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Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

economist.com

61–70 of 91 posts

Re: Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it not zero sum? In other words, is there a way that Netflix and Amazon Video can cooperate with the result that each earns more income than would be possible if they were purely competitive? There are only 8 billion people in the world, and each can spend at most X hours per day watching streaming video. It seems to be clearly in the interest of each provider to try to obtain all X of those hours.

> It seems to be clearly in the interest of each provider to try to obtain all X of those hours. Not so. You're confusing subscription-based revenue-stream with advertising-based revenue-stream. Netflix's subscription is a flat rate, and they have no ads, so unlike YouTube they don't make money per hour of viewing. The ideal case for Netflix is if I pay my monthly subscription, but don't watch anything at all. They g…

But if they capture all x of my available hours, then I'll drop my Hulu subscription and they can increase their monthly fee.

Re: Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

#62

I havent watched normal television is so long. Cause there is never anything good on anymore. Its either Youtube, Streams or Netflix now from here on in. Even DVDS got phased out.

> Its either Youtube, Streams or Netflix now from here on in What makes you think the medium has stopped developing? It's quite likely that something else will be invented that will be superior to any of those, and that will make you wonder why you ever put up with them.

Jstaley i never meant these forms of media replacing television. I meant it for my own personal preference. But i cannot see TV really gaining my attention anymore. Too much reality TV Shows these days to ever get me hooked on mainstream TV anymore.

Re: Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

#63
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's tons of great TV shows nowadays. Mentioning Grey's anatomy and Glee does a disservice to TV. Besides the obvious Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad there's Stranger things, Black Mirror, Westworld, just to name a few. Hell, all of the above are much much better than 90% of the crappy Marvel/superhero/blockbuster movie Hollywood keeps spewing nowadays.

Glee and Grey's Anatomy are from the OP, not my examples. Netflix is hiring the creators of these shows to make more shows, presumably somewhat similar. Breaking Bad is not from Netflix, neither is GoT which was interesting for about 1½ seasons. Even worse, Black Mirror was IMHO better before it moved to Netflix (but to some extent this is true of every show, creators have more pent-up, fresh ideas in the beginning).…

Breaking Bad was (and still is) on Netflix in the UK at least.

Re: Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

#64
post #63
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Glee and Grey's Anatomy are from the OP, not my examples. Netflix is hiring the creators of these shows to make more shows, presumably somewhat similar. Breaking Bad is not from Netflix, neither is GoT which was interesting for about 1½ seasons. Even worse, Black Mirror was IMHO better before it moved to Netflix (but to some extent this is true of every show, creators have more pent-up, fresh ideas in the beginning).…

Breaking Bad was (and still is) on Netflix in the UK at least.

It was produced for AMC.

Re: Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It seems to be clearly in the interest of each provider to try to obtain all X of those hours. Not so. You're confusing subscription-based revenue-stream with advertising-based revenue-stream. Netflix's subscription is a flat rate, and they have no ads, so unlike YouTube they don't make money per hour of viewing. The ideal case for Netflix is if I pay my monthly subscription, but don't watch anything at all. They g…

But if they capture all x of my available hours, then I'll drop my Hulu subscription and they can increase their monthly fee.

I really don't see what you're worried about. They're operating under the most pro-consumer conditions possible: honest competition to maximise consumer value.

If they out-compete Hulu, they can charge more than Hulu. Sure. What's the worry? In a functioning marketplace, an inferior service is priced lower.

I don't think there's much risk that they'll go the clickbait route and start acting against the viewer's interests for revenue. I don't see how they could. Subscription services are much more resistant to that kind of thing than free services.

The competition is tough. They're unlikely to feel free to charge significantly more... because they aren't.

I'm fairly confident Netflix aren't dumb enough to try anything like adverts. Millennials hate that kind of thing, and it would be a real mistake.

Re: Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

#66
post #38
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't dismiss Hulu, but they're also very obviously not in the same league. For one, they're US-only. Handmaid's Tale is aired on other channels/services worldwide.

Also, they force you to watch ads on top of the subscription you're paying. I'd rather pay more than watch 3 minutes of shitty ads per episode.

Good news is that on Hulu you can pay more instead of watching 3 minutes of shitty ads per episode.

Re: Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can. Hulu offers a commercial free option with the customer paying more, though there are six shows that have commercials at the beginning and end. https://www.hulu.com/nocommercials https://help.hulu.com/en-us/included-in-no-commercials-plan

So they still do adverts? No, I hate adverts, they steal my time and rewire my brain. Paying for them as well? Disgusting.

I don't like ads either. But you do realise that Netflix does extensive product placement, right? That's still advertising that rewires your brain. And you pay for it! Disgusting.

Re: Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

#68
post #33

I've seen a couple of Netlflix shows and don't understand the improvement. It's the same TV junk but over the Internet. Now even made by the same people. Other forms of content have been completely transformed by the change in medium. Podcasts have built upon their radio legacy and diversified tremendously. YouTube allowed people to share nearly anything from incoherent rants to whole college courses. Netflix merely…

YouTube isn't junk? Good god man ecelebs are the death of civilisation.

Re: Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

#69
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the implied point is about it being mainstream . Which what you’re describing explicitly isn’t.

It was very mainstream, at least amongst students at the time.

Yeah. Streaming was basically the answer to TV piracy. Everyone was downloading the latest American TV shows and Japanese anime until Netflix and others showed up.

Re: Netflix is moving television beyond time-slots and national markets

#70
post #12

As Netflix becomes a bigger player around the world and it flexes its influence, I expect to see some international jurisdictions to question its power and imperial projection (projecting its values on countries with different values as well as for threatening the viability of local industries)

It sounds from the article they are sensitive to that. As long as they stay away from news I don't imagine it will be a problem for them.
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