Many people might not even notice, others might rub their eyes: Streaming giant Netflix stopped shipping films on DVD at the end of September. But this was the start of the company's success story in 1997 - in times when the internet was still really new territory.
Most movie fans only know the streaming service anyway. With ever higher resolution and data transfer rates, a decent broadband connection is a must. With Nexiga telecommunications data, fine-grained and high-resolution planning is possible, especially for fiber optic expansion.
A missed deal
The DVD mail order servicewas particularly popular in the USA, possibly in sparsely populated areas with inadequate internet connections or in nostalgic hipster enclaves in large cities, where people also like to use record players again. According to the latest official figures there were still 2.15 million active customers in 2019 . It isa relatively small business, but one that has at least remained stable in recent years.
Speaking of DVDs: The history of Netflix and Blockbuster Videoonce the largest video store chain in the USA and worldwide, is an exciting piece of economic history. In 2000, Netflix even offered to be bought by Blockbuster for what is now a paltry 50 million US dollars. Today, Netflix is worth more than 170 billion dollars on the stock market.
However, the CEO of Blockbuster at the time rejected the deal, whereupon Netflix started sending DVDs by post in red envelopes from 1998. Only later was it technologically possible to stream films online. Due to the rapid growth, it was also possible to own content ("Originals") could also be produced. The flywheel started to turn for Netflix.
Blockbuster, on the other hand, struggled to keep up with the new competition. They had no digital strategywas not agile enough and preferred to rely on revenue such as additional fees for films returned too late. The company did try to enter the streaming business, but it was already too late. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy in 2010.
Today, Netflix is one of the world's leading providers with approx. 230 million subscribers one of the largest media companies in the world with an extensive selection of films and TV shows. The exact number of subscribers for Germany is not reported. According to various estimates, these are said to be in the order of around 10 million and possibly slightly more recently due to the crackdown on account sharing outside of one's own household.
Telecommunications is an absolute future market - and the way to a successful future for companies in the sector is through targeted analysis of the available data. Further information on our extensive range of data and solutions can be found here.
Data on broadband expansion
Streaming is increasingly replacing linear television. For Generation Y and millennials in particular , watching TV with the family is an almost archaic pleasure. However, the volume of data transmitted is rising sharply year on year, primarily due to streaming and gaming. To stream Netflix content in 4K resolution, a bandwidth of up to 25 Mbit/s is recommended. This is possible for most households today, but there are already offers for 8K streaming. Therefore, the old copper lines from the days of ISDN and DSL and technologies based on them, such as vectoring or VDSL , will no longer be sufficient in the long term .
The future is therefore fiber opticswith all its advantages over copper lines. It also increases the value of real estate.
Nexiga has extensive information on telecommunicationsfor more than 21.7 million buildings in Germany : Data on potential networks, infrastructures and locations. The in-house Nexiga database provides industry-specific features such as information on cable and fiber optic availability, mobile network availability and socio-demographic information.
Example Broadband availability for regional and national providers:
- Product availability (depending on provider, information on DSL, VDSL, fiber optics, cable)
- Maximum download and upload bandwidths
- Technology scores related to households in terms of affinity to VDSL, high-tech products, etc.
- Differentiation according to telecommunication types of households with regard to equipment, planning and typical behavior patterns in the area of telecommunications.
In addition, the distance to the nearest cable distributor is available for the buildings, as well as market shares for fixed and mobile networks.