Netflix and Its Surge of Popularity during the Coronavirus Crisis

Based on John Storey's definition in his book Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, popular culture is widely favored or well-liked by many people. Popular culture finds its expression through the mass circulation of items from fashion, music, and film. Many people prefer film as their entertainment preference, and I choose to describe Netflix as a popular American product because amid this coronavirus crisis, many countries around the world are on lockdown, and some people are doing self-quarantine at their own homes.

The implementation of a lockdown is to control and limit people's activity outside the house, which affects the fulfillment of human needs. During the lockdown, there's a change in how people do their routines. Therefore, people's needs and priorities also adapt to the changes. As I mentioned before, many people choose film as their source of entertainment, and because of the pandemic, they are no longer able to enjoy watching films at the cinema. Hence, they switch to online streaming platforms such as Netflix as their source of entertainment during quarantine. After the market close on April 21st, 2020, Netflix released its Q1 2020 earnings report and reported 2x subscriber growth amid the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. This shows how the current state of lockdown has motivated many people to fulfill their entertainment needs even more than they were before this pandemic.

Netflix is a popular streaming platform for watching TV series, films, documenters, anime, etc. It was founded in 1997, in Scotts Valley, California, by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph and had over 182 million paid subscriptions worldwide as of April 2020, including 69 million in the United States. Netflix provides subscription deals at relatively low rates, which allows many people to access their streaming service. Netflix has expanded its feature from three languages - English, Spanish, and Portuguese to over 20 languages, including Arabic, Korean, Polish, Simplified Chinese, and will continue to add more languages to reach more subscribers worldwide. Netflix allows its subscribers to access the streaming content, including new releases and timeless classics on a wide variety of devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs, so it's no surprise that Netflix has become a popular entertainment source.

What I enjoy most from Netflix's subscription is the original programs, including shows that are not available on another streaming platform. It has become an essential app for millennials to have on their gadget to watch popular TV shows, so they don't feel left out when everyone is talking about popular shows on social media. Other entertainment media like podcasts has become popular among millennials these days. Netflix has an audio description feature on their show, enabling its subscribers to listen to a show as background noise as they continue their activity. By enabling audio description as one of its features, Netflix also provides accessibility for people who are blind or have low vision who also want to enjoy the show as it provides information about actions, characters, scene changes, text on-screen, and other visual content. To sum up, with all of Netflix's features, it’s no surprise that many people choose it to stream film to fulfill their entertainment needs, especially during the coronavirus crisis.

Reference

Netflix. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved on June 16th, 2020, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... 21, 2020 (PDF). Retrieved on June 16th, 2020.

Storey, J. (2006). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. Fifth edition. University of Sunderland

Team, Trefis. (2020, April 28th). Netflix Subscriber Growth 2x Expectations; Good News Or Peak?. Forbes. Retrieved on June 16th, 2020, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2020/04/28/netflix-subscriber-growth-2x-expectations-good-news-or-peak/#4842d99e3ea1