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Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

forbes.com

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Re: Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

#71

Post by rayiner »

mikeash wrote: post #38
rayiner wrote: post #28

I don’t understand why so many people think this is a bad thing. Content distribution has become a commodity, thanks to AWS and the like. The codecs and whatnot are all standardized. And it turns out that consumers don’t really care about recommendation systems and similar accouterments. So the competition has shifted to the thing that people care about: content. When the market is competing over the thing people car…

It’s annoying as a user to juggle subscriptions. If I want to watch something, I have to figure out where it’s available, sign up if I don’t currently have a subscription, worry about forgetting services and having a bunch of monthly payments I’m not using. End result: I watch a lot of YouTube and pretty much gave up on the rest. Contrast with music, where I have a single subscription and get access to everything I w…

> Contrast with music, where I have a single subscription and get access to everything I want without having to think about it.

Only because of the obsolete centralized planning model the law creates for music streaming, which long predates the capability for direct music distribution to the customer. It undermines competition, shifting power to the distribution system. But competing over whether your streaming service offers this or that feature doesn’t create competition on the part that really matters: content. It lowers the incentive to invest in quality music that breaks out of cookie cutter molds, it would be bad for consumers in every respect but on cost. (It is notable that whole television has never been better, mainstream music probably has never been worse.)

Imagine if software licensing had to all be cleared through a centralized board at rates set by judges. It would be what app developers hate about the App Store times ten.

The inconvenience of having to pick and choose is the cost of having a real market. We don’t order all our food through a central food clearing house. We order from different restaurants, who have different payment models, different menu formats, different delivery rules, etc. If all restaurants were legally required to be in Uber Eats that wouldn’t be better, it would be worse. It would give all the power and profits to the middle man, rather than the restaurants.

Re: Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

#72

Post by snuxoll »

com2kid wrote: post #39
high_derivative wrote: post #5

This article has incredible annoying spacing (one sentence per paragraph). Is this meant to read like an unrolled Twitter thread? Content wise: I recently cancelled my Netflix again because despite a flood of new shows, all feel incredibly generic and formulaic. I like shows across genres, from teenage romance to sitcom to thriller, and I am looking forward to watching e.g. Narcos new season when it hits, there are a…

> I recently cancelled my Netflix again because despite a flood of new shows, all feel incredibly generic and formulaic. Altered Carbon, Love Death Robots, Russian Doll, all recent standout Netflix originals. Heck even their Anime is on point, and I am not the largest fan of Anime cliches. Castlevania was incredible, and Ultraman was above average. Flavorful Origins is the best food show I've ever seen. But then agai…

> Heck even their Anime is on point

They’re impressing the hell out of me recently here, especially with the announcement that they’re helping produce another season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

I don’t think Netflix has something for everyone these days, but they are really hitting certain niches out of the park and will be just fine as long as they keep this core subscriber base. Especially hard sci-fi that almost everybody else has given up on.

Re: Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

#73

Post by chaostheory »

willio58 wrote: post #51
chaostheory wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not a fair comparison. Let’s not forget - no commercials

Not necessarily. Low tiers of Hulu still have commercials.

Yes I pay $.99 / month for it. The normal plan with ads is 6.99 and 10.99 without ads. Currently no other service has traditional ads

Honestly I don’t see how anyone is paying $75 / month for streaming services unless they are paying for sports plans, which most people don’t subscribe to. Most people subscribe to only 2-3 streaming services which probably includes amazon prime. That comes to roughly $35/month

Re: Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

#74

Post by ggg2 »

rayiner wrote: post #28

I don’t understand why so many people think this is a bad thing. Content distribution has become a commodity, thanks to AWS and the like. The codecs and whatnot are all standardized. And it turns out that consumers don’t really care about recommendation systems and similar accouterments. So the competition has shifted to the thing that people care about: content. When the market is competing over the thing people car…

now it is even worse.

before we had the big 4 and everyone had them at their home. now you have big 3 and everyone have one or another. or at most 2.

and this is untill the big one dominate (like google did with search). which is the end game for all of them.

the true solution is payments direct to the content creators, and the hosting providers being a cost for them.

