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The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

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Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#791
post #775

All the handwringing over Netflix subscriber loss seems to be overlooking the fact that they raised their prices - significantly. Of course they could lose subscribers from doing that. But 200k subscribers out of 150 million? Combined with the end of the pandemic and sky high inflation meaning many people have less opportunity to watch and less money to spend. The fact they raised their prices something like 20% and…

Think I read somewhere that of one of their content production differentiators is their direct-to-consumer approach. Classically lots of content was produced for the "average" consumer. Netflix can use their subscriber data to create low-cost content for extremely niche consumers, who might love that extremely relevant production (think super edgy, super graphic, super cartoon, etc - the type of extremes not covered by the average).

Not sure how much this holds true anymore, as now many big players have direct-to-customer streaming, but just sharing since it was a neat thought when I first read it

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#792
post #662

It's sad that we cannot own titles but are forced to rent them from these streaming services that can't seem to get their shit together. (Not blaming Netflix per se; this is a pox on all their houses). Used to be nice in the DVD days. I built myself a nice collection then. This was the idea behind digital rights lockers: UltraViolet, which Disney refused to participate in and which closed down in 2019, and its succes…

If only there were a way to get a file of the same movie from a different site and then make a copy of it to save to your personal archive of movie files, ensuring you never need to worry about paying for multiple streaming services that will probably remove titles you like and never carry others in the first place...

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#793

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Music streaming doesn’t suffer nearly the fragmentation issues film and television streaming services have, though. If I want to listen to something as common as Kanye or something as obscure as MSTRKRFT, I can do it on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, pretty much anything. And I only need to subscribe to one service. If I want to watch something as common as ‘Inception’ or as indie as ‘Twin Peaks’, there’s virtua…

> MSTRKRFT 17 million listens. I would not call that obscure. As a matter of fact a lot of truly obscure stuff barely gets to SoundCloud, let alone Spotify.

I don’t think this really affects my point that the fragmentation situation is infinitely better with streaming music than it is with video.

Here’s - perhaps - a better explanation as to why.

The majority of major music labels - Sony/BMG, Columbia, EMI, etc - have the majority of their music available on the majority of the available streaming services.

This situation is unfortunately worsening on video streaming platforms as every major studio and their brother wants to completely commit to their own service.

It’s even worse as the result of this weird licensing moving around is series and films being removed from services you’d previously subscribed too mainly for those particular shows or films.

The only result of this is value loss and confusion presented to the consumer - as the recent CNN+ disaster shows, along with Netflix’s flailing subscriber count.

The music streaming world is exponentially better. Like - subscribing to a music streaming service is actually worthwhile. Video streaming services decrease in value with every new one that is introduced.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#795

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You, personally, are stealing from my income. All those issues you raise are valid and important issues to address. Stealing because those things make you angry makes you part of the problem.

I don't personally pirate much, but I take umbrage at you characterizing it in this way. You seem to think that the issues of accessing media without subjecting yourself to user-hostile behaviors are wholly orthogonal to the issue of accessing media without paying for it. They aren't.

Imagine a hypothetical universe where, in order to watch one of your movies, people had to a) pay you $1 and also b) let you punch them in the nose. Then, when people sensibly start pirating your content instead because they don't want to get punched, you loudly proclaim that they are stealing the $1 you are owed.

That's what's happening here. People want to watch your content, and are willing to pay for it. But they don't want to pay for it AND get punched in the nose. They pirate because your distributors, and by extension you yourself, have made it impossible to watch your content (and pay you!) in any other way.

I get that your natural rejoinder will be "if the content is not worth being punched in the nose, just don't watch it!" Which is fair. Debatable, but fair. Just don't come here pretending that all you have asked for is the reasonable sum of $1 when you are actually demanding that your customers subject themselves to the indignity of your fist.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#796
post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The recommendation system crash is coming. Name a recommendation system that shouldn't be replaced with simple rules based on obvious and transparent metrics like popularity and ratings, or by organizing things into categories. Less fancy ML nonsense, more working hard to gather high quality simple metrics.

That doesn't work so well if you're trying to push a social agenda to people who aren't interested in LGBTQ+ or racial "wokeness". Imagine someone searching for all content that doesn't include some form of LGBTQ+. There wouldn't be much of a catalog to watch.

  > Imagine someone searching for all content that doesn't include some form of LGBTQ+
whats the reason for that?

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#797

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been a Netflix customer for 5+ years, and I've switched services to Disney+ for two reasons: - Netflix with 4K and 4 streaming devices costs 17.99€ here ($19.50), while Disney+ only costs €8.99 with the same features. - Netflix made and continues to make good content, but since major producers have been removing their content from Netflix and into their own services, Netflix here almost survives on old local s…

The 4k pricing was always a sore spot for me. Netflix’s content was never worth $20, so for a long time I was subscribed for mediocre standard def content. I regret not unsubscribing sooner.

I also find the 4k catalog very... lacking. (In Canada at least). Movies outside of Netflix originals are just not available in 4k.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#798
post #671

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been rebuilding my DVD collection through thrift stores. It’s incredibly cheap to do so now, and pretty fun to see what you find.

I think an issue for me that prevents me from collecting DVD’s, to; say - collecting CD’s - is that while a CD from the 1980’s is pretty much the best quality of audio you can still get today, DVD’s unfortunately suffer from an issue where the SD quality has aged very poorly, and the difference in resolution and image quality is insanely noticeable on, especially 4K, TV’s. Of course, since CD’s are uncompressed audio…

Many remasters sound better than the original disc. It is a small improvement however, perhaps 1.2x better at most, not a 4x one like dvd to bluray.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#799
post #754

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think an issue for me that prevents me from collecting DVD’s, to; say - collecting CD’s - is that while a CD from the 1980’s is pretty much the best quality of audio you can still get today, DVD’s unfortunately suffer from an issue where the SD quality has aged very poorly, and the difference in resolution and image quality is insanely noticeable on, especially 4K, TV’s. Of course, since CD’s are uncompressed audio…

Surprise, the physical layers in your DVDs and CDs is also decaying, so a CD from the 1980s may well be unplayable now. I've found that with many of my old commercial disks, let alone the ones I've burned myself.

My 80s CDs are all perfect, even my 90s burners.

https://imgur.com/a/I7fokrx

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#800
post #778
post #775

All the handwringing over Netflix subscriber loss seems to be overlooking the fact that they raised their prices - significantly. Of course they could lose subscribers from doing that. But 200k subscribers out of 150 million? Combined with the end of the pandemic and sky high inflation meaning many people have less opportunity to watch and less money to spend. The fact they raised their prices something like 20% and…

I wonder why the market reacted so harshly though, with NFLX losing 1/3 last Wednesday ($347 to $215).

The market reacted because a much higher subscriber growth was factored into the price. After the massive drop Netflix is still worth $100B and is one of the largest media companies out there, which is nothing to scoff at.
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