Are you still watching? Definitely yes. In fact, you’ve been doing so for almost a quarter of a century. Founded on Aug. 29, 1997, Netflix is celebrating 25 years of bringing you the shows and movies you love to watch — whether it’s by mail, your browser or an app. 

But how do you measure 25 years? Is it in the number of DVDs that have shipped in red envelopes (which counts over 5 billion as of 2019)? Or is it in hours spent streaming Stranger Things, Orange Is the New Black and other award-winning series? Or how many people actually use Boss Baby as their profile icon? It’s all a matter of perspective.  

While Netflix began in 1997, the company didn’t launch NetFlix.com until April 14, 1998. Can you guess what the very first DVD to be shipped out was? It was Beetlejuice starring Stranger Things’ very own Winona Ryder. Then nine years later, streaming came along, and shortly thereafter, Lilyhammer, the first Netflix Original, premiered in 2012. Since then, you’ve sung “Bella Ciao” with the robbers of Money Heist, played Dungeons & Dragons like Stranger Things’ Dustin, Will, Mike and Lucas, boosted chess set sales after streaming The Queen’s Gambit and so much more. 

To ring in Netflix reaching the big 25, we’re celebrating by revealing some fun facts about how we got here. Queue ’em up:

1. On April 14, 1998, NetFlix.com launched. 
2. The first DVD shipped was Beetlejuice (March 10, 1998).
3. The No. 1 most used profile icon globally: Boss Baby, 11 million profiles.
4.  The first Netflix DVD envelope was white, not red.
5. One Netflix fan created a dress out of 1,500 DVD envelopes.
6. In  2007, Netflix began streaming.
7. On Jan. 6, 2016, Netflix went live in 130 countries simultaneously.
8. The first Netflix Original was Lilyhammer.
9. The show with the most MyList Adds is Money Heist.
10. Subscriber No. 500,000 was invited to a company meeting and given a lifetime subscription.
11.  At one time, Netflix had over 70,000 “secret codes.” Today, we have 30,000. (Shh, it’s not a secret.)
12. The original name for Netflix was Kibble — yes, like the dog food.
13. Netflix invented the original streaming box but decided to spin it off into Roku. 
14. Following the launch of The Queen’s Gambit, there was a 125% increase in chess board sales. 
15. Netflix’s live experiences have played host to a whopping 42 marriage proposals around the world (and counting). The tally stands at 35 proposals from The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience, 6 from La Casa de Papel: The Experience and 1 from Stranger Things: The Experience.
16. The first Netflix game downloaded was Stranger Things: 1984. 
17. Netflix is available in 37+ languages and 190 countries worldwide. 
18. Netflix has offices in 28 cities across the globe.
19. In 2015, binge-watch was declared the word of the year and was added to Merriam-Webster in 2017.
20. The first recorded use of the phrase “Netflix and chill” was in a tweet by “NoFaceNina” (La Shanda Rene Foster) on Jan. 21, 2009.
21. The iconic Netflix sound was nearly a bleating goat before landing on tudum.
22. There was a campaign for “Netflix socks,” which detected when you fell asleep and paused the show or movie you were watching. 
23. Netflix had its own awards show called The Flixies. 
24. In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s created a Netflix & Chill’d ice cream flavor. 
25. Squid Game is Netflix’s most popular title ever.