Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

pajiba.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 1001 posts

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#431

Post by UberFly »

andrew_ wrote: post #385
danans wrote: post #322

I doubt most of the subscription loss is attributable to reasons that most HN types go on about (the rants about wokeness, not enough scifi, carousel UI, pirating etc...). What's probably going on is after after a few years of pandemic isolation and Netflix binging, the arrival of pandemic triggered inflation, and overall higher employment rates, people just have less interest, time, and money to binge watch longer f…

I had been a Netflix for customer for 10 years. For me personally, it's a combination of several of the reasons you cast doubt on. While I may not be in the majority, I am real and those reasons (which I shall not list, to avoid HN wrath) were attributed to my cancellation.

No post body was provided.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#432

Post by wtetzner »

treis wrote: post #71

These suggestions are pretty weak. Mostly boil down to making better stuff for cheaper. Which is obvious and something everyone is trying. IMHO, Netflix is the classic .com company where they think they can do everything better than the incumbents. That's true when there is a paradigm technology shift (internet ordering and then streaming). But it's almost never true when you're talking about core competencies.

> Mostly boil down to making better stuff for cheaper.

I wonder if they'd be better off making better quality content, but less of it.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#433

Post by serial_dev »

danans wrote: post #322

I doubt most of the subscription loss is attributable to reasons that most HN types go on about (the rants about wokeness, not enough scifi, carousel UI, pirating etc...). What's probably going on is after after a few years of pandemic isolation and Netflix binging, the arrival of pandemic triggered inflation, and overall higher employment rates, people just have less interest, time, and money to binge watch longer f…

I didn't cancel Netflix yet (have been thinking about it as I find that sometimes I just watch it for hours, and it's kind of a waste of life). I can say for sure, if they introduce ads, I'm leaving, I won't pay for watching ads, sorry.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#434

Post by notadev »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #268
cercatrova wrote: post #101

It's easier just to pirate than keep up with all these streaming services. - You get the benefit of high quality (true 4k, not stream compressed "4k") and no buffering. - Plex, Radarr, Sonarr automatically downloads and categorizes your content for you, you can just sit back and enjoy your content. - Edit: Plex et al are not the *only* ways to download content, not sure why some replies are thinking so. I too can typ…

I don't know how to phrase this nicely, but this is precisely the type of Hacker News nerd-blindness that I find amazing. It's "easier"? Is it? For young children who want to watch their kids shows and don't know what 4k means? For grandparents who want to see some k-dramas and have no clue about DRM or geo-locked? Sure, Netflix has issues and it's made some bad decisions, but let's not delude ourselves here. The gro…

It’s pretty easy for my family to use Plex just like any other streaming service. The not easy part was my responsibility.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#435

Post by jayd16 »

wtetzner wrote: post #221
jayd16 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You say mindlessly copy but what's the better solution they're ignoring? Or do you mean you don't like TV focused controls used in a browser?

How about a list you can vertically scroll through, with the option to filter based on various criteria?

A vertical list is a waste of horizontal space when it's a list of movie posters. They go with the carrousel for better or worse because it lets you quickly scroll through categories without scrolling through every item in a category. If you want a grid, its basically what they have.

If you just want more search options, I agree but the search layout is also already a grid.

I'm asking for a specific implemented app that feels better in practice, not just something you think might work better. There are subtle issues with getting this layout right. Its not as obvious as you say when you need to deal with crap remote dpads and no keyboards.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#436

Post by californical »

expensive_news wrote: post #406
californical wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really stealing if they wouldn’t have ever paid for it in the first place? If it’s not easy to find and use on a subscription service that I already have, I’m just not gonna try to search for it or pay for it. What difference would it make if I pirated it and watched it anyways? (FWIW I personally don’t pirate anything, I just really don’t see the merit to the “stealing” argument)

Yes, obviously. I really don’t see how one could possibly sympathize with this argument. Say I go to a bakery and I only “sort of” want a cookie. I’m not hungry enough to pay for it, so I just take it, and claim “I’m not actually stealing because I wasn’t going to pay for it anyway“. You could claim it’s different with digital goods, but it’s not. Money still went into making that good (whether that’s software or a m…

What if most of my enjoyment of a cookie is looking at all of the pretty designs and crafty details on the cookies, and I don’t actually care that much to eat them. Is it stealing to go into a bakery and look at the cookies, then leave? I’ve gotten all of my enjoyment for free, after all!

