Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

marketwatch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 417 posts

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#21

Post by darepublic »

not_a_cop75 wrote: post #10

If people are always engaged in videos like TV and movies, they are generally less engaged in their own life - which is generally pretty unhealthy. I think people have come to realize that they don't need to watch stuff streaming all the time. They can read a book, or go outside, and even interact with real people. Several online offerings offer zilch in the way of true health benefits.

Agree with you that constant screen time doesn't make for a healthy lifestyle. Seems pretty speculative and prob too optimistic to assume people are coming to this realization and acting on it.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#22

Post by gnicholas »

heymijo wrote: post #6

> If video streaming subscribers don’t know what they want to watch, they’re almost twice as likely to tune into their favorite broadcast television channel (58%) rather than browse through the menus of their streaming services (33%), according to the research from Nielsen. > Research by behavioral psychologists has shown that too many choices can overwhelm consumers, create the unpleasant feeling known as “decision…

Does this 58% statistic come from a sample of people who actually have broadcast TV access and streaming access? I, for one, have never had broadcast TV access as an adult, and the most recent "TV" I purchased was actually a 48" Vizio display that has no coax input.

I was surprised by this number and assume they were only looking at people who actually have access to both. If that's the case, what is the number among the total universe of streaming video users?

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#23

Post by mrexroad »

hyencomper wrote: post #7

I think Netflix has lost touch with their consumer base, with most changes such as removal of the rating system being universally criticized. I cancelled my subscription recently as I realized that while Netflix has a lot of shows, there is a dearth of quality content and the search function is not useful. With shows like Friends and Office leaving, there is not much to draw people who like leaving it on in the backg…

The auto playing of trailers has been enough to curtail my casual browsing of their app.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#24

Post by praneshp »

aeternus wrote: post #17
ziddoap wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Given that there's hardly anything to watch Subjective, I find lots of things to watch and enjoy. > produce at least something GoT/Breaking Bad-grade Again, subjective. I enjoyed Breaking Bad, but did not enjoy GoT. Other people liked the vice-versa. Other people liked neither. It sounds like you want Netflix to cater specifically to your tastes. I imagine pricing restructure might happen if the exodus is extreme,…

Which Netflix shows would you say match the quality and viewership of GoT, Breaking Bad, Westworld? Maybe only House of Cards. HBO just has Netflix beat in terms of content over the last couple years especially.

> GoT, Breaking Bad, Westworld

finished show with poorly received last couple of seasons, not a hbo show that's streaming on Netflix right now, 2-season old show with a silly 2nd season.

House of Cards was also kind of crap after 4 seasons (and even earlier if we're going to nitpick)

Breaking bad is now seen with rose tainted glasses, but I remember how some folks talked about it when the show was running (esp the fly episode).

Finally, if you're going to praise HBO, not mentioning The Wire is kind of ignorant.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#25

Post by keanebean86 »

gen3 wrote: post #15

I wouldn't be surprised if Netflix comes out with a "TV Mode" soon, that allows you to pick from personal channels similar to how music streaming services have weekly mixes.

Actually a random play actually sounds interesting to me. They know what I like already. I don't want it on by default. Just a link to play a random show/movie and let me skip/hide if it sucks.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#26

Post by throwaway_009 »

They started going downhill with every original show losing logical consistency after the 1st or 2nd season, political pandering instead of offering good quality entertainment. And the removal of the user reviews was a degrade, as they want to push bad shows to users and waste their time, instead of letting them make an informed choice. I hope they get disrupted because of their arrogance.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#27

Post by happytoexplain »

hyencomper wrote: post #7

I think Netflix has lost touch with their consumer base, with most changes such as removal of the rating system being universally criticized. I cancelled my subscription recently as I realized that while Netflix has a lot of shows, there is a dearth of quality content and the search function is not useful. With shows like Friends and Office leaving, there is not much to draw people who like leaving it on in the backg…

>the auto-playing of trailers at full volume is super-annoying.

This was baffling to me. I've rarely had such a stressful user experience as a trailer playing every single time I stop pressing the arrow buttons for a few seconds. Just because I stopped pressing buttons doesn't mean I want to see a trailer for whatever I happened to stop on - it means I'm thinking about something, or reading something, or looking at some other part of the screen, or am not even looking at my TV any more. It's hard to imagine a more malicious UX than one that plays video and audio at you every time you are not giving input. And because it's difficult to even find a state in that UI where you don't have something selected, I found it impossible to "escape" the trailers. It made me feel like I was in an advertising dystopia.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#28

Post by _bxg1 »

Uhh... yeah... I would never consider cable networks "trusted sources".

I do experience decision fatigue sometimes when streaming, but my solution is just to have a couple of comfort-sitcoms always on-hand, not to subject myself to an endless pipeline of advertisements and low-budget reality TV.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#29

Post by _bxg1 »

hyencomper wrote: post #7

I think Netflix has lost touch with their consumer base, with most changes such as removal of the rating system being universally criticized. I cancelled my subscription recently as I realized that while Netflix has a lot of shows, there is a dearth of quality content and the search function is not useful. With shows like Friends and Office leaving, there is not much to draw people who like leaving it on in the backg…

Their dark patterns have definitely pushed me to use Hulu more often, but I don't think anything could convince me that traditional networks will have better offerings

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#30

Post by jhallenworld »

happytoexplain wrote: post #27
hyencomper wrote: post #7

I think Netflix has lost touch with their consumer base, with most changes such as removal of the rating system being universally criticized. I cancelled my subscription recently as I realized that while Netflix has a lot of shows, there is a dearth of quality content and the search function is not useful. With shows like Friends and Office leaving, there is not much to draw people who like leaving it on in the backg…

>the auto-playing of trailers at full volume is super-annoying. This was baffling to me. I've rarely had such a stressful user experience as a trailer playing every single time I stop pressing the arrow buttons for a few seconds. Just because I stopped pressing buttons doesn't mean I want to see a trailer for whatever I happened to stop on - it means I'm thinking about something, or reading something, or looking at s…

My theory is that it increases the likelihood that you'll stop browsing and just watch something. This would reduce the variety of shows that people watch and ease the requirements on their servers.
Post reply on HN