Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#461

Post by throwaway290 » Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 5:28 PM UTC

effingwewt wrote: post #385

throwaway290 wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me "canceled" is only bad when it's cut short like Firefly. Maisel had a good 5 years/seasons worth of run. Otherwise you can say "canceled" about every show that isn't running today... If I could afford it in terms of money and time I would probably subscribe to all of them, I mean why not? To go see one movie costs about as much as a month of subscription to one streaming service. So subscribing to Netflix, Prim…

I appended it with it being more correct to say 'ended'. Aside from that it didnt start with 5 in mind, it just kept going till the creators decided to nix it. That's not the same as having a 5 season vision and completing the story you wanted to tell. And for sure to each their own, if you enjoy the services by all means continue being a patron. I'm over all of them personally, even disney+ is going to start chargin…

Sure, just your comment read as if that it's "ended" is a bad thing.

> Aside from that it didnt start with 5 in mind, it just kept going till the creators decided to nix it.

Many good shows are that way, it's good when they know when to stop. It's never good if it drags on or if it's cut early

Sure, own media collection is always better if you have the physical space for it...

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#462

Post by MuffinFlavored » Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 5:28 PM UTC

Jenk wrote: post #79

Netflix have really dissapointed me. I've been a subscriber since before streaming, and have even been content paying the subscription fee during the "breaks" of not using their service for up to months at a time because I so badly want(ed) them to succeed. I also understood the difficult situation they were facing when the producers of content were makkng ridiculous demands on their distribution, or worse, just pull…

> Netflix have really dissapointed me.

I don't think your comment is exclusively about the password sharing policy, but I'll pretend it is at a high level:

Do they (as a business) deserve to do what is in their best interest (maximize profit)?

Why are users "owed" the ability to pay for 1 household and share it with 5 households?

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#463

Post by passion__desire » Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 5:29 PM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #438

passion__desire wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is Netflix not following short high quality 1-3 min videos model which is popular with young crowd? They already have Fast laughs tab which mimics that. Youtube / Creative studios could pitch 1-3 min video ideas which Netflix could greenlight and provide just bare minimum capital to produce. If the final film is good, Netflix could buy the film and release on their platform. Current Trends which are in favour of…

Re. (1), not even slightly interested in spending time watching/reading a story written by ChatGPT.

Here's a good first draft of the short story I generated.

https://pastebin.com/pDaJXHuC

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#464

Post by usrusr » Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 5:30 PM UTC

Alupis wrote: post #390

babypuncher wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think some people's expectations of Netflix were downright unrealistic. When they started streaming, the platform was paying pennies to license shows that were already in syndication. Programs that had already made their money in first runs on network TV and cable. As streaming became the de facto distribution method for new content, of course the cost of licensing that content ewas going to go up. Streaming licens…

None of which says "Make a million garbage shows and movies that nobody asked for and few actually enjoy - then raise monthly rates to bankroll these pet projects". Here's an idea - quality over quantity. Make fewer, but better shows and movies.

Quality over quantity completely ignores differences in taste. One person's best show in the universe is another's torturous crap they'd avoid like the plague even if they were paid for watching.

It's perfectly possible to ignore that and still aim for some focused quality, but that's the path to becoming a niche operation. Might as well switch to pay per view.

The main challenge streaming networks are facing is that there is no attention on-ramp now that nobody is zapping through linear tv anymore who might get hooked on an earlier iteration of the franchise. When I know that I am multiple installments behind in $franchise, my willingness to pay for the latest one is zero. And if earlier ones are the same price as the latest, they will feel overpriced. That's why the focused "I subscribe x because of some specific production y" that would be implied by quality over quantity doesn't have much future, they need habitual subscription where discovery just happens.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#465

Post by hulitu » Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 5:30 PM UTC

aflorez wrote: post #72

juanse wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely agree. I also had a family account that kept instead not watching anything anymore. In the end I felt like paying for watching propaganda that I could see for free in national television. This came at the perfect time as an excuse.

What kind of agenda/propaganda is it? Which values are promoted?

Violence. Extreme right.

