Fix Netflix (1 Viewer)

[St. Widge]

On a side note, the obvious way to fix Netflix is for Elon Musk to buy it. He fixes everything.

 

[SystemShock]

Sure, but, Netflix is still the biggest in the industry, so they should have a large share of the top ranked market share offerings. I'm not sure that's indicative of the direction they're headed though. They're currently hemorrhaging subscribers and a lot of people are no longer watching enough content to justify the $20+ monthly subscription.

Before we get too far ahead:

200,000 subscriptions sounds like a lot, but globally, Netflix has 222,000,000 subscribers. A drop of 200,000 subscriptions is 9.009009009009009e-4% of total subscriptions.

We don't really know why subscriptions dropped. Could be content, sure, but obviously the pandemic has had an impact on content everywhere. Add to that, Disney took some of the best shows Netflix had (Punisher, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, etc).

It could also be the global inflation that many countries are going through, and people are cutting back on expenses. You have to keep in mind, TV viewing in the US is very different than viewing in other countries. There is a lot of content you get for free over the air that you'd have to pay for in the U.S., and OTA viewing is certainly more common in countries outside the U.S.

Password sharing is a problem, sure.

Then there is investor panic during an inflationary period. They see any sign of trouble, they bail out. Netflix's main business is streaming, unlike Disney, or Apple, Amazon, Paramount, etc.

So we can speculate why Netflix lost relatively few subscriptions (200,000 of 222,000,000 million ) last month, but we really don't know. It could be that Netflix will run out of subscribers worldwide by the end of the year, or it could be not. Who knows.

But let's not toll those death knells yet, and pretend we know what is going on globally based on a narrow local view.

 

[DaveXA]

They get months of promotion before it even drops because it's Marvel and Star Wars content that is done well. They are successful because the make quality product and they have popular franchises. It's not the weekly releases.

And frankly, I hate Disney's weekly drop model. It's why I don't tend to watch their shows until months after all the episodes have dropped and part of why I tend to find the Mandalorian stuff pretty meh. You lose the emersion with 30 to 40 minute episodes per week. I think a decent compromise would be to drop 2 or 3 episodes a week which would extend how long the content takes to get consumed but works better for those of us who don't want to have to schedule time to watch a show every week.

Anyway, what Netflix needs to do is cut down on the amount of content, concentrate on quality content, buy some good IP, and lower their rates until they improve the content.

Yeah, I was more on the side of the binge model Netflix has. I'd like to watch an entire season in a week or 2. That said, I see value in doing the weekly release model because we're able to have more robust and deeper discussions of the individual episodes rather than trying to recap the entire season in a post or 2. There are advantages and drawbacks to both.

 

[St. Widge]

Before we get too far ahead:

200,000 subscriptions sounds like a lot, but globally, Netflix has 222,000,000 subscribers. A drop of 200,000 subscriptions is 9.009009009009009e-4% of total subscriptions.

We don't really know why subscriptions dropped. Could be content, sure, but obviously the pandemic has had an impact on content everywhere. Add to that, Disney took some of the best shows Netflix had (Punisher, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, etc).

It could also be the global inflation that many countries are going through, and people are cutting back on expenses. You have to keep in mind, TV viewing in the US is very different than viewing in other countries. There is a lot of content you get for free over the air that you'd have to pay for in the U.S., and OTA viewing is certainly more common in countries outside the U.S.

Password sharing is a problem, sure.

Then there is investor panic during an inflationary period. They see any sign of trouble, they bail out. Netflix's main business is streaming, unlike Disney, or Apple, Amazon, Paramount, etc.

So we can speculate why Netflix lost relatively few subscriptions (200,000 of 222,000,000 million ) last month, but we really don't know. It could be that Netflix will run out of subscribers worldwide by the end of the year, or it could be not. Who knows.

But let's not toll those death knells yet, and pretend we know what is going on globally based on a narrow local view.

They, Netflix, are apparently projecting that they will lose another 2 million subscribers this quarter. So, it appears to be a trend. And I think it started when they raised their monthly subscription fee. This is speculation, but I think a lot of people kept Netflix because it was nice to have if they put out something you wanted to watch and it's kind of the old stand by in streaming services. But, there is a number at which people will get rid of it and won't just keep it around just because. They seem to have found that number. So, I think their either need to produce more good content to make it worth it to pay that new higher fee or they need to revert the fee back to lower.

However, I have read that the new trend for streaming services will be to offer ad based services with limited ads for a lower monthly cost. I know Hulu has been doing this for awhile and I think HBO Max added that tier recently, but it appears to be expanding and what Netflix is planning to do. This is not a good trend for consumers. It appears that the streaming services want to revert back to the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s when TV was all weekly episodes and paid for by advertising. Except now they want us to pay a monthly subscription to multiple services and to an ISP in order to see their ads and weekly content drops.

