Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

When I go to the Netflix app, I have a simple value proposition – pay money for viewing, in any country across the world if it's a Netflix original, and without any add-on crap. The only thing they did wrong was autoplaying previews, and I hope whoever was responsible for that has been fired, or at least demoted.

Competitor streaming services refuse to implement this basic, simple model of content consumption for some reason. They seem determined to be Yahoo! in comparison to Netflix's Google-like simplicity. Here are some examples of my usage, with a bit of light ranting about pain points thrown in.

[Amazon Video]: Makes me think about whether to rent or buy from them, or whether buy a Showtime "add-on" (yay, more subscriptions within this subscription!). Also, a lot of the content is moving to some sort of ad-supported "IMDb TV". Good luck with that, I'm out. Lots of content restrictions when outside the US (admittedly a niche use case). Oh, and they have autoplay on some content that I can't figure out how to turn off.

[HBO Max]: Makes (or used to make) me log in through my cable provider. Huh, why is this streaming service asking me about my internet provider? I cut my cable package a year ago, and haven't gotten around to re-subscribing to HBO Max; I don't really miss any of the shows enough.

[Hulu]: Close to the Netflix experience, except it makes me think about ad-supported v/s ad-free versions. I don't want to feel bad about losing money for not watching ads. Also, doesn't work outside the US (admittedly a niche use case).

[Disney+]: Not much of a pull if you don't have kids, but if you do, I imagine that this is closest to the early-2000s Netflix experience, but for kids.

[Peacock]: More ad-supported nonsense, plus my cable provider is trying to push a "free" subscription to it in exchange for installing one of their weird devices on my network. No thank you, and please be more mindful of the environment before contributing to e-waste in landfills with your horrible devices. I would do it if I wanted to re-watch The Office, but I managed to finish it before it was leaving, guess what, Netflix.

[Apple TV]: I...don't understand why people give Netflix a hard time about surviving on original content when the only good things about this streaming service are Ted Lasso and maybe Foundation. Watched those on a free subscription, hard pass for everything else. Is this the best that the most valuable company on Earth can manage about media?

The only sub I permanently keep is YoutubePremium.

Yes, I wouldn’t like ads, but cable’s revenue model is subscription plus ads, so I’m curious why Netflix thinks their optimal revenue model would be any different?

I won't say every, but most games that aren't designed as pay-once are just elaborate dopamine slot machines, with no winners. The exceptions are few.

Though obviously that has a lot of logistical issues, like how you could get all these competing companies onboard with something that takes so much control out of their hands. And also the fact that watch time isn't a great metric for who deserves the most money. It wouldn't be surprising if low-quality, factory produced children's content would start making the most money since parents would just throw on some kid's show and let it babysit for most of the day. That's basically what happened on YouTube, with the weird auto-generated algorithm/SEO-optimised children's content.