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#437

Post by conception »

serial_dev wrote: post #433
danans wrote: post #322

I doubt most of the subscription loss is attributable to reasons that most HN types go on about (the rants about wokeness, not enough scifi, carousel UI, pirating etc...). What's probably going on is after after a few years of pandemic isolation and Netflix binging, the arrival of pandemic triggered inflation, and overall higher employment rates, people just have less interest, time, and money to binge watch longer f…

I didn't cancel Netflix yet (have been thinking about it as I find that sometimes I just watch it for hours, and it's kind of a waste of life). I can say for sure, if they introduce ads, I'm leaving, I won't pay for watching ads, sorry.

They've said they are introducing a reduced subscription fee with ads, not adding ads.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#438

Post by ghaff »

fortran77 wrote: post #282
hardwaregeek wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how to phrase this nicely, but this is precisely the type of Hacker News nerd-blindness that I find amazing. It's "easier"? Is it? For young children who want to watch their kids shows and don't know what 4k means? For grandparents who want to see some k-dramas and have no clue about DRM or geo-locked? Sure, Netflix has issues and it's made some bad decisions, but let's not delude ourselves here. The gro…

Exactly. I’m a 59 year old man who knows how to pirate, but watches his content from streaming providers because it’s simpler and safer, and I don’t like to steal. I don’t think piracy is what’s killing them. It’s that there are too many streaming providers and people don’t hesitate to drop subscriptions. I tend to subscribe when there’s a deal, watch everything I want to see, then drop it and switch to another one f…

I even have Plex set up with (mostly) ripped DVD content but I still subscribe to a few streaming services and buy/rent a la carte now and then. The fragmentation is annoying but subscribing/unsubscribing is pretty low friction. Though I wouldn't be surprised to see more discounting for longer subscription terms.

Of course, what was (past tense) also annoying was paying $100/month for a cable bundle that I rarely watched.

It's also the case that I have access to a ton of video and don't consider much to be "must see."

And to the topic at hand, I may very well cancel Netflix one of these days. There's some stuff I haven't watched yet but after I get through that I may well drop it.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#439

Post by hypertele-Xii »

Stunting wrote: post #291
cercatrova wrote: post #101

It's easier just to pirate than keep up with all these streaming services. - You get the benefit of high quality (true 4k, not stream compressed "4k") and no buffering. - Plex, Radarr, Sonarr automatically downloads and categorizes your content for you, you can just sit back and enjoy your content. - Edit: Plex et al are not the *only* ways to download content, not sure why some replies are thinking so. I too can typ…

You're stealing income, specifically from me and all of my coworkers. Perhaps you think that you're only stealing from Producers and A list actors, but there are entire departments that receive residuals on a production. - On screen performers, stunt performers like myself and actors who grind out a comfortable living. Those residuals also go to qualifying for health insurance through earnings. You are directly steal…

Uh huh, I'll stop stealing from you when you stop stealing from me.

Advertizements everywhere stealing my attention, public space, and landscape beauty. Stealth taxes on empty hard drives and other storage media. Hardware-destroying rootkits and other malware (lost a DVD drive to DRM, will you reimburse me?). Draconian control mechanisms and lobbying stealing my control of the devices I own. Mountains upon mountains of disposable plastic promotional crap stealing my planet and ecosystem.

I'm not stealing from you. I'm extracting some small reparation for the many toxic behaviors your industry engages in. When you start offering an honest product I'll start honest buying. And I do - I pay more combined to good people producing good content via Patreon than a monthly Netflix subscription.

Post reply on HN