The bottom is dropping out of Netflix • Hacker News Board

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#971

Post by thawaya3113 » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 1:46 PM UTC

zmmmmm wrote: 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…

The problem is that Netflix’s valuation was based on the idea that they could raise prices without losing subscribers.

That in turn was based on the experience with Amazon, which has raised the prices of Prime, products on its site, and the fees it charges its sellers all while still growing.

Netflix’s valuation was based on the thinking that Netflix was now a necessity for people. But this shows it isn’t.

In fact, the loss of subscribers is an even bigger deal because it suggests Netflix is eminently replaceable.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#972

Post by bitcuration » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 3:08 PM UTC

zmmmmm wrote: 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…

Agreed with the author of this news, the content killed netflix. In the last two years of pandemic and WFH, more people paid attention to the online streaming and willing to spend more. It didn't take long before you'd learn who's content hold the better quality. Netflix has been relying on foreign contents approximately 70% if not 50% in the recent years. I wouldn't say netflix is completely out of favor at this point but definitely lost its edge comparing to others. It has occurred to me I could go on by weeks on HBOmax, Hulu and Amazon without missing Netflix, among which two are bundled with wireless plan and Prime membership, Hulu is cheaper with commercial. If it comes to paying full price I'd probably cut Netflix without a blink.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#973

Post by User23 » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 3:43 PM UTC

the_af wrote: post #934

edgyquant wrote: post #902

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like most content is dubbed foreign stuff now days, which I’m not at all into watching. The only thing they have at the moment I watch is Ozark and that’s ending on the 29th.

Subtitled (not dubbed; dubbing is a sin) is the best. Then again, for me all Hollywood cinema is subtitled. I wouldn't have it any other way, I love hearing the original actors speaking. I hear in some countries like Spain, dubbing is the norm. And they are quite proud of it. I find that puzzling.

> not dubbed; dubbing is a sin

People without enough usable vision to read subtitles would disagree.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#974

Post by foldr » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 3:53 PM UTC

IMTDb wrote: post #935

DonHopkins wrote: post #901

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Racist homophobic bigots hate "woke" content, but so what? Who wants those snowflakes as customers anyway, who are so terrified of being exposed to cartoons of Mickey Mouse and Pluto having steamy hot gay sex? Let them try to cancel culture and walk away from scary cartoon animal sex all they want. How's Trump's "unwoke" social network working out? https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/ted-cruz-mickey-plut... >TED…

Without being a "racist homophobic bigot", you can be tired of seing that every single TV show they produce seems to absolutely need to play the race/gender/sexual orientation bingo. To me, it feels like the "diversity" of the characters included in a script is one of the factor that is taken into account when deciding to finance a show or not. It really shouldn't be: either a script is good enough and you should fin…

Meanwhile, as a gay man I’m excited any time I find a show with any kind of halfway decent gay representation. There’s still a long way to go IMO.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#975

Post by patrick451 » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 5:53 PM UTC

xyzzy21 wrote: post #852

zmmmmm wrote: 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…

This is certainly part of it. There are also those who are not happy with woke content and "Anything Silicon Valley/Tech" and are walking away. Disney has the same thing going.

Indeed, this is the same reason I cancelled my subscription.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#976

Post by doktorhladnjak » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 6:17 PM UTC

civilized wrote: post #267

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.

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.

I recently did a trial for Showtime's streaming service. It's set up this way. Choose a category then get an alphabetical list of everything available. I'm not sure it's any better, but worth checking out if that matters to you.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#977

Post by edgyquant » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 6:25 PM UTC

the_af wrote: post #934

edgyquant wrote: post #902

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like most content is dubbed foreign stuff now days, which I’m not at all into watching. The only thing they have at the moment I watch is Ozark and that’s ending on the 29th.

Subtitled (not dubbed; dubbing is a sin) is the best. Then again, for me all Hollywood cinema is subtitled. I wouldn't have it any other way, I love hearing the original actors speaking. I hear in some countries like Spain, dubbing is the norm. And they are quite proud of it. I find that puzzling.

I despise subtitles, I watch films for the visual medium when I turn on subtitles they distract me from watching the actual film. I know I’m uncultured etc but I can’t help the way I feel about it.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#978

Post by DavideNL » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 6:27 PM UTC

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.

Agree;

I stopped using Netflix a long time ago, when the "algorithm" started ramming content through my throat;

I couldn't disable automatically playing previews on the home screen, it automatically started skipping over intro's and outro's, automatically playing the next show, etc. etc.

Everything just screams "thou shall consume more".

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#979

Post by edgyquant » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 6:27 PM UTC

maroonblazer wrote: post #904

edgyquant wrote: post #902

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like most content is dubbed foreign stuff now days, which I’m not at all into watching. The only thing they have at the moment I watch is Ozark and that’s ending on the 29th.

You're not interested because of the dubbing? Then just switch to subtitles. Or do you not have the patience to put up with subtitles? Despite what Hollywood would have you believe, there's considerable high-quality content coming out of other countries. I love that Netflix brings that to the U.S., otherwise I'd never know of it or be able to watch it.

When I turn on subtitles I spend the whole time reading, so I’m not a fan of doing it that way. I’ve no doubt that the quality of the plot acting etc is great (I did watch squid games) but I only really watch TV at the end of the day and I’m usually browsing on my tablet as well.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#980

Post by thenerdhead » Sat, Apr 23, 2022, 6:39 PM UTC

They raise their prices, add ads, crack down on account sharing, add games nobody asked for, have min/maxed shows that include suggestive programming, and people are wondering why their stock dropped?

Netflix is being run by MBAs. It could benefit much more if it actually listened to their customers instead of doubling down each week on yet another terrible idea.