Netflix Traditionally Marketing
Netflix was founded in 1997, as an online DVD rental company by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. In its initial years, it provided access to unlimited DVDs, that are mailed to consumer’s house with a paid subscription. Netflix had seen a rapid increase in its subscribers from 700,000 in 2002, to 3.6 million in 2005 (Netflix’s history: From DVD rentals to streaming success, 2018). Netflix clearly dominated the DVD rental market in the USA and was the main rival to Blockbuster, a major chain that rented films, games and TV box sets. (Netflix’s history: From DVD rentals to streaming success, 2018). In 2007, Netflix introduced its video on demand via the internet an online streaming platform and in the same year, it started moving away from the traditional DVD rental format. Over the next few years, the company’s streaming service was available on different platforms like gaming consoles, handheld devices, and TVs. In 2010, Netflix went global by first providing its online streaming in Canada and in the next year expanded its global reach by providing its services in Latin America and the Caribbean. (Netflix’s history: From DVD rentals to streaming success, 2018). In 2011, Netflix started creating its own original content – starting with House of Cards, which debuted in 2013 (Netflix’s history: From DVD rentals to streaming success, 2018). Since then it created many Netflix originals that some went on to win national and international awards. With its huge success as online video streaming service, the company started to expand its services in many countries. At present, Netflix is available in nearly 200 countries (Brian Stelter, 2016) and still trying to expand to emerge as global TV network.
“Traditionally marketing covers the 4 P’s of Product, Price, Promotion, and Place, and the way a company configures these elements is the marketing mix.” (Foundations, 2016). Netflix’s marketing strategy clearly covers these 4 P’s of marketing to be competitive in the marketplace. When Netflix was founded it offered DVD’s for rental for a price of $4 plus $2 shipping with late-fees (Netflix, Inc History, 2011), which is like Blockbuster. In 1999, Netflix started subscription scheme for $15.95 per month, which allowed members to rent 4 dvds without any late-fee and due dates (Netflix, Inc History, 2011). This clearly shows how Netflix changed its product to meet the customers needs and be competitive in the marketplace.  Netflix has a three subscription plans for $8, $11 and $14 which allows users with 1, 2, and 4 screens respectively that can operate at once (Netflix, 2018). I believe that the company has adopted very innovative pricing strategy to attract more customers. While coming to promotions, Netflix made better use of the online platform, where we used to see Netflix ads when we are browsing through videos or searching for streaming related services. Along with that Netflix provides its new customers with a one-month free subscription (Netflix, 2018), which allowed customers to experience the online streaming. These promotional strategies attracted many consumers to start a subscription with Netflix. Netflix is an online video streaming service had a wide range of possibilities for its services to be distributed. Netflix distribution strategy always adopted to changes coming to the televisions, hand-held devices, and gaming consoles. The company adopted to these changes and started collaborating with companies like Microsoft, Sony and many other companies to allow Netflix services to be available on many platforms and reach its consumers needs.