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The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

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Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#631

Post by 62951413 »

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.

I loved NFLX when they had a 4-CD plan. All the HBO shows from the golden age of TV 10 years ago .. I know that I cannot blame them for losing streaming rights. But I definitely can for pushing the government ideology in their original content. The last few seasons of Longmire is the last show for normal people I can remember NFLX to produce.

I'd have no problem paying for the kind of TV we had with Mad Men or Breaking Bad. I'm not aware of any streaming service of that kind.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#632

Post by SkyPuncher »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #92

Honestly for me I just do not know all the content Netflix has because the browsing is so bad. I wish instead of pushing shows to me best on algorithms, it would just let me browse categories and recent additions etc in a simpler way. Maybe categorised by year.

Youtube is suffering a similar issue lately.

I'll watch a tutorial video then suddenly that's the _only_ thing my feed recommends to me. None of my subscriptions. None of my established preference. Just dozens of videos on a topic that I likely don't actually care that much about.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#633

Post by cpt1138 »

I think I would pay for all these services for content if I could be assured of watching the content how I want. I don't like the monthly fees, but Ill put up with it, I prefer the rental model and I'm willing to wait (like we used to for rentals). That said the way I want to watch content is downloaded for offline viewing, on our projector, with the sound split since my wife is hard of hearing and likes the sound going directly to her hearing aids. The content providers see that as pirating and disable it. Its frustrating to find that out, when you are no longer anywhere with service (the reason for the downloading the first place) and can't do anything about it. Netflix has worked like that for a while and the problem is finding good content. Amazon Prime "works" and is the rental model and I like that the best. Disney does not work at all. And I cant be bothered to try every service to see if it works like that. I would love an aggregator and would be happy to pay monthly if they could provide EVERYTHING. In the meantime, Ill often even pay for the content somehow and then pirate it to watch it how I want.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#634

Post by Krasnol »

dinobones wrote: post #343
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…

It is extremely tired as well. Any time there is a post about Netflix, or some streaming service, I always predict there will be someone in the comments section talking about their “sweet, open source Unix based media server” and how much better it is.

It would make it quite suspicious and weird if the most obvious solution to the problems which are often the content of those posts, wouldn't have been posted by somebody in the comments.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#635

Post by johnnyanmac »

yoz-y wrote: post #304
breakfastduck wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using a pirate streaming service such as stremio is literally no more difficult than netflix. I think you underestimate how many people pirated things before netflix existed.

When it was still called popcorn time I used it. It was easy to use, but it was far from being as reliable as any other commercial streaming service. Buffering was very common and subtitles were missing or would de-sync a lot.

people forgive a lot of hiccups and quality issues when the service is "free". I see the same sentiment in the emulation scene where people will in one breath call a game "playable" despite weird graphical hitches, slowdowns, and crashes. And in the next breath berate some remaster because it dips under 60 FPS in a few moments of gameplay.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#636

Post by colinmhayes »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #609
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 think the demise of Netflix has been greatly overstated (although growth is slowing down) The biggest change last quarter is that Netflix went from having 700,000 customers in Russia down to 0. In other words, they actually had a net gain of 500,000 subscribers in the parts of the world where they still operate.

A net gain of 500,000 against an expected gain of 2.5M is horrible. Don't think analysts are ignoring the Russia situation, they just realize that Netflix has much bigger problems.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#637

Post by juki »

fetus8 wrote: post #113
prasadjoglekar wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The thing I find interesting with Netflix is how much they spend on content and what a terrible rate of return it has." Bingo - that's the real reason for the long term (or secular ) decline we're seeing. With 0% interest rates, it didn't matter what the payoff time horizon for Netflix was. With 4% interest rates, longer horizons are gone. Couple that with Netflix being a discretionary expense, and we see the compou…

$12 a month? The cheapest Netflix plan is $10 for STANDARD definition. $15 for HD on two screens, and $20 a month for 4K resolution. I think bumping up past $15 has hurt them a lot too. $20 a month for a streaming service is outrageous.

They have different prices for different countries.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#638

Post by aadvark69 »

ozzythecat wrote: post #474
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 cancelled because it’s not worth the time investment. Good shows are not only difficult to find, but Netflix will release a season or two and unreasonably no longer continue on, without closing out the story. They try to cater to a mass audience and use a large net, but then due to capital costs or whatever reasons, they force their customer to feel stupid for getting invested into a show in the first place. I miss…

It's exhausting to find good content on Netflix. I found myself dreading opening the app because it would take 10+ minutes to find something decent to watch. So I stopped using it.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#639

Post by cellularmitosis »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #632
ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #92

Honestly for me I just do not know all the content Netflix has because the browsing is so bad. I wish instead of pushing shows to me best on algorithms, it would just let me browse categories and recent additions etc in a simpler way. Maybe categorised by year.

Youtube is suffering a similar issue lately. I'll watch a tutorial video then suddenly that's the _only_ thing my feed recommends to me. None of my subscriptions. None of my established preference. Just dozens of videos on a topic that I likely don't actually care that much about.

Just yesterday I discovered that youtube's "home" feed in the iOS app is not actually endless. I know this because I reached the bottom of it without tapping into a single video! For the past 6 months or so in particular, their recommendation engine has just been abysmally bad.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#640

Post by Krasnol »

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…

Wow I thought 2022 nobody would still be so 90s in this regard.

Most of those who pirate, wouldn't pay and since the content is not going away because somebody pirates it, it can't be stealing.

And Jesus...please...it's not like you're starving out there. Start producing original stories. We don't even need all that fancy and expensive CGI crap. Just start writing properly and in a creative way. Pay THOSE people more IF they deliver (though I'm not sure anymore if you really understand what's missing here with all your sequels and remakes...). We're not the audience you should cry to, go to those managers who messed up that market so piracy is coming back again.

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