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I just cancelled Netflix for this exact reason. I find the entire platform to be anti-consumer. Auto playing videos with sound, automatically playing the next e

I just cancelled Netflix for this exact reason. I find the entire platform to be anti-consumer. Auto playing videos with sound, automatically playing the next episode to encourage binging, changing cover art to give you the illusion of fresh content always arriving, television series that are 10+ episodes long for no reason other than to extend hours viewed. Don’t get me wrong, Netflix does have some good content, but I finally realized that the way the platform is designed is gross.

lukehack 8y ago
What's seriously making me consider cancelling my subscription is the fact that they autoplay trailers on the kids channel. I don't want my daughter getting addicted through the ML algorithms on the site, period.
- najra 8y ago
  I've also had the situation where the trailer would be for a tv show for older kids and it scared the crap out of my daughter (likely we don't let her watch on her own so we could shut it off). We are trying to limit her exposure screen in general, but commercials in particular, which is why we thought netflix was a good option...
- koboll 8y ago
  What's seriously making me consider canceling my subscription is that it's slowly but surely becoming a worse service over time. It's clear that rising licensing fees are eating it alive, and its response, to create more original content, is mostly failing. Original Netflix series and movies are, by and large, fairly awful. The exceptions are notable but rare. Next year, when the mass exodus of Disney content occurs, there will be a noticeable drop in the number of good movies on Netflix -- I'm predicting that I'll likely be one of many canceling Netflix in favor of Disney's streaming service, and that will be an inflection point in the beginning of Netflix's end. Netflix original content is not enough to sustain it, and soon it won't have much else.
  - derekp7 8y ago
    At a base cost of 8 bucks a month, do you see a large number of people canceling it, vs. supplementing it with something else? In my case, I'm paying for netflix, hulu, amazon, and youtube. So adding one more item would be similar to changing up a cable tv package.
    - taurath 8y ago
      $11/12 a month after most recent price increase
    - eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago
      I think they'll be OK this current price increase, but not the next one. I'm sure they have a good model on cancellations after price increases and they'll make up for the loss with the increased price. But I think a lot of people are going to start examining if they want to continue paying for Netflix every month without thinking. More people will likely cancel and re-subscribe periodically when they hear about a series or movie they want to watch. And the more competition from other streaming providers, the more people are going to be examining their total spend per month on streaming services, which if you have a lot of them, is beginning to approach a traditional cable television bill. The price increase really wasn't the main driver for me; it was more that Netflix continues doing the exact same thing -- manipulating its users through user interface trickery, and continuing to spend money on content that is not very good. The more shows, including original series that I pass on, the more I realize that I'm paying an increased monthly cost to finance Netflix's overspending on B-rated content that I won't even be watching. I also think Netflix took away the wrong thing from the Bird Box "success." Yes, a large percentage of Netflix subscribers watched at least 70% of the movie, but I think it was 1) to see Sandra Bullock, who is a great actor and 2) it came out over the holidays when you often want something in the background to watch because there isn't a ton of things to do that the entire family can do together. For me, I'm a fan of Sandra Bullock so that is why I watched it, but the rest of the movie and story was not that great or anything unique. After I cancelled Netflix, I signed up for YouTube Premium instead, and I feel much better about it. You can turn off auto-play and video previews don't have sound. YouTube music isn't quite there yet, but it's getting better, and the iOS app is solid. And their recommendation engine is actually good. Plus I like that I can watch ten or twenty minute videos on an infinite variety of things instead of committing ten hours of my life to a Netflix show. If Netflix had any faith in their own content, they would introduce some kind of impartial review system (either user-based, or Rotten Tomatoes, etc). Netflix's "% match" system is a complete joke; I frequently see 90% matches and start watching and go "why in the world was this recommended to me?" Disney will also be launching their streaming service this year, and it will be rumored to undercut Netflix pricing. Plus Disney will now have all the Fox content, some of which is on Netflix and might be pulled down the line. I think Disney+ will also be more appealing to people with kids over Netflix, which tends to be more adult-themed. The other issue they're going to run into is that they have almost reached peak saturation in developed markets. In order to continue getting new users in developing markets, where those people will be more price sensitive, they cannot keep raising the price. I wouldn't be surprised if they begin segmenting the pricing by region, or creating lower cost plans that only have limited content, or more restrictions.
