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Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

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191–200 of 507 posts

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#191
post #13

Netflix is part of the FAANG acronym because they have all these highly paid engineers. Presumably those people have been doing something for the past 5 years in anticipation of being disrupted by Disney/HBO/etc. besides maintaining their CDN and tweaking recommendation engines, but it's not clear what - the product is more or less the same as it always was.

Netflix needs to realize, if it hasn't already, that it's not a technology company, but a production company.

Is it? They could (hypothetically, for the sake of argument) pivot to become a PAAS for the competitors (exit the streaming market, offer to today's competitors a superior/cheaper underlying technology, let them watch fight among themselves for who get what series while they provide the plumbings)

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#192
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I don't entirely agree with you I do think the price of Netflix is getting a little higher than the value we personally get out of it. Our personal breakdown this year (in the UK): Adults in the house, we are quite picky but if we love it then we will keep watching: Netflix @£9.99: 2 tv shows, 4-5 films Apple TV+ @£4.99: 3 tv shows, 2 films Disney Plus @£7.99: 1 tv show, Loads of movies Amazon Prime @£7.99: 3 t…

I'm surprised YouTube isn't on your list. We having streaming services, but my kids mostly watch YouTube.

Youtube is pretty magical. It has everything, even in the "kid zone". Which also means I can't leave them unsupervised for 30 minutes and come back.

If I do, my kids will've gone from educational video about the rain forest to sponsored video to toy videos to slime to fart jokes to music videos of bikini-clad bimbos to steamy romance videos to ...

Anyway it's just too much work to curate youtube for a child, IMO.

For example, my kiddo found a bunch of inappropriately steamy fan fiction for her favorite cartoons narrated on youtube... and she demonstrated that she knew it was inappropriate because she started hiding her screen from us.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#193

Netflix will be probably be the cable "channel" I think of canceling last, for the simple reason that their usage ergonomics are stupidly simple. 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…

HBO Max has more and better content than any of the other ones you listed. * I watched the new Dune on it, a bunch of other new movies are there * most (all?) the Cartoon network stuff like Rick and Morty is there * all the HBO content is there, Jon Oliver, GoT, etc. * it passed the Matrix test. (1. I want to watch the original Matrix. 2. I searched for the Matrix and clicked the result. 3. It streamed the Matrix to…

> * it passed the Matrix test. (1. I want to watch the original Matrix. 2. I searched for the Matrix and clicked the result. 3. It streamed the Matrix to me.)

This Matrix test is a great one, I'm going to apply it to a bunch of services and see what I get.

I think I might just have a bit of a hangover from how many times HBO Max logged me out and made me log back in via some contorted system with my cable provider that has caused me inertia with renewing it. Also, now that I think back, another problem that caused me to avoid it a bit was that the HBO Max app sometimes just seemed to freeze up on my Roku in the middle of navigating through shows. Certainly possible they have improved the app over the last year, and will respect my time more if I pay them $15 + taxes per month directly instead of through a shitty cable subscription.

In any case, I freely concede that HBO Max probably does have a higher-quality backlog of content overall – my main point is that a simpler interface can actually make up for lack of content in some cases.

> * that crazy Ridley Scott series with those shrieking harpies that fly around asploding the hell out of atheists

Raised by Wolves? I think the creepy sci-fi vibe of Scott's stuff is just not my thing – everything in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant both just made me uncomfortable instead of interested, even though they had visuals that were technically impressive. The trailer for that series seemed similar when I watched it.

> Edit: reworded so I only use the adjective "fucking" once when referring to ad-based streaming services

I think you were right the first time. Ad-based services these days always remind me of the 15 Million Merits Black Mirror episode.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#195
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly, "You Bet Your Life" highlighted the fact that Groucho Marx got old, and it's weird in kind of the same way that Elvis getting old is weird.

Interesting in other social ways as well — Groucho was allowed to (literally) "cat-call" the attractive female guests on his show. I suppose there was a sieve that their guests went through but it is still fascinating to see the parade of suburban Los-angelites: housewives, people with strong ethnic ties to the "old country" that had yet to be melted into the pot that was 1950's America. Who knew door to door salesma…

Oh yeah, all kinds of baggage attached to the last bits of the vaudeville Borscht Belt. That's also something that makes the transition from Allan Sherman to Weird Al Yankovic so jarring; they did the same act, but even aside from production values, Weird Al didn't bother dragging a previous audience along, and was willing to go anywhere.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#196

I said this again recently, but it's worth repeating: Netflix is on the very fast downward slope. Their catalog is wilting, the space is heating up with well-established competitors moving in and serving the precise content that Netflix originally built their brand on, and their efforts to fund a new catalog with new IP (and taking ownership of old IP) is destroying the business model that made them so appealing in t…

While I don't entirely agree with you I do think the price of Netflix is getting a little higher than the value we personally get out of it. Our personal breakdown this year (in the UK): Adults in the house, we are quite picky but if we love it then we will keep watching: Netflix @£9.99: 2 tv shows, 4-5 films Apple TV+ @£4.99: 3 tv shows, 2 films Disney Plus @£7.99: 1 tv show, Loads of movies Amazon Prime @£7.99: 3 t…

[dead]

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#197
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix needs to realize, if it hasn't already, that it's not a technology company, but a production company.

Is it? They could (hypothetically, for the sake of argument) pivot to become a PAAS for the competitors (exit the streaming market, offer to today's competitors a superior/cheaper underlying technology, let them watch fight among themselves for who get what series while they provide the plumbings)

Their major competitors already have functioning platforms of their own.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#198
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised YouTube isn't on your list. We having streaming services, but my kids mostly watch YouTube.

Youtube is pretty magical. It has everything, even in the "kid zone". Which also means I can't leave them unsupervised for 30 minutes and come back. If I do, my kids will've gone from educational video about the rain forest to sponsored video to toy videos to slime to fart jokes to music videos of bikini-clad bimbos to steamy romance videos to ... Anyway it's just too much work to curate youtube for a child, IMO. For…

This is exactly our experience with Youtube.

I can sit with my kid and watch a couple episodes of a show I've never heard of (Like Bluey) and say, "Yep, this is a definite thumbs up. You can watch Bluey when you have screen time" And I trust that when an episode ends, another episode of Bluey is what will show up.

For a youtube channel, I have to watch the entire video and I can say, "Yep, you can watch this exact video. Make sure autoplay is off."

I have no clue what video would play next. I have no clue what product the youtuber will try to shill in the middle of the video, etc.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#199
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two years is about the length of time required for me to consider a show on Netflix. They kill a lot of shows after two seasons. I don't want to invest the time in a storyline that Netflix is going to axe without a natural conclusion.

That may be true but network TV regularly killed TV shows early in their run too--often in the first season even.

True but networks have a severe time slot constraint, in addition to the same production costs as Netflix, so it's a lot more understandable. Maybe my perception is off but Netflix seems even worse about killing new shows after 1-2 seasons, which is pretty ridiculous IMO.

Netflix seems overly reliant on small scale KPIs at the expense of the overall experience. Of course it's possible that they know exactly what they're doing and I'm just far away from their target consumer.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#200

I trust their data scientists calculated their price elasticity and their marketers did lots of A/B and focus groups so they know what they're doing.

>Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

If you were starting a company like Netflix, you would best realize this is essential beforehand.

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