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

#241

Post by noisy_boy » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 12:50 AM UTC

Things I dislike about Netflix:

1. Auto-playing trailers

2. Stop showing me stuff I have already seen (I can search it if I want to). Atleast add a "don't show this again" button

3. Auto-playing stuff I have already seen to rub it in

4. No system of reviews/ratings - I have to manually check IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes

5. "More like this" doesn't really show things that are more like "this". Also, if I like a comedian's special and click "more like this" for their other works, I rarely get more than one or two

I am seriously contemplating to unsubscribe - hardly use it anyway due to lack of quality content.

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

#242

Post by TimJRobinson » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 12:51 AM UTC

noelsusman wrote: post #152

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…

To be fair to them, everyone is failing at this. Recommendation algorithms, once held up as a crowning achievement of machine learning, have turned out to be terrible at their jobs. Amazon, Youtube, Netflix. None of them have it figured out.

Spotifys algorithm is amazing, I'm constantly finding new indie bands that I love on it. YouTube is also really good. Netflix is terrible for me, I don't think it's ever recommended a show I've loved.

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

#243

Post by mc32 » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 12:54 AM UTC

ninth_ant wrote: post #240

noelsusman wrote: post #147

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…

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 spec…

Maybe they can have different subscription levels for different audiences, either resolution or content library or freshness. Although seeing that it’s artificial and only the resolution could have justification I’m not sure enough of their subscribers would identify of find value in that differentiation.

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

#244

Post by foobarian » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 12:56 AM UTC

markkanof wrote: post #83

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.

You should petition MaxMind to fix their mapping of your IP address to city/country.

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

#245

Post by mc32 » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 12:57 AM 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…

Why does Netflix need to make big budget shows?

Quite a few smaller (as well as bigger) markets do with cheaper smaller budget shows. Or are they hoping to corner the market before bringing down the hammer on production excess?

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

#246

Post by foobarian » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 12:58 AM 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…

I hate the autoplay feature. I have to carefully move the mouse cursor along the grid between the thumbnails to avoid triggering it.

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

#247

Post by tziki » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 12:59 AM UTC

adrianmonk wrote: post #117

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…

Once upon a time, Netflix gave away $1 million to contest winners in an attempt to get the best recommendation algorithm they could ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_Prize ). Now the recommendations are just not that great. It's like they're not trying too hard because they are comfy in their market position. I have never watched any anime at all (really not my thing), but Netflix keeps recommending it to me de…

They didn't end up implementing the winning algorithm due to how complex it would be to run at scale.

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

#248

Post by gjs278 » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 1:00 AM UTC

BonesJustice wrote: post #40

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…

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.

I want to do the same thing to lyft because they refuse to add the simple preference “this rider does not want to talk”

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

#249

Post by zizee » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 1:02 AM UTC

I'd really like Netflix to add a feature of "hide this shitty show from me forever because I will never watch it", it would be an obvious win from a user's perspective.

Why don't Netflix provide this? Because people would quickly realize how little in their catalog is worth watching.

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

#250

Post by icelancer » Sat, Jul 20, 2019, 1:03 AM UTC

noelsusman wrote: post #147

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 an…

>> If Netflix doesn't make enough content that interests you then stop giving them money and give it to whoever does instead.

This isn't the alternative reality Netflix and others are fighting. People are just going to pirate it if they can't offer it easily and at a price that the market will accept. There is no escaping that. It is on them to adjust, not the consumers.