- darepublic 8y ago
  Yeah I have a similar concern for my little one. I do find Netflix better than YT Kids though. Just like adults will watch others play video games and enjoy it, toddlers apparently like to watch others eat candy and unwrap presents.
- yertletheturtle 8y ago
  Oh man the autoplay feature drives me insane
whywhywhywhy 8y ago
Can definitely tell scripts that honestly only have enough content to be a 90 minute movie at best are being extended and shipped as series for these metrics.
michaelcampbell 8y ago
> television series that are 10+ episodes long for no reason other than to extend hours viewed. Wait, one of the reasons you've cancelled is companies that make media to get people to watch... make... MORE of it? It reminds me of a quote in a US Network TV show, where a British character is commenting on a British TV show: "Oh it's brilliant! It's been going for 16 years; they've shown almost 30 episodes!"
- mrighele 8y ago
  I think he is not complaining about more content being produces, but the same content being diluted in more hourse than needed in order to inflate some metrics.
  - secfirstmd 8y ago
    British TV, especially BBC and Channel 4 have always been exceptionally good at knowing when to kill off a series at the right point. Just compare the difference between something like the UK Office vs the US Office or the BBC version of Sherlock vs the US version called Elementary. Another example, the BBC Series the Bodyguard (a different concept but similar enough) or Israeli Homeland vs US Homeland. The US has made the mistake on a number of times of taking a great concept and dragging it out too long. Maybe one of the few that was justified was House of Cards, where the longer US version was (arguably) better than the UK version...
    - bluedevil2k 8y ago
      Sherlock is probably not the best example of a British show stopping at its peak.
    - CamouflagedKiwi 8y ago
      I'd argue the same with House of Cards; the longer format was enjoyable at first but it definitely went on too long, and I think lost some focus along the way.
    - Semaphor 8y ago
jrs235 8y ago
Just cancelled my Netflix account. They asked for a reason, I put other, auto playing trailers mean I can't have children in the room.
zuppy 8y ago
autoplaying next episode is an option you can toggle in your account.
- eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago
  Only on the website, which almost nobody I know uses except to adjust billing information. Why wouldn't they expose this choice in the app client? Amazon Prime exposes it in the app. YouTube exposes it in the app. That is clearly a deliberate move by Netflix, because they know it will reduce binging and reduce the metrics they so covet, like total hours watched per user.
- sundvor 8y ago
  My favourite thing about Netflix is how notoriously bad they are about fixing bugs in their Windows 10 player. Hit pause at the end of a show to stop the playback, maybe for a quick bio? Fine! Then - you might have moved around in the house by now - it suddenly starts playing again! Why? Because the auto play next episode timer isn't cancelled when hitting pause. Once it's counted down, playback of next episode starts irrespectively. That's some genius systems development right there. I'm sure a lot of binary tree reversals were tested for to get to this level.
  - thirdsun 8y ago
    I wish the app would manage to adjust the display refresh rate to match the content's framerate in fullscreen. Just recently I tried to watch a highly rated, cinematic sensation like Roma on my projector and was surprised that I had to guess and set the proper output settings manually. Setting the proper refresh rate is a solved problem for any decent software or bluray player but it seems to be completely ignored in most Netflix clients on countless different devices. (I hear the Apple TV does this well though)
    - sundvor 8y ago
      I hear you! Also, until I figured out to engage Windows' tablet mode from the Win+A menu, when on my primary computer with a curved 21:9 I'd get a wide aspect movie squeezed into the 16:9 portion of the screen - a tiny slit of image surrounded by black frames. Ugh.
e40 8y ago
Auto playing videos with sound, automatically playing the next episode to encourage binging I hated this, too. You can turn that off by logging into your account on the web (not on your device of choice, which really pisses me off). Here: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/2102 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/2102
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
ishjoh 8y ago
There is a setting in the account to be able to turn off auto-play, after doing that I noticed I drastically reduced the time spent watching videos. That little bit of effort just to hit the play button made a huge difference to me.

