Did You Know – Netflix Was Given These Not So Glamorous Names!

Netflix has changed the way we consume movies, spend our weekends, go out to movie halls and so many other aspects of our lives. It has been one of the biggest entertainment and pop culture disruptors in recent times. The streaming giant was once limited to cable TV service, movie rentals, and VCR recordings, but has now evolved to become the largest on-demand library of streamed content. While life without Netflix may seem hard to imagine these days, the company has been there longer than even Google existed. In fact, Netflix’ first original content was not House of Cards; it was a DVD of President Bill Clinton’s testimony to the grand jury in the Monica Lewinsky matter in September of 1998.

The phrase ‘Netflix and Chill’ has become the mantra of the current generation but did you know Netflix originally had another name. In its early days, Netflix co-founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings decided to call the company Kibble. It was the name that was used for test sites and legal documents.

Other names that were shortlisted were Replay, CinemaCenter, Take2, and NetPix. What would have happened if we had chosen something else. Can’t you imagine saying Kibble and Chill? or CinemaCenter and Chill anyone? The phrase just doesn’t have the same effect!

Fortunately, the company founders thought the same and after several iterations and test names, Hastings and Randolph agreed on naming their business Netflix. Phew! For a while a segment of the company was also called Quikster but the public hated the name and Quikster vanished from the Netflix brand in less than a month. And they say what’s in a name? For Netflix, the name is everything.