What is Netflix?
Netflix is a well known American Entertainment Company. It is a leading company in the field of providing streaming and video on demand services- both online and DVD by mail. On 29th August, 1997, Netflix was founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in California. Though it started its business with DVD sales and Blu-ray rental services, it ventured into vod services in 2007. In 2017, this vod platform explored into the content-producing industry with “House of Cards” being its debut series. Since then, it has released more than 126 original movies and television series under its banner “Netflix Original”.
Netflix has emerged as the largest video on demand platform in the entertainment industry. Streaming on Netflix is available in 190 countries, which clearly shows its wide reach. As of July 2017, Netflix had a whopping subscriber base of 103.95 million worldwide, which includes 51.92 million in the United States only. As of 2016, revenue generated by Netflix is around $8.83 billion, and its net income is at $187 million.
Netflix Business Model:
The highlight of Netflix Business Model is that it categorizes its users based on psychographics and not on demographics.
Users have been segmented into 3 basic groups in terms of psychographics:
Users who are busy and don’t want to go out for movies
Users who love watching movies and rent them to watch
Users who want to save their money and want to have the best
The Netflix Business Model is based on the following points:
- The initial step is to purchase the commercial rights or acquire a license of the streaming content from their original production houses.
- Managing and maintaining a smooth platform which can be used to broadcast the acquired content seamlessly.
- Offering various kinds of attractive offers such as a free one-month subscription to lure new users to join.
- Providing satisfying service to the users so that the new users convert into paid subscribers, and existing users become recurring subscribers.
- Updating the platform with new and exciting content regularly so as to maintain the subscriber base.
How Netflix makes Money:
For the video on demand business, Netflix offers 3 different membership plans for the subscription which is based on streaming quality and screen count for accessing the content concurrently:
Standard Definition Plan: It allows streaming of content in standard definition quality on a single screen at a time.
High Definition Plan: It allows streaming of content in High Definition quality on two screens concurrently.
Ultra-high Definition Plan: It allows streaming of content in Ultra High Definition quality on four screens concurrently.
The subscription fee for these plans varies from country to country.
In the DVD rental services, the membership plans differ by the number of DVDs a subscriber possess during a specific time and number of discs per month. In order to enjoy streaming on high definition Blu-ray discs, in addition to the standard definition, subscribers have to pay additional amount.
Cost incurred by Netflix:
The profit generated by Netflix cannot solely be assessed by considering the membership plans. For that, various expenses incurred by Netflix have to be considered. These are explained below:
Licensing Cost:
In order to achieve a legalized platform for streaming series and movies, Netflix has to invest to acquire license and content which varies for different content.
Content Acquisition Cost:
Content Acquisition is an essential component for vod business in case of Netflix. This involves procuring streaming and DVD content from distributors, studios, and other mediums, which are done through direct purchases, revenue sharing agreements, and license agreements. For delivery of streaming content, Netflix takes the help of its own content delivery network (known as Open Connect) and third party content delivery networks. For delivery of Discs in the United States, there is a network of shipping centers for delivery and returns of DVDs which are also managed by Netflix.
Production Cost:
In 2013, Netflix started its own online library of films and television series under the brand name “Netflix Originals”. This strategy not only helped Netflix to promote its own exclusive streaming content but also helped it to evade licensing costs. However, the production cost for the Netflix Originals content requires very high expenditure.
Marketing Cost:
With the emergence and acceptance of vod services, many more video streaming players have joined the bandwagon. This has increased the competition and there are major players as well as new players who are giving Netflix a tough competition, such as Hulu, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, etc. To get the edge over its competitors, Netflix has to invest a huge amount for its marketing. The marketing cost involves payments to affiliates, expense on advertisements and expense incurred on device partners. Besides that, the company has to also bear the first month expenses for every new subscriber as the first-month subscription is free for new users.
Research and Development Cost:
Research and development sector is an essential sector of any industry, and this is applicable to Netflix also. This department is responsible for determining the growth of an industry in the future. Netflix invests a high amount of money in ‘Netflix Inc. Research and Development’ department. Netflix Inc.’s research and development for the three months ended in Jun. 2017 was $267 million. Its research and development for the trailing twelve months (TTM) ended in Jun. 2017 which was $965 million.
Technology and development Cost:
Netflix has a huge subscriber base of millions and they may stream content on Netflix at the same time, which will increase the traffic on its server. So, in order to provide hassle-free and smooth streaming experience, Netflix has collaboration with many ISPs to reduce the load on its own server, by using the embedded deployments of Open Connect Appliance. The company has to bear heavy costs for the collaboration. Technology and development costs also include expenses involved in designing the application for all the latest devices or updating the application for the existing devices, streaming delivery technology costs, and other infrastructural costs.
General and Administrative Cost
These costs include payroll and other expenses for the corporate personnel. These also include professional and partnership fees related to administration of the company.
Miscellaneous Cost
Besides the above-mentioned costs, Netflix has to bear other costs such as payment processing fees, the cost for dispatching of discs, and distribution of costs for the streaming content library, etc.
How StreamView can be used to replicate Netflix
Streamview is one of the best movie streaming softwares. With the help of Streamview, one can easily launch a Netflix-like venture. You will get Netflix clone script which will help you in starting your own video streaming site. Streamview will provide you video on demand platform which is highly scalable and can easily be customized as per your needs and requirements. You can modify the UI, add features to the mobile app, and modify its front end and do much more. Apart from this, you will get all the features you are getting from Netflix and the executives will work with you so that you can make all the changes you want in the design, development, hosting, deployment, and maintenance.
Features of StreamView:
Have a look at its amazing features
- Nginx Server: Stremview will convert the HTTP format into RTMP and HLS format for your website, iOS, and Android. This will enable the user to watch the video without waiting for the buffer time. You will feel the difference yourself.
- Upload Videos: You can easily upload unlimited number of videos and can use any channel to do so. Some of the channels supported are Amazon S3 Bucket, YouTube link, Website Link or Normal uploads. Steamview supports all.
- Subscription: You can upload trailers for your videos. Allow users to watch them without any fee but to watch the whole video let them subscribe to your platform or let them pay for it. It is the best way to earn.
- Pay Per View: Some users might not be willing to pay for the whole month as they are surfing other channels as well. So, with Streamview, you can allow them to pay one time for the video. Use the Pay per view feature of Streamview, which you won’t get anywhere else.
- SEO Optimized: Streamview provides the best digital marketing features. You will get all SEO settings which you can set as per your need from the admin panel. It will help you in getting higher ranking in the search results.
- Banner Videos: You can use featured videos on the banners to get more clicks and to make more money. You will get more subscriptions via this feature.
Streamview has some of the amazing features which you won’t get anywhere else. That is the reason it’s getting such a high demand in such a short time. Use it to witness the difference yourself.
If you have any doubts or concerns, feel free to drop a line or two in the comments section. I shall reply in a day or two. Keep watching this space for insights on video on demand services. Subscribe to our newsletter to learn more about various VOD business models. My best wishes are with you and your video streaming venture. Cheers!