Magazine B Issue 49 (Netflix) is available now at LOREM (not Ipsum). Started in 1997 in Silicon Valley, Netflix was dubbed the icon of American popular culture following the success of its DVD-by-mail operation. 10 years after the DVD-era, during which the Netflix-logo-emblazoned red envelopes reigned supreme, Netflix introduced its movie and TV show streaming service and burgeoned into an online entertainment powerhouse. By releasing entire seasons of original programming such as ‹House of Cards› and ‹Orange is the New Black› all at once, Netflix was able to bring ‘binge-watching’ to the forefront of our culture and is now viewed by many as the future of entertainment. Discover Magazine B Issue 49 (Netflix).
Switching between my smartphone and my television, I recently watched “Narcos,” a TV series based on the true story of one of Colombia’s most infamous drug cartels. I’m also in the middle of “Stranger Things,” a surrealistic tale set in small-town America, which I’m watching on my laptop. Both series are Netflix productions. I’m curious as to what our readers are watching these days, whether it’s TV or films. And how many times do they watch television in one week? I remember when my entire family would gather in front of the television set to watch a program, or when I’d anxiously wait for a movie’s release date and set aside a day for going to the theater. Now that there’s a variety of ways to watch what I want when I want, those memories are phantoms of bygone days. Netflix is an online streaming service that caters to modern viewing patterns, one that has radically altered content distribution and the entertainment industry.
Netflix co-founders Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph started out in 1997 with a mail-in DVD rental service based in Silicon Valley. They shipped their DVDs in red envelopes marked with the company logo, and steadily built a customer base by charging fixed monthly payments instead of per rental. Despite fierce market competition, large turnover ratios and adaptive company policies equated to rapid growth, and nearly 10 years later, the company has revolutionized the media streaming industry. Having switched its focus from mail-in to online, the company now offers its subscribers unlimited access to a library of high-definition videos — all for a low monthly fee. They started original productions with the hit TV series “House of Cards,” which brought unprecedented success and raised the company’s stature in the entertainment industry. As a content distributor that was neither a broadcasting company nor an official production studio, it was a risky but revolutionary endeavor. Netflix has many technical advantages over its competitors, including rapid streaming and buffering technology, a wide range of content, and algorithms that analyze users’ personal preferences. With exclusive release rights for over 10 original productions, the ability to offer unlimited access to content for a fixed monthly rate, and markets that have expanded from North America and Western Europe to nearly every region across the globe, Netflix is redefining what it means to be a “content distributor.” Regarding the changes in content consumption triggered by Netflix’s daring experiments, industry experts say that power has shifted from the distributors to the users.
Netflix has the highest levels of technology for optimizing content for a variety of devices, but the company focuses primarily on TV. In short, they concentrate on individual viewers. In an interview, CEO Reed Hastings likened Netflix’s content to books, because viewers can control what they watch at a time of their choosing. By returning TV to one of the oldest forms like a book or a magazine, Hastings says, Netflix has relinquished control to the viewer.
It’s often said that the appearance of new technologies and machines wipes out what came before. Yet inventions based on longtime human behavior do not disappear so easily. On the contrary, simply redefining a product or medium has occasionally spawned new industries. People commonly refer to such a phenomenon as “innovation.” Now is the time to take heed of Netflix’s new definition of TV and the future of content distribution —along with the many other realms in contemporary life that are being redefined. We are pleased to introduce Magazine B Issue 49 (Netflix). Discover Magazine B Issue 49 (Netflix).
Magazine B is an ad-less monthly publication that introduces one well-balanced brand unearthed from around the globe in each issue. Between its covers, Magazine B not only shares untold stories behind the brand but also its sentiment and culture that any readers interested in brand marketing and management can leaf through with ease. Magazine B attempts to discover truly good brands from today’s market where countless brand-named products are overflowing. Magazine B pursues its quest for true value of a printed medium by becoming a magazine that would be worth possessing, not affected by advertisements since it receives no financial support from the brand, and maintains a unique and independent perspective which is increasingly disappearing due to overflowing information mingled among different media outlets.
Magazine B dedicates each issue to the story of one specific brand, which is one of the well-balanced brands that JOH. discovers from around the world based on four standards: beauty, practicality, price, and philosophy. And each issue is packed with B’s unique insights and in-depth analysis. Magazine B will continue to search brands that it pursues to introduce cover-to-cover, such as Swiss recycled bag manufacturer Freitag and Japanese camping gear maker Snow Peak.
Content
EDITOR’S LETTER
MARKET
Reporting on media trends from entertainment capital LA
INNER SPACE
Revelations of the Netflix UI
OPINION
Taehoon Park, Frograms CEO
HEAD OFFICE, LOS GATOS
Nucleus of product development and engineering
LABORATORY
Netflix’s technology: what makes it so innovative and where it’s headed
OPINION
Grant McCracken, Anthropologist
ADAPTATION
How Netflix has changed media and our way of life
HEAD OFFICE, LOS ANGELES
Content and marketing control center
PRODUCT
Netflix Originals by genre
OPINION
Ted Sarandos, Netflix CCO
STUDIO
Why Netflix is here to stay, according to the names behind Netflix Originals
B’S CUT
How Internet TV has changed the way we watch content
BRAND STORY
The birth and growth of Netflix
FACTS
Netflix past and present: the story behind the story
NATIVE AD
Inventive ways Netflix spreads the word
COMMANDMENTS
Defining Netflix’s company culture in seven values
REED HASTINGS
An interview with the Netflix CEO
FIGURES
Netflix in numbers
Details: Magazine B – Issue 49 (Netflix)
240 x 170 mm, 138 pages
