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Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

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Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#371

Post by gambiting »

01100011 wrote: post #353
godzillabrennus wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I basically have this with Hulu. I pay for the live tv package and cloud dvr. It lets me access a back catalogue of streamable content for each “channel” in my package. I have hbo/starz/and the big name cable channels for about $140/month with 200gb of cloud dvr. My only real complaint is that I can’t download content to my phone for flights. It’s not $12.99/month but when I’m traveling in Asia I can VPN back to my h…

Oh, only $140/month? What a deal... Bring it down to $60-$80 and I'd consider it.

All of these values are insane to me. People really spend that much to effectively watch TV?

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#372

Post by 1337biz »

noelsusman wrote: post #147
archey1 wrote: post #75

Netflix is just getting more expensive and less interesting to me. With all of the content I like being taken off to be hosted on network exclusive streaming platforms that I refuse to pay for - I'll probably eventually just cancel Netflix as well going back to the tried and true method of just buying bluray box-sets of the content I want to watch. Or piracy. I think the critical mistake that all these megacorps are…

Of course people would rather pay $10 a month to access everything, but that's just not sustainable. Look at Netflix's own financials. They got into content creation and they're now deep in debt despite their massive subscriber base. I also don't get why everyone is clamoring for one company to control all video entertainment distribution. Isn't that what we hated about cable? Didn't we beg for the ability to pick an…

It's not a reasonable argument. If things are not super convenient many will just go back to piracy. The content house brands are just too weak to be able to demand a subscription.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#373

Post by freeflight »

gambiting wrote: post #370
atombender wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People aren't asking for a single distribution channel in the sense of a single monolithic company owning all the IP. They do want (1) convenient apps that aggregate, such as Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video, and (2) a way to get all the content without having to pay lots of individual companies (I'm subscribing to around 5 streaming services myself). Why can't video be like music? Spotify and Apple Music aggregate pr…

>>Why can't video be like music? Because with music I literally don't care what I'm listening to. If famous artists left Spotify I couldn't care any less - I just want a playlist with "music" and that's good enough for me. With video, I don't want random TV shows - I want specific ones that interest me, and either they are available on Netflix or they aren't, the fact that there is 10k other shows does nothing to jus…

But just because you don't care what you are listening to, doesn't mean that nobody does, most people I know are rather picky with their music.

Just like you apparently care about what you are watching on VoD services, even tho there are also plenty people out there who use VoD as "background noise" and often couldn't care less about the actual shows.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#374

Post by kovvy »

Osiris wrote: post #320
isbjorn16 wrote: post #77

My problem with Netflix isn't the slate of shows and movies it has in its catalog. It's definitely not as nice as it used to be, but there are a jillion and a half shows and movies out there. My problem is that Netflix has taken note that we watch anime a few times a week, which doubtless means we want every single band/carousel/whatever to be about anime. New Anime, Critically Acclaimed Anime, Popular Anime, Watch i…

Year ago, Netflix has a "Not Interested" option. If Netflix was recommending something that you didn't care about, you could use "Not Interested" to make it not show up in your list anymore. Now, it just keeps recommending these same content over and over again. There's no way to say "I don't want to watch that". There's also no variety to the suggestions. I agree that "decision fatigue" is a big deal for me.

Recommendations used to seem to be affected by your ratings. That may still be the case to some extent, but Netflix's preferences seem to be way, way more important now.

That aside, I don't live in the USA so it would be nice if Netflix stopped claiming that USA content was local, and non-USA foreign. It's not just their recommendation system that is poor, their general categorisation also is.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#375

Post by jogundas »

ohithereyou wrote: post #225
inetknght wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I also don't get why everyone is clamoring for one company to control all video entertainment distribution. Isn't that what we hated about cable? Didn't we beg for the ability to pick and choose what we actually want to pay for? Now we finally have that and people instantly want to go back? Why? 1) I don't want to pay for content I won't watch. 2) I don't want to be required to pay for content I won't watch in orde…

The only system that can cover all five of your points right now is piracy. 1) No charge, so you're not paying for content you won't watch 2) Same as 1 3) A torrent client speaking RSS + a private torrent site that serves RSS covers this 4) You pay with nothing - no money, no data, and no viewing history 5) Files without DRM can be played on any device and cannot be retroactively deleted by the service provider Pirac…

That's right! It would be interesting to see how torrented series statistics correlate with online streaming prices. My feeling is that as Netflix-like services become more expensive and/or fragmented, piracy picks up. Don't have any numbers to back this up with though.

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#377

Post by [deleted] »

hiram112 wrote: post #316
bcrosby95 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use PLEX, buy dvds, and copy them onto your PLEX server. It satisfies all of your listed requirements.

Yeah if you have tons of free time and want to watch the same DVDs over and over. Some of us don't have that much time anymore (I did run Plex when I was younger, though). I'm either willing to pay about $$25-$30 / month for a few services like HBO and Prime without commercials*, and available in demand, with plenty of quality series to keep my 1 hour / day TV habit satiated, or I'll just take my ball and go home. Ca…

[deleted]

Re: Netflix CEO may have missed the real reason why US subscriber numbers plunged

#380

Post by dkersten »

I used Netflix because it was convenient. I don't watch much, so when there were fewer things that I was interested in, there was no point in keeping my subscriptions. I never signed up for any of the other streaming services because they didn't fulfill my requirements of convenient since I'd have to manage multiple accounts. I just watch even less now and spend my time on other, more rewarding, things. No big loss.
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