Team Task On Netflix
Team Task On Netflix
Team Task on
Prepared for
Mukit Anis
Lecturer
Prepared by
Abidur Rafi Hassan (20104050)
Adeeba Afreen Chowdhury (20104034)
Simeen Srabani (20104028)
May 9, 2021
Executive Summary
This paper focuses on Netflix, one of the world’s leading entertainment services and its
business strategies. With the ability to provide content based on consumer’s viewing patterns,
it is now considered to be the best service for satisfying consumers’ entertainment needs.
Because of the company’s partnership with various businesses like Apple, Google etc., they
have managed to provide their service on multiple platforms.
Additionally we have provided an analysis on why Netflix is so successful and how they are
always working on trying to improve their services. This service’s pricing policy, promotional
strategies and distribution channels have been described in detail as well. Also, since this
service focuses on a wide range of consumers and we have described how it uses various
forms of segmentation in order to cater to everyone’s entertainment needs. Furthermore, we
have given a detailed description on how Netflix can improve its service in Bangladesh.
Lastly, this paper also focuses on how Netflix changed its pricing policy, content distribution
and marketing strategies during the Covid-19 pandemic. It also explores the ways in which
the company tried to help the people in need during difficult times. We have also suggested
ways in which Netflix should have acted during the pandemic.
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Table of Contents
Company Overview 4
The Problem 5
Netflix’s Solution 5
Missed Opportunity 12
References 15-17
3
Company Overview
Netflix was first founded in 1997 by Marc Rudolph and Reed Hastings as an online DVD
rental service. One simply had to access their website via the Internet, browse through
Netflix’s collection and select which DVDs they would want to rent out, after which, the
company delivered their choices right to their doors by mail. After being done watching the
content, the customer would send them back to Netflix through the post.
At present day, the business is a name renowned the world over in the realm of entertainment.
Netflix is now not just renting out DVDs of hits and classics, rather many people today would
not even be able to guess the humble beginnings of this entertainment giant. Their video
streaming service, first launched in 2007, now has over 200 million active subscribers across
the globe by the end of Q2 2020.
Their revenue for the year ended 2020 came up to nearly $25 billion, an almost $5 billion
jump from that of 2019, employing approximately 9,400 workers full time in 2020, a number
that has doubled from that of 2016. In terms of rivalry, things recently got more interesting in
2019 when Disney+ joined the list of competitors on the global stage of on-demand
streaming services alongside Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Company Profile
Company Name: Netflix, Inc.
Industry: Entertainment Media
Major products and/or services: On-demand video streaming service
Target customers: people aged from 15 to 30 years old (Bangladesh)
Distribution channel(s): smart phones and televisions, tablets, gaming devices
Headquarters: Los Gatos, California, USA
Year founded: 1997
Number of employees: 9400
Annual revenue: $25,000,000,000 (approx.)
Key competitors: Amazon Prime, Disney+
Link to website: www.netflix.com
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The Problem
The age of renting out DVDs or cassettes to take home and watch by yourself or with friends
and/or family was all but coming to an end driven by the exponential rate at which
technology has advanced. As technology advanced, so did the speed of browsing the Internet
as well as the performances of electronic devices in the market in the 2000s. Despite this, the
convention of consuming video entertainment remained the same- you either bought a
DVD/cassette or you rented it out.
This led to two unnecessary costs for customers. Going to the shop to rent or buy and the cost
of the physical storage device, the DVD or cassette. Not only did they have to pay for it but
also make space for storing them in their homes. Furthermore, there was always the chance
that you end up disliking the actual movie or series on the DVD/cassette, making the entire
trip and the money you paid a waste. To top it all off, if the item you bought happened to get
damaged in any way, by breaking or from scratches on it, it could be rendered unusable,
further adding to the inconvenience of the experience as a customer.
Netflix’s Solution
Netflix, with their on-demand streaming service made it not only convenient for users to find
and watch premium content but also be able to do it from the comfort of their own homes and
on their personal devices. This meant that customers no longer had to find a store, drive there
and spend money on something they may end up hating. The value to the customer in
exchange for that service starting at only about $8 was huge and made sense when people
considered that they were paying for it for only a month. This was a real cause for joy for
movie and TV show buffs to whom getting to watch all they could for the price of a few
dollars a month was equivalent to an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Potential Customers
Netflix has come a long way since producing the first Netflix Original show ‘House of Cards’
in 2013. It serves as an online streaming platform where a diverse number of people can
watch their favourite shows. Netflix not only lets their customers stream original content
made by them, consumers can also stream different TV shows and sitcoms Netflix has
assorted for them in their library. Potential customers for Netflix mainly include the technoid
consumers, people who are in the age group of 15-40 years and those who prefer watching
movies and TV shows on the internet rather than on TV because they’d rather not watch the
unwanted advertisements between the broadcast.
