If you mention Netflix to almost anyone you meet, they know exactly what you’re talking about, and more than likely have an account of their own. In the 4th quarter of 2014, they added 4.3 million new subscribers. They expect to have 61.4 million total subscribers in 2015 worldwide. That is a lot of people streaming their favorite TV shows and movies. But as with every large company out there, there are always secrets and facts that you don’t necessarily know about unless you do a little research. Well here are 24 Netflix facts that you probably didn’t know. Some of them may not affect you, while others will change how you’re streaming your favorite movies.
1. Netflix was almost called Blockbuster.com. In 2000, Blockbuster considered purchasing Netflix. Netflix was going to sell them 49% stake in the company and would have become the online service that Blockbuster was looking for.
2. Netflix has 76,897 different categories while searching. Some of these categories include “Cool Moustaches”, “Dark Canadian Thrillers”, and “Understated Detective TV Shows. Maybe that’s where all the good shows I’ve been looking are hidden.
3. You can sort your list of movies on Netflix by their Rotten Tomatoes rating. You can do this by going to the Rotten Tomatoes Netflix streaming page OR you can download a free Chrome extension that will give you the ratings listed right on Netflix.
4. Netflix employees are allowed to take as many vacation days as they want. Netflix spokesperson Joris Evers said, “It’s about freedom and responsibility and treating people like adults.”
5. Netflix employees know how to have fun. On April Fool’s Day one year, they changed up their categories and added some made up categories instead. Some of these ridiculous categories included “Movies That Are In English But Still Require Subtitles”, “Movies Featuring An Epic Nicholas Cage Meltdown”, and “TV Shows Where Defiantly Crossed Arms Mean Business!”
6. If you aren’t sure what to watch, check out Reddit’s page offering NetflixBestOf. You can find it HERE.
7. If you find that you are sucking up all of your data while watching Netflix, here’s a great tip. Log into Netflix on your browser. Go to Your Account, then Playback Settings, then Manage Video Quality. You can set this to the lowest streaming quality available, which is usually 480p. This will cause you to use up less data, but the picture may not be as good.
8. If you are watching Netflix on your computer there are a ton of keyboard shortcuts you may not know about. Here are a few of them: F = Full Screen, Shift + Left Arrow = Rewind, Shift + Right Arrow = Fast Forward, M = Mute, Up Arrow = Volume Up, Down Arrow = Volume Down, Enter = Play/Pause, Page Up = Play, Page Down = Pause, and ESC = Exit Full Screen. Some of these will come in handy when you are watching movies at work rather than actually working.
9. If you’re not sure what to watch on Netflix, check out Netflix Roulette HERE. You can choose if you want to watch a TV show or a movie or both, then click Spin. When I tried it, it told me I should watch IP Man 2. This is great if you are feeling indecisive.
10. If you want to make sure you catch a TV show or movie before it leaves Netflix, check out Now Streaming. They’ll give you a list of all the shows and movies that are being removed every week.
11. Netflix users stream upwards of 100 million hours of content every single day!
12. In the US, ISP (internet service provider) Google Fiber offers the best connectivity.
13. The revenue that Netflix made for Quarter 1 of 2015 was $1.4 billion!
14. Netflix isn’t perfect. They’ve had a few glitches along the way. One noticeable glitch happened in 2014 and started combining two different titles into one. Luckily subscribers caught some of these errors so they can be shared among the masses.
15. In the United States, more people subscribe to Netflix than they subscribe to cable TV.
16. If you have kids, you are statistically more likely to have a Netflix subscription. They don’t mind watching the same shows over and over again.
17. The first content uploaded to Netflix was a test film that they created to check out the standard film frames. If you’re in the US and type in Example Show, you’ll be able to find it.
18. Breaking Bad is the most watched TV show on Netflix currently.
19. Netflix has produced 66 original programs as of February 2015. These include series, continuations, films, documentaries, and comedy specials. One of their most popular series includes Orange Is The New Black.
20. Netflix pursued the licensing rights to House Of Cards. They brought David Fincher and Kevin Spacey on because their movies proved to be very popular on Netflix.
21. Adam Sandler recently signed a four-movie deal with Netflix. The reason he said he signed with them was because, “Netflix rhymes with wet chicks.”
22. Robin Wright won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in House Of Cards. This made Netflix the first original online programming service to win a major television award.
23. Netflix also offers its own award show called The Flixies. They are pretty funny, but users are invited to vote for their favorite shows. Some of the categories for this award show are Best Hangover Cure, Best Guilty Pleasure, and Best TV Marathon.
24. If the quality of your Netflix is streaming poorly, try watching it earlier in the day if possible. The peak times for people watching Netflix are between 7pm – 9pm, which may cause poor quality streaming.
That’s a lot of information about your favorite streaming application, Netflix! I look forward to using some of those keyboard shortcuts that we mentioned above and I had no idea that they had produced so many original programs! I know I was very excited when they released new episodes of Arrested Development. What’s your favorite Netflix original program?
sources: HuffingtonPost, BuzzFeed, MentalFloss, ExpandedRamblings