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Netflix’s big power clash and rivalries behind the crash

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Re: Netflix’s big power clash and rivalries behind the crash

#11
post #8
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What should happen, if we're doing "shoulds", is that it shouldn't be permitted for one company to own both distribution and production, nor for such companies to create long-term exclusivity agreements with one another.

I really think services like YouTube are going to win out. For every hour of video I've watched on Netflix or Hulu I've probably watched 40 on Youtube. The variety of content there is absolutely incredible and so much of it is very deep educational content.

I think people are watching a lot more video in general. There are multiple generations, at this point, that mostly wouldn't pay for cable or even bother with rabbit ears even if TV & movie streaming services didn't exist, but do pay for a streaming service or three. I don't think YouTube's going to beat that entire market, unless they shift tactics pretty substantially. I think they expanded the market, though, grabbing almost all of that new territory for themselves in the process (at least until TikTok came along)

Re: Netflix’s big power clash and rivalries behind the crash

#12
post #5

Apple should buy Netflix and combined they should focus on only few, extremely high quality shows.

What should happen, if we're doing "shoulds", is that it shouldn't be permitted for one company to own both distribution and production, nor for such companies to create long-term exclusivity agreements with one another.

it seems to me this market has loads of competition without silly regulation like this getting in the way

Re: Netflix’s big power clash and rivalries behind the crash

#13
post #8
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What should happen, if we're doing "shoulds", is that it shouldn't be permitted for one company to own both distribution and production, nor for such companies to create long-term exclusivity agreements with one another.

I really think services like YouTube are going to win out. For every hour of video I've watched on Netflix or Hulu I've probably watched 40 on Youtube. The variety of content there is absolutely incredible and so much of it is very deep educational content.

I hate YouTube for their recommendation system. I watch few things and then get million recommendations of the same thing by different author. I don’t want that, I want to see other topics and must actively search for them.

Re: Netflix’s big power clash and rivalries behind the crash

#14
post #7

Apple should buy Netflix and combined they should focus on only few, extremely high quality shows.

Why would you want even more consolidation? The other content owners (Disney, WB, etc.) have already pulled all their content from 3rd parties (including Netflix) to destroy competition. Why is there so many people on HN that want less market competition and cheer when corporations consolidate?

Because people want to watch the leading shows in their area of interest and not have to pay 10+ services $10-$20 a month.

As it gets increasingly hard/expensive, not to mention the bickering between services and platforms and services and markets to watch them on, customers are resorting to piracy as a way to get the content they want.

Re: Netflix’s big power clash and rivalries behind the crash

#16
post #7

Apple should buy Netflix and combined they should focus on only few, extremely high quality shows.

Why would you want even more consolidation? The other content owners (Disney, WB, etc.) have already pulled all their content from 3rd parties (including Netflix) to destroy competition. Why is there so many people on HN that want less market competition and cheer when corporations consolidate?

This is one of those cases where I believe consolidation helps the users instead of harming them.

Fragmentation in VOD is taking us back to the cable era where you had to pay extra for different content packages.

High quality content is spread across multiple platforms so users have to pay more for other services or simply miss out on that content.

Re: Netflix’s big power clash and rivalries behind the crash

#17
post #6

This chart [1] was making the rounds a while back. Whether you totally agree with its methodology or not, it certainly suggests that many people consider a huge swath of Netflix' content average at best. And for someone like me who doesn't watch a huge amount of video, that's not a great look. Tastes differ of course but my tastes aren't that out of the mainstream. And I'd rather a streaming service had a modest numb…

That graph isn’t showing that. Sure, Netflix produces way more content than competitors but they also have more shows in the far right (outstanding and exceptional) than their competitors.

The ratio of OK-or-worse to good-or-exceptional sure appears to be a less favorable for Netflix than the others.

Though people's rankings seem crazy to me. Apparently just producing a Star Wars thing and not totally shitting the bed in the process counts as "exceptional". Then again... yeah, that's kinda true, I guess. From a certain point of view. Still, better than nearly all shows on all those services? Yikes. I dunno about that.

Re: Netflix’s big power clash and rivalries behind the crash

#18
post #6

This chart [1] was making the rounds a while back. Whether you totally agree with its methodology or not, it certainly suggests that many people consider a huge swath of Netflix' content average at best. And for someone like me who doesn't watch a huge amount of video, that's not a great look. Tastes differ of course but my tastes aren't that out of the mainstream. And I'd rather a streaming service had a modest numb…

That graph isn’t showing that. Sure, Netflix produces way more content than competitors but they also have more shows in the far right (outstanding and exceptional) than their competitors.

They don't really have that many more shows well out to the right; it's mostly a draw. (And at that point you're talking pretty small numbers.) But it's pretty clear from the graph that, as a percentage of their total shows, more Netflix shows are just OK than the other services. (Now if the bulk of that is very cheap drek to boost the size of the catalog, that's OK I guess. But I doubt that it is.)

Re: Netflix’s big power clash and rivalries behind the crash

#19
post #7

Apple should buy Netflix and combined they should focus on only few, extremely high quality shows.

Why would you want even more consolidation? The other content owners (Disney, WB, etc.) have already pulled all their content from 3rd parties (including Netflix) to destroy competition. Why is there so many people on HN that want less market competition and cheer when corporations consolidate?

You're asking, so I guess I will lay out some reasons.

1) Choice fatigue.

2) The annoyance of wanting to watch a specific thing and then hunt it down, hoping it is on your service.

3) The costs (financial, time, irritation) of subscribing to multiple services to combat #2.

Re: Netflix’s big power clash and rivalries behind the crash

#20
post #11
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really think services like YouTube are going to win out. For every hour of video I've watched on Netflix or Hulu I've probably watched 40 on Youtube. The variety of content there is absolutely incredible and so much of it is very deep educational content.

I think people are watching a lot more video in general. There are multiple generations, at this point, that mostly wouldn't pay for cable or even bother with rabbit ears even if TV & movie streaming services didn't exist, but do pay for a streaming service or three. I don't think YouTube's going to beat that entire market, unless they shift tactics pretty substantially. I think they expanded the market, though, grab…

> I think people are watching a lot more video in general

My parents, their parents, and many of their peers have TVs on in the background during virtually every waking moment they spend at home, and have done so since at least the 90s.

People are watching video differently, but I'm not sure it's "a lot more".

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