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Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

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Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#211

Post by creakingstairs »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #206
creakingstairs wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> is this more about keeping up with friends and families and what they watch? Yeah. I love discussing shows with friends and family and I’ve been finding it harder and harder to watch shows together or watch them later on our own time to discuss them later. For example, I recently watched Pachinko and would highly recommend it but none of my friends have Apple TV so they can’t watch it (unless they pirate it)

Apple TV+ is $5/month. People used to pay $100+/month for cable and satellite TV. If people do not want to pay, then it must not be about the money. They even have the choice of easily just paying for one streaming service per month, and not spending more than $15 per month.

Like you said, all my friends and family can afford it, but there is a psychological barrier to adding yet another subscription service when they already have multiple. You could switch around, but that is also a hassle.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#212

Post by fragmede »

mdasen wrote: post #104
harha wrote: post #28

Netflix really had a value proposition a few years ago before all the other players came in. A good selection of rotating movies and shows, sharing accounts with a good model (# of simultaneously running screens). This was way better than cable TV and more convenient than torrent. Now it’s mostly quite mediocre content across services that easily cost $100+ a month, so we’re back to the old cable days in terms of cos…

I don't think you're wrong, but to over-simplify what you're saying: "Netflix took my $100/mo cable bill and $40/mo Blockbuster habit and turned it into a $10/mo fee. Now I'm not getting all that entertainment for the now $15.50/mo fee." Again, you're right: before the other players came to streaming, Netflix had an amazing value proposition. Why? Because "the other players" didn't realize that streaming would displa…

I think the issue of low-quality filler being the issue is debatable. House of Cards or Orange is the New Black hasn't stopped the platform from sinking to where it is now. But as long as people are watching something, they're subscribed to the platform. The real problem is a lack of shows with nine seasons and plenty of shows that got canceled two seasons in. Viewers will take a chance on a new show, binge watch the two seasons, then end up blankly staring at the Now Playing screen and this hollow feeling of Netflixlessness - that listless feeling you get when your life was previously consumed by a show that you've now caught up to, so you have nothing to watch.

The worst thing the service can do is force viewers back to that New Playing screen, and just hope they find something before giving up, disgusted at your library's lack of content. Netflix never did conquer the Now Playing page. If I don't have a show that someone else has promoted to me, I'm not opening the Netflix app, that page is where dreams of just watching some TV go to die. Not for lack of trying, mind you, they've run a large number of experiments on that page, it's just a difficult problem when you don't have the content your users really want. It's thoroughly unsatisfying a UX, especially if you can't find something before your attention span gets bored of trying to find something to watch, and you switch away entirely. To Fortnight or TikTok, as the article suggests.

Spin-off shows don't generally do well on network TV, but things are different for streaming, and mediocre content set in the same universe as existing shows, for easy transference of viewing keeps users on your platform. Even if viewers are rewatching The Office for the Nth time. Because that show has nine seasons, Netflix might as well just be The Office streaming program and it would keep subscribers just fine. You're right that they're "settling" hours, but not everyone is a TV show snob. Netflix was never going to afford to be at ABC/Paramount/Disney level but it's trying to play there and make shows that rivaled their quality - and cost - that killed them.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#213

Post by rendall »

mullingitover wrote: post #57

I helped drive that subscriber loss! The mistake for Netflix was the price increase - I've had a bunch of online video subscriptions kicking around, and when I got the notification that prices were going up, it served as a reminder that I really wasn't getting much value out of Netflix at the current price, so it made zero sense to put up with a price increase. This actually made me cancel Hulu while I was at it. It…

> The only thing dumber than this idea is adding commercials, which they're planning...

I will immediately cancel any service that has advertisements. One of them (I think Amazon) did not immediately show the video I asked for, but a preview of another video they think I might be interested in. Even that got my delete finger twitching.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#214

Post by pvarangot »

astrange wrote: post #189
pvarangot wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would add that "a formula" doesn't mean it's bad. I regularly drank beer since like when I was 14 until when I was like 35 or something? I do it way less now but still sometimes drink beer. My favorite style changes. Sometime I just drink a new one because like dopamine hits and I get excited about the potential novelty and discovery. But it's beer, and I think there's nothing wrong with it. From bud light to like…

> From bud light to like whatever quadruppel or super IPA monstrosity someone in the Bay Area decided to brew and that may work as an antiseptic On this note, Pliny the Elder (the highest rated IPA in the Bay Area) used to be hard to find but recently is just everywhere, and it turns out it tastes horrible. But it’s like single-origin horrible. Like drinking the highest quality grass clippings.

Yeah tell me about it. I had a good one in the cafe in Point Reyes where it was on the tap but the last few were bottled and it was not that good.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#215

Post by hakfoo »

bawolff wrote: post #205
chii wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they had billions of dollars to create original content they had the wrong idea that original content is their strong point. It's not. It's disney's strong point. Netflix should've used their dominant position to lobby for new rules to the game - prevent exclusivity of content! They should've lobbied gov't to mandate that studio productions of content be permanently untied to a streaming service, and be available t…

I disagree - their issue was scaling it. When they started out creating original content, they were hitting it out of the park. Orange is the new black, daredevil, house of cards were all big hits. They scaled, quality was sacraficed for quantity, and their brand became very dilluted.

