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

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

#81

Post by reificator »

yeahforsureman wrote: post #69
ryanianian wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix is blatantly user-hostile. The UX is designed to get you to spend more time with Netflix, not to make you like it more. Many of the shows it suggests to me are not in english , yet the UX rarely discloses this in the description or (infuriatingly auto-playing) preview. Some people don't mind reading subtitles but I detest it - they could at least tell me the show is in German before wasting my time.

Just out of general interest, do you watch foreign TV and movies at all then? If not, why? Or just dubbed? If so, how do you bear it?

Not the GP, but:

> Just out of general interest, do you watch foreign TV and movies at all then? If not, why?

Because it's an additional barrier to enjoyment.

Dubs are irritating and often lose cultural context. From your post I think we're in agreement there.

Subs mean I have to watch intently, I can't cook dinner/play a video game/clean the house/fold laundry while I'm listening and glance over at the screen every few seconds. And I don't spend much time doing nothing but watch TV, unless it's a show I really care about. Stranger Things 3 got my uninterrupted attention this last week.

I'm not against watching foreign media, but it's a negative modifier to my chances to watch it. If I get a recommendation from someone I trust, I'm much more likely, but then I have to set aside time to do nothing but watch it.

As a side note, if I get a recommendation from someone with an anime avatar, I'm much less likely to watch it. I don't care that "it's not a 12 year old girl, it's a 500 year old dragon that looks like a 12 year old girl." It's still creepy.

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

#82

Post by randrews »

isbjorn16 wrote: post #77

My problem with Netflix isn't the slate of shows and movies it has in its catalog. It's definitely not as nice as it used to be, but there are a jillion and a half shows and movies out there. My problem is that Netflix has taken note that we watch anime a few times a week, which doubtless means we want every single band/carousel/whatever to be about anime. New Anime, Critically Acclaimed Anime, Popular Anime, Watch i…

I have this problem with ML and recommendation systems in general. I hope this fad goes away soon and people go back to making simple, understandable, show-me-the-newest-stuff feeds.

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

#83

Post by markkanof »

isbjorn16 wrote: post #77

My problem with Netflix isn't the slate of shows and movies it has in its catalog. It's definitely not as nice as it used to be, but there are a jillion and a half shows and movies out there. My problem is that Netflix has taken note that we watch anime a few times a week, which doubtless means we want every single band/carousel/whatever to be about anime. New Anime, Critically Acclaimed Anime, Popular Anime, Watch i…

Better than Hulu that now shows us every commercial in Spanish. No one in my household speaks Spanish. The only thing I can guess is that I know ONE TIME my daughter accidentally selected the Spanish translation of one of her cartoons.

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

#85

Post by krisroadruck »

Is it that people don't know what they want to watch? Or is it that what they want to watch isn't in the netflix catalog. 9/10 times I have a specific movie or show in mind that I want to watch and I search for it on netflix it tells me it is only available to be shipped via DVD or bluray and its not available in their online catalog.

Maybe if they spent less money on trying to develop their own content and more money licensing the best content to come out over the past 30 years then there would be more engagement. The percentage of the top 1000 or so movies as rated on IMDB or Rotten tomatoes that is NOT on netflix is staggering.

When we all bought into the concept of netflix a decade or so back it was on the premise of all-you-can-eat on demand access to the largest/most inclusive catalog of movies and shows anywhere. They long ago ditched that model and they are suffering as a result.

It's not even that you can't get the latest blockbusters, its that you can't get most highly rated movies from ANY of the last 3-4 decades. But movies rated 5/10 or lower? Seems like they've managed to license just about every one of those. Bleh.

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

#86

Post by stallmanite »

tptacek wrote: post #63
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…

I hate the auto-playing trailers too, but in the spirit of the kind of analysis HN is actually good at: auto-playing trailers seems like an extraordinarily straightforward feature to collect and analyze metrics on, and Netflix does not strike me as the kind of company that is utterly ambivalent about metrics, so "hating the auto-playing trailers" might not be the strong indication of loss-of-touch that it seems; like…

Perhaps they are measuring engagement in some perverse way.

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

#87

Post by marcosdumay »

tptacek wrote: post #63
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…

I hate the auto-playing trailers too, but in the spirit of the kind of analysis HN is actually good at: auto-playing trailers seems like an extraordinarily straightforward feature to collect and analyze metrics on, and Netflix does not strike me as the kind of company that is utterly ambivalent about metrics, so "hating the auto-playing trailers" might not be the strong indication of loss-of-touch that it seems; like…

It extraordinarily difficult to use metrics to improve a UI aimed at entertainment.

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

#88

Post by sho »

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…

> Netflix is getting its recommendations for me completely wrong

As far as I can tell Netflix has no "recommendation engine". I have never noticed any correlation between the kind of show/movie I like and what it displays; it seems completely random, well, with a bias towards self-made content which presumably costs them less in licensing - almost all of which is made-for-TV level garbage of no interest to me in any format. I genuinely think I could write a better recommendation engine. I think sorting by basically anything - budget, popularity in my demographic, most watched until completion, would be better than whatever they have now.

Basically my only use for Netflix now is the occasional standup comedy special (which I have to search for by name), the rare occasion I suddenly think of a movie I want to watch and is actually there (also search by name), or to put other people in front of. I'd try HBO Go but for some idiotic reason it's not available in my area.

Frankly, if they can actually execute, I think Disney is going to clean Netflix's clock.

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

#89

Post by pok1poekpo12 »

Anecdotally, I don't think it is choice fatigue that is causing a subscriber drop. I think it reflects a drop in the quality of their original content.

Compare early black mirror to what it is now. It's become far less of a "thinking" show, and much more of a "You should accept this, you shouldn't accept this" show.

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

#90

Post by ALittleLight »

crooked-v wrote: post #42
sundayedition wrote: post #35

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…

Signal-noise ratio is how I'd put it, too. There's a lot of stuff it recommends to me over and over that I have no interest in watching, like generic mockbusters and Korean soap operas.

One thing that frustrates me about Netflix is how I'll watch an item X but after a few minutes decide I don't like it and watch something else. My home screen will be clouded for quite some time with recommendations based on X. How are they missing such an obvious signal that I didn't like X?
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