Fix Netflix (1 Viewer)

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guidomerkinsrules said:
That’s it- how would you fix it?
When/how/why did it go astray?
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My biggest beef is they regularly cut good series short. And, currently, their selection isn't nearly as robust as it used to be. Relative to the competition, it's lost a lot of value. $20/month isn't great when you have competitors offering good or better content for roughly half of that. Netflix isn't terrible, it's just not what it used to be imo.

What's telling is I've only used it a handful of times in the last 6 months. The Witcher and a couple of documentaries are the only things I've watched during that time.

I'm not really sure how to fix it, but cutting their subscription price to the level of competitors would be a start. Don't know that it would bring a lot of former subscribers back, but I think it would stop the bleeding in terms of losing subscribers.
 
There are several major issues they have at the moment, and I feel like these issues are much more the cause for their plummeting stock and user growth than things like password sharing:

1. They haven't changed with the times. When they were the only game in town, they could rely on an expansive library of licensed movies from studios, TV series from all kinds of networks, etc. to build their content. But now? When I think of a movie or show I want to watch, chances are Netflix does NOT have it. Everything has migrated elsewhere.

So that means they had to fill that gap with original content. Initially it seemed like they would do OK with this, and they had a string of hits like Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Stranger Things, etc. that kept people engaged. But somewhere along the line they started taking this "produce absurd amounts of content and see what sticks" approach. They're literally producing dozens upon dozens of shows a year (it may actually be in the hundreds, now that I think about it), people have no idea about most of them, and even if they do create something good, it so often falls through the cracks. They *MUST* start better curating their programming and taking a quality over quantity approach. It's just a content farm at this point and there's too much slop to sort through, which means everything suffers as a result.

2. Their marketing for their shows is terrible. This has been a knock against them for a while, but it has only gotten worse. They have no idea how to market shows that aren't Stranger Things for whatever reason. They drop trailers at the very last minute and expect you'll find it just because it's Netflix. And because one of the major metrics they use to determine if a show gets renewed or not is first week engagement, often shows end up as one and done because people aren't even aware of them. Or if they have a notable first season, the second season comes and goes with little fanfare (this happened recently with both Russian Doll and The Witcher). Their cancellation practices also become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as so many viewers don't want to get invested in a show only for it to be cancelled that tons of things on the service go largely unwatched. If you condition your audience to expect abrupt cancellation, they will eventually stop engaging period. The platform is just full of shows cancelled after one or two seasons at this point, almost always with unresolved stories. Who wants to get invested in something that won't have a payoff?

3. They are too dependent on their algorithm and trying to direct you to the content they want you to see. When they had the old star rating system, I got tons of unique recommendations to all kinds of new and obscure stuff? Now, it's just a track to whatever they're trying to push at any given moment. Additionally, many creators and producers have talked about how they rely too much on the algorithm to determine what is going into the actual shows, and it's become more cookie cutter and less creative as a result. In short, they think like a tech company, not like a content creator.

4. They've got to ditch the "drop a whole season at once" model. It's a relic of a bygone era. I'm sure there are people who will say "I like it that way!" but the point is that their shows aren't in the cultural conversation for longer than a week or two max. Sometimes even less than that. Meanwhile jut about everyone else has gone back to a weekly distribution model, which leads to weekly discussions, people writing articles, word of mouth spreading, social media engagement, etc. In short, the weekly distribution allows for audience growth. The Netflix binge model is like "This is the hot sheet for three days and then everyone moves on." And that's for their successful shows. Everything else gets lost in the ether. Additionally, their production cycles are absurd. It's like three years between seasons of Stranger Things, and you'll binge the whole thing in two days and then forget about it a week later. This is not a recipe for longevity.

5. They've really damaged their relationship with producers, showrunners, writers, etc. with their lack of promotion and rapid fire cancellation practices. This is a big one. There has been a lot of talk lately about how people have become very skeptical of taking Netflix deals due to a lot of the stuff previously mentioned. Even before they announced they were shutting down their animation division, there had been a lot of talk in animation communities that talent was bailing on working with Netflix due to the fact that the most likely outcome they'd get if their show got produced was it would be buried somewhere in the service where no one would find it and you'd be one and done. There are also lots of reports that creators feel Netflix is mispresenting how many people are actually watching shows.

They've got a lot of problems right now. I'd say these are the major ones, but there are others. Raising prices, adding ad supported tiers, and go after password sharing are not going to fix the bad content, the insane cancellation practices, etc
 
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Sun Wukong said:
There are several major issues they have at the moment, and I feel like these issues are much more the cause for their plummeting stock and user growth than things like password sharing:

1. They haven't changed with the times. When they were the only game in town, they could rely on an expansive library of licensed movies from studios, TV series from all kinds of networks, etc. to build their content. But now? When I think of a movie or show I want to watch, chances are Netflix does NOT have it. Everything has migrated elsewhere.