lukehack 8y ago

What's seriously making me consider cancelling my subscription is the fact that they autoplay trailers on the kids channel. I don't want my daughter getting addicted through the ML algorithms on the site, period.

najra 8y ago
I've also had the situation where the trailer would be for a tv show for older kids and it scared the crap out of my daughter (likely we don't let her watch on her own so we could shut it off). We are trying to limit her exposure screen in general, but commercials in particular, which is why we thought netflix was a good option...
koboll 8y ago
What's seriously making me consider canceling my subscription is that it's slowly but surely becoming a worse service over time. It's clear that rising licensing fees are eating it alive, and its response, to create more original content, is mostly failing. Original Netflix series and movies are, by and large, fairly awful. The exceptions are notable but rare. Next year, when the mass exodus of Disney content occurs, there will be a noticeable drop in the number of good movies on Netflix -- I'm predicting that I'll likely be one of many canceling Netflix in favor of Disney's streaming service, and that will be an inflection point in the beginning of Netflix's end. Netflix original content is not enough to sustain it, and soon it won't have much else.
- derekp7 8y ago
  At a base cost of 8 bucks a month, do you see a large number of people canceling it, vs. supplementing it with something else? In my case, I'm paying for netflix, hulu, amazon, and youtube. So adding one more item would be similar to changing up a cable tv package.
  - taurath 8y ago
    $11/12 a month after most recent price increase
  - eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago
    I think they'll be OK this current price increase, but not the next one. I'm sure they have a good model on cancellations after price increases and they'll make up for the loss with the increased price. But I think a lot of people are going to start examining if they want to continue paying for Netflix every month without thinking. More people will likely cancel and re-subscribe periodically when they hear about a series or movie they want to watch. And the more competition from other streaming providers, the more people are going to be examining their total spend per month on streaming services, which if you have a lot of them, is beginning to approach a traditional cable television bill. The price increase really wasn't the main driver for me; it was more that Netflix continues doing the exact same thing -- manipulating its users through user interface trickery, and continuing to spend money on content that is not very good. The more shows, including original series that I pass on, the more I realize that I'm paying an increased monthly cost to finance Netflix's overspending on B-rated content that I won't even be watching. I also think Netflix took away the wrong thing from the Bird Box "success." Yes, a large percentage of Netflix subscribers watched at least 70% of the movie, but I think it was 1) to see Sandra Bullock, who is a great actor and 2) it came out over the holidays when you often want something in the background to watch because there isn't a ton of things to do that the entire family can do together. For me, I'm a fan of Sandra Bullock so that is why I watched it, but the rest of the movie and story was not that great or anything unique. After I cancelled Netflix, I signed up for YouTube Premium instead, and I feel much better about it. You can turn off auto-play and video previews don't have sound. YouTube music isn't quite there yet, but it's getting better, and the iOS app is solid. And their recommendation engine is actually good. Plus I like that I can watch ten or twenty minute videos on an infinite variety of things instead of committing ten hours of my life to a Netflix show. If Netflix had any faith in their own content, they would introduce some kind of impartial review system (either user-based, or Rotten Tomatoes, etc). Netflix's "% match" system is a complete joke; I frequently see 90% matches and start watching and go "why in the world was this recommended to me?" Disney will also be launching their streaming service this year, and it will be rumored to undercut Netflix pricing. Plus Disney will now have all the Fox content, some of which is on Netflix and might be pulled down the line. I think Disney+ will also be more appealing to people with kids over Netflix, which tends to be more adult-themed. The other issue they're going to run into is that they have almost reached peak saturation in developed markets. In order to continue getting new users in developing markets, where those people will be more price sensitive, they cannot keep raising the price. I wouldn't be surprised if they begin segmenting the pricing by region, or creating lower cost plans that only have limited content, or more restrictions.
darepublic 8y ago
Yeah I have a similar concern for my little one. I do find Netflix better than YT Kids though. Just like adults will watch others play video games and enjoy it, toddlers apparently like to watch others eat candy and unwrap presents.
yertletheturtle 8y ago
Oh man the autoplay feature drives me insane

whywhywhywhy 8y ago

Can definitely tell scripts that honestly only have enough content to be a 90 minute movie at best are being extended and shipped as series for these metrics.