There is also an option for kids on Netflix called ‘Kids’ Profile’ for kids to browse through
the application without any hurdles. Parental control can be set in the Kids' Profile section.
Parents or guardians can enable the Netflix Kids experience if they expect their kids to be
interacting on Netflix independently. The Kids experience offers a more simplistic interface
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and prevents access to all settings. To prevent the kids from particular content that the parents
don’t want their kids to stumble by, they simply need to add the names of any shows that they
don't want their kid to watch under Title Restrictions.
Since Netflix has a family plan, most families in Bangladesh subscribe to the one with
multiple screens. This allows members of all ages in the family to enjoy content.
Furthermore, Netflix’s effective recommendation system allows it to cater its service to
people of all ages. In most cases, the children or teens of the families are the people who try
to initiate the plan of getting a subscription. After a parent ends up buying the service, most
members of the family end up using it.
Furthermore, this service is mainly used by people from middle to high income users. Since
this service requires a device that has access to high-speed internet, it is directed mainly
towards people of middle to high income families.
Netflix is incredibly popular among people who enjoy binge-watching movies or TV shows.
With the use of machine learning, it provides recommendations based on the watching habits
of users. After a few shows are watched, information is gathered on users’ psychographic
data and starts recommending shows according to the user’s preferred genre. This helps this
service to cater to consumers of all ages.
Their primary focus is most likely on the segment mentioned last. These people are
entertainment buffs who have a particular passion for movies or TV shows and are the most
reliably converted prospective-to-actual customers. Following their feedback and focusing on
keeping this segment satisfied is what is most likely to lead to a steadily growing flow of
revenue for Netflix.
In trying to lure such movie and series fans in with their Originals, they have managed to
make themselves a powerhouse in production. While the Netflix Originals have seemingly
never failed to both earn the love of fans and merit critical acclaim, their recent projects have
dominated in terms of awards received. In this year’s Oscars, they managed to win 7
categories, the most by any studio this year and winning 6 categories in the Golden Globes,
thrice as many as the network that won the second most.
These endeavors in trying to produce the best content for the aficionados in the world of film
and entertainment are what has led to the explosive popularity of the service and has
established their name as a hub where one can enjoy some of the finest cinematic pieces the
world has to offer.
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The 4P’s
Price
Price is the amount of money required, charged or given in payment in exchange for a
product or service. It is the sum total of the values that consumers have to give up in order to
enjoy or gain the benefits of a product or service.
Price is a vital element in the 4P’s of marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion) since
it’s the only sector that introduces revenues, while the other elements represent costs. There
are a few factors that need to be considered while pricing a particular product. These factors
help both the customer’s and the seller’s cause and help set a pricing strategy on products
that’ll attract customers as well as benefit the manufacturer.
Netflix follows a pricing policy that allows the customer to pay an expected amount to
purchase a product to avail the services. It follows ‘International Pricing Policy’ and
‘Customer-Value Based Pricing’ to some extent when setting their prices for each country.
Netflix initially provides a one month free trial service when a new account is created in
order to attract new customers and then convert these prospective customers into permanent
ones. After the one month trial period is over, it charges a minimum amount as a subscription
payment which depends upon the type of plan that has been selected by a particular customer.
In the USA (the more conventional plan), Netflix’s monthly plans vary through the following
plans which are:
● Basic Plan; $8.99/month
● Standard Plan; $13.99/month and finally
● Premium Plan; $17.99/ month
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However, their plans and price rates vary depending on the geographical area and Netflix’s
yearly cost in relation to the average person's income in a particular country or area.
In Bangladesh, the account and screen plans are completely different from the one displayed
above. Netflix’s monthly plan for Bangladesh is the following:
From the above price list, it is easily evident that the prices by Netflix are pocket-friendly.
However, Netflix has increased the price of their Basic plan over the years. Subscribers who
choose the Basic plan package while signing up, will automatically be upgraded to the
Standard plan upon their trial period being over. The user can of course choose to downgrade
and stay with their initially picked out plan, but that would mean saying goodbye to HD
streaming and having only one concurrent device.
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Product
Netflix, one of the world’s most popular streaming services provides its viewers an access to
a wide range of television shows, documentaries and movies. Netflix’s product strategies
involve bringing new content every few days in order to meet consumer demand.
It mainly provides three types of contents: shows that have already been aired on other
networks (licensed non-first window content), shows that are produced by other companies
but shown on Netflix first (licensed original first-window content) and shows that are created
originally by the company. Examples include Big Mouth, Orange is the new Black and the
Good Place.
