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Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

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291–300 of 507 posts

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#291

Why doesn’t Netflix explore adding ads to their viewing experience? Yes, I wouldn’t like ads, but cable’s revenue model is subscription plus ads, so I’m curious why Netflix thinks their optimal revenue model would be any different?

That model is exactly what "killed" Hulu back when it was their only real competitor.

I once paid for Hulu and my reward was less ads. WTF. Immediate unsubscribe. Will never pay/watch Hulu ever again.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#292
post #250
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why aren't Apple's shows (and movies?) appealing to you? Isn't this basically just asking why doesn't Ted Lasso appeal to you? I think the biggest problem is Apple doesn't have much of a catalog.

Ted Lasso is the best thing there, but far from the only thing. The catalog is pretty solid. I personally loved Mythic Quest and Schmigadoon. I have mixed feelings about Foundation as an adaptation, but I like it pretty well as a stand-alone thing. Looking forward to trying out For All Mankind, See, Macbeth, and Invasion; the first two seem especially well liked by friends. Bounced off Physical and Dickinson, but tha…

HBO is known for hugely popular shows with critical acclaim. Just last year, HBO had Succession, Mare of Easttown, and The White Lotus in several top-10 lists. It's hard to compare the mostly-okay offerings from Apple TV to either the current HBO shows or its back catalog full of hits.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#293
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the competitors can lean on a decades long backlog of hits that attract people. Netflix needs to build everything from scratch, and the cost of creating TV series is ridiculously high nowadays

> the cost of creating TV series is ridiculously high nowadays I disagree with this claim. Their problem is that they enjoy losing money - a fetish if you will - in an attempt to draw and cater to a very particular and very young crowd. Its like they forgot that somewhat mature people over 35 actually do exist and are usually the ones paying for the service. Its a pity because with all that talent and resources - the…

I'd love to see Netflix make knockoffs of popular back catalog shows that are just different enough to get away with it. 3-camera sitcoms with no-name actors should be pretty cheap to produce, and one of the shows could end up being ironically good, and one might be genuinely good.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#294
post #7

It's all starting to get expensive. The content on Netflix keeps disappearing without warnings. Half the time you have subtitles in a limited number of languages. Also they now started adding games, why do I need to pay extra for games I never subscribed for or even want? Make it a add-on or something. For example, Netflix DE has subtitles but the Netflix UK won't have the same German subtitles available. Disney+ is…

This subtitle thing is a real mess. Netflix content that is available in .nl and .br (I'm in .nl, my wife speaks pt-br) only have a couple of subtitles (english, german, sometimes dutch) and the same content in .br has totally different set of subtitles. appletv+ and disney+ and amazon prime simply offer all available subs. So it's not a UI issue, simply have a look at how they do it. And then they wonder why people…

You need to set your UI language to get access to more subtitles in Netflix. My wife is Thai and Thai subtitles only show when the UI is set to Thai.

Prime is worse. I actually watched the movie The Courier with English subtitles on and the subtitles disappeared for all of the Russian dialogue.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#295
post #182
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised YouTube isn't on your list. We having streaming services, but my kids mostly watch YouTube.

In previous threads I’ve asked about the same thing and some parents have very strong opinions about what’s available on YouTube. I remember one thread in particular where someone told me that you could find some very strange stuff just by typing a period in the search box (autocomplete does the rest, NSFW if that’s not obvious), and that school age Kids tend to figure this out or share this “trick” amongst themselve…

Has everyone forgotten Elsagate already?

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#296
post #165
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on what I've seen in their engineering blogs, they've been spending a lot of time on streamlining the production and distribution process. I guess that makes sense for a production company. But I wonder if they're getting good value for what they're spending on it. It may so much less than what they're spending on producing content that nobody's paying attention.

Streamlining production seems like a wrong goal in this game. I mean, who cares if you can efficiently churn out dozens or hundreds of new TV-shows and movies if none of them are good? Having one really good TV-show on the catalogue is worth a hundred crappy TV-shows. And if you manage to produce one good show, who cares if its' production process was extremely efficient. It's a long tail game.

Being able to quickly and efficiently set up a group pitching some creative vision but lacking any experience with Netflix-sized budgets? Preferably without installing some cookie-cutter producers that make everything they touch look, feel and taste the same? That's huge if they are good at it.

I'm not saying that they are, but now that streaming seems to be basically solved (it has become a commodity) this is the quality that will likely make the winners.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#297

Why doesn’t Netflix explore adding ads to their viewing experience? Yes, I wouldn’t like ads, but cable’s revenue model is subscription plus ads, so I’m curious why Netflix thinks their optimal revenue model would be any different?

The moment I see an ad on Netflix is the moment I unsubscribe. I’d rather spend time digging through sketchy torrents than watch ads in something I paid for.

Cable tv makes $70 per viewer per year. Assuming the same for Netflix, they’d need a third or more of their users to churn to be non accretive. If they create a no-ad tier that’s slightly more expensive, I doubt churn would be that high.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#298
post #116

The golden age of Netflix was when it had a full library of other networks' shows. It was completely unsustainable at $8.99/mo or whatever it was back in 2013-15. The price of the brick went up each time renewal discussions happened, and the rights holders were planning to set up their own networks anyway. What I didn't anticipate was how fast Netflix would dump AAA content and replace it with a deluge of B and C gra…

> the rights holders were planning to set up their own networks anyway

I really wish they'd gone through with the original Hulu plan of being co-owned by the major networks and stream all their content.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#299

I often wonder why Netflix is willing to pay so much for the Office and Friends but isn't trying to make a new show like that. Every new show is an 8 episode season of "prestige" TV.

They tried with Space Force. A workplace comedy starring Steve Carrel created by Carrell and Greg Daniels, who was the original show runner for the Office and also helped create Parks and Rec. It had a great cast. It just wasn’t very good sadly.

My layman’s interpretation is that creativity thrives under constraint.

The Office and Parks and Rec struck creative gold under strict network constraints. Easy to produce, affordable ensemble cast, relatable content. Then, as they found their footing, they could expand upon this soulful base and have more elaborate sets, celebrity guests, broad plot arcs, etc.

By contrast, Netflix shows are unconstrained, working from the other end. They are trying to spend endless money to emulate these predecessor shows in the late stage when they were massively successful, rather than when they were uncertain and fledgling.

I think Space Force is a good example of this. All the right pieces to make a hugely successful show, high budget VFX, setpieces etc, but no soul.

Re: Netflix’s Prices Are Rising Faster Than Cable

#300

Typical startup play: charge almost nothing for a decade or longer, then raise prices or reduce offerings later on after killing almost every competing offering in the world. This time, there are still several competitors left though. One day these services that aim to replace cable will be basically identical to cable but more expensive, or else there will be a bunch of walled gardens It’s like YouTube will the ad s…

Yep, youtube then wonders why people use adblocks, and publishers wonder why people are starting to pirate again.

Nobody wonders why people don't want ads and want cheaper content. But these shows everyone watches cost a lot of money.
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