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

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

#151

Post by slantyyz »

romanovcode wrote: post #86
sametmax wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just amazed somebody can come to this conclusion. 20 years ago you had to go to the shop, buy ONE film for $15 from a limited shelve, bring it back home, put it in a device you bought specifically for that film format and that does only that, navigate through a dubious UI, be forced to watch ads, then eventually get to the film. If you didn't like it... too bad. Now for the same price, you have access to thousand…

Did you try to use Netflix outside of U.S.? It's pathetic.

When I subscribed in Canada a couple of years ago, I was struggling to find good content. Today, I find it more annoying that I can't keep up with what's coming out.

The user interface makes it hard to discover and track stuff that interests me. It's weird, because the UI is actually OK, but it just can't handle the volume of new stuff coming out every week. Only the stuff that Netflix wants me to find out about trickles onto the main view.

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

#152

Post by pwaivers »

xienze wrote: post #142
sametmax wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just amazed somebody can come to this conclusion. 20 years ago you had to go to the shop, buy ONE film for $15 from a limited shelve, bring it back home, put it in a device you bought specifically for that film format and that does only that, navigate through a dubious UI, be forced to watch ads, then eventually get to the film. If you didn't like it... too bad. Now for the same price, you have access to thousand…

> Now for the same price, you have access to thousand of movies __and__ TV shows Yes, but are they the movies and shows people actually want to watch? You know, classics and the like. Increasingly, the case is "no".

Which classics are you talking about? I think more people want to watch "Thor: Ragnarok" than they want to watch "Casablanca".

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

#153

Post by slantyyz »

puranjay wrote: post #19

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 O…

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

There's a lot of time waster content on Netflix now compared to before. They have a bunch of 20-30m reality TV shows (some of which are pretty good), and they have some even shorter form content as well (for example, Mike Tyson Mysteries).

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

#154

Post by gwbas1c »

koonsolo wrote: post #138
gwbas1c wrote: post #126

I'll be honest: I probably watch more Youtube than Netflix. But, and this is a big but: I'll continue paying for Netflix long after I stop paying for Youtube. Why? Netflix is quality content that I watch when I plan on sitting in front of the TV. In contrast, I only watch Youtube for a few minutes here and there. A different analogy is live TV versus a DVD. Youtube is more like live TV: lower-quality, news, commentar…

Good analogy! It even matches with displaying commercials.

Ironically, I never intended on paying for YouTube, but once I switched to Google Music, (paid,) all the commercials disappeared.

If I had to choose, though, I'd continue paying for Netflix and put up with the commercials.

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

#155

Post by ConceptJunkie »

bilbo0s wrote: post #22
manojlds wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does sleep have well produced online content?

Sleep goes you one better. Often enough sleep provides fantastical entertainment content indistinguishable from reality. Every genre, from comedy to horror. Only thing is, you can't choose what content you want to experience. (At least, not to my knowledge you can't pick what content you want?)

Mine often gets stuck on the college anxiety channel, which only shows reruns from 30 years ago. I'm glad I'm not paying a monthly fee.

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

#156

Post by forgottenpass »

sametmax wrote: post #79
alecco wrote: post #57

And they both suck. Netflix content is weak. The catalog outside US is terrible. YouTube ads are annoying yet original content is not worth the price for Premium. At a price point of $12 it's ridiculous. Music catalog is sub-par and not worth the switch from Spotify. Both seem to be more dedicated to push PC propaganda than matching what viewers want. Original content is quite bad save for some exceptions (Wild Wild…

I'm just amazed somebody can come to this conclusion. 20 years ago you had to go to the shop, buy ONE film for $15 from a limited shelve, bring it back home, put it in a device you bought specifically for that film format and that does only that, navigate through a dubious UI, be forced to watch ads, then eventually get to the film. If you didn't like it... too bad. Now for the same price, you have access to thousand…

>And people complain?

They're not competing against 20 years ago, the value proposition has changed. (Although 25 years ago there was "57 Channels And Nothin' On").