I searched for Dracula, got documentaries about nazis.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#466

Post by hooverd » Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 5:30 PM UTC

justinclift wrote: post #440

jerf wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Holland seemed to focus more on developing fewer shows of higher quality content while Bajaria was more focused on "get all the content, throw it all at the wall and see what sticks" (who saw "Squid Games" coming?)." I think the root problem is that no studio anywhere is large enough to put out enough high-quality content to keep the people engaged continuously. Not even Disney. All the studios were looking over at…

One of my friends is a writer, and his take on the problem is that the seasoned writers Netflix used to have (a few years ago) are now all getting fairly "old". Aka around their 50's. So, they were let go, and a new generation of young, unseasoned writers has been doing the writing. But unlike previous generations though (heh), many of them are not even slightly interested in learning from the previous (seasoned) wri…

I wonder if some of that is TV writers growing up on ubiquitous TV writing, like how anime is increasingly made by people who just like anime and weren't as interested in a wide variety of media as the older generation.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#467

Post by geodel » Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 5:32 PM UTC

lnxg33k1 wrote: post #325

geodel wrote: post #315

Perhaps Netflix is finally coming to conclusion that they can't keep increasing prices for honest users forever so as not to anger sharers and free riders.

It's like one of Murphy's law that in any conversation there must always be those who side with the big corporation hurt by the peasants

More like side of what I really felt. But it is kind of Murphy's law that on any topic some one will claim "Anti corporatism is the logic in itself"

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#468

Post by r00fus » Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 5:32 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #407

mikeryan wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Reed Hasting left and Ted Sarandos took over he had a bit of power shakeup and handed over the content reins to Bela Bajaria - who was brought in to head up international over Cindy Holland who was in charge of US content. Holland had brought in House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, Stranger Things, The Crown, Ozark and Narcos. Holland seemed to focus more on developing fewer shows of higher quality content w…

"Holland seemed to focus more on developing fewer shows of higher quality content while Bajaria was more focused on "get all the content, throw it all at the wall and see what sticks" (who saw "Squid Games" coming?)." I think the root problem is that no studio anywhere is large enough to put out enough high-quality content to keep the people engaged continuously. Not even Disney. All the studios were looking over at…

>but the combination of all of them doing that turn one fairly decent (not perfect, but decent) streaming service into an array of streaming services each individually not worth the subscription.

And thus we're back at "cable rates" but pick your poison.

The response should be "cancel services when you don't need them" but it's tougher if you have a family with young kids who you let watch.

I really liked paying CBS/Paramount for a single month so my kids could binge Korra (sequel to Avatar: the Last Airbender) back when Netflix released A:tLA first. We literally watched nothing else on the service.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#469

Post by jayd16 » Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 5:33 PM UTC

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #462

Jenk wrote: post #79

Netflix have really dissapointed me. I've been a subscriber since before streaming, and have even been content paying the subscription fee during the "breaks" of not using their service for up to months at a time because I so badly want(ed) them to succeed. I also understood the difficult situation they were facing when the producers of content were makkng ridiculous demands on their distribution, or worse, just pull…

> Netflix have really dissapointed me. I don't think your comment is exclusively about the password sharing policy, but I'll pretend it is at a high level: Do they (as a business) deserve to do what is in their best interest (maximize profit)? Why are users "owed" the ability to pay for 1 household and share it with 5 households?

No one is owed but this question is flawed. Users were paying for 5 households. Now they can only use it for one. However you look at it, its a reduction in service or an increase in price.

Re: Netflix loses 1M users in Spain over password policing

#470

Post by Alupis » Wed, Apr 26, 2023, 5:33 PM UTC

itsoktocry wrote: post #417

Alupis wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of which says "Make a million garbage shows and movies that nobody asked for and few actually enjoy - then raise monthly rates to bankroll these pet projects". Here's an idea - quality over quantity. Make fewer, but better shows and movies.

> Here's an idea - quality over quantity. Make fewer, but better shows and movies. What an insight. But how do you determine what's "high quality" and what isn't? You don't think Netflix is trying to measure that?

> But how do you determine what's "high quality" and what isn't?

There's zero chance Netflix isn't aware they are peddling more junk than gold these days. It's a gamble to have more content than anyone else - and it seems to be slowly killing them.

Everyone has a story about spending 45 minutes surfing Netflix trying to find something interesting to watch while dinner gets cold. Everyone has stories about how awful the latest Netflix Original is, etc.

The amount of poorly dubbed foreign films is appalling, for instance. That's not a gripe against foreign films, it's a gripe about the utter lack of quality Netflix green-lit straight onto the front page of results. These things could be done well - but often are not.