New Delhi. Whenever the video got stuck while watching a movie or web series on the video streaming platform Netflix, most of the people used to say the same thing – Netflix is slow. In the early 2010s, this complaint became so common that Netflix’s credibility began to be questioned. But the reality was different. The problem was not with Netflix, but with Internet Service Providers (ISPs), who were silently reducing the speed of Netflix. To bring this truth to light, Netflix created a website (Fast.com) which exposed the internet companies.
Why was Netflix in trouble?
Streaming was growing rapidly during that period. More than 30% of the internet traffic in America was coming from Netflix alone. Due to such heavy traffic, pressure on ISP started increasing. Many internet companies said that Netflix was putting a burden on their network capacity and they should pay more for it. Netflix opposed this. The company clearly said that users are already paying for the internet, then it is wrong to charge additional fees from the content company. The conflict started from here.
Someone else’s fault, loss to Netflix
When the video repeatedly buffered, customers would blame Netflix, not the internet company. They think that Netflix’s servers are bad or the company is technically weak. The result was that complaints increased, there was criticism on social media and many users even canceled their subscription. Netflix’s brand image was being directly damaged.
How Fast.com was born
The company had two options – either fight a long legal battle or convey the truth directly to the users. The company chose the second path and from here Fast.com was born. This is a very simple website. No heavy graphics, no long form. As soon as you open a website, your internet speed is revealed. That is all. But its biggest feature was that it specifically measured your speed from Netflix servers. If the speed on Fast.com was seen to be low, the user would immediately understand that the problem was not with Netflix but with his internet connection.
Billion dollar bet without advertising
Netflix did not run a single ad for Fast.com. Nevertheless this website spread like wildfire. People started sending links to each other. Tech journalists wrote about it. Even regulators and policy makers started citing Fast.com’s data. In a way, this was a PR masterstroke by Netflix. Without any noise, without any allegations, just through data, the company proved who is really slowing down the internet.
pressure on internet companies
The popularity of Fast.com put internet companies in the dock. When millions of users started saying the same thing that the speed on Netflix is slow but other websites are running fine, then questions were bound to arise. Public pressure increased and many internet providers had to change their throttling policies. This was also a major turning point in the net neutrality debate.
still as strong today
Today Fast.com is available in more than 40 languages of the world and millions of speed tests are conducted daily. This is one of Netflix’s most powerful creations, which does not make money directly, but strengthens the company’s brand value and trust.
What is the lesson?
Often companies run big advertising campaigns to protect their image. Netflix took the opposite approach. Instead of selling something, he created a tool to show the truth. Fast.com is an example of how sometimes the biggest weapon is not noise, but transparency.