michaelcampbell 8y ago

> television series that are 10+ episodes long for no reason other than to extend hours viewed. Wait, one of the reasons you've cancelled is companies that make media to get people to watch... make... MORE of it? It reminds me of a quote in a US Network TV show, where a British character is commenting on a British TV show: "Oh it's brilliant! It's been going for 16 years; they've shown almost 30 episodes!"

mrighele 8y ago
I think he is not complaining about more content being produces, but the same content being diluted in more hourse than needed in order to inflate some metrics.
- secfirstmd 8y ago
  British TV, especially BBC and Channel 4 have always been exceptionally good at knowing when to kill off a series at the right point. Just compare the difference between something like the UK Office vs the US Office or the BBC version of Sherlock vs the US version called Elementary. Another example, the BBC Series the Bodyguard (a different concept but similar enough) or Israeli Homeland vs US Homeland. The US has made the mistake on a number of times of taking a great concept and dragging it out too long. Maybe one of the few that was justified was House of Cards, where the longer US version was (arguably) better than the UK version...
  - bluedevil2k 8y ago
    Sherlock is probably not the best example of a British show stopping at its peak.
  - CamouflagedKiwi 8y ago
    I'd argue the same with House of Cards; the longer format was enjoyable at first but it definitely went on too long, and I think lost some focus along the way.
  - Semaphor 8y ago

jrs235 8y ago

Just cancelled my Netflix account. They asked for a reason, I put other, auto playing trailers mean I can't have children in the room.

zuppy 8y ago

autoplaying next episode is an option you can toggle in your account.

eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago
Only on the website, which almost nobody I know uses except to adjust billing information. Why wouldn't they expose this choice in the app client? Amazon Prime exposes it in the app. YouTube exposes it in the app. That is clearly a deliberate move by Netflix, because they know it will reduce binging and reduce the metrics they so covet, like total hours watched per user.
sundvor 8y ago
My favourite thing about Netflix is how notoriously bad they are about fixing bugs in their Windows 10 player. Hit pause at the end of a show to stop the playback, maybe for a quick bio? Fine! Then - you might have moved around in the house by now - it suddenly starts playing again! Why? Because the auto play next episode timer isn't cancelled when hitting pause. Once it's counted down, playback of next episode starts irrespectively. That's some genius systems development right there. I'm sure a lot of binary tree reversals were tested for to get to this level.
- thirdsun 8y ago
  I wish the app would manage to adjust the display refresh rate to match the content's framerate in fullscreen. Just recently I tried to watch a highly rated, cinematic sensation like Roma on my projector and was surprised that I had to guess and set the proper output settings manually. Setting the proper refresh rate is a solved problem for any decent software or bluray player but it seems to be completely ignored in most Netflix clients on countless different devices. (I hear the Apple TV does this well though)
  - sundvor 8y ago
    I hear you! Also, until I figured out to engage Windows' tablet mode from the Win+A menu, when on my primary computer with a curved 21:9 I'd get a wide aspect movie squeezed into the 16:9 portion of the screen - a tiny slit of image surrounded by black frames. Ugh.

e40 8y ago

Auto playing videos with sound, automatically playing the next episode to encourage binging I hated this, too. You can turn that off by logging into your account on the web (not on your device of choice, which really pisses me off). Here: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/2102 https://help.netflix.com/en/node/2102

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

ishjoh 8y ago

There is a setting in the account to be able to turn off auto-play, after doing that I noticed I drastically reduced the time spent watching videos. That little bit of effort just to hit the play button made a huge difference to me.