Re: Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

#75

Post by orev »

rayiner wrote: post #28

I don’t understand why so many people think this is a bad thing. Content distribution has become a commodity, thanks to AWS and the like. The codecs and whatnot are all standardized. And it turns out that consumers don’t really care about recommendation systems and similar accouterments. So the competition has shifted to the thing that people care about: content. When the market is competing over the thing people car…

One worst-case scenario can be found in what happened to CDs in the 90s and 00s. Content companies knew people would buy a CD just to get the one popular song, so they would fill the rest of it with junk.

You could look at any app’s library in a similar way, where there’s only a small set of “good stuff” while the rest is old junk. If they collude to spread the good stuff around all the apps, then you are artificially forced to subscribe to all of them if you want to see that stuff.

Yes, that is their prerogative as content owners, but nobody likes it and you feel like you’re getting robbed instead of feeling like you’re living in an amazing future that’s giving you good value. And it costs more so not good for consumers.

Re: Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

#76

Post by gregknicholson »

rayiner wrote: post #28

I don’t understand why so many people think this is a bad thing. Content distribution has become a commodity, thanks to AWS and the like. The codecs and whatnot are all standardized. And it turns out that consumers don’t really care about recommendation systems and similar accouterments. So the competition has shifted to the thing that people care about: content. When the market is competing over the thing people car…

> There’s no monopolies—if you want to launch a competitor, start a studio, pay Amazon a bunch of money

That does sound a lot like Amazon is a relevant monopoly here.

Re: Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

#77

Post by AdrianB1 »

high_derivative wrote: post #5

This article has incredible annoying spacing (one sentence per paragraph). Is this meant to read like an unrolled Twitter thread? Content wise: I recently cancelled my Netflix again because despite a flood of new shows, all feel incredibly generic and formulaic. I like shows across genres, from teenage romance to sitcom to thriller, and I am looking forward to watching e.g. Narcos new season when it hits, there are a…

Same here: I paid more than a year of subscription just to watch 3-4 decent TV series of ~ 12 hours each (some even shorter): 10 EURO/month for 3-4 hours of watching. There is a lot of content out there, most of it is brain damaging to see.

Re: Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

#78

Post by DanBC »

AznHisoka wrote: post #12
high_derivative wrote: post #5

This article has incredible annoying spacing (one sentence per paragraph). Is this meant to read like an unrolled Twitter thread? Content wise: I recently cancelled my Netflix again because despite a flood of new shows, all feel incredibly generic and formulaic. I like shows across genres, from teenage romance to sitcom to thriller, and I am looking forward to watching e.g. Narcos new season when it hits, there are a…

Same here. I find myself going from series to series trying to find something that captivates me, and nothing sticks. I thought I was goingd to watch more Netflix now that Thrones is over but it is the opposite. I expect more and Netflix isnt delivering so I will cancel my subscription soo . A 5-episode series of Black Mirror every year isnt going to cut it. I honestly dont know why they dont release an episode a wee…

They couldn't maintain quality when they went to 5 episodes a year, which is why they've gone back down to 3 episodes.

Re: Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

#79

Post by Grue3 »

Disney values their family friendly image too much. Which is why they'll only ever produce safe boring stuff that doesn't take any risks. So you get these kid-friendly superhero and Star Wars movies, which are popular right now, but surely at some point an adult audience would want more? Especially when they're watching it in the privacy of their own room. Looking at Netflix originals (even if they're not very good), I can't see Disney making something like Narcos, 13 reasons why, Devilman, Love Death & Robots, hell even something like Sabrina (Satanic imagery) or She-Ra (gay stuff). Seriously, what shows in [1] excluding "Children and family" section can you see being streamed on Disney+?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_dist...

Re: Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle

#80

Post by AznHisoka »

wolco wrote: post #61
AznHisoka wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also doesnt mean nobody will drop Netflix. If you are paying money to Netflix and you are consistently not finding the content you expect to watch, you are going to question the value of your subscription. Some will cancel if they find the value too low.

Does Disney change the balance for you? Not at all, you either find something or not.

It does for me. I often use Netflix to find something for my kids to watch.
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