Netflix subscription – streaming movies and series

Netflix is one of the original video-on-demand providers, offering films, series and documentaries. The US company was initially founded in 1997 as an online video store. In 2007, the Netflix offer was expanded to include video streaming. Until September 2010, the Netflix subscription was only available in the United States. In 2012, Netflix expanded to Europe and has been available in Germany since September 2014. In total, the Netflix offer is available in 190 countries and 20 languages. In the last quarter of 2020, Netflix broke the 200 million user subscription mark for the first time.

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Profile:

  • Company name: Netflix Inc
  • Industry: Streaming / VOD
  • Product: Video Streaming
  • Formation:  1997
  • Location: Los Gatos, CA, USA
  • Founders: Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph
  • Number of employees: 7,100 worldwide (2018)
  • Turnover: US$15,794 million (2018)
  • Total funding: listed on stock exchange
  • Subscription-based model since: VOD since 2007
  • Product costs: Basic subscription (€7.99 / month), Standard subscription (€12.99 / month), Premium subscription (€17.99 / month) (in 2020)

     

Netflix is one of the original video-on-demand providers, offering films, series and documentaries. The US company was initially founded in 1997 as an online video store. In 2007, the Netflix offer was expanded to include video streaming. Until September 2010, the Netflix subscription was only available in the United States. In 2012, Netflix expanded to Europe and has been available in Germany since September 2014.

In total, the Netflix offer is available in 190 countries and 20 languages. In the last quarter of 2020, Netflix broke the 200 million user subscription mark for the first time.

The Netflix subscription prices

Netflix has been using a flat-rate price model since 1999. The user can choose from three variants. The Netflix subscription variants do not differ in terms of the available content. In the Basic plan for currently 7.99 euros per month, the video-on-demand offer can be streamed on one device and is not available in HD.

With the Standard subscription for 12.99 euros per month, users can watch Netflix content in HD quality. The Premium Netflix subscription costs 17.99 euros per month. For this price, titles can be viewed in HD and Ultra HD.

The first month of the Netflix subscription is offered as a free trial month. Only then do the monthly Netflix subscription costs apply. Payment can be made by credit card, direct debit or PayPal. Cancellation is possible at any time via the customer center.

Independent of the tariff, up to 5 user profiles can be created. This includes a children’s profile under which no adult content can be found in the library.

Own productions expand the Netflix subscription offer

To set itself apart from other streaming providers, Netflix relies on in-house productions. Not only series but also films and documentaries are produced by Netflix. In this way, the provider can make exclusive content available to its customers in the Netflix subscription.

The Netflix offer is constantly changing. The available streaming catalogue is changed almost daily. New titles are added, others disappear. In addition to new titles, Netflix also takes over series that have been discontinued by TV broadcasters and produces spin-offs of discontinued series. In addition, Netflix holds some exclusive rights to titles that cannot be found at any other streaming provider.

For almost all productions, soundtracks and subtitles are available in the original and in other foreign languages. Netflix’s own productions are always equipped with a German soundtrack at the start.

In addition to the video-on-demand offer, many titles can also be downloaded to mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets with Netflix Subscription. This function is a great advantage for many users, especially for air travel.

However, the selection of films and series depends on the location of the user: the reason for this is that the licences are negotiated individually for each country and thus the same offers are not available in all countries.

The development of streaming services

Streaming services have become a permanent fixture in the media landscape. An increasing number of providers are mixing it up in the fiercely competitive market. While Netflix and Amazon Prime have been established the longest, more and more offerings are appearing on the scene. Sky, Apple TV+, Disney and local providers such as Pluto.TV from ViacomCBS, Rakuten TV, RTL+ and Magenta TV (Telekom). 

The provider Joyn is growing particularly strongly in Germany. The platform, half of which belongs to Pro7Sat.1 Media SE and Discovery, now has a good seven million users. Even though video on demand is becoming more and more important in households, the market is limited. According to surveys, consumers only want to take out a limited number of subscriptions.