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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

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>They started going downhill with every original show losing logical consistency after the 1st or 2nd season Is this any different than network shows?

True, I have spoken to a lot of people and there seems to have been a lot of political propaganda in every Netflix / Hollywood movie / show / even music videos. I am so tired of the ideology shoved down the throat that I stopped watching anything these days. I just want a good story. I fear it will get worse because of the vertical integration and monopoly of the entertainment business, they can keep making bad movie…

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

#232
The difficulty with Netflix and the like moving to a platform with a recommendation engine, is that no matter how good the machine learning is, it will have a strong incentive(minimization function) to show cheap content. Netflix has awesome blockbusters, but you will see the Netflix label and smaller budget movies higher in your recommendations because it cuts Netflix’s cost. In other words Netflix has to pay a lot more $ per view of blockbusters from big Hollywood studios than it does for private label movies and shows.

If Netflix can have 10x the amount of private label hits like House of Cards and Black Mirror, they will do fine.

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

#233
I was happy paying for Netflix when they made 2-3 A list shows per year and 1-2 B list shows. Now they make 50 F list shows per quarter by the people who were so bad that Hollywood wouldn’t hire them. (Amy Schumer, etc.) Couldn’t be happier to not pay!

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

#234
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 an…

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

#235
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.

To me there is a reason why twitch is popular and I believe it is exactly this feeling. I remember watching some more dodgy streaming services that just effectively were streamed playlists of shows, but you didn't have any control over the playlist. You watched (or watched part of) a series start to finish and then a new series would start and you'd watch that instead. It was a small enough total catalog that you oft…

It sounds like we're coming back around to the idea that curation can add value when it is done right.

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

#236
post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're only objecting to gratuitous gay sex, that's just homophobia. And come on, gratuitous straight sexual content has been on TV for a long time.

Forgive me if I'm missing something, but how did you get >you're only objecting to gratuitous gay sex from >I still don't want to watch 2 people having VR chat sex ?

It's hard to explain otherwise why the poster would (i) choose that example, (ii) explicitly mention that it's a gay sex scene, and (iii) include a dismissive statement that's kind-of-but-not-quite in support of gay rights. A generic complaint about gratuitous sex scenes would make no sense in the context of this discussion. People are complaining about shows being overly woke, not overly sexual. The poster gives the relevant scene as an example of a "political trope".

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

#237
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 an…

Content creation? Unjustifiably huge budgets on stars, sets and effects with pocket change relatively speaking for the scripts and stories, especially after the first season. $100m to buy a minor series about comedians in cars that cost $100k an episode to make. $100m! No wonder their financials look ropy.

> Didn't we beg for the ability to pick and choose what we actually want to pay for

Erm, no? Don't know about the US but the UK experience of cable and satellite was a basic package with dire content, then every interesting thing was £££ extra. By the time you had a reasonable selection you were at £50-£100 a month. more if you wanted the sport channels. So we didn't cable cut, we never signed up in the first place. Compared to the licence fee it was always appalling value. Netflix want nearly a whole BBC yearly licence fee, and deliver a tiny fraction of the content. Not that I like all the Beeb do. :)

When we cancel Netflix (very soon going on current programmes), it'll be back to terrestrial only as none of the streaming services now have "enough". So whatever comes to the BBC and Channel 4 then. I'd start torrenting again before subscribing to Amazon, Disney or whoever just to watch one interesting series, then hope I remember to cancel timely enough.

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

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 an…

Content creation? Unjustifiably huge budgets on stars, sets and effects with pocket change relatively speaking for the scripts and stories, especially after the first season. $100m to buy a minor series about comedians in cars that cost $100k an episode to make. $100m! No wonder their financials look ropy. > Didn't we beg for the ability to pick and choose what we actually want to pay for Erm, no? Don't know about th…

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

#239

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…

It’s ridiculous I find myself scrolling just to prevent the auto play they need to fix this regression ASAP

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

#240
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 an…

You’re making the alluring mistake of thinking of a monolithic “we” who all want the same thing.

In reality people have many preferences and desires, and they pay for streaming services or not for a variety of reasons.

Some people are maybe sick of being stuck with a giant cable company and are happy to pay for many streaming services. Other people likely still have cable and use streaming to supplement that for specific shows. Others have different reasons.

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