Contents
Today in our article we would like to cover currently two of the most popular things in Australia: online casinos & Netflix. Yes, indeed after we have conducted our pan-Australian research/ survey – you have voted, so! Of course, the global pandemic situation, lockdown, social distancing of 2020 have played a significant role in this market leaders movement, but these are not the only factors, the business models themselves were aimed at success.
How Netflix changed the rules of the game
If you are our regular subscriber and reader, you already know that the Official Golden Reels Blog has analyzed in detail many points related to online casinos, so this time we are going to start with analyzing the Netflix model, and find patterns. A subscription-based streaming service appeared in 1997, when streaming, as well as individual services, were out of the question. It was originally a site that offered to rent DVDs delivered by mail. In 1997, not many people believed in the success of Netflix, since DVD players were a rare thing in the United States and organizing an entire company to rent discs was notoriously a failure. A subscription-based streaming service used a few tricks to get big:
- They offered to rent not only films, but also some relevant videos (at a lower price). Bill Clinton's commentary interview on the Monica Lewinsky scandal was very popular. The video was 20 cents worth.
- Company entered into an agreement with the manufacturers of DVD-players: Sony, Toshiba and HP. By purchasing the player, the buyer received as a gift the opportunity to rent three discs on Netflix for free.
- Introduced a smart recommendation system. After the client rented a sufficient number of discs, by analyzing the database, he was offered a list of films that might interest him. This was a unique proposition for that time.
Interest in Netflix began to grow in 1999, when the company received 10,000 orders a day. In the same year, a subscription-based streaming service signed a contract with French firm Groupe Arnault to implement a monthly subscription system. It cost $ 16, while at the same time you could take no more than four discs. Netflix became even more popular in 2001, when prices for DVD players began to fall. The September 11 terrorist attack also contributed to the growth in demand, after which people began to go out less often and spend more time in their homes. In 2007, a subscription-based streaming service launched a new service - video on demand. It was offered to watch movies and TV series on the Internet for an hourly rate (Do you remember online casino’s famous bonus - unlimited FS for selected time period). At first, everyone was skeptical about this idea, since few were ready to use paid Internet TV, and besides, it was easy to find the same films on pirate torrent trackers on the Internet. At first, Netflix offered just 1,000 video options, with most of the films being low-quality movies like Birdemic. Everything changed in 2008 when the company entered into an agreement with the studio Starz Entertainment, which gave them access to a library of Sony and Disney movies. Netflix later signed a similar deal with Paramount, Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Own films and series
Netflix decided to produce its own content in 2011. And it happened almost by accident. David Fincher and Beau Willimon, with support from production company Media Rights Capital, were already working on an adaptation of the BBC miniseries House of Cards. First, MRC wanted to sell the rights to rent House of Cards to a popular TV channel like HBO or Showtime. But it so happened that even before negotiations with them, company representatives met with Netflix management to invite them to show the series on the Internet immediately after its premiere on TV. Ted Sarandos, Netflix's head of content and a fan of the original House of Cards miniseries, decided that producing your own content wasn't such a bad idea. But before making the multi-million dollar offer to MRC, he evaluated the user database, finding that both Fincher and Spacey, and the genre of political drama itself, are popular with Netflix viewers. Moreover, the original series was often ordered by the company's clients back in the days of DVD rental.
Australian realities and online casino similarities
Being truly Australian and Australasia patriots, we should admit that globalization is playing important part in the process of market formation, many trick that have worked for Netflix in USA many years ago, also worked for both Netflix and online casinos during the last year, if we can differentiate such aspects we would definitely would like to create our own top list:
- Due to lockdown – people began to go out less often and spend more time in their homes
- Personalized content – definitely in land-based casinos you have a great choice of games, slots, etc. But it’s not comparable with the vast selection of games offered online
- Cooperation with the best in class partners – as Netflix have partnered with the USA leading movie making studios, online casinos have partnered with the best games providers, alongside with the most powerful and influential modern mass medias
- Time management – before Netflix, on the classic TV you were dependent on today's program guide, you simply couldn’t watch some movie at 17:00, if it was scheduled for 18:00. Same applies to online casinos, if the slot machine is occupied, you have to wait. The Internet changed the rules for 180 degrees.
We really hope that you enjoyed reading and that you have learned a lot of useful information.
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You may be interested in reading these articles:
Everything about online casinos
The history of casinos and the creation of gambling establishments
See ya later!