 

[St. Widge]

Yeah, I was more on the side of the binge model Netflix has. I'd like to watch an entire season in a week or 2. That said, I see value in doing the weekly release model because we're able to have more robust and deeper discussions of the individual episodes rather than trying to recap the entire season in a post or 2. There are advantages and drawbacks to both.

There are some advantages to both. But, for my life, the full content drop works so much better. I really can't participate in the weekly discussion of any shows because I don't have time to schedule watching these shows on a weekly basis. So, I just have to avoid all those threads and try to avoid spoilers on the internet. It's not easy, but I usually manage for it to happen.

And, I think the full drop gives consumers a choice where as weekly drops do not. People can choose to slowly watch content if they want to with the full drop, but I can't choose to binge 2 or 3 episodes at a time with the weekly drop unless I wait until the entire show is over. So, that means, I'm not involved in the cultural conversation of the show and I suspect it's the same with a lot of people since it means I generally don't watch shows until weeks or months after all that conversation is over.

 

[Sailorsaint]

They, Netflix, are apparently projecting that they will lose another 2 million subscribers this quarter. So, it appears to be a trend. And I think it started when they raised their monthly subscription fee. This is speculation, but I think a lot of people kept Netflix because it was nice to have if they put out something you wanted to watch and it's kind of the old stand by in streaming services. But, there is a number at which people will get rid of it and won't just keep it around just because. They seem to have found that number. So, I think their either need to produce more good content to make it worth it to pay that new higher fee or they need to revert the fee back to lower.

However, I have read that the new trend for streaming services will be to offer ad based services with limited ads for a lower monthly cost. I know Hulu has been doing this for awhile and I think HBO Max added that tier recently, but it appears to be expanding and what Netflix is planning to do. This is not a good trend for consumers. It appears that the streaming services want to revert back to the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s when TV was all weekly episodes and paid for by advertising. Except now they want us to pay a monthly subscription to multiple services and to an ISP in order to see their ads and weekly content drops.

I know it would never happen but, streaming services with commercials should be free to stream with no DVR functions, no pause, no rewind, just like broadcast tv. Get your revenue from sponsors. Pay a subscription and you get it ad free with cloud-based DVR services.

 

[St. Widge]

I know it would never happen but, streaming services with commercials should be free to stream with no DVR functions, no pause, no rewind, just like broadcast tv. Get your revenue from sponsors. Pay a subscription and you get it ad free with cloud-based DVR services.

That's how it should work, but like you said, it's not going to happen. They already know we will pay for the service and the paid ad version with a lower fee has already worked for Hulu and HBO Max apparently so I think it's here to stay and will expand.

And I think the cost is the issue that is kind of being lost here. With so many streaming services it's hard to pay for all of them all the time. So, people are starting to subscribe for a short time to watch the content they want and then move to another service after canceling that one. I think Netflix was immune from that for a long time because it was fairly cheap, it had a decent amount of content, and people just could imagine not having Netflix. I mean "Netflix and Chill" is a part of our culture now. But, once the cost approached $20, and services like Disney+ were so much cheaper, it lead to people treating Netflix like the others.

 

[Sailorsaint]

Netflix is the one streaming service I've never even tried. I've given the others at least an initial look and stuck with some for awhile. I don't even have a desire to get Netflix. I don't miss seeing some of their content, even if some of it is attractive. Right now, I have too many services and plan on stripping them down. My dad has YTTV that I watch, I have D+, P+, and HBOmax. Those will do for now but I'm really thinking of dropping P+ before I get hooked on the new Star Trek series coming in May. Oh, and Prime, I'll be keeping that no matter what.

 

[Paul]

Sounds like Netflix is becoming the new Red Box, while Red Box is becoming the new Blockbuster. It happens.

 

[St. Widge]

Netflix is the one streaming service I've never even tried. I've given the others at least an initial look and stuck with some for awhile. I don't even have a desire to get Netflix. I don't miss seeing some of their content, even if some of it is attractive. Right now, I have too many services and plan on stripping them down. My dad has YTTV that I watch, I have D+, P+, and HBOmax. Those will do for now but I'm really thinking of dropping P+ before I get hooked on the new Star Trek series coming in May. Oh, and Prime, I'll be keeping that no matter what.

I had Netflix before they did streaming and just continued on with them into streaming. I honestly never though about canceling it until recently when they raised prices. It made me think about how much I actually watch on Netflix and I realized that I watch almost nothing on Netflix except for the occasional series maybe once per year. And, I probably would not miss those.

