September 22, 2026
Subscription Video On Demand was born in January 2007 to parents Reed Hastings of Los Gatos and Ted Sarandos of Hollywood. As an infant and toddler, SVOD was very quiet. Many thought the young format was never going to speak to the masses. But at age 8, young SVOD started to roar, multiplying in Wall Street’s valuation by 30x.
Young SVOD came up with all kinds of unexpected ideas for a young developing medium. Binge viewing, original programming, international expansion. But what subscribers loved most is that for just $10, they could get a massive amount of content, new and library, without any commercials. What a deal! Bravo SVOD!
Yet the rest of the filmed entertainment business still refused to compete for 5 whole years. They were in the business of selling their products over and over and over again, in a variety of formats, generating many multiples of what could be made selling subscriptions. But after the bright burning light of DVD was murdered (1997 - 2005) …
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