Furthermore, with three different subscription plans at varying price rates, users are allowed
to choose how many devices they want to use this service on and what type of picture quality
they want. This company provides both tangible and intangible services. However, the DVD
rental service of Netflix is not available in Bangladesh.
Netflix has a unique way of developing its product using both internal and external sources.
Their research and development sector consists of teams that focus on different areas of the
service such as machine learning, recommendation and analytics research team etc.
Furthermore, in order to ensure that it provides content with high picture quality, the
company often collaborates with universities and other organizations in order to gain better
insights and innovate. Crowdsourcing was also used by Netflix at one point. This is when the
company asked users to come up with an algorithm that would improve its prediction system.
During the starting months of the company, the founders, Randolph and Hastings focused on
observing thousands of consumers in order to know more about their needs. They came up
with Netflix because they realized that consumers wanted to enjoy a variety of films without
a time limit. At that time, DVD rentals only offered the popular and latest movies, which left
the lovers of niche and old films unsatisfied.
When Netflix started, the idea of searching movies by themes, actors and directors and
keeping the content for as long as you want was a very different concept. The company
allowed users to personalize their own experience. This is why it is suggested that Netflix’s
positioning refers to having access to a wide variety of films, shows with an ability to
customize your own experience at an inexpensive rate.
Place
One of Netflix’s biggest goals is to ensure that it reaches a large number of audiences. This is
why it offers their streaming service in almost 190 countries, excluding China, Crimea, Syria
and North Korea. Netflix’s business operations are mostly performed online and users access
the website to watch movies through smartphones, TVs, computers etc.
One of Netflix’s ways of reaching consumers is through its app. Having multichannel
distribution, which involves having more than one channel to serve consumers, allows this
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company to be present on multiple platforms. For example, this company has partnered with
a large number of devices such as PlayStation, Xbox, Chromecast. These devices come with
Netflix pre-installed which allows consumers to start using the service immediately.
Furthermore, since Netflix uses its application to reach consumers, it also works well with
Google Play Store, App Store and Windows Store. Also, in order to ensure that there is a
wide range of movies and shows available for consumers, Netflix also gets permission from
production companies to present them in the app. These production companies act as the
suppliers of Netflix.
Promotion
Netflix offers a free trial period of one month to attract potential customers into giving their
collection a try and hopefully delighting them enough with their services for them to later
become actual customers. Aside from this, they have a wide range of online social media
marketing that aims to attract more consumers. Their social media marketing team does not
bother to focus on sponsored posts. Instead, they make original and entertainment posts that
excite social media users. Some of these posts are so creative that they often become viral
which leads everyone to talk about Netflix and it's amazing content!
Furthermore, Netflix also collaborates with several institutions such as banks and other
organisations. In certain banks, if you are a user of Netflix, you can immediately enjoy a 50%
discount and watch unlimited content. Another example of this would be when Netflix
partnered up with Burger King and Coca-cola, in order to promote the third season of
“Stranger Things”.
There have been times when Netflix has sent creative emails to its users in order to promote a
show. For example, when “The Punisher” was about to be released, they sent an email to
everyone that seemed like spam, but it ended up being an intriguing GIF that was supposed to
attract viewers. Also, Netflix also keeps track of what the latest trend is. Since Instagram and
Snapchat are incredibly popular these days, they have designed several camera effects and
designs related to their shows in order to keep people engaged. Example: Stranger Things
World Lens.
We cannot forget this service’s biggest feature: personalisation. When users have spent some
time on the app, the homepage changes according to the user’s taste and promotes shows,
movies that the users are likely to be interested in. Since they are pretty active on social
media, they create watchlists and recommend shows for people around the world.
Perhaps most unique of all, Netflix has a massive social media following and several active
handles in each platform to try and maximise engagement with potential, prospective and
actual customers. That is 19 Facebook pages, 20 Twitter handles, 18 Instagram accounts and
17 Youtube channels run by them. Below are some examples of how they use different
accounts on Instagram in particular for different regions.
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They have dedicated verified accounts for various regions like these with millions of
followers on them and post promotional content tailored to engage with customers from each
region.
For example, they have a dedicated account for fans of standup comedy called netflixisajoke
where they post photos, videos, snippets and trailers of fan favourites and upcoming releases
in the standup genre. Perhaps most interesting of these accounts is whattowatchonnetflix
where they post suggestions of what you should watch if you like a particular genre.
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Missed Opportunity
While Netflix is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry, they,
despite having launched and expanded into various regions of the Earth, 190 countries, to be
precise, seem to be missing out on capitalising on the APAC region. When put under a
microscope, the fact that they earn only $0.7 billion (about 10.6%) of their total revenue from
Q4 2020 from the region with 5 of the 10 most populated countries in the world makes their
operations sound fairly underwhelming.
