My guess is that they tried to keep advantage as long as possible to remain number 1 in streaming, so they didn't want to give their leverage to competitors. T

My guess is that they tried to keep advantage as long as possible to remain number 1 in streaming, so they didn't want to give their leverage to competitors. Their advantage was licensing (Marvel, Friends, The Office etc.) and tech. In both cases eventually competitors caught up - they launched their own platforms, and licensing contracts expired. That gave Netflix a few years more to develop their own content, but now it's over.