Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged • Hacker News Board

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

#141

Post by cglace » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:29 PM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #136

archey1 wrote: post #75

Netflix is just getting more expensive and less interesting to me. With all of the content I like being taken off to be hosted on network exclusive streaming platforms that I refuse to pay for - I'll probably eventually just cancel Netflix as well going back to the tried and true method of just buying bluray box-sets of the content I want to watch. Or piracy. I think the critical mistake that all these megacorps are…

Are box sets still batshit insane? It didn't make sense to me to pay $120 for a week of binge watching.

Some people watch the same show over and over.

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

#142

Post by ohithereyou » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:30 PM UTC

rhegart wrote: post #110

colemickens wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious to understand what you're describing. Can you give an example of a Netflix show, the season and political trope, and how it detracted from the show's quality? And I'm definitely curious what you're imagining as you write out "repulsive".

Great- gay crossdresser from sex education is one of my favorite characters ever. Didn’t find it political at all and it just fit the story. Bad- stranger things overly sexist men and the constant putting men down. Detracted from the show, annoying me. Unbearable- Sabrina

> stranger things overly sexist men and the constant putting men down

Is this new to the third series? I haven't noticed it in the first two series after binging them over the last two days.

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

#143

Post by isbjorn16 » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:31 PM UTC

saurik wrote: post #134

isbjorn16 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait where's the thumbs down rating?

Next to the thumbs up rating (they only have two possible ratings). It might be confusing as you sometimes (at least on iOS) have to click a thumbs up icon to be shown the actual options with the thumbs down?

I suspect they don't have it at all on their Roku channel :( I'll look again tonight, but if I can start downvoting these things, I can at least feel like I'm screaming "no" into the void, which is better than screaming "no" internally. Nobody wants to live through an "I have no mouth and I must scream" nightmare, after all.

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

#144

Post by afiori » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:31 PM UTC

jhallenworld wrote: post #30

happytoexplain wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

I think more than server strain it could be meant to avoid the "mah, I looked for 20 minutes and found nothing, maybe I should just delete the subscription"

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

#145

Post by SkyPuncher » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:33 PM UTC

teilo wrote: post #115

Netflix is becoming more and more of a frustrating experience. First they removed all user reviews. Then they removed ratings. (or vice versa. Whatever.) They constantly shift things around in their UI. Even things like "My List" and "Continue Watching" will spontaneously move. They hide categories, and sub-categories, making browsing and discovery a pain. They constantly throw crap at me that I don't care about and…

Having listened to podcasts with several important Netflix people as guests, I have picked up that they are unintentionally user hostile. They're so focused on data that it seems they completely forget about the intangible side of enjoying the user experience.

Seems like they can't see the forest for the trees.

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

#146

Post by sombremesa » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:33 PM UTC

TallGuyShort wrote: post #116

TremendousJudge wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that 15+ year old tech developed by some hobbyists (over asymmetrical networks not optimized for it mind you) provides a better service than anything modern corporations can deliver really is amazing to me.

It's because the corporations aren't really interested in providing a better service to the viewer, they're interested in providing a better service to their advertisers. That said, the idea of embedding the advertising freely is an interesting one, and I wonder if it's been seriously considered by the networks. Probably harder to convince the cheque-writers of the value they're getting, though.

> It's because the corporations aren't really interested in providing a better service to the viewer

I sold all of my Netflix stock (which wasn't a huge number anyway) the moment I saw that you could no longer see reviews of content on Netflix. It was a clear cut sign that they no longer "get it".

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

#147

Post by noelsusman » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:33 PM UTC

archey1 wrote: post #75

Netflix is just getting more expensive and less interesting to me. With all of the content I like being taken off to be hosted on network exclusive streaming platforms that I refuse to pay for - I'll probably eventually just cancel Netflix as well going back to the tried and true method of just buying bluray box-sets of the content I want to watch. Or piracy. I think the critical mistake that all these megacorps are…

Of course people would rather pay $10 a month to access everything, but that's just not sustainable. Look at Netflix's own financials. They got into content creation and they're now deep in debt despite their massive subscriber base.

I also don't get why everyone is clamoring for one company to control all video entertainment distribution. Isn't that what we hated about cable? Didn't we beg for the ability to pick and choose what we actually want to pay for? Now we finally have that and people instantly want to go back? Why?

If Netflix doesn't make enough content that interests you then stop giving them money and give it to whoever does instead. I thought this is what we wanted.

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

#148

Post by Mirioron » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:36 PM UTC

JTbane wrote: post #78

archey1 wrote: post #75

Netflix is just getting more expensive and less interesting to me. With all of the content I like being taken off to be hosted on network exclusive streaming platforms that I refuse to pay for - I'll probably eventually just cancel Netflix as well going back to the tried and true method of just buying bluray box-sets of the content I want to watch. Or piracy. I think the critical mistake that all these megacorps are…

>People hated being locked into packages and this is basically the same thing - you need the "NBC" package for The Office or the "CBS" package for Star Trek. I can't be bothered to spend all that money. At this point it is very tempting to go back to good, old-fashioned torrents of TV shows.

Or better yet: just don't watch them. There's plenty of entertaining content on YouTube, twitch, dailymotion etc.

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

#149

Post by brighter2morrow » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:36 PM UTC

smolder wrote: post #99

mrexroad wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I just made a quick greasemonkey script that disables the autoplay at the top but leaves up the jpg splash. If anyone's interested I can share it.

>If anyone's interested I can share it.

No thanks, I don't use Netflix.

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

#150

Post by qznc » Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 10:36 PM UTC

thrill wrote: post #103

qznc wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm back to a send-CD service like Netflix started with. I love this mode: I maintain a list of movies I'd like to watch. I have two of them available to watch in the evening. No Ads. No continue seduction.

Does it send discs from a series out of order? (I'm looking at you, Netflix!)

I recently rewatched the Mission Impossible movies. The interface groups them together, so you only rate them as one. They get sent in the correct order.

I have not tried a "TV series" yet.