They're competing against a giant glut of content. Whats the marginal value in watching the latest hot Netflix show over everything else at my fingertips on the internet? Is there something inherently better about the 22-minute format? A movie's 3-act structure? Or a miniseries carefully crafted with plenty of plot climaxes but no plot resolution so you sit there and binge it? Do those shapes of entertainment earn a special place that commands a premium? Does the spectacle enabled by their production budgets?

I actually think they do have an edge, the social act of watching something together with people in the living room. But that's it.

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

#157

Post by ConceptJunkie »

sametmax wrote: post #110
Arnt wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not better by all objective attributes. The attributes that have improved may be the most important ones (and God how I hated those FBI warnings), but Netflix customers complain about two things: Time spent browsing the library, and that they're unhappy with what they actually select (which is obviously partly their choice, partly Netflix' UI). Put differently, I've worked for several streamers. One of them expl…

I'm the first to agree the netflix UI has huge flaws. It's still miles better than going to rent a VHS in a mall. It's still miles better than buying a DVD online. It's still miles better than having to download the movie on eMule. And you do have a small library sample on netflix. It's your front page. Now people either complain there is nothing to watch (front page not interesting anymore after a while), or too muc…

And it's still miles better than Hulu, who seem to have this compulsion to make their UI worse and less usable every 6 months or so.

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

#158

Post by xienze »

pwaivers wrote: post #152
xienze wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now for the same price, you have access to thousand of movies __and__ TV shows Yes, but are they the movies and shows people actually want to watch? You know, classics and the like. Increasingly, the case is "no".

Which classics are you talking about? I think more people want to watch "Thor: Ragnarok" than they want to watch "Casablanca".

Well on the TV side, Friends, for example. Netflix is coughing up $100M to keep it for another year because people are flipping their lids about losing it. Also, you're taking the definition of "classic" far too literally. There's any number of movies from the 80s, 90s, 00s, etc. that Netflix just doesn't have or shuffle in and out of the service within a matter of months that are of far greater appeal than something Netflix cooked up in the span of six months. That's the difference between "lots of content" and "lots of content that people want to see."

> I think more people want to watch "Thor: Ragnarok"

Again, say bye-bye to that one in the near future when Disney's streaming service starts, and in its place we'll get some Netflix junk that no one's ever heard of. See the problem here?

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

#159

Post by random878 »

gwbas1c wrote: post #126

I'll be honest: I probably watch more Youtube than Netflix. But, and this is a big but: I'll continue paying for Netflix long after I stop paying for Youtube. Why? Netflix is quality content that I watch when I plan on sitting in front of the TV. In contrast, I only watch Youtube for a few minutes here and there. A different analogy is live TV versus a DVD. Youtube is more like live TV: lower-quality, news, commentar…

I don't pay for either, but I'd also add:

Netflix has a threshold level of quality. There's probably plenty on there I wouldn't want to watch, but nothing that I'd deem offensively bad.

YouTube, however, I find to be increasingly toxic. There is some amazing content on YouTube, which is often superior to traditional media, but I find I need to wade through increasing levels of garbage to get to it.

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

#160

Post by robotnixon »

s0l1dsnak3123 wrote: post #137
quxbar wrote: post #130

I've quickly become addicted to longform (10+ minute) nonfiction youtube videos, whether it be a comprehensive analysis of Neverwinter Nights or 24 minutes on the advanced features of the laserdisc. Most, if not all of the content creators have Patreon pages, and I even contribute to a few. The content is so niche it's unimaginable that Netflix or any other content behemoth would develop their own version of it.

I'm exactly the same. Some favourites I've collected over the years: 3Blue1Brown - math essays AlfieAesthetics - Bushcraft, botany and survival skills with some fun english humour mixed in CNLohr - fun hardware hacking livestreams Eliminator Performance - mechanical troubleshooting and maintenance vlogs Engineering Explained - Automotive engineering explainers and mini-lectures FearlessFront - Mechanical engineering,…

I'd recommend adding Ishitani Furniture to your woodworking list. Very relaxing and the he makes gorgeous stuff.
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