How Netflix grew from DVD service to a Hollywood disruptor with over 200 million subscribers — that is now losing customers

Travis ClarkJul 2, 2022, 17:37 IST

Netflix coCEO Reed HastingsGetty Images Latam

Netflix grew into a Hollywood disruptor and amassed over 200 million subscribers worldwide.
But it's now facing slowing growth amid economic strains and streaming competition.

1997: Netflix is founded by Reed Hastings, who is currently the co-CEO, and Marc Randolph, its first CEO.

Reed Hastings attends the Netflix & Mediaset Partnership Announcement, Rome, 8th October 2019Ernesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images/Netflix

1998: Netflix launches a DVD-by-mail rental service. That same year, Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos offers to buy the company.

Charles Krupa/AP

1999: Netflix begins offering a subscription-based model, in which customers could choose movies to rent-by-mail for a monthly fee.

Netflix DVDs return mailers are shown in a mail box in Encinitas, California Oct. 21, 2013.Reuters/Mike Blake

2002: Netflix goes public. Randolph exits the company soon after.

Randolph.Marc Randolph

2007: Netflix launches a video streaming service, free for its already-existing DVD-rental subscribers.

Ore Huiying/Getty Images for Netflix

2012: Netflix debuts "Lilyhammer," its first original series. The show was originally broadcast in Norway, but Netflix acquired the rights. It laid the foundation for Netflix's binge-release model and its surge in original programming, including expanding into international markets.

"Lilyhammer."Netflix

2012: Netflix debuts "Lilyhammer," its first original series. The show was originally broadcast in Norway, but Netflix acquired the rights. It laid the foundation for Netflix's binge-release model and its surge in original programming, including expanding into international markets.

2013: Netflix ramps up its original programming with "House of Cards" and "Orange Is the New Black," which gain critical acclaim and Emmys recognition (the former is the first streaming original to win an Emmy).

Laverne Cox on "Orange is the New Black."Paul Schiraldi/Netflix

2013: Netflix ramps up its original programming with "House of Cards" and "Orange Is the New Black," which gain critical acclaim and Emmys recognition (the former is the first streaming original to win an Emmy).

2015: Netflix releases its first original feature film, "Beasts of No Nation."

Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.Bleecker Street/Netflix

2017: Netflix surpasses 100 million subscribers, a crucial milestone, 10 years after it launched its streaming option.

Netflix.Photo by Britta Pedersen/picture alliance via Getty Images

2018: Netflix wins its first feature-film Oscar, for best documentary feature for "Icarus." Later this year, it releases "Roma," which becomes Netflix's first best-picture nominee the following year.

Netflix

2018: Netflix wins its first feature-film Oscar, for best documentary feature for "Icarus." Later this year, it releases "Roma," which becomes Netflix's first best-picture nominee the following year.

2020: Netflix names Ted Sarandos, its creative chief, as co-CEO with Hastings. The two have known each other since 1999.

Netflix's Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos speaks onstage during the Netflix portion of the 2015 Summer TCA Tour.Getty

January, 2021: Netflix announces that it surpassed 200 million subscribers, another milestone.

Netflix.SOPA Images/Getty Images.

September, 2021: Netflix wins the most Emmys for the first time, and nabs best-series wins for the first time with "The Crown" (drama) and "The Queen's Gambit" (limited).

Netflix

September, 2021: Netflix wins the most Emmys for the first time, and nabs best-series wins for the first time with "The Crown" (drama) and "The Queen's Gambit" (limited).

October, 2021: Netflix faces its most public controversy yet, after some employees speak out against Dave Chappelle's Netflix special, "The Closer," in which he makes comments many criticized as transphobic.

Chappelle in "The Closer."Netflix

October, 2021: Netflix faces its most public controversy yet, after some employees speak out against Dave Chappelle's Netflix special, "The Closer," in which he makes comments many criticized as transphobic.

November, 2021: Netflix launches its first video games around the world, free as part of a user's subscription.

Netflix

April, 2022: Netflix reports that it lost subscribers for the first time in a decade in the first quarter of 2022. It lost 200,000 subscribers, and said it was expecting to lose 2 million more in Q2.

Netflix CEO Reed HastingsGetty Images for The New Yorker

April, 2022: Netflix reports that it lost subscribers for the first time in a decade in the first quarter of 2022. It lost 200,000 subscribers, and said it was expecting to lose 2 million more in Q2.

May and June, 2022: Netflix conducts layoffs amid slowing revenue growth.

AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images

June, 2022: Hastings confirms that an ad-supported tier is coming to Netflix.

Netflix CEO Reed HastingsErnesto S. Ruscio/Getty Images for Netflix

Despite recent turmoil, Netflix still intends to spend $17 billion on content this year, according to The New York Times.

Hastings.REUTERS/ Mike Cassese

The 12 highest-paid CEOs, including Amazon's Andy Jassy and Roblox's David Baszucki, each earned over $100 million last year

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How Netflix grew from DVD service to a Hollywood disruptor with over 200 million subscribers &mdash; that is now losing customers

1997: Netflix is founded by Reed Hastings, who is currently the co-CEO, and Marc Randolph, its first CEO.

1998: Netflix launches a DVD-by-mail rental service. That same year, Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos offers to buy the company.

1999: Netflix begins offering a subscription-based model, in which customers could choose movies to rent-by-mail for a monthly fee.

2002: Netflix goes public. Randolph exits the company soon after.

2007: Netflix launches a video streaming service, free for its already-existing DVD-rental subscribers.

2012: Netflix debuts "Lilyhammer," its first original series. The show was originally broadcast in Norway, but Netflix acquired the rights. It laid the foundation for Netflix's binge-release model and its surge in original programming, including expanding into international markets.

2013: Netflix ramps up its original programming with "House of Cards" and "Orange Is the New Black," which gain critical acclaim and Emmys recognition (the former is the first streaming original to win an Emmy).

2015: Netflix releases its first original feature film, "Beasts of No Nation."

2017: Netflix surpasses 100 million subscribers, a crucial milestone, 10 years after it launched its streaming option.

2018: Netflix wins its first feature-film Oscar, for best documentary feature for "Icarus." Later this year, it releases "Roma," which becomes Netflix's first best-picture nominee the following year.

2020: Netflix names Ted Sarandos, its creative chief, as co-CEO with Hastings. The two have known each other since 1999.

January, 2021: Netflix announces that it surpassed 200 million subscribers, another milestone.

September, 2021: Netflix wins the most Emmys for the first time, and nabs best-series wins for the first time with "The Crown" (drama) and "The Queen's Gambit" (limited).

October, 2021: Netflix faces its most public controversy yet, after some employees speak out against Dave Chappelle's Netflix special, "The Closer," in which he makes comments many criticized as transphobic.

November, 2021: Netflix launches its first video games around the world, free as part of a user's subscription.

April, 2022: Netflix reports that it lost subscribers for the first time in a decade in the first quarter of 2022. It lost 200,000 subscribers, and said it was expecting to lose 2 million more in Q2.

May and June, 2022: Netflix conducts layoffs amid slowing revenue growth.

June, 2022: Hastings confirms that an ad-supported tier is coming to Netflix.

Despite recent turmoil, Netflix still intends to spend $17 billion on content this year, according to The New York Times.

How Netflix grew from DVD service to a Hollywood disruptor with over 200 million subscribers — that is now losing customers