leisure
NETFLIX AND CHILL BY MATT TRIAY
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etflix over a short period of time, in my opinion, has become a ubiquitous feature of life, much in the same way N’golo Kante is on a football pitch. I can’t really remember not having Netflix; it slotted into my life rather subtly whilst also being incredibly hard to ignore, their rise coining the common phrase ‘Netflix and Chill’. You don’t hear your partner saying ‘Prime time babe?’ – having said that I do enjoy verb-ing nouns on the odd occasion, ‘Beer me, please’. The TV giants went from 21.5 million subscribers in 2011 to a whopping 158 million in 2019. Founded in 1997 originally making their bread on dvd rentals via mail delivery, it was not until 2010 that they started their streaming service alongside their dvd rental business, Lilyhammer was the first ever series on the site. Since 2012 Netflix can best be described as distributers and producers with their Netflix Originals coming to life and by 2016 Netflix were in 160 countries. So it is safe to say that Netflix over the last decade have become
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a pretty big deal. Yet there is something I came across that surprised me, and this is the 12.4 billion dollars in long term debt and 20 billion in short and long term debt. This number made it to numerous headlines, however the co-founder Reed Hastings argues that the actual number is way less whilst further explaining the reason behind the debt. He mentions Disney, who are in and around the 50 billion mark in terms of debt, both businesses take money from bond sales to investors to make new content. The reason they continue to take more money out is because the model of their business suggests movies and series made now will pay off their debts over time, in 10-15 years the Netflix Originals of today will cover these loans. Reed Hastings “expects to be free cash flow negative for many years” and will continue to use money to produce Netflix content in confidence. Interesting stuff!
MY THOUGHTS ORIGINALLY… Series have become more popular than film, a series requires a
serious investment of ones time and with the accessibility of Netflix any time, anywhere, any device (ATAWAD) it is easy to invest this time, how does this affect the culture of watching TV? More on this later. My initial thought regarding Netflix was how much I began using it to feed an emotion I desired. I began to care less and less about the actors, the directors or writers. Netflix makes it so easy; I do less of what I used to do, which is spend time researching a film, the people who made it etc. before I indulge. Accessibility of series allows for binge watching of series, many of which are short with a lot happening in an episode; the story unravels quickly which is satisfying. However the culmination of a story is left until the final episode, possibly even the final 20 minutes of the last episode of series 15 and so one keeps on watching until they get there (which for me makes it all the more anti-climatic) it is highly addictive. I prefer films – ‘Netflix has plenty of films’ – true but they are they not the movies I want to watch, they are what’s ‘in’ anyways this is not my focus. GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE MAY 2020
