The 网飞公司 Way: Learning from Failure, Constantly Innovating

“建立自己的媒体帝国!标题惊呼道。. 似乎每个专家都, 顾问, social media expert is proclaiming the power of creating your own video network. The battle cry “The brand is the channel” reverberates off boardroom walls in New York and coffee shop couches in San Francisco. Even I have been guilty of cheering on anyone and everyone to create content and take over the world. But the motivational encouragement can sometimes feel like those cheesy banner ads that promise this one old, 练出六块腹肌的奇怪方法. Creating your own media channel is for startups and college dropouts drinking Adderall lattes, right? Are traditional companies and Average Joes and Janes really meant to build their own media brands?

在这个版本的辣的想法, we’ll skip the cheerleading and look at how one company built its own network. 它不是一个旧的, weird trick but rather simple concepts that require strategic implementation and effort. 的故事网飞公司 provides great examples, not just for motivation but as inspiration to make changes. So put down the pom-poms, put on the hard hat, let’s get to work.

Getting laughed out of the Blockbuster CEO’s office seems like an unlikely first step on the road to creating a media empire. But 网飞公司’s rejected partnership proposal to Blockbuster in 2000 was just one of the many building blocks for its ultimate success. Failure is not just an option for 网飞公司; it seems to be hardcoded into its company DNA. Constant innovation in any company requires trying new things, 落在你的脸上, 重新站起来, 尝试其他方法. Renting DVDs by mail doesn’t sound like a sexy startup plan, it wasn’t. But constant innovation and a learning environment fostered by 网飞公司 CEO Reed Hastings turned this mail-order service into a true media giant.

网飞公司的历史证明了它的灵活性. In 1997 it launched with 925 titles available on single DVD rentals via mail, late fees applied. Two years later 网飞公司 added the monthly subscription service and killed the late fees, then in 2000 it dropped the single DVD rental option. 2002 saw the company’s initial public offering (IPO), in 2003 网飞公司 had its first profitable year with revenues of $272 million dollars. 到2005年，该公司每天出货100万张dvd. 在早期, the company found a way to take a traditional mail-order business and look ahead to what customers would want next.

The success of 网飞公司 is also a story of massive failures turned into huge wins. In 2008, a collapse of its database shut down shipments for 3 days. But the failure ultimately led 网飞公司 to Amazon cloud computing. 网飞公司 has flourished in the cloud, at any one time it has 20,000 servers processing its data. 在今年早些时候的一次采访中, 网飞公司的云架构师Adrian Cockcroft说, “We’re using Amazon more efficiently than the retail arm of Amazon is.” The more recent failure in 2011 came from the plan to split the DVD and streaming businesses into Qwikster and 网飞公司. 定价问题, 愤怒的顾客, general confusion caused the company to ditch the idea and return to a single brand. 但即使在混乱的错误中, 网飞公司 learned from its shortcomings and continued to focus on its customers.

在过去的两年里, 网飞公司 has truly hit its stride in the media empire arena by focusing on original programming. 比如 发展受阻 (第四季), 《百家乐软件app最新版下载》, 《女子监狱, 网飞公司 has proven that it can create content that rivals anything on TV or out of Hollywood. The best is yet to come for this company inspired by a $40 late fee on a really late movie rental. 不断尝试新事物, 没有大, learning from mistakes should be an inspiration for us all. 所以，无论你是一家价值数百万美元的企业, 一个有故事要讲的人, 或者和一群朋友一起做你喜欢的事, you can build your own media empire and change the world. Tune out the hype, turn up the hustle, create something spicy!

本文发表于2013年12月号 流媒体杂志 “网飞公司的方式”."