Netflix and... the global culture

First Of All...

At the beginning of 2016, the subscription-based media streaming and rental service called Netflix, announced that it would be making its services available worldwide. Netflix is nowadays known in many countries of the world and the media imposes itself more and more against the competition. According to its creators, Netflix permit witnessing the birth of a global Internet TV network. With streaming media booming globally, I decided to delve a little deeper into what Netflix is and its influence on the world.

Indeed, streaming media is media that you watch or listen to in real time. Traditionally, we used to download a file onto your PC and could only be able to watch it once the download has completed. With streaming, the file will download in the background whilst playing, so there is no delay. Netflix, YouTube, and online podcasts are all different types of streaming media and that's why it makes their success.

The effect of netflix on global culture...

I decided to choose Netflix to talk about the world culture because first and foremost it is a media that I use daily and I appreciate the vast majority of their productions. So this media interests me a lot because I think it permits a certain liberty when I want to chill out and forget about my problems and it helps to reunificate millions people through the world in the same plateform, as the social networks do it. Netflix has a huge impact on the culture and the way in which people watch television today. On the positive side, it has allowed consumers to become more independant. They now can have the choice of what they watch and when they watch it.

When we watch television, the channels impose their programs and the choices are often restricted; while with the netflix referral system, subscribers can choose their content from a wide range of choices based on what they like. They are therefore free to decide what they want to watch and they can better target their choice, for example they can restrict the proposals to a specific geographical area.

There is also an argument that streaming services have a beneficial impact on the environment. Instead of selling new products that will eventually become waste, streaming services provide the same thing over and over to different people without the negative impact on the environment. According to research, streaming a movie requires 78% of the energy it takes to ship a physical copy. However, even though less physical waste is created, streaming accumulates a carbon footprint that is 100% higher due to the energy required by data centres to virtually store the content.

Furthermore, there is the concern that streaming media creates a culture where people want things immediately and don’t do well with having to wait. Gaining access to streaming media requires far less patience than watching regular television. The worry amongst some is that this will eventually create a society full of entitled people who will never learn the value of patience, required in everyday life.

The full impact of services such as Netflix on traditional media is becoming more important, but there is no doubt that it has become a part of worldwide culture, and changed the way we receive and create content. While television viewing remains popular, people want to have the flexibility to watch their series or movies on whatever device they choose. Streaming media is not signalling the end of television, but it is has definitely changed the way in which we view it across the world. It has also succeeded in making viewing more accessible globally, and in doing so created a more cohesive global audience.