NetFlix.com Leads Online DVD Rental Business Through Its Relationships With Every Key Consumer Electronics Brand In Addition To Existing Promotions With Sony, Toshiba And RCA/Thomson Consumer Electronics, World's First And Largest Online DVD Rental
Netflix.com (www.netflix.com) has announced new relationships with notable consumer electronics brands Panasonic, Philips, Sharp, JVC, Kenwood, Mitsubishi and Marantz. These, in addition to its existing associations with Sony, Toshiba, RCA/Thomson Consumer Electronics and Pioneer, further strengthen Netflix.com's position as the world's leading provider of online DVD rentals. These new relationships will allow NetFlix.com to broaden its reach to the DVD consumer market through additional promotional tie-ins. With these promotions, which offer free DVD rentals with DVD player and Home Theater product purchases, Netflix.com will be represented industry-wide in all key DVD player boxes shipped this year. ""Nearly every new customer in this flourishing DVD market will be exposed to the Netflix.com offer immediately upon the purchase of his or her DVD player, said Marc B. Randolph, Founder and Executive Producer of NetFlix.com. ""With NetFlix.com's exceptional selection of more than 3,600 DVDs available for rent, we offer DVD customers exactly what they need after they have purchased their players - choice, availability and convenience,"" said Randolph. NetFlix.com, with these new partners, will kick off a series of promotions in July. Charged with handling the companyís financial and legal affairs, Barry joins NetFlix.com from his position as CFO of Music Choice, a partnership of major cable and music companies including Time Warner, Comcast, Cox, MediaOne, Adelphia, Sony, Warner, EMI and General Instrument. McCarthy was previously an Associate, Vice President and Director with CS First Boston. Tom Dillonís responsibilities include all aspects of the online ordering and distribution for NetFlix.com. Bringing with him a wealth of more than 30 years of line and staff experiences in manufacturing, distribution and information technology. Formerly with Seagate Technology, Dillon joins NetFlix.com from Candescent where he was Vice President and Chief Information Officer. Promotional Relationships With the installed base of DVD players expected to reach beyond 3.3 million by the end of 1999, DVD continues to reign as the fastest selling home entertainment platform in history. As such, NetFlix.com is continuing to solidify its strategic relationships with leading DVD hardware and home theater equipment manufactures including Sony, Toshiba, RCA/Thomson Consumer Electronics, Pioneer, Panasonic and others. NetFlix.comís aggressive marketing tactics have proven to be tremendously successful - NetFlix.com in-box coupons and promotional offers reach virtually all DVD hardware consumers. The continued success of the DVD format has translated into a boon for NetFlix.com. With consumers spending more time at home and enjoying the convenience of e-commerce, the company continues to expand its reach offering a more enjoyable method of renting DVDs. According to a recent customer survey conducted by NetFlix.com, nearly 98 percent indicated that renting DVDs online is ""important"" or ""very important"" to them. Additionally, 65 percent of the respondents indicated that their overall home movie watching consumption has increased since owning a DVD player. Responding to this surging demand, NetFlix.com has bridged together the convenience of home shopping with the efficiencies of an online store. Boasting more than 11,000 DVDs each of such popular titles as Six Days, Seven Nights, Ronin: Special Edition and Pleasantville in its vast inventory of more than 250,000 discs. NetFlix.com continues to serve as an innovative resource for DVD rentals and related information. NetFlix.com is the world's first and largest online DVD rental store. The NetFlix.com store, located at www.netflix.com, carries virtually every DVD movie - currently numbering more than 3,600 titles - and rents them to owners of DVD players. In addition to offering its customers the world's largest selection of DVD movies, NetFlix.com provides 7-day rentals, same-day-shipping to anywhere in the U.S., easy-to-use search features, a DVD Test Drive program (a preview before buying program), advance movie reservations and multi-rental discounts. By focusing on online rentals, NetFlix.com is pioneering a new online retail model and e-commerce category. NetFlix.com currently has promotional relationships with Major consumer electronics brands Sony (NYSE: SNE), Toshiba, RCA/Thomson Electronics, Pioneer (NYSE: PIO) and others. Founded in 1997, NetFlix.com is headquartered in Los Gatos, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, California.