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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

#251

Post by foobarian »

randrews wrote: post #82
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.

One reason I appreciate broadcast TV is the curation aspect of their limited playlists. The streaming recommendation systems are very lonely - I know they are algorithmic and personalized, and that nobody else will see the same outcome. With broadcast, a human does that work and it is shared among viewers; e.g. some show always airs on Thursdays at 8. Then there is the seasonal cadence, i.e. summer shows, fall/spring shows.

With algorithmic systems it sometimes feels like reading books written by a Markov chain toy.

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

#252

Post by icelancer »

mjevans wrote: post #160
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…

The Industry can't get this simple message in to it's collective head: The convenience needs to be better and cheaper (including perceived risks') than piracy to win. These are the things they MUST do: * One payment, that's reasonable. * All the content from FOREVER accessible FOREVER in one place. Honestly, that's it for most people. For me they also need to... * Be DRM free so that it actually works on OSes that re…

>> The convenience needs to be better and cheaper (including perceived risks') than piracy to win.

Exactly. People saying "well it's not profitable" or this that and the other are missing the boat. Piracy is always going to exist and it's always going to be basically free. There is no beating that. That is the new reality we are in.

Now, they must adjust to that reality, whether they like it or not. Many services have and many people pay plenty of money because of it. But we're rapidly moving to a place where piracy is simpler than what we have now, which is embarrassing for paid services.

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

#253

Post by bcrosby95 »

inetknght wrote: post #211
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…

> 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? 1) I don't want to pay for content I won't watch. 2) I don't want to be required to pay for content I won't watch in orde…

Use PLEX, buy dvds, and copy them onto your PLEX server. It satisfies all of your listed requirements.

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

#255

Post by kevinmchugh »

wayne_skylar wrote: post #137
tptacek wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not my claim that they've made Netflix more entertaining , just that it's likely made it more sticky .

This kind of thinking is the problem though. Like YouTube they don't care about the quality of the experience you're having. Where Netflix might see a very satisfied customer others might see a depressed individual binging a show for the 10th time as a way to escape reality.

auto-playing trailers seem like a move to encourage people to try something new instead of rewatching the same show over and over

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

#256

Post by ux-app »

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…

>auto-playing of trailers at full volume is super-annoying.

I mute the TV when browsing.

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

#257

Post by brownbat »

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…

Content satisfaction was more important when they ran a service where you spent several days waiting for and returning a disc.

The metrics shifted. Subscriber retention just isn't that tightly correlated with them identifying hidden gems for you, that may be an externality we've just lost.

There used to be a lot of competition in this space, for a few years you could go on free sites designed only to give you targeted recommendations. I think Jinni was one.

They were just training their engines and became ad networks.

One other factor, not really anyone's fault -- the massive increase in high quality scripted content has made search less critical. If you fail to find hidden gems in 2003, you get Pirates of the Caribbean sequels and miss out on Oldboy or Goodbye Lenin. Today if you pull up any random streaming service you'll probably find something that's good enough, even if not great.

It's a little disappointing, maybe there's room for a p2p ML recommendation engine in this space for people who really want to optimize what they're consuming. I'd be into it.

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

#258

Post by conductr »

Alupis wrote: post #229
b_tterc_p wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the overwhelming majority of it is garbage and totally uninteresting. This is true of pretty much all tv. Because most people want that.

If I'm going to search through a bunch of listings, and select a show that's part of a series, all just to have something on while eating a 20 minute meal, I feel like I need to have something good on that I'm committing too. On the other hand, if I turn on my cable box and Dog the Bounty Hunter happens to be on and halfway through an episode, I'll watch it until I'm done eating and be done with it. I don't actually…

Seems like they could use their content to create “channels” that essentially mimic a broadcast schedule

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

#259

Post by goalieca »

ojhughes wrote: post #173
noelsusman wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

YouTube seems to be a lot better than the rest. I consistently get good music videos queued up, it is great for discovering new music

YouTube seems to give me clickbait crap with high view counts. Yes it may somewhat be related to my interests but not really.

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

#260

Post by gtirloni »

pok1poekpo12 wrote: post #94
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".

Good Example: Black Mirror episode where man has sex with his friend in Mortal Kombat. Is this really an interesting addition to the Black Mirror world? Accept gay people, alright, whatever; I still don't want to watch 2 people having VR chat sex.

I don't have any objections to gay sex scenes. But that chapter was kind of... meh? I didn't feel it pushed the edge in terms of futuristic issues that much.

You could be in a relationship over IRC in the 90's with a person of the same sex and not know that until you're too deep into it. The VR thing didn't add much to that narrative. The same way 3D movies don't add much (more often than not, they make the experience worse).

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