The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the economic and business context surrounding the global media powerhouse Netflix. Since its 2007 launch, the distributor-turned-broadcaster has evolved from a DVD mail-delivery rental service, to an over the top (OTT) on-demand provider of licensed video content, to a full blown studio producing and distributing its own original content. In the meantime, its competitive environment has fluctuated tremendously.
Lately, Netflix’s business model and its immediate environment has become even more turbulent, with new players entering continuously and establishing full-on threats against Netflix’s business model, this not counting new business models being devised currently. The company has also been instrumentalized by politicians, lobbies and and interest groups, as a sort of scapegoat for all that is wrong with internet regulation.
