Netflix is Upon Us (Part one)

(Source: blog.vpn.asia)

On the 8th of January 2016.... I got a text message from my brother.

I was in the UK, he was back home in Saudi. He sent me this picture with the following caption:

Netflix is Upon Us!

                                                                                                                        My Reaction:
                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                 via GIPHY

The funny thing is, I was in Saudi Arabia about a week before receiving that text and whenever I would try to access my UK Netflix account, I would receive a message similar to the one below. 

(Source: bestvpnz.com)

So the fact that my brother was now setting up a Netflix account in a country where, only a week ago, didn't even have the service prompted me to do a little research. Especially since Netflix didn't just pop up in Saudi Arabia, rather, it went live in 129 other countries simultaneously. 

The Netflix Logo (fox59.com)

Netflix, the SVoD service that started life as an online DVD rental service in 1999 and introduced its streaming service in 2007, has since grown to be a vast online content library that contains an array of film and television programmes. This includes a number of its own exclusive content such as the Emmy Award winning drama series House of Cards, as well as Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, both Marvel’s Daredevil and Jessica Jones and the company's first feature film Beasts of No Nation, which was a 2016 Golden Globe nominee (source: media.netflix.com).

On the 6th of January 2016, Reed Hastings (Co-founder/CEO of Netflix) initiated the synchronous launch of Netflix's Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) service to 130 new countries atop of the existing 60 countries where the service was already available. (SVoD i.e. an online streaming service in which users pay a monthly fee to gain access to an array of films and television programmes). Although it excludes a small number of countries, most notably China, some of the countries in which the service is now available include Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Russia to name a few.  

Reed Hastings' speech the moment Netflix went live.

  

 

To roughly illustrate*, consider the images below (NB the countries in red represent the ones where Netflix is available).

January 5th, 2016 (source:joe.ie).

           

  

January 6th, 2016 (source:help.netflix.com).

Cool beans, but what does this mean?

What does it mean for traditional media/cable companies that, in an age of changing viewing habits and technological advancements, are constantly finding themselves competing with SVoDs in order to attract and retain audience's attention?

What does it mean for Netflix and its rival SVoD services such as Amazon Prime, Disney Life and Youtube Red?

What does it mean for the future of content in terms of format and the increased audience preference for 'on-demand' viewership?

What does it mean for Saudi and non-Saudi subscribers that consume a large amount of audiovisual content online on a daily basis?

All questions which will be answered in the upcoming posts :)




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* Please note that this is merely an illustration of the concept of Netflix spreading worldwide and should not be taken at face value. This means that the first image in the illustration is dated and therefore slightly inaccurate, such that Netflix was in fact already available in countries such as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Portugal on the 5th of January 2016.