3 ms·

Isn't it more expensive for Netflix if people are spending more time watching it? Obviously they need to watch it enough to be willing to continue paying the su

Isn't it more expensive for Netflix if people are spending more time watching it? Obviously they need to watch it enough to be willing to continue paying the subscription, but it seems like movies might be enough to do that.

ajanuary 10y ago
I don't think binge-watching, as many people here are defining it (watching a whole season in a weekend) is useful to Netflix. What is useful to Netflix is watching a whole show over the course of several weeks, a few episodes at a time. The primary way my wife and I consume shows is to watch a few episodes a day, every day, until we've watched from the first to the last available episode. We are currently watching through The Good Wife on Netflix which, at 134 episodes, will take us about 2 months. For me that's a good deal, because it would cost about £35 for a DVD boxset (yes, I could shop around, but only if my time is worthless), while Netflix only costs me £18 for 2 months. For Netflix that's a good deal, because they've got 2 months of subscription from me for 1 show. Once we've finished with The Good Wife, we'll find another show to watch. We watch about the equivalent of a movie each night, but we aren't going to watch enough movies in a month to make it feel worth keeping the subscription. Movies require a larger investment, because the characters and world are new and different with each one. With a TV show the characters are recurring, so you don't have to invest as much, which makes them easier to watch a lot of in a row.
bcrescimanno 10y ago
Bandwidth costs for Netflix, despite the insanely high usage, are a drop in the bucket compared to the licensing of the content (which is not priced per view or per viewer--so the more people watching more of the content, the less the "cost per stream")

3 ms·

Isn't it more expensive for Netflix if people are spending more time watching it? Obviously they need to watch it enough to be willing to continue paying the su

by wtetzner 10y ago

ajanuary 10y ago
I don't think binge-watching, as many people here are defining it (watching a whole season in a weekend) is useful to Netflix. What is useful to Netflix is watching a whole show over the course of several weeks, a few episodes at a time. The primary way my wife and I consume shows is to watch a few episodes a day, every day, until we've watched from the first to the last available episode. We are currently watching through The Good Wife on Netflix which, at 134 episodes, will take us about 2 months. For me that's a good deal, because it would cost about £35 for a DVD boxset (yes, I could shop around, but only if my time is worthless), while Netflix only costs me £18 for 2 months. For Netflix that's a good deal, because they've got 2 months of subscription from me for 1 show. Once we've finished with The Good Wife, we'll find another show to watch. We watch about the equivalent of a movie each night, but we aren't going to watch enough movies in a month to make it feel worth keeping the subscription. Movies require a larger investment, because the characters and world are new and different with each one. With a TV show the characters are recurring, so you don't have to invest as much, which makes them easier to watch a lot of in a row.
bcrescimanno 10y ago
Bandwidth costs for Netflix, despite the insanely high usage, are a drop in the bucket compared to the licensing of the content (which is not priced per view or per viewer--so the more people watching more of the content, the less the "cost per stream")