I too didn’t get Netflix when it first came out, and your reasons weren’t my experience at all.
Video rental stores were expensive
My experience new releases were $4-$5, and often older releases were $1-$3, while Netflix was $20 for the month.
You were at the mercy of their inventory…only one copy each of older favorites… and didn’t have a lot of fringe options or foreign releases.
Blockbuster had a “guaranteed to be there or it was free” deal for the major new releases, with whole walls dedicated to just one movie. It was rare to miss out on the blockbusters. Older movies and fringe/foreign options though I agree with you.
For perspective on my experience: was a college-aged kid, who got together with friends on the weekends to watch a movie, you’d rent about 4-5 movies per month so Netflix was roughly the same cost.
Mostly rented major new releases but an occasional cult classic, inventory was never a problem, nobody wanted obscure stuff.
Video stores seemed more convenient. Everybody (in my friend circle) had a Blockbuster <5 minutes from their house and well all drove. So easy to pick up a movie and drop it off on the way home. Plus you didn’t know what you wanted to watch until you’re about to get together with your friends: what if everyone wants to watch the Comedy blockbuster, but you got the Drama blockbuster? I want to be able to survey my friends and decide at the last minute or be able to pivot, I don’t want to have to decide a week ahead of time or not make a last minute change if everybody is in the mood for something else.
This was my personal experience and why Netflix didn’t seem like a great idea.
For people watching tons of movies, and more obscure stuff, I can see how Netflix was a great idea. But people watching mostly blockbusters and only renting one movie a weekend with friends (which I thought was most of the population) I didn’t see the value.
You don’t need to tell me why I was wrong, clearly I was wrong, but that was my perspective at the time. And as a family-man now, one thing I didn’t consider was the families renting a lot movies (2-3 movies for the kids + 1 for the parents every week) - now that’s a huge market I hadn’t considered.
I too didn’t get Netflix when it first came out, and your reasons weren’t my experience at all.
My experience new releases were $4-$5, and often older releases were $1-$3, while Netflix was $20 for the month.
Blockbuster had a “guaranteed to be there or it was free” deal for the major new releases, with whole walls dedicated to just one movie. It was rare to miss out on the blockbusters. Older movies and fringe/foreign options though I agree with you.
For perspective on my experience: was a college-aged kid, who got together with friends on the weekends to watch a movie, you’d rent about 4-5 movies per month so Netflix was roughly the same cost.
Mostly rented major new releases but an occasional cult classic, inventory was never a problem, nobody wanted obscure stuff.
Video stores seemed more convenient. Everybody (in my friend circle) had a Blockbuster <5 minutes from their house and well all drove. So easy to pick up a movie and drop it off on the way home. Plus you didn’t know what you wanted to watch until you’re about to get together with your friends: what if everyone wants to watch the Comedy blockbuster, but you got the Drama blockbuster? I want to be able to survey my friends and decide at the last minute or be able to pivot, I don’t want to have to decide a week ahead of time or not make a last minute change if everybody is in the mood for something else.
This was my personal experience and why Netflix didn’t seem like a great idea.
For people watching tons of movies, and more obscure stuff, I can see how Netflix was a great idea. But people watching mostly blockbusters and only renting one movie a weekend with friends (which I thought was most of the population) I didn’t see the value.
You don’t need to tell me why I was wrong, clearly I was wrong, but that was my perspective at the time. And as a family-man now, one thing I didn’t consider was the families renting a lot movies (2-3 movies for the kids + 1 for the parents every week) - now that’s a huge market I hadn’t considered.