Product Perspective: Netflix
This week on Product Breakdown, we will be covering Netflix.
Product Breakdown we talk about our experiences with different products and what are some things we would possibly improve to the product.
In addition to hosting these rooms, I share my own personal perspective on each product that we cover.
1). Company/ Product Overview
Netflix was originally founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings & Marc Randolph as they started off as a DVD sales + rental service. This was inspired by a couple of things from late fees & the desire to create the “Amazon of Something.”
As time has passed they have now become a digital online streaming service that can be accessed through computers, smartphones, gaming consoles & various other devices.
Since its launch, Netflix has now grown to 204 million paying subscribers that are in 190 countries.
The graph above shows how the international expansion of Netflix has grown over the past 2 years or so.
As of May 2020, this is the Subscriber demographics within the US.
While we see a high level of adoption among Gen Z & Millenials it’s interesting to see a good amount of Gen X/Boomers consume content from Netflix.
I think it’s fair to say that any age people like to watch some level tv/content.
Netflix currently has 3 different tiers that users can choose from when getting started.
One of the shifts that Netflix made was producing original content such as House of Cards which was a true game-changer in my opinion as it allowed folks to see Netflix in another light.
Recently, Netflix launched a new feature called Downloads For You, that allows for users to view more content offline on their mobile device.
What I found neat was that they have 3 storage options (1GB/3GB/5GB) that will be allocated for all downloaded Netflix content.
This is great for those who are constantly on the go as they can view their content on the go without having to worry about data charge hassles.
2). My Perspective on Netflix
I have personally used Netflix for 4 years now and have had a great experience so far.
Some of the things that I like about the service are the following
- My Recommendations: Based on the previous choices a user has selected, Netflix will recommend shows/movies that they may be interested in viewing.
- The Previews: When hovering over a specific title, the user will see a small snippet from the actual movie/tv show to possibly entice them to actually watch.
- Navigation Structure: I really like how Netflix has created its user interface where it seamlessly accounts for both vertical and horizontal scrolling. To provide more context a user scrolls down vertically to explore the different genres of content they can choose from. Simultaneously, when a user finds a category/genre they are interested they can scroll horizontally or side to side to view shows/movies in that category.
However, my one gripe I have is the fact that the prices are slowly but surely rising for the subscription.
Unlike others, my primary methods of using Netflix to watch content are either on the TV downstairs are on my laptop so I don't necessarily have too many flaws to point out from a UX/UI Perspective.
While I enjoy the product, one thing that would like to see is more metrics around customer usage.
As an example with the app Mint, you can see how much you spent by category as a view.
Granted, I am a data fanatic it would be fascinating to see how my consumption time on Netflix looks like across various genres from a weekly/monthly/annual perspective.
3). Conclusion
Overall, I would say that I have had a great experience using Netflix and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
As an end-user/consumer, living in this day and age it is really cool to see all these big companies like Disney+, HBO along many others battle it out for the #1 spot in streaming.
This allows for customers to enjoy the best possible service/offers as companies are looking at ways to provide more value to incentivize both user growth & retention.
With things opening up, it is to be determined whether or not we see folks very eager to go back to in-person experiences of watching movies at a theater.
As AR/VR & other emerging technologies become more mainstream, I am curious as to how a company like Netflix will integrate that into their offering to create a higher level of experience for customers.
Would love to get other people’s thoughts as well on their experience with Netflix so far.