In the end, the only reason I keep it is that my wife and daughter sometimes watch anime on Netflix. They have some Netflix exclusive anime that isn't available on other services so I end up having to pay for it. I think they went big in that market because those shows are cheap to buy from small Japanese studios and cheap to produce since they are animation. Although my daughter tells me that they produce a lot of crappy shows in the anime genre.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

I know it would never happen but, streaming services with commercials should be free to stream with no DVR functions, no pause, no rewind, just like broadcast tv. Get your revenue from sponsors. Pay a subscription and you get it ad free with cloud-based DVR services.

Pluto TV, Xumox TV, Roku TV, Tubi, Crackle, IMDB ( there are a few more)all use this model and they are free. They don't use a dvr function, but you can stream on demand, and you can FF and REW, but you can't skip through the ads.. If you have never used any of them, they work great if you are looking for ways around Pay Streaming apps. There is a ton of free stuff among them.

 

[kizzy821]

I legitimately didn't know it was broken. My subscription is $10.81 with tax and I find myself using it more and more every year.

I love the entire series being published at once. When I'm reading a book, I want to read the whole thing at my pace. Not be forced to read one chapter a week.

If they adopt a model with ads, I'll probably cancel. Nothing reminds me of how much I loathe people more than commercials.

 

[Hoodoo]

Opens Netflix:

Heading: Only on Netflix
The Last Kingdom - Great series, binged the last season in 2 days. Enjoyed the way they closed out the series. Doubt I'll watch it again, so it won't bring me back.
The Witcher - Love this series, binged the last season the day it came out. Not interested in watching again unless I happen to be looking on Netflix and can't find anything else to watch.
Vikings Valhalla - Not as good as the last Vikings series, felt scattered and reaching. Took me a few days to finish this season, will probably watch the next season when it comes out next year.
Our Great National Parks - I do like a good nature series, but narrated by Barak Obama? Why? It makes me feel like it's just going to be another "we are killing the planet, we must all go green now!!!" series. No thanks, just show me nature without depressing or guilting me.
Barbarians - Depicts a woman all painted up with an eyepatch. Doesn't scream barbarian to me. Pass...
Bridgerton - Not my speed
Lost in Space - Not a bad series. I binged the last season the day it came out. Did get overly frustrated with how stupid the Robinsons were to keep giving Smith chance after chance. That worked when I was like 8, but come on...
Marco Polo - Great series, so they cancelled it. Not going to watch again only to be disappointed.
The Adam Project - Meh? Considering watching it, but kinda waiting for people to say it's actually good first.
Shadow & Bone - Watched the 1st season. Wasn't very good.
Ozark - Heard it was good, not sure it's my thing, not really motivated to try it.
Animal - First I've seen it. Looks like a nature documentary. I like Bryan Cranston, but Rebel Wilson?
Age of Samurai - Finally, something that may make me want to turn Netflix on while I binge for an evening. Description, though, "gritty and cinematic docuseries will satisfy your bloodlust..." While I don't mind the bloody stuff and understand the Samurai age was an incredibly violent & brutal time, I'm hoping that's not their only real selling point. I'm actually interested in learning something and becoming invested in a story in between my seppuku and dismemberments.
The King - Netflix says I watched this, I seem to remember it being decent, but I couldn't really tell you and I'm not really interested in watching again to find out.
Norsemen - See Barbarians above.
Red Notice - I've heard this is pretty good. I may watch it when nothing else is on.
Peaky Blinders - Is the new season on Netflix yet? No? Then get off my feed.

By this point I've nearly lost interest. The next line "Trending now" is basically a re-order of the above titles with a couple of very un-interesting looking shows (Heirs to the Land, Anatomy of a Scandal, Selling Sunset).

The Next Line: Critically Acclaimed Films: Nothing new, some good titles, but movies I've watched a lot of times already.

So, that's it for me, they've already lost me and I've already spent more time than I want trying to find something to watch.

 

[St. Widge]

I legitimately didn't know it was broken. My subscription is $10.81 with tax and I find myself using it more and more every year.

I love the entire series being published at once. When I'm reading a book, I want to read the whole thing at my pace. Not be forced to read one chapter a week.

If they adopt a model with ads, I'll probably cancel. Nothing reminds me of how much I loathe people more than commercials.

I think they would keep the ad free option. It just might cost more. $10.81 is cheap. Mine is like $20 per month, but I have the 4K option which I probably don't need, but it allows 4 streams and I have 4 people living in my house.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

I legitimately didn't know it was broken. My subscription is $10.81 with tax and I find myself using it more and more every year.

I love the entire series being published at once. When I'm reading a book, I want to read the whole thing at my pace. Not be forced to read one chapter a week.

If they adopt a model with ads, I'll probably cancel. Nothing reminds me of how much I loathe people more than commercials.

But probably the $10 one stream at a time wouldn't change. They will just add something like a $5 subscription, 1 stream with ads.
They would do a $10 sub with ads for 4 streams, something of that effect. I don't think they are talking about adding ads to the reguar subscriptions.