Live data from Hacker News

Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

interneteconomist.com

471–480 of 507 posts

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cancelled Disney+ when they wanted to charge extra for a movie, on top of the subscription. I'll just buy the DVD cheaper than what they asked for on top of the sub. Admittedly, I'm not automatically entitled to all the things they release but still feels wrong and wanted to vote with my wallet. The Mandalorian was an amazing series though!

That is only temporary. Within a few weeks everything becomes free. If you can’t wait a few weeks, there is always the buccaneer bay.

I hadn't figured that out, thanks!

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#472
post #343
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was including those countries where it has been announced it will be launching soon, so perhaps you are in one of those.

I’m pretty sure there is no such announcement, if you can point to it I’d appreciate it

Which country?

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This argument is a strawman, come on, is YouTube really wondering about any content consumption habit after being the most popular video portal for more than a decade? It's all just doing business, and all of that is just part of doing business. If enough people block youtube's ad domains, they'll just start embedding them in the video stream. And then just obfuscate the player so that you can't make it skip. Then ma…

ads are already embedded in the stream, usually by youtubers themselves ("this video is sponsored by shadow nord raid vpn,..."), and extensions block this too. But once the ad to content ratio gets bad (and we're getting there), people just move elsewhere.

I don't think so. We're already burying Netflix in this comment section, and cable still exist. Look at any sporting events, just how much more ads can it have? They have sponsored content plastered everywhere, and then, the exclusive broadcasting rights are sold to the highest bidder, so if you care about sports, you have to watch it on that exact one platform. And yet, it's very popular. So no I don't think people would move. People, in general, want things, and weigh in how much it also affects them negatively. They'll defer, deny, ignore, whatever it takes to participate in that "want". And the providers of that "want" know exactly this and ram as much profitable negativity in there as they can, and cover it up as much as they can. And people on the receiving end will tolerate. That's how ads will stay, with a combination of legality and applied psychology.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't see how their catalog is thriving. A lot of popular TV series and movies have moved to their own streaming services and I can only speak for myself, but I find the vast majority of Netflix Originals to be big budget, but at the same time low quality content. They produce some real gems, but I find that those are usually few and far between. Combined with how frustrating their library is to explore, a…

Netflix has produced some good movies in recent years. Your big budget talk applies much more to disney marvel money milking the same cows with the same movie variation over and over and consistently riding the remake agenda of all their classics (which I liked tbh).

Can you name a few? I can only think of three memorable ones; Annihilation (genuinely good film IMO), Bright (mediocre; decent worldbuilding but lacking) and Bird Box (mediocre, massive budget spent on promotion and hype).

I get big "direct-to-dvd" vibes with most other stuff they put on. And nobody talks about these films, which for me is a big indicator that it's not worth watching.

I'll admit Netflix spends a lot of money, but they spend it safely; they try to min/max their content, try to fit ever box / category.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#476
I don't mind the price increase for Netflix, we get good value out of it, especially for my family that uses the service a lot.

However, most of the original series I watched from Netflix are cancelled now and that's why I don't like or trust their offerings, I usually don't have free time and when I want to spend it watching something I just don't want to watch something half-baked and cancelled.

Hopefully the Witcher doesn't get the same treatment but hey! history always repeats itself.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely disagree. This is about power, they are raising the price simply because they can and people will stay on. They've got a long way to go to increase it before the elasticity changes. The business model was never about being really underpriced, that was just a way to acquire customers.

How do you imagine they are "raising the price simply because they can" when their growth has slowed[1] and they have decided to no longer use debt in order to finance content?[2] I think those two facts taken together are a much more plausible explanation of why they are raising prices i.e because they have to. Further given the competitive head-winds they're now facing streaming space they are definitely not in pos…

Afaik their revenue hasn't dropped its only slowed - meaning the strategy works since it boosts their margins.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Netflix is on the very fast downward slope I don't think the data is proving this out at all. Streaming will probably be a winner-take-most market and Netflix is on track to remain the leader. We'll see what total 2021 subscriber growth was on Thursday, but estimates for Q4 are still around a net addition of 8 million subscribers. Compare this with Disney Plus growth in the same period of 2 million subscribers and…

> Netflix still managed to create the two most watched movies _ever_ on the platform By what metrics that they didn't slice just to be able to say this?

Having seen how you can massage numbers to say basically whatever you want time and again, that was my immediate thought

“Gremlins 2 is our most watched movie _ever_”*

* featuring a monster made entirely out of vegetables

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#479
post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UX is a night and day difference between Netflix and its competitors. It's mind-boggling that the giants like Disney and HBO can't even get close. It's especially more noticeable on slow devices like Smart TV's.

With respect, I hate, loathe, and despise the auto-play part of the Netflix UI. I hate that more than anything else I could possibly love about Netflix. Far too fucking distracting while you’re trying to focus on something else that you might actually want to watch. And yes, I’ve gone into the settings to turn that feature off, and it doesn’t entirely work. It does reduce the auto-play somewhat, but not entirely. I’l…

You're right, even with the "autoplay" settings turned off when you drop into a TV show's subsection it will automatically start playing the next episode. Incredibly frustrating when you just want to check episode length of number of episodes per season.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#480

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…

After having sampled Disney+, HBOMax, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime a fair bit in the past year, my take is that Netflix has the UX nailed. I can, for instance, "thumbs down" a recommendation. Some offerings I never want to see. Their catalog tends to the darker themes, and I'm not fond of that. Hulu and Amazon Prime are mostly irrelevant to me. I'll probably axe the Hulu sub. HBO has a few things I like. Disney+ t…

I've found on my streaming device that Netflix is seriously fast at buffering and playing once you press play compared to D+ and Prime. Like 2 seconds vs 10+ seconds. Of course could just be my device but seems like they have really optimised the UX.
Post reply on HN