Was it really Blockbuster vs. Netflix?

Came across this extract while reading 'The Monk who sold his Ferrari' by Robin Sharma where Julian Mantle, the protagonist shares the words of wisdom which he received from the Sages of Sivana while he visited the mystic land- India.

Change is the most powerful force in our society today. Most people fear it, the wise embrace it. Zen tradition speaks of a beginner's mind: those who keep their minds open to new concepts — those whose cups are always empty — will always move to higher levels of achievement and fulfillment.

Reading this extract reminds me of the downfall of Blockbuster LLC- a DVD rental service of the 20th century. So, here's the story...

Netflix started off with a DVD rental service in 1997. They used to send the DVD boxed via a mail service. Netflix wasn't the first mover in this DVD rental business. There was an existing competitor- Blockbuster, which came into existence way earlier in 1985.

Blockbuster didn't reach out to the customer, Netflix did. Blockbuster had various stores set up across various provinces and the customers had to pick up the DVD through the store. It was convenient for a customer to order a DVD via mail instead of going to the store to pick it up. Also, Netflix had subscription plans whereas Blockbuster had marked every DVD for certain amount of dollars. When technology was booming in the 1990s, a chain of events took place. Blockbuster was acquired by Viacom and Amazon also launched it's first DVD store around the same time when Netflix commenced it's operations.

Netflix's major competition was Blockbuster which didn't choose to reinvent it's course of operations and was adamant providing in-store services. As their part of growth, they launched gaming services along with the DVD rental business. Netflix sensed an opportunity and shifted to online video streaming in 2007. The online streaming market was almost uncharted and Netflix did it, yet again.

Netflix started creating its own series and this move was cheered by all of it's subscribers. One of the 'big bulls' of the over-the-top (OTT) video streaming industry seems to be highly inspired by renowned philosopher Heraclitus' quote: "Change is the only constant in life."  

At present, Netflix's worth is billions of dollars and has over 200 million paying customers. It brings a smile on our face, either by viewing the content it creates or by scrolling memes related to it's content. Netflix wasn't the reason why Blockbuster failed, it's prudent behavior led to it's downfall.