So that means they had to fill that gap with original content. Initially it seemed like they would do OK with this, and they had a string of hits like Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Stranger Things, etc. that kept people engaged. But somewhere along the line they started taking this "produce absurd amounts of content and see what sticks" approach. They're literally producing dozens upon dozens of shows a year (it may actually be in the hundreds, now that I think about it), people have no idea about most of them, and even if they do create something good, it so often falls through the cracks. They *MUST* start better curating their programming and taking a quality over quantity approach. It's just a content farm at this point and there's too much slop to sort through, which means everything suffers as a result.

2. Their marketing for their shows is terrible. This has been a knock against them for a while, but it has only gotten worse. They have no idea how to market shows that aren't Stranger Things for whatever reason. They drop trailers at the very last minute and expect you'll find it just because it's Netflix. And because one of the major metrics they use to determine if a show gets renewed or not is first week engagement, often shows end up as one and done because people aren't even aware of them. Or if they have a notable first season, the second season comes and goes with little fanfare (this happened recently with both Russian Doll and The Witcher). Their cancellation practices also become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as so many viewers don't want to get invested in a show only for it to be cancelled that tons of things on the service go largely unwatched. If you condition your audience to expect abrupt cancellation, they will eventually stop engaging period. The platform is just full of shows cancelled after one or two seasons at this point, almost always with unresolved stories. Who wants to get invested in something that won't have a payoff?

3. They are too dependent on their algorithm and trying to direct you to the content they want you to see. When they had the old star rating system, I got tons of unique recommendations to all kinds of new and obscure stuff? Now, it's just a track to whatever they're trying to push at any given moment. Additionally, many creators and producers have talked about how they rely too much on the algorithm to determine what is going into the actual shows, and it's become more cookie cutter and less creative as a result. In short, they think like a tech company, not like a content creator.

4. They've got to ditch the "drop a whole season at once" model. It's a relic of a bygone era. I'm sure there are people who will say "I like it that way!" but the point is that their shows aren't in the cultural conversation for longer than a week or two max. Sometimes even less than that. Meanwhile jut about everyone else has gone back to a weekly distribution model, which leads to weekly discussions, people writing articles, word of mouth spreading, social media engagement, etc. In short, the weekly distribution allows for audience growth. The Netflix binge model is like "This is the hot sheet for three days and then everyone moves on." And that's for their successful shows. Everything else gets lost in the ether. Additionally, their production cycles are absurd. It's like three years between seasons of Stranger Things, and you'll binge the whole thing in two days and then forget about it a week later. This is not a recipe for longevity.

5. They've really damaged their relationship with producers, showrunners, writers, etc. with their lack of promotion and rapid fire cancellation practices. This is a big one. There has been a lot of talk lately about how people have become very skeptical of taking Netflix deals due to a lot of the stuff previously mentioned. Even before they announced they were shutting down their animation division, there had been a lot of talk in animation communities that talent was bailing on working with Netflix due to the fact that the most likely outcome they'd get if their show got produced was it would be buried somewhere in the service where no one would find it and you'd be one and done. There are also lots of reports that creators feel Netflix is mispresenting how many people are actually watching shows.

They've got a lot of problems right now. I'd say these are the major ones, but there are others. Raising prices, adding ad supported tiers, and go after password sharing are not going to fix the bad content, the insane cancellation practices, etc
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Nice overview. You touched on a lot of the key problems they're having. I think they got lazy and too reliant on their sizable subscriber base and took it for granted. They need a reset. Look at what HBO, Amazon and others do well, slim down their offerings as you suggested and focus on quality content. Cut their subscription prices to $10 per month and cut the fat in their bloated, marginal content.

Easier said than done though. It's hard to turn something this big around. It can be done, but they'll need a visionary with a willingness to make tough decisions to right the ship.
 
Netflix is going through the same change that cable channels went through when they went from rerun dumpsters to original programming hubs.
While they have had a few mega hits, I have found that they haven’t really been able to capitalize on it, mainly because all episodes are dropped on one day and it leaves the collective consciousness within two weeks.
Look at Disney Plus. They get two months of promotion for every new show.
 
Sun Wukong said:
There are several major issues they have at the moment, and I feel like these issues are much more the cause for their plummeting stock and user growth than things like password sharing:

1. They haven't changed with the times. When they were the only game in town, they could rely on an expansive library of licensed movies from studios, TV series from all kinds of networks, etc. to build their content. But now? When I think of a movie or show I want to watch, chances are Netflix does NOT have it. Everything has migrated elsewhere.

So that means they had to fill that gap with original content. Initially it seemed like they would do OK with this, and they had a string of hits like Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Stranger Things, etc. that kept people engaged. But somewhere along the line they started taking this "produce absurd amounts of content and see what sticks" approach. They're literally producing dozens upon dozens of shows a year (it may actually be in the hundreds, now that I think about it), people have no idea about most of them, and even if they do create something good, it so often falls through the cracks. They *MUST* start better curating their programming and taking a quality over quantity approach. It's just a content farm at this point and there's too much slop to sort through, which means everything suffers as a result.

