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I've recently noticed a lot less enthusiasm for Netflix than I used to see. I suspect that they've run into the problem where it's possible to subtly degrade yo

I've recently noticed a lot less enthusiasm for Netflix than I used to see. I suspect that they've run into the problem where it's possible to subtly degrade your product without immediate consequences. People stop being devoted to you, but that doesn't show up in numbers. It's a bit like a marriage where star eyed lovers learn to fall out of love with each other many years before the divorce. What caused the divorce? A long campaign of subtle harms.

meesterdude 8y ago
salient point, spot on. However, iirc they were/are spending buttloads on creating new content. But the content itself isn't very good. Maybe too many data science experiments on what users will be receptive to.
- creaghpatr 8y ago
  It’s not just that the quality of their homegrown content is deteriorating, its that they are flushing out any competition to said content- they are punishing their users
shady-lady 8y ago
You can divide whatever enthusiasm you have by three for me. The content in Europe is woeful compared to the US.
- zaarn 8y ago
  That's true for almost any streaming service. I tried both Netflix and Amazon's offers, both had very little content I wanted or if it had then only a few seasons (in one case starting at season 5 and then not having the rest of them either). And I totally blame Hollywood and the Media Industry, esp. Disney, for making hostile exlusive licensing deals. In many cases, I cannot even watch a movie until it's dubbed in my language, even if I don't want to watch it dubbed but in OAT. It's frustrating. And then it's also likely on the streaming service I currently use, but on another one.
cageface 8y ago
I used to feel that Netflix was an amazingly good deal at $10/month. Now I feel like it's just barely worth that much and if there are many more user hostile UX changes I might just bail out entirely. So much of their current interface seems designed mainly to hide the fact that they don't actually have that much good content.
- MrMember 8y ago
  I canceled my Netflix account about a year ago. Terrible UI changes, steady removal of great shows and movies (yes, I know this isn't technically their fault), and price increases made it no longer worth it to me.
  - modells 8y ago
    I cancelled and share with family. Their catalog is shit, their apps are anti-viewer, some of their content is okay but they're turning the customer experience into repugnant, corporate shit.
- Frqy3 8y ago
  Not just hostile UX changes, but also less attention to getting things right. For example, we sometimes watch a show/movie with subtitles. But netflix frequently gets confused about whether subtitles should be on or off and with which language they should be in, even with simply stopping viewing and coming back later. We sometimes use English subtitles, but then they get turned on automatically in various languages for other shows/movies.
- Reedx 8y ago
  I think it's still a great deal. A series or a couple good movies/month makes it worth it. And it's easy to find at least that (granted I don't consume a lot and have a huge watchlist backlog that never seems to shrink). How much content are people expecting for $10?
  - lazerpants 8y ago
    Well, in 2007, my roommate and I split the 4 DVD at a time plan for about $20 a month, so my share was about $10 a month. For $10 a month at that time I gained access to basically every DVD ever released. There were a few art house type movies that were out of print that took forever to get copies of due to being in others' ques, but for the most part, I had access to all commercially released video for the past 100 years for $10. Adjusted for inflation, that's $12.45 today.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
bootlooped 8y ago
I only recently got Netflix, but I was quite surprised to see how many films they don't have. If a random film pops into my head, it seems like there's only a 10 or 20 percent chance it's going to be on there. Even stuff that I would think would be cheap to license, like movies 20+ years old. Amazon Prime Video is just as bad, probably worse. Compare that to Spotify, which will have a song I want 95% of the time or more. The value of Netflix is not that high for me right now. With ads it will be even lower.
- jonny_eh 8y ago
  Netflix streaming was never intended as a one stop shop for movies. Who told you it was?
  - coldtea 8y ago
    That's what people want though. Who told them not to make it such?
    - rockengineerpm 8y ago
      It wouldn't be $10 a month then
      - coldtea 8y ago
        Why not? Does the average person earn the total movie industry more money in any other way? Having 100 million subs (Netflix has 120 million atm) would then give you 1 billion per month -- which sounds decent enough to support a comprehensive movie archive, especially since most of it would be a long tail of movies that make tiny or no profit today and that would cost next to nothing to store for the occasional user. And for the popular titles, you could even opt for a distributed (e.g. bittorrent like) serving, to further lower your costs.
- rosege 8y ago
  They announced a year or two ago they were changing their budget to be less film and more their own content. Which makes sense given they have to license things in each region vs making something and being able to use it globally.
dragonwriter 8y ago
> I've recently noticed a lot less enthusiasm for Netflix than I used to see. I suspect that they've run into the problem where it's possible to subtly degrade your product without immediate consequences. No, they ran into the problem where once a distribution pioneer proves a market, the content owners they rely on no longer license cheaply in that market, in part because they want to capture the proven profit opportunity and in part because distribution competitors spring up a bid up the prices.

