I honestly think it's because they don't offer equity. If you compare total comp against other large tech businesses, it's roughly the same. That still makes Netflix super attractive to work for, since equity often feels like a shiny fishing lure that may never materialize.

TLDR; probably the same as how many people try out for professional football and the few that get in for high pay. They want the best.

There’s a correlation to quantity of applicants and pay. You can lower pay in high demand jobs but you’re lowering your funnel for the best applications buried in the bunch. This doesn’t matter for a cashier job since you aren’t looking for world class cashiers to disrupt your industry.

I'd guess that's part of why they get thousands of applications per role?