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The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

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Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#421
post #322

I doubt most of the subscription loss is attributable to reasons that most HN types go on about (the rants about wokeness, not enough scifi, carousel UI, pirating etc...). What's probably going on is after after a few years of pandemic isolation and Netflix binging, the arrival of pandemic triggered inflation, and overall higher employment rates, people just have less interest, time, and money to binge watch longer f…

I had been a Netflix for customer for 10 years. For me personally, it's a combination of several of the reasons you cast doubt on. While I may not be in the majority, I am real and those reasons (which I shall not list, to avoid HN wrath) were attributed to my cancellation.

Your reasons are totally real and you are entitled to them, but in the context of subscriber loss in the 100s of thousands probably marginal.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#423
I'd been looking for reason to get rid of Netflix once they made it impossible to adequately curate the user experience — they kept shoving content I didn't want to see at me, as well as content I'd already seen, and gave me no way to exclude shows or types of shows from being presented to me. Netflix is amazingly anti-user, and anti-user choice. The autoplay of short clips they introduced made it actively anti-user.

The straw that broke the camel's back for us was the disappearance of a deep catalog and only one or two new shows which were worth attention — if we really want to see them, we'll sign on for a month next year and binge-watch through them, then drop the service again. This is the model we're going to be going forward with any such service.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#424
post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're stealing income, specifically from me and all of my coworkers. Perhaps you think that you're only stealing from Producers and A list actors, but there are entire departments that receive residuals on a production. - On screen performers, stunt performers like myself and actors who grind out a comfortable living. Those residuals also go to qualifying for health insurance through earnings. You are directly steal…

Well then let us pay for shit in a convenient way. Like OP said, if there’s something like steam or Spotify then I’d gladly pay for it. I still rent movies weekly on AppleTV because it’s a convenient experience. Geo gating, shitty compression and making us choose between n apps is not the way. Also, we’re going to end up with shitty generated content regardless of my $10. If you’re making strong statements like OP is…

> Well then let us pay for shit in a convenient way.

While this may be a way explain why the masses pirate, it's a poor justification for an individual to do it. If you don't find the available payment mechanisms convenient enough, then walk away and support a product that does have mechanism convenient to you. (For the same reason that you wouldn't steal from a store that only takes Amex.)

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#425

It's easier just to pirate than keep up with all these streaming services. - You get the benefit of high quality (true 4k, not stream compressed "4k") and no buffering. - Plex, Radarr, Sonarr automatically downloads and categorizes your content for you, you can just sit back and enjoy your content. - Edit: Plex et al are not the *only* ways to download content, not sure why some replies are thinking so. I too can typ…

You're stealing income, specifically from me and all of my coworkers. Perhaps you think that you're only stealing from Producers and A list actors, but there are entire departments that receive residuals on a production. - On screen performers, stunt performers like myself and actors who grind out a comfortable living. Those residuals also go to qualifying for health insurance through earnings. You are directly steal…

I think your real anger should be directed at the studios that aren't fairly structuring your benefits and compensation, as well as the union that is not getting these for you.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#426
post #322

I doubt most of the subscription loss is attributable to reasons that most HN types go on about (the rants about wokeness, not enough scifi, carousel UI, pirating etc...). What's probably going on is after after a few years of pandemic isolation and Netflix binging, the arrival of pandemic triggered inflation, and overall higher employment rates, people just have less interest, time, and money to binge watch longer f…

Constant price increases with stronger competition (Disney+) - my downgraded subscription is more expensive than what I paid two years ago...

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how to phrase this nicely, but this is precisely the type of Hacker News nerd-blindness that I find amazing. It's "easier"? Is it? For young children who want to watch their kids shows and don't know what 4k means? For grandparents who want to see some k-dramas and have no clue about DRM or geo-locked? Sure, Netflix has issues and it's made some bad decisions, but let's not delude ourselves here. The gro…

It's not easier. I've got a BS in EE and am old enough to have downloaded episodes of the TV show 24 over 56k using early BitTorrent. I've successfully set up plex (which requires an in house server/spare pc), sonarr, radarr, usenet, etc. I'm probably the 99% percentile in ability to pirate. And its not easier than netflix. 90% of people I know probably couldn't set this up. And the other 10% would spend more time di…

I was at a friends house, he was starting GameOfThrones. I was like "you going to cancel hbo after??" He explained he was pirating. But! He is non technical (a nurse by trade). I was very confused asked to see his setup. He walked over to small black box under his tv. I was fascinated. It was a raseberry pi enclosure with hdmi out, it was prepackaged - networking p2p software for looking up stolen items, a UI better than netflix. All he did was take it out of the box, plug in the HDMI, and start watching UNLIMITED content on any streaming service I have heard of.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#429
post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had been a Netflix for customer for 10 years. For me personally, it's a combination of several of the reasons you cast doubt on. While I may not be in the majority, I am real and those reasons (which I shall not list, to avoid HN wrath) were attributed to my cancellation.

Your reasons are totally real and you are entitled to them, but in the context of subscriber loss in the 100s of thousands probably marginal.

They actually gained subscribers in the western world still, but lost in total because of all Russian accounts were terminated.

Re: The bottom is dropping out of Netflix

#430
post #109

Honestly for me I just do not know all the content Netflix has because the browsing is so bad. I wish instead of pushing shows to me best on algorithms, it would just let me browse categories and recent additions etc in a simpler way. Maybe categorised by year.

Absolutely, Netflix would be 1000 times better if they just let me sort, filter and find content based on concrete metadata. Instead, I'm forced to rely on their recommendation algorithms that purport to know what I want to watch, but for some reason keep recommending low quality content in languages I'm just not interested in. I'd be happy if I could just filter Netflix to only show me content with original audio in…

I have a very good friend who is a long time engineer at netflix, this is his quote:

"They keep the search and browse capability so crappy in order to mask the true size of the content library"

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