2. Their marketing for their shows is terrible. This has been a knock against them for a while, but it has only gotten worse. They have no idea how to market shows that aren't Stranger Things for whatever reason. They drop trailers at the very last minute and expect you'll find it just because it's Netflix. And because one of the major metrics they use to determine if a show gets renewed or not is first week engagement, often shows end up as one and done because people aren't even aware of them. Or if they have a notable first season, the second season comes and goes with little fanfare (this happened recently with both Russian Doll and The Witcher). Their cancellation practices also become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as so many viewers don't want to get invested in a show only for it to be cancelled that tons of things on the service go largely unwatched. If you condition your audience to expect abrupt cancellation, they will eventually stop engaging period. The platform is just full of shows cancelled after one or two seasons at this point, almost always with unresolved stories. Who wants to get invested in something that won't have a payoff?

3. They are too dependent on their algorithm and trying to direct you to the content they want you to see. When they had the old star rating system, I got tons of unique recommendations to all kinds of new and obscure stuff? Now, it's just a track to whatever they're trying to push at any given moment. Additionally, many creators and producers have talked about how they rely too much on the algorithm to determine what is going into the actual shows, and it's become more cookie cutter and less creative as a result. In short, they think like a tech company, not like a content creator.

4. They've got to ditch the "drop a whole season at once" model. It's a relic of a bygone era. I'm sure there are people who will say "I like it that way!" but the point is that their shows aren't in the cultural conversation for longer than a week or two max. Sometimes even less than that. Meanwhile jut about everyone else has gone back to a weekly distribution model, which leads to weekly discussions, people writing articles, word of mouth spreading, social media engagement, etc. In short, the weekly distribution allows for audience growth. The Netflix binge model is like "This is the hot sheet for three days and then everyone moves on." And that's for their successful shows. Everything else gets lost in the ether. Additionally, their production cycles are absurd. It's like three years between seasons of Stranger Things, and you'll binge the whole thing in two days and then forget about it a week later. This is not a recipe for longevity.

5. They've really damaged their relationship with producers, showrunners, writers, etc. with their lack of promotion and rapid fire cancellation practices. This is a big one. There has been a lot of talk lately about how people have become very skeptical of taking Netflix deals due to a lot of the stuff previously mentioned. Even before they announced they were shutting down their animation division, there had been a lot of talk in animation communities that talent was bailing on working with Netflix due to the fact that the most likely outcome they'd get if their show got produced was it would be buried somewhere in the service where no one would find it and you'd be one and done. There are also lots of reports that creators feel Netflix is mispresenting how many people are actually watching shows.

They've got a lot of problems right now. I'd say these are the major ones, but there are others. Raising prices, adding ad supported tiers, and go after password sharing are not going to fix the bad content, the insane cancellation practices, etc
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dang, Sun dropping all the mikes
heckuva write up
 
SaintInBucLand said:
Softcore skinemax and ho-time porn. Winner winner chicken dinner.
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Eh, I don't think so. There's already plenty of free pron on the internet. The real issues they're having need to be addressed as suggested in Sun's post. Imo anyway.
 
DaveXA said:
Eh, I don't think so. There's already plenty of free pron on the internet. The real issues they're having need to be addressed as suggested in Sun's post. Imo anyway.
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Mine was a joke mostly, but I bet for the nostalgia alone people would want to see those shows that they used to try to watch when they were all scrambled on their little TV in their room late at night..(totally not me)
 
I'll also add that their competition is just heavily outdoing them at this point.

HBO Max probably has the best overall library of content of any streaming platform right now.

Disney has all the Marvel, Star Wars, Disney animation, Pixar, etc. content, which is just a series of cash cows on top of cash cows.

Amazon Prime has done a good job of developing original programming in a quality over quantity approach.

Netflix feels like it lacks an identity. It doesn't have big contemporary franchises. It no longer has a stocked library of beloved classics. It hasn't done a good job of going the prestige route in original content. It just feels like this collection of random crap. Like here's three dozen more standup specials from z-list comedians you've never heard of, and some more reality TV baking competitions.
 
Arm chair TV producers :hihi:

It wasn't that long ago that Disney pull the rug from under Netflix's feet, taking their IP ball and going home. Then the pandemic hit. They still have very good original content, and a boatload of international TV shows and movies.
 
SystemShock said:
They still have very good original
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No, they don't. That's their biggest problem right now. Their platform is full of garbage nobody is watching. It's why people are dropping the service in droves. $20 a month to sift through a trash heap of dead and abandoned shows and an increasingly paltry library of movies is a bad deal.
 

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