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

marketwatch.com

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

#31

Post by happytoexplain »

throwaway_009 wrote: post #26

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.

>political pandering instead of offering good quality entertainment

This, unfortunately, is the ultimate double-edged sword. It would be a very safe and content-less world indeed if fictional media did not in some what appear to address or include something political in nature. Usually when we feel like what we're watching is not political, it's actually because it's simply political in ways that we identify with or do not find offensive.

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

#32

Post by jhallenworld »

throwaway082729 wrote: post #19

There's nothing worth watching in Netflix now. I find myself spending more time on Prime Video where I can find richer content through Prime movies and subscription channels like HBO, Starz and PBS (for British murder mystery shows). Moreover, Netflix is getting its recommendations for me completely wrong. Without user reviews, I've no idea if the content is good. I'm not going to waste my time watching some random s…

Amazon has the interesting idea of making it as easy as possible to buy a subscription (to Starz, HBO) and then cancel it later when you are no longer interested. I think this is very important in the future, where every content producer wants to have their own Netflix.

The advantage that Amazon offers, is that you only have to learn how to cancel a channel on Amazon, and not on 10 different websites..

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

#33

Post by penagwin »

drenvuk wrote: post #2

Sounds like they just need to take a page from Spotify's playbook and start just shoving fully autoplayed best matching shows down people's throats. They'll be happier being force fed with no options. weird but plausible.

You're comment feels like it has a negative ton (shoving down throats) but if the content recommendation is really good and isn't gamed it works really well IMO.

My experience has been spotify is great at recommending songs I like, even unpopular songs - I've quickly fallen into the rabbit hole of making a playlist - checking out the playlist recommendations, seeing their artist's other tracks, etc.

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

#34

Post by penagwin »

jhallenworld wrote: post #32
throwaway082729 wrote: post #19

There's nothing worth watching in Netflix now. I find myself spending more time on Prime Video where I can find richer content through Prime movies and subscription channels like HBO, Starz and PBS (for British murder mystery shows). Moreover, Netflix is getting its recommendations for me completely wrong. Without user reviews, I've no idea if the content is good. I'm not going to waste my time watching some random s…

Amazon has the interesting idea of making it as easy as possible to buy a subscription (to Starz, HBO) and then cancel it later when you are no longer interested. I think this is very important in the future, where every content producer wants to have their own Netflix. The advantage that Amazon offers, is that you only have to learn how to cancel a channel on Amazon, and not on 10 different websites..

What you're describing is a "streaming service aggregator" which would be great but I doubt many streaming services will want to be apart of (Talking netflix, hulu, etc).

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

#35

Post by sundayedition »

There is a lot of what I'd consider "noise" popping up on Netflix that they won't let me filter out. I don't care for most dubbed shows, and I haven't had any luck with any of the foreign imports. No way to filter them out that I'm aware of, so half of the "New shows" don't appeal to me

I wouldn't give up Netflix for cable, it's more likely to be Prime only, or something with quality content that I wouldn't watch as often because they don't have as much variety (HBO, Showtime, AMC, CBS)

Stranger things was released and we watched that but I haven't been on Netflix in weeks since; another price hike and the values no longer likely there for me.

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

#36

Post by throwaway_009 »

happytoexplain wrote: post #31
throwaway_009 wrote: post #26

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.

>political pandering instead of offering good quality entertainment This, unfortunately, is the ultimate double-edged sword. It would be a very safe and content-less world indeed if fictional media did not in some what appear to address or include something political in nature. Usually when we feel like what we're watching is not political, it's actually because it's simply political in ways that we identify with or…

It just bothers me that they try to include a few tropes in every movie or show without it fitting in the story properly. As I said, if they maintain the logical consistency and in the context of a good story I don't mind some political push. But if it is in every show/movie, it just becomes repulsive.

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

#37

Post by m463 »

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…

> the auto-playing of trailers

There's a case to be made that this is advertising (for shows on netflix)

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

#38

Post by zadkey »

I think Netflix needs to invest in quality over quantity. I agree, its hard to find something I want to watch. There is definitely choice fatigue.

If they had 1/3 as many shows but those shows were 3 times better. I am sure I would have no problem.

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

#39

Post by marssaxman »

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…

The constant jumping and zooming of preview tiles is similarly stressful, especially with the auto-preview... with all the chaos of things moving around and making noise at you, it's really difficult to think clearly about what you might want to watch.

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

#40

Post by BonesJustice »

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…

I consider this a serious accessibility problem. Rather than complain to customer service, maybe we should be going straight to their corporate counsel. Frame it as a potential ADA violation. It's actively hostile to anyone who suffers from heightened anxiety, ADHD, etc.

If there's anyone who can push back against the marketing department, it's the legal department.

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