I'm sort of surprised there is less effort in poaching series with an existing fan base. This would seemingly be an antidote to the complaint of too-"algorithm says it will work" programming, because it bypasses that entire flow with an established "we see the audience, they exist in fandom forums and such."

I've never used Hulu, but there's a good chance I'll sub in the next few months for the new season of The Orville. I'd expect anime series would be a great similar target- there are plenty of manga/novel adaptations that did one 13-episode series that covered the first fewbooks, and now the source material is finished with 25 more volumes they can adapt.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#216

Post by lotsofpulp »

creakingstairs wrote: post #211
lotsofpulp wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple TV+ is $5/month. People used to pay $100+/month for cable and satellite TV. If people do not want to pay, then it must not be about the money. They even have the choice of easily just paying for one streaming service per month, and not spending more than $15 per month.

Like you said, all my friends and family can afford it, but there is a psychological barrier to adding yet another subscription service when they already have multiple. You could switch around, but that is also a hassle.

It is far less of a hassle than it was with cable/satellite companies.

For example, I go to TV app on my phone or laptop or Apple TV. Search for what I want. Pay for it, and if it is a subscription, then go back to list of subscriptions and then cancel.

If it is Netflix, then you might have to do this in a browser since they do not cooperate with Apple.

Not sure how much easier people want it to get. I will gladly take this method of paying and watching for media than anything I experienced in previous years.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#217

Post by bryanrasmussen »

ThatPlayer wrote: post #107
bumper_crop wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consumers want high quality, entertaining content, at low cost, with little commitment, at any time. Prior to Netflix, there wasn't such an intersecting product. Now, Netflix has low quality content, but still has all the other stuff. Consumers see this, forget what life was like back in the early 2000s, and switch/sign up for several other services. It's where consumers spend their money that will result in this reg…

The issue is Netflix as it was is not sustainable. It's like plenty of VC startups, build the market at a cost, and then go down in quality so you can make a profit. Or sell the company. But they can't do that because it's already public. In fact that means earning reports and they've just recently turned cash flow positive. Like you say, consumers want high quality content. That costs money to make, and when Netflix…

>That costs money to make,

I agree that high quality costs something, but anyone familiar with modern media should be aware that the relation between cost and quality is not 1 to 1.

Red Notice would be an example, and interestingly enough, an argument against the idea that consumers want high quality content. Sometimes consumers just want content that will be exactly what they think it will be, no more and no less.

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#218

Post by russelldjimmy »

55555 wrote: post #200

I’m bored of Netflix. They have simply gone the assembly line direction instead of the direction of art, at least for some big niches. For example, every True Crime docuseries on Netflix is the same crap. Once you’ve seen three, you’ve seen them all. They get each cop involved in a big empty room, sit them on a solitary chair, put a dramatic light above them, and shoot them in 4k. Then they direct it at a pace to bor…

> …it is simply so cheap to pump out middling quality documentaries. Stock photography and interviews and cheap-but-good editing. You’ll notice solo YouTubers are making great documentaries.

Reminds me of this hilarious video - https://youtu.be/9BUrNe3Vhtk

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#219

Post by bryanrasmussen »

creakingstairs wrote: post #157
GekkePrutser wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm seeing that a lot too. Netflix killed piracy with price and more importantly convenience. But the extreme fragmentation of the streaming market is driving people back to the torrents. They don't want to sign up somewhere for every new show that they hear about. The industry is killing itself this way. Netflix is just the first to take the hit because they have the largest market saturation.

Soon there will be some service that bundles up all the streaming services into one service. They might even call it cable :p

Actually sort of have that in Denmark, in Yousee - can't really see anything about it https://tv.yousee.dk/ without being logged in but they have an online cable service which also allows you to take content from HBO, ViaPlay etc. as well as current content from free tv and cable you are signed up for.

They also offer HBOMax, Netflix, and Disney+ but when you take those as your media offerings you have to use the various sites which I think is a mistake (probably they have to do it that way because of contractual requirements) but obviously if you use up your potential media selections from an YouSee account on other providers at some point you probably think why am I using YouSee?

Re: Netflix’s bad habits have caught up with it

#220

Post by dazc »

bawolff wrote: post #205
chii wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they had billions of dollars to create original content they had the wrong idea that original content is their strong point. It's not. It's disney's strong point. Netflix should've used their dominant position to lobby for new rules to the game - prevent exclusivity of content! They should've lobbied gov't to mandate that studio productions of content be permanently untied to a streaming service, and be available t…

I disagree - their issue was scaling it. When they started out creating original content, they were hitting it out of the park. Orange is the new black, daredevil, house of cards were all big hits. They scaled, quality was sacraficed for quantity, and their brand became very dilluted.

> Orange is the new black, daredevil, house of cards were all big hits.

The original version of House of Cards was a four episode mini-series. There was a lesson there that Netflix chose to ignore.

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