Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube

#11

Post by icebraining » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:23 AM UTC

S_A_P wrote: post #4

I don't necessarily agree with this. If I want to watch well produced online content, I do not think Youtube.com. I do think that Netflix and amazon Prime video have "traditional" studio created content that has high production value. That said, I watch youtube and Netflix almost equally, but for different reasons. Youtube is great for short videos, interviews and niche interest. IF I want to watch scripted drama lik…

YouTube Originals has scripted dramas, though the selection is still tiny, and the UI is a mess, in my opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqVDpXKLmKeBU_yyt_QkItQ/pla...

Re: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube

#12

Post by fouc » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:35 AM UTC

Does anyone ever feel irritated by "amateur" produced videos that approach the quality of professional studios? Sometimes it's distracting when there's too much work done on the video, and you can tell there's additional people helping out behind the camera and you never get to see them as part of the video.

Basically amateur/gonzo level videos feel more truthful than the highly edited videos.

Re: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube

#13

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:43 AM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #11

S_A_P wrote: post #4

I don't necessarily agree with this. If I want to watch well produced online content, I do not think Youtube.com. I do think that Netflix and amazon Prime video have "traditional" studio created content that has high production value. That said, I watch youtube and Netflix almost equally, but for different reasons. Youtube is great for short videos, interviews and niche interest. IF I want to watch scripted drama lik…

YouTube Originals has scripted dramas, though the selection is still tiny, and the UI is a mess, in my opinion. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqVDpXKLmKeBU_yyt_QkItQ/pla...

[deleted]

Re: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube

#14

Post by JumpCrisscross » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:43 AM UTC

S_A_P wrote: post #4

I don't necessarily agree with this. If I want to watch well produced online content, I do not think Youtube.com. I do think that Netflix and amazon Prime video have "traditional" studio created content that has high production value. That said, I watch youtube and Netflix almost equally, but for different reasons. Youtube is great for short videos, interviews and niche interest. IF I want to watch scripted drama lik…

> If I want to watch well produced online content, I do not think Youtube.com

I do. Historia Civilis is presently my favourite channel. Production quality is nothing to write home about, but the quality is fantastic. Moreover, I don’t walk away feeling like I crapped away thirty minutes—I learned something.

Re: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube

#15

Post by bayesian_horse » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:45 AM UTC

S_A_P wrote: post #4

I don't necessarily agree with this. If I want to watch well produced online content, I do not think Youtube.com. I do think that Netflix and amazon Prime video have "traditional" studio created content that has high production value. That said, I watch youtube and Netflix almost equally, but for different reasons. Youtube is great for short videos, interviews and niche interest. IF I want to watch scripted drama lik…

Youtube is better at grabbing the users' attention... Not necessarily with better content.

Though I learn more from Youtube than from Netflix, in general...

Re: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube

#16

Post by mohi13 » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:46 AM UTC

I get disgusted by thinking why does Netflix want people to not sleep. Why auto-play in 5 sec? Isn't this morally wrong, like dangling cocaine in front of a drug addict.

I agree that people have free will but designing products so that people waste days just watching TV is very very sad IMHO.

Re: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube

#17

Post by InclinedPlane » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 6:47 AM UTC

S_A_P wrote: post #4

I don't necessarily agree with this. If I want to watch well produced online content, I do not think Youtube.com. I do think that Netflix and amazon Prime video have "traditional" studio created content that has high production value. That said, I watch youtube and Netflix almost equally, but for different reasons. Youtube is great for short videos, interviews and niche interest. IF I want to watch scripted drama lik…

Irrelevant. Books, video games, films, youtube, netflix (et al), mobile games, even social media all compete for the same thing: time. People don't have infinite time, if it's filled up with watching youtube videos it can't be filled up watching netflix, regardless of the quality of the content.

Re: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube

#18

Post by manojlds » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 7:00 AM UTC

S_A_P wrote: post #4

I don't necessarily agree with this. If I want to watch well produced online content, I do not think Youtube.com. I do think that Netflix and amazon Prime video have "traditional" studio created content that has high production value. That said, I watch youtube and Netflix almost equally, but for different reasons. Youtube is great for short videos, interviews and niche interest. IF I want to watch scripted drama lik…

Does sleep have well produced online content?

Re: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube

#19

Post by puranjay » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 7:05 AM UTC

I have very different expectations from YouTube than I have from Netflix, and my viewership patterns are very clear.

If I have 20 minutes to kill, I'll follow some food vlogger on YouTube.

If I have more time, I'll opt for something that requires "deep" engagement like Narcos

But I'll admit that there are times I wish Netflix had a stronger library of shows I can watch without thinking too much about them. Like The Office, but original to Netflix

Re: Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube

#20

Post by bilbo0s » Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 7:09 AM UTC

woodycheers wrote: post #6

S_A_P wrote: post #4

I don't necessarily agree with this. If I want to watch well produced online content, I do not think Youtube.com. I do think that Netflix and amazon Prime video have "traditional" studio created content that has high production value. That said, I watch youtube and Netflix almost equally, but for different reasons. Youtube is great for short videos, interviews and niche interest. IF I want to watch scripted drama lik…

What the story is driving at is that people end up spending a lot of time on YouTube, when they could have spent it on Netflix, as its CEO has desired. Spending 60 odd minutes of 80 odd minutes one frequents the web for watching video on YouTube is massive.

The thing is that it's a bit more complicated than that. The business models are different. Even if we don't do the full analysis we can see that someone spending 60 minutes on youtube instead of netflix means that netflix is not paying for that 60 minutes of bandwidth. Netflix doesn't have ads paying for everything, they have to pay for everything other ways. So that business becomes about more than just blindly getting eyeballs. You want the right eyeballs, based on the content you pay to offer. That implies some fairly complex modeling.

Now of course we'd need more information than Netflix would likely provide us to do a full analysis, but my sense from what we can know is that this guy is likely close to correct about what his enemy is.