Netflix Movies: A Brief Description
Netflix, located in Los Gatos, CA, was born in 1997 and launched its revolutionary subscription service in 1999. For about $20 a month, subscribers can rent as many DVDs as they want per month, keeping up to three titles at one time. DVDs are sent via 1st class mail and include prepaid return envelopes for sending back the Netflix movies. In fact, 80% of customers are typically reached by one-day service. There are no late fees because you can keep the movies as long as you like. Netflix movies total over 25,000; titles available for renting including just released movies as well as hard-to-find independent films and documentaries. Subscribers can rate each movie in the Netflix database. Those ratings are used by Netflix to recommend specific movies to certain customers who seem to have the same tastes in movies. According to Netflix, this is an efficient system because 98% of their movies are rented by customers each quarter.
How Does Netflix Movies Stand Up to the Competition?
Of course, Netflix isn’t the only place that offers a no due dates, no late fees, subscription rental service. GreenCine is a company that focuses on independent films, documentaries, and anime. It costs only 19.95 a month (what Netflix *used* to charge before the rate increase). GameFly is a company that works just like Netflix but instead of offering DVD movies, they rent console games instead. The price is $22 per month. While Gamefly isn’t a direct competitor with Netflix, it does lead to our next question—Why can’t there be a company that allows subscribers to rent DVD movies *and* games at a competitive rate? Well, now there is: GameznFlix. GameznFlix is set up just like Netflix, but allows consumers to mix-and-match games and DVD movies in their rental quotas. Now, you would expect GameznFlix to charge a small premium over Netflix because of the added value of having games, too. However, GameznFlix charges only $18.50 a month. That’s cheaper than Netflix movies ever were. Netflix may have invented this type of business, but now they’ve got valid competition when trying to maintain and grow market share in this booming business.
Here's the nitty gritty about Netflix and its competitors...
I'd reccommend that you go ahead and try the Netflix movie free trial (even though you don't use a coupon). After you've given them 2 weeks, you can always drop them and try the GameZnFlix trial.