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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

#331

Post by SomewhatLikely »

wang_li wrote: post #325
atombender wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People aren't asking for a single distribution channel in the sense of a single monolithic company owning all the IP. They do want (1) convenient apps that aggregate, such as Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video, and (2) a way to get all the content without having to pay lots of individual companies (I'm subscribing to around 5 streaming services myself). Why can't video be like music? Spotify and Apple Music aggregate pr…

> a way to get all the content without having to pay lots of individual companies Ironic, as a decade ago the complaint was that we need a la cart pricing. Now that it's happening everyone is complaining about it being too expensive. What it seems people really want is the cable all you can eat buffet model, but at a 90% discount.

A la carte paid to a single provider. Not five different monthly payments, logins, and likely five different apps with slightly different ux and controls.

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

#332

Post by kelnos »

eridius wrote: post #199
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 don't like the proliferation of streaming services because of the cost. Buying "just NBC" or "just CBS" is still preferable to the old model of "if you want ESPN you have to get dozens of other channels at the same time". But buying just a single network's content only works if the price is such that you can subscribe to all of your networks and not end up paying more than the old cable model cost you. The pro…

The issue with "buy NBC" or "buy CBS" is that I don't care at all about networks. I care about particular shows. If I could pay $1/mo each for 20 different shows, I'd be fine with that.

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

#333

Post by jhhh »

Osiris wrote: post #323
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…

> they auto play previous with audio This. I cannot explain in words how much ire that "feature" gives me. I literally will end up just pressing arrow keys on my remote to move to the next suggestion to avoid the auto play feature. I often resort to blog articles of "Top 10 new Netflix show" to find new content rather than use Netflix itself.

It was so bad I had to make a greasemonkey script to block the autoplay elements on my PC. When I'm going to watch on my TV I'll find the show on my phone and then look it up on my TV or just cast it. I actually chatted with them several years ago to complain and they said they'd pass my feedback along so that they could "have this option available soon". They never implemented an option to do this, of course.

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

#334

Post by t0mbstone »

My biggest complaint with Netflix is that they seem to be churning out tons of mediocre shows. The plot and theme of each of these shows are always extremely shallow, and seem to be generated almost via a trope randomizer designed to hit cliche target markets.

- rich moms having babies

- black family reunion

- asian family with convenience store

- older gay couples living together

- superhero franchise season 7!

- football players with one last chance to go to college

- people in jail!

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

#335

Post by mancerayder »

sombremesa wrote: post #146
TallGuyShort wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

I hate to say it, but I miss the reviews+DVD days, where I discovered a huge wealth of foreign directors and their films. And there was even something exciting about DVD envelopes arriving in the mail aftet a short wait, building out the queue that would last a few months, and mailing it back wasn't a nightmare.

The loss of ratings was a telltale sign it'd gone mainstream and impersonal, but another one was the autoplay, which cannot be turned off. That's incredibly obnoxious, and loud, as previews somehow always seem to be.

Is this all an inevitable consequence of growth and the evolution of mass content or a set of bad decisions?

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

#336

Post by ryanmcbride »

Netflix was so great when their streaming service started, and even back when they only did DVDs by mail. It was so cool that I had access to so many movies and shows in once place.

Now that every broadcast company has their own streaming service with their own fees, streaming is almost as bad as network TV. (at least with streaming you don't have to watch reruns unless you want)

I've gone full into Plex now. That seems to be the only way to have a watchable selection of stuff in one place now.

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

#337

Post by kara_jade »

Well, I can tell the Netflix CEO why they have lost me as a subscriber:

- Their original content is not terribly appealing to me.

- They lack much of the content I want to watch (and in Germany the selection of content is much, much smaller to begin with).

- They have a horrendous user interface. Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I like lists. And even one big list with all the content Netflix offers would be far superior to their interface. I’m not interested in their recommendation algorithms or their peculiar categorization, I want to sift through their metadata on my own terms. Give me a big, filterable list. (That is something that bugs me about every streaming service: you are heavily restricted when it comes to searching and filtering.)

I have found that my local library has actually a very good selection of DVDs and Blu-rays. So they have become a reliable source of content. Other than that I occasionally buy used or new media cheaply. And for special interests (Anime) I have the net.

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

#338

Post by ctack »

atombender wrote: post #168
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…

People aren't asking for a single distribution channel in the sense of a single monolithic company owning all the IP. They do want (1) convenient apps that aggregate, such as Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video, and (2) a way to get all the content without having to pay lots of individual companies (I'm subscribing to around 5 streaming services myself). Why can't video be like music? Spotify and Apple Music aggregate pr…

The way I understand it, the aggregators don’t pay at all well. Bands and producers make their money playing gigs these days and try to make it big where there is mega money in everything including the aggregator exclusives. Generally the aggregators pay badly, but do mean exposure. TV shows can’t work like that, they have much higher overhead and actually need to be paid.

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

#339

Post by fernandotakai »

Vomzor wrote: post #139
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".

Netflix has gone 'woke' in a lot of their (new) shows. A lot of shows feel very activist now. Entertainment shouldn't be stuffed with identity politics and other progressive nonsense which only caters to a small minority.[1] Examples: The new show 'Mr Iglesias' where the main character is a history teacher. In one of the first scenes the history of the US is summed up as 'oppression and slavery'. Many jokes about whi…

> And a whole episode about how the word latino is offensive and it should be changed to latinx.

which is absolutely... absurd. latino comes from latin american languages, which are gendered by default. that's basically colonialism -- americans trying to apply their culture into other people's culture.

(sorry for the rant but i find infuriating that americans are trying to change MY language because of their sensitivities wrt gender)

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

#340

Post by fpalmans »

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.

I'm interested...
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