Introduction
Netflix is the world’s leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.
Life, at present, is terrifying and oddly mundane. Some of us find comfort in watching the daily press briefings by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Others have Netflix.
I use Netflix on a daily basis, it’s my source of entertainment. COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way we live our daily lives. Many of us now work from home, turn to telemedicine to see a doctor, watch more Netflix stay entertained, and use online communication tools to talk with friends.
Inspiration
Not everyone was having a bad time with the pandemic – Netflix added a record 15.8 million paid subscribers – almost double the figure forecast by Wall Street analysts.
“Netflix posts explosive growth, but warns boom may not last”
“Pandemic causes boom in streaming services”
This made me think – what must have been the journey of Netlfix, they changed their whole business model from renting DVD’s to streaming online and now they have Netflix Originals.
This Timeline is about The journey of Netflix, focused on the areas of consumer, product, service, market size and the company.
Materials/ Procedure
Timeline JS was used to create a timeline. It’s an open-source tool that enables anyone to build visually rich, interactive timelines. Beginners can create a timeline using nothing more than a Google spreadsheet. The website is provided with an Official TimelineJS3 Template which could be duplicated and then edited accordingly. The spreadsheet template lets the user drop dates, text and links to media into the appropriate columns.
With a quick google search there was enough information in my hands to add to the timeline from the origin of Netflix to the present. After all my information was entered, you’re supposed to publish the Google Sheet to a webpage by clicking the “Publish to the Web” option under file. Then you copy and paste the URL from the Google Sheets back on the TimelineJS website, which then returned a link to the newly created timeline!
Results & Analysis
Conducting preliminary research across various sources helped to highlight which events are considered milestones for Netflix. This also helped me in understanding what the focus areas are – consumer, product, service, market size and the company. Finding the appropriate media to accompany each milestone proved to be relatively easy once the events were selected, with creative room for the modern events as both video clips and a variety of images brought many possibilities.
From my research, I was fascinated by the fact of how a renting DVD business could turn out to be one of the biggest companies in the world. This shift was something I wanted to highlight in my timeline to understand what milestones were game-changer for Netflix. I decided to do this by exploring the images and their backgrounds. However, I realised it would be good to have a dark black background with a bold font, here is used – Bitter and Raleway for headings in white color. The idea here was to get as close, we could, to following Netflix design guidelines.
Reflection
I wanted to work on something that’s relatable to everyone. Streaming platforms have been having a war since quarantine and this made me realise the other platforms have just been here for a couple of years but Netflix did start a while back. It was interesting to understand how the company changed with time. As an IXD student, it also helped me understand the user interface of a timeline which could be used in mobile applications or websites.
Executing this timeline was possible with Timeline JS, I had an overall positive experience. The transition from the spreadsheet to a timeline is quick. If given more time, I would have explored CSS selectors that could be used to bring in custom fonts and colors.
Resources
Is Netflix the New Lipstick? Subscribers Surge Despite Economic Downturn
Netflix gets 16 million new sign-ups thanks to lockdown
History of Netflix: Timeline and Facts
A Background and History of Netflix – Netflix As A Modern Technology