These days, Netflix has become something of a household name. There is almost nowhere you mention this name that you won’t be met with knowing eyes all around. Such is the kind of power and brand awareness that comes with being the biggest streaming service in the world.
Although many people are just knowing the service of recent, it has been around for more than 22 years now. Starting out in 1997, they have grown in leaps and bounds to get where they are today.
How did Netflix start?
Many Nigerian and African households are very familiar with the idea of DVD rentals. A shop opens up in your area and stocks up on the latest DVDs of both homemade and foreign movies.
Instead of committing to buying these movies yourself, you simply go to them and rent the DVDs. After watching, you can just return it to these shops and get another one, if need be.
This is the same kind of concept Netflix started with.
They improved on their offering by delivering the DVDs to your doorstep – just like mail. Users were loving the fact that they could access a huge catalogue of movies online, and have it delivered to their homes at a reasonable charge. Among other things, this beat having to buy the discs outright.
As the internet matured, Netflix moved to the streaming service which made them known in nearly all corners of the world. Even though they are still running with their basic DVD rental service plan, they are now pulling in massive revenue and recognition from the streaming platform.
You would think so too if you considered the fact that they now have more than 140 million subscribers from all around the world.
Why You Should Stream Netflix Content
For those who have not already started enjoying Netflix, we digress a little bit before getting to the meat of this post.
Some of the many advantages of this platform are:
Access to a wide range of movies – No matter what genre of movies you are interested in, you will find it on Netflix. The service has hundreds of thousands of movies and videos for you, and all you have to do is search.
In fact, the suggestion feature makes sure you always get movies in line with the ones you love. All you have to do is watch a couple of movies and you will instantly get suggestions based on your interest. That way, you can even discover more movies than you would have on a normal day.
Documentaries are in abundance – If you happen to love documentaries, Netflix is a safe haven for you. There is rarely anything in the world that they do not have a documentary on.
I especially love the way they have branched out into different niches, tapping into the very core of subjects to bring up in-depth answers to questions that you must have had.
With a curation process which ensures only the best content gets into the platform, you will never have to lack in content quality.
Enjoying early releases – It is a fact that new movies are usually released to cinemas and theatres before they make it to DVD. If you won’t be going to watch these movies at the cinema, you might have to wait many months before getting it at all.
In that waiting time, you risk having been subjected to such massive spoilers that you might not even enjoy the movie at the end of the day.
Fortunately, Netflix is in agreement with major studios – ensuring they can bring you the same movies faster than before. Rather than having to wait for DVD releases, you will just hang on while Netflix loads the movie onto their platform.
Exclusive originals – Netflix is more impressive than other streaming services in the way they make original movies and series available to users.
Of these, I have personally enjoyed series like Orange is the New Black and How to Get Away with Murder. On the side of movies, there is no end to those I’ve consumed.
Some of such are True Memoirs of an International Assassin, Beasts of No Nation, The Siege of Jadotville, Spectral, iBoy, and so much more.
These movies and series are made available only on Netflix, so you have to be on the platform to enjoy them at all.
What devices can you stream Netflix on?
Netflix can be accessed on just about any device of your choice. This means you can stream all Netflix content from your simple Android devices, an Apple phone or tablet or even your desktop computers.
In as much as it has a screen, and you have an active internet connection on it, you are good to go.
Getting the best Netflix experience
Now that you know all there is about Netflix (and I hope to have convinced non-users to stop missing out on the many advantages of this service), there is still a long way to go.
Simply entering the Netflix dashboard does not allow you access to the best movies and series – all due to a factor called geo-blocking. Sometimes, you will have to wait many months after others have gotten a particular content on Netflix for it to show up in your region.
How does this happen?
Every content that goes onto Netflix can be programmed to broadcast to everyone, or people from a select region of the world. Just like in many other cases, Africa (and by extension, Nigeria) is one of the regions that fall low in this pecking order. Thus, you might not get the best experience on Netflix – even for all its good intentions.
The good news is that you can get around this problem. All you have to do is either:
obtain a VPN specially designed for Android or any other OS you are working with,
connect to Netflix via a proxy server or
change your DNS settings to mask your real location.
Why will These Fixes Work?
Content restriction of the kind Netflix embraces is based on location. That way, the content is available on the platform but not for all users.
With the tips above, you get to change your location to that of a country where the content is supported. When you access the Netflix servers, they are tricked into believing you are from a supported location, helping to make said content available to you.
Most times, the ideal locations to connect to are the US and UK since they usually get most, if not all, of content published on Netflix.
Personally, going through a VPN is the best bet. Well, unless you are technically savvy and love to go through the process of re-coding your IP address yourself rather than simply using the one-click connection service that comes with most VPNs today.
Start enjoying the total Netflix experience
Is there any other problem you are facing with your Netflix account? Let us know in the comments and I’ll try my best to provide a solution to it. Anything to ensure you get the best video content out there in one place.
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* This article was originally published here