meesterdude 8y ago

salient point, spot on. However, iirc they were/are spending buttloads on creating new content. But the content itself isn't very good. Maybe too many data science experiments on what users will be receptive to.

creaghpatr 8y ago
It’s not just that the quality of their homegrown content is deteriorating, its that they are flushing out any competition to said content- they are punishing their users

shady-lady 8y ago

You can divide whatever enthusiasm you have by three for me. The content in Europe is woeful compared to the US.

zaarn 8y ago
That's true for almost any streaming service. I tried both Netflix and Amazon's offers, both had very little content I wanted or if it had then only a few seasons (in one case starting at season 5 and then not having the rest of them either). And I totally blame Hollywood and the Media Industry, esp. Disney, for making hostile exlusive licensing deals. In many cases, I cannot even watch a movie until it's dubbed in my language, even if I don't want to watch it dubbed but in OAT. It's frustrating. And then it's also likely on the streaming service I currently use, but on another one.

cageface 8y ago

I used to feel that Netflix was an amazingly good deal at $10/month. Now I feel like it's just barely worth that much and if there are many more user hostile UX changes I might just bail out entirely. So much of their current interface seems designed mainly to hide the fact that they don't actually have that much good content.

MrMember 8y ago
I canceled my Netflix account about a year ago. Terrible UI changes, steady removal of great shows and movies (yes, I know this isn't technically their fault), and price increases made it no longer worth it to me.
- modells 8y ago
  I cancelled and share with family. Their catalog is shit, their apps are anti-viewer, some of their content is okay but they're turning the customer experience into repugnant, corporate shit.
Frqy3 8y ago
Not just hostile UX changes, but also less attention to getting things right. For example, we sometimes watch a show/movie with subtitles. But netflix frequently gets confused about whether subtitles should be on or off and with which language they should be in, even with simply stopping viewing and coming back later. We sometimes use English subtitles, but then they get turned on automatically in various languages for other shows/movies.
Reedx 8y ago
I think it's still a great deal. A series or a couple good movies/month makes it worth it. And it's easy to find at least that (granted I don't consume a lot and have a huge watchlist backlog that never seems to shrink). How much content are people expecting for $10?
- lazerpants 8y ago
  Well, in 2007, my roommate and I split the 4 DVD at a time plan for about $20 a month, so my share was about $10 a month. For $10 a month at that time I gained access to basically every DVD ever released. There were a few art house type movies that were out of print that took forever to get copies of due to being in others' ques, but for the most part, I had access to all commercially released video for the past 100 years for $10. Adjusted for inflation, that's $12.45 today.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

bootlooped 8y ago

I only recently got Netflix, but I was quite surprised to see how many films they don't have. If a random film pops into my head, it seems like there's only a 10 or 20 percent chance it's going to be on there. Even stuff that I would think would be cheap to license, like movies 20+ years old. Amazon Prime Video is just as bad, probably worse. Compare that to Spotify, which will have a song I want 95% of the time or more. The value of Netflix is not that high for me right now. With ads it will be even lower.

jonny_eh 8y ago
Netflix streaming was never intended as a one stop shop for movies. Who told you it was?
- coldtea 8y ago
  That's what people want though. Who told them not to make it such?
  - rockengineerpm 8y ago
    It wouldn't be $10 a month then
    - coldtea 8y ago
      Why not? Does the average person earn the total movie industry more money in any other way? Having 100 million subs (Netflix has 120 million atm) would then give you 1 billion per month -- which sounds decent enough to support a comprehensive movie archive, especially since most of it would be a long tail of movies that make tiny or no profit today and that would cost next to nothing to store for the occasional user. And for the popular titles, you could even opt for a distributed (e.g. bittorrent like) serving, to further lower your costs.
rosege 8y ago
They announced a year or two ago they were changing their budget to be less film and more their own content. Which makes sense given they have to license things in each region vs making something and being able to use it globally.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> I've recently noticed a lot less enthusiasm for Netflix than I used to see. I suspect that they've run into the problem where it's possible to subtly degrade your product without immediate consequences. No, they ran into the problem where once a distribution pioneer proves a market, the content owners they rely on no longer license cheaply in that market, in part because they want to capture the proven profit opportunity and in part because distribution competitors spring up a bid up the prices.