My guess is that Netflix was still trying to establish itself. Many investors probably were skeptical to invest in Netflix so they wanted to create something mo

My guess is that Netflix was still trying to establish itself. Many investors probably were skeptical to invest in Netflix so they wanted to create something more splashy to engage people. At some point Netflix went from a niche service to being a mature established company that people are going to seek out. The splashiness was no longer needed.