
The change was controversial
Some liked the new minimalist design, whereas others felt more comfortable with the old interface
In July 2014, Netflix surpassed 50 million global subscribers, with 36 million of them being in the United States
Following the launch of Daredevil in April 2015, Netflix director of content operations Tracy Wright announced that Netflix had added support for audio description
The following year, as part of a settlement with the American Council of the Blind, Netflix agreed to provide descriptions for its original series within 30 days of their premiere
Also, to add screen reader support and the ability to browse content by availability of descriptions
At the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, Netflix announced a major international expansion of its service into 150 additional countries
Netflix promoted that with this expansion, it would now operate in nearly all countries that the company may legally or logistically operate in
A notable exception was China, citing the barriers of operating Internet and media services in the country due to its regulatory climate
Reed Hastings stated that the company was planning to build relationships with local media companies that could serve as partners for distributing its content in the country
Also in January 2016, Netflix announced it would begin blocking virtual private networks, or VPNs
At the same time, Netflix reported 74.8 million subscribers and predicted it would add 6.1 million more by March 2016
Subscription growth has been fueled by its global expansion
By the end of the year, Netflix added a feature to allow customers to download and play select movies and shows while offline
In February 2017, Netflix signed a music publishing deal with BMG Rights Management
BMG will oversee rights outside of the United States for music associated with Netflix original content
Netflix continues to handle these tasks in-house in the United States
On April 17, 2017, it was reported that Netflix was nearing 100 million subscribers
On April 25, 2017, Netflix announced that it had reached a licensing deal in China with the Baidu-owned streaming service iQiyi, to allow selected Netflix original content to be distributed in China on the platform
On August 7, 2017, Netflix acquired Millarworld, the creator-owned publishing company of comic book writer Mark Millar
It is the first ever company acquisition in Netflix’s history
Netflix plans to leverage Millar and his current and future work for future original content
Chief content officer Ted Sarandos described Millar as being a “modern-day Stan Lee”
The following week, Netflix announced that it had entered into an exclusive development deal with Shonda Rhimes
On January 22, 2018, the company crossed $100 billion in market capitalization
Thus becoming the largest digital media and entertainment company in the world, bigger than every traditional media company except for AT&T, Comcast and Disney
Netflix is also the 59th largest publicly traded company in the US S&P 500 Index
On March 2, 2018, Netflix stock price surged to a new all-time high of $301.05 beating its 12-month price target of $300.00
It finished the session with a market capitalization of $130 billion putting it within shouting distance of traditional media giants like Disney ($155 billion) and Comcast ($169 billion)
The milestone came a day after British satcaster Sky announced a new agreement with Netflix to integrate Netflix’s subscription VOD offering into its pay-TV service
Customers with its high-end Sky Q set-top box and service will be able to see Netflix titles alongside their regular Sky channels
On August 16, 2018, Netflix announced a three-year overall deal with black-ish creator Kenya Barris
Under the deal, Barris will produce new series exclusively at Netflix, writing and executive producing all projects through his production company, Khalabo Ink Society
On August 27, 2018, Netflix signed a five-year exclusive overall deal with international best–selling author Harlan Coben
Under the multi-million pact, Netflix will work with Coben to develop 14 existing titles and future projects
On the same day, the company inked an overall deal with Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch
According to Global Internet Phenomena Report Netflix consumes 15% of all Internet bandwidth globally
This is the most by any single application