Netflix is important.

(Well, duh.)

But not just because bingewatching "Parks and Recreation" is the perfect end (or beginning) to any stressful day. And not just because being able to have the entire series of "Friends" instantly available is magical.

No, Netflix is important because of how it impacts content.

Netflix streams a lot of content that was previously aired on television, but it also streams original content. This is where it gets interesting.

With over 30 original series currently on Netflix, the company is able to air content unlike what any network television channel is showing. What is unique about Netflix is that unlike other networks, they don’t have advertisers to please. They support, make, and stream content that they believe to be of high quality.

For this reason, they are showing ideas, issues, and often pieces of reality that other networks are not. Consider Netflix original series “Orange Is The New Black” and “Sense8,” which show women in strong leading roles, examples of LGBTQ characters, and characters from a wide variety of cultures, all of which are real and not stereotypical.

Netflix isn’t afraid to show honest, real content because their values don’t lie in appealing to certain viewer’s values. Rather, they lie making good content available.

In fact, one of their goals as a company is to help “content creators around the world to find a global audience.”

Another benefit of Netflix is that they do not use ratings. Bad ratings cannot cause their shows to be cancelled. Therefore, content creators can focus on quality, rather than appeasing viewers. And honestly, in the end, higher quality will please viewers.

Netflix is also an amazing platform for creators because they do not follow a system of releasing an episode a week. By often releasing a cluster of episodes, or an entire season at one time, they allow cast and crews to work on their own schedule, again, allowing content to be of a higher quality.

While YouTube is arguably an even better platform for content creators trying to make original and unique content, it doesn’t yet have the status that Netflix holds. People are comfortable with Netflix. They understand television. Online videos by unknown creators is still uncomfortable territory for some people.

For example, Netflix currently has over 65 million subscribers, while the Youtube channel with most subscribers falls at 38 million.

Netflix’s mission to simply provide their users with quality content makes them an important part of today’s society. Their independence from advertisers and ratings allows them provide honest content that they believe to be of high quality. We need more of this. Like it or not, our lives and the lives of up-and-coming generations are revolving more and more around digital content. Netflix is a company we can trust to provide us with the best of it.