On top of this, in Bangladesh, although the library size of the region is massive at first glance,
with almost 1,500 titles to choose from from movies and 1,500 from series, the collection is
not that impressive. Other APAC countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines and
Malaysia, all make the top 10 list of countries in the world with the largest Netflix libraries
with almost twice as many titles to choose from. Combine that with the fact that there are
barely any Bangladeshi films or shows and it is easy to see the gaps that need filling in order
to draw in more subscribers.
Suggested Modifications
The more an economy grows, generally, the more the average income rises and when that
happens, there is an increase in demand for more non-essential goods and services because a
greater portion of the average person’s income is disposable. So, it is likely that more people
in the country are likely to seek out and browse their options for a quality streaming
entertainment service. As one of the fastest growing economies of the decade and the ninth
largest country in the world by population, focusing on winning the hearts of the Bangladeshi
audience is likely to translate to major benefits in the long run for Netflix.
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foreign language film, Parasite. Another example are a couple of sensations of Netflix’s own,
one, the German sci-fi Netflix Original Series, DARK (2017), and two, the Egyptian horror
Netflix Original Series, Paranormal (2020) that had fans all across the globe raving about
them. These prove that Originals produced in other countries are not only popular among
people of said country but such content has a greater global appeal than ever now.
Modifications
While Bengali titles are there in the Bangladeshi library, they are scarce and only one of them
is actually Bangladeshi. The library needs to have more Bangladeshi content available in
order to attract more Bangladeshi subscribers. Though original shows/movies produced in
Bangladesh or licensing the rights to stream shows/movies already aired and/or released in
the country would work in capturing the attention of locals, the former of the two would do
more to excite local fans.
Netflix will need to get in touch with local production crew members and actors to both help
them shoot their Original as well as have positive publicity for their new project. Casting
actors from Bangladesh would appeal more to the target audience and also initiate dialogue
among potential customers about the new Bangladaehi projects of the company as a whole in
the region for their efforts in being more inclusive about the content they create and offer to
subscribers.
In terms of promotion, aside from the obvious trailers and as for the time of the release of
these new titles in the campaign, Netflix can prepare temporary bundle offer subscription
plans that would charge lower per month rates from customers but would require them to pay
a few months at a time.
A point even more important than the price and the promotion of Netflix’s service here is the
medium of payment. As of now, Netflix accepts payments from their customers only in US
Dollars, meaning anyone wishing to avail their service must have an international credit card.
Given that Bangladesh is still a developing country, many people do not possess such a credit
card and therefore, either cannot pay the subscription fee or have to go through the hassles of
getting a third-party to pay for and open their account on behalf of them. In order to prevent
this mass filtering of potential customers away from becoming actual customers, Netflix
needs to find a way to ensure that interested individuals can pay for their subscriptions with
greater ease.
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Marketing Strategy during Covid-19
Netflix experienced a surge in activity when the pandemic first began last year. Due to a
drastic change in consumer behavior and increase in social distancing, people decided to rely
on this service as one of the main sources of entertainment. It almost became a necessity for
some people.
Almost 26 million people started using the service during the first half of 2020. People did
not care about the price and all they worried about was getting access to the latest releases
and enjoying a wide range of content. In October 2020, the company decided to raise its
prices for the standard plan in the US from $13 to $14. Prices for the premium tier also
increased by $2. According to the company, their reason for this price change was to provide
a better experience for the users.
Furthermore, since they realized the importance of their service, they knew that they did not
have to spend a lot of money on marketing. They decided to spend only 7% of their revenue
generated in the second quarter of that year. According to the CEO, the company is more
focused on creating a buzz and conversation around their shows and stars. Netflix
advertisements are often seen in social media in order to get a higher number of signups.
On top of that, Netflix actually enjoyed higher profits since its production facilities were
slowed down. In my opinion, Netflix was one of the shining stars of the business world
during the pandemic, but raising even by $1 was not necessary during the pandemic. The
price of the basic plan was kept the same, but keeping the prices low would have lessened
one of the company’s biggest problems: password sharing. Furthermore, bringing back some
old beloved TV shows would have been a good idea. Netflix actually decided to stop
streaming “Friends” in the US back in the beginning of 2020.
Lastly, during the beginning of last year, all operations in the television and filmmaking
industry was terminated and a large number of crew and cast members were left unemployed.
In order to support the community, Netflix created a fund named ‘Hardship Fund’ of $150
million in order to help workers in the industry. This includes electricians, makeup artists and
writers etc.
Out of the $150 million, $30 million will be given to other organizations and third parties
who are providing assistance to the unemployed crew. Netflix is also donating $1 million to
SAF-AFTRA Foundation’s Covid Fund and the Actors Fund Emergency Assistance (US) and
Fondation des Aristes in Canada.
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