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> Concrete example: It's always been cheaper to just buy the content you want to watch from iTunes, but everyone uses Netflix instead. They continue to use Netf

> Concrete example: It's always been cheaper to just buy the content you want to watch from iTunes, but everyone uses Netflix instead. They continue to use Netflix even as it has less and less of what they actually wanted to watch in the first place! In the battle of more expensive vs more decision making, more expensive always wins. No way is that true. A single season of a TV show varies from $10 to $20 on iTunes[1]. Movies are $10-$15 [2]. For anything beyond light viewing, Netflix is a clear win. Watch 2 movies a month on it and you are well over break even! Now if you buy from iTunes, it is only pay once. But for people like me who almost never rewatch a movie, ownership is irrelevant. Streaming is a hands down winner! [1] https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/robot-chicken-season-1/id203874701 https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/robot-chicken-season-1... https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/archer-danger-island-season-9/id1363208365 https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/archer-danger-island-s... https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/the-office-season-3/id192599752 https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/the-office-season-3/id... [2] https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/back-to-the-future-part-ii/id380040080 https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/back-to-the-future-part-ii... https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-divergent-series-allegiant/id1090135578 https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-divergent-series-alleg...

bryanlarsen 6y ago
How much TV do you watch a day? Buying a couple of seasons of TV a month is going to be about the same price as a couple of subscriptions to streaming TV. And theoretically it gets you exactly the TV you want, something which you need 5 subscriptions or so to do right now. I think consumers would be better off with the Season Pass model than having to subscribe to a bunch of services, but what really kills it is that it doesn't have all TV, or anywhere close. Season Pass isn't horrendously expensive if that's all you have, but it does get expensive on top of Netflix and/or cable. As for movies, you can rent them from $1 - $5, so a couple of movies per week can also be cheaper than a couple of streaming services.
- tarboreus 6y ago
  People watch A LOT of TV. Americans watch 4 hours per day, still ahead of the amount of time they spend on smartphones, approximately 3.5. https://www.statista.com/chart/15224/daily-tv-consumption-by-us-adults/ https://www.statista.com/chart/15224/daily-tv-consumption-by...
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    That's a nice 7.5 hour workday right there.
- silicon2401 6y ago
  > How much TV do you watch a day? Just a side comment, 'watching TV' today when TVs and monitors are common and cheap is different from 'watching TV' 20-30+ years ago, when TVs were more of a luxury good (I know displays still aren't free but they're much more accessible than they used to be). It's common for people to have netflix on in the background while doing things (e.g. studying, netflix and chill), to have netflix on a secondary monitor while gaming, to fall asleep to, etc. People probably don't 'watch' TV in the sense of sitting down and just staring at the screen like they used to, but they still 'watch' a lot of TV in the sense of having it on. From that perspective, it's easy to imagine someone watching 8+ hours of netflix a day: auto-playing sitcoms in the background during chores or studying, switching to a favorite show to watch during meals, binging multiple episodes or seasons of a new show on weekends, etc. That would rack up the cost quick using your pay-per-show model
  - logifail 6y ago
    > 'watching TV' today when TVs and monitors are common and cheap is different from 'watching TV' 20-30+ years ago, when TVs were more of a luxury good [..] Source? Today, people seem to spend a significant amount of money on purchasing an expensive (large) TV. They then spend even more money on subscription services for content to watch on their TV. Rewind 30+ years (when I was young): TVs were small, and the number of channels was too. No-one paid per month for access to channels. You watched what was being broadcast live, or you drove to Blockbuster and rented a tape. I don't recall that being considered "luxury".
    - silicon2401 6y ago
      Maybe it wasn't a luxury for you, but for me and the people where I lived growing up TVs were much more of a luxury than they are today. People practically give away monitors and TVs, especially if they're old or small. Add in laptop and phone screens, and you have even more displays for 'watching TV'. If a poor family has an old phone per person and one TV, that's easily more than most families would've had when I was growing up, which was often 0-1 TVs for the whole household. To tie it back to my original point, people can afford more screens than the equivalent people could've afforded 20-30 years ago. This makes it easier to have netflix on in the background, whereas back in the day it would've been more of an active activity
- jacquesm 6y ago
  > How much TV do you watch a day? None.
- RHSeeger 6y ago
  Using my family as an example and guestimating some numbers... 1. One 24 minute episode of a show during dinner with the family. That's not strictly accurate, but it averages out around there. That's 30 episodes per month, at 13 episodes per volume and $20 per volume (on itunes), that's ~ $46 / month. 2. One 47 minute episode of a show with my wife, each weeknight. That's 20 episodes per month, at $30 for 26 episodes on iTunes, that's $23 per month. 3. Two movies per month with the family (one per two weekends.. I'm guessing here), at lets say $12 per movie, is $24 per month. 4. Some nights I watch TV alone, as does my wife. Lets call it one show per 1 between the two of us. So 30 shows per month at an average of something like 20 shows per season and $20 per season on iTunes, is $30 / month. So with that, we have 46 + 23 + 24 + 30 = $123 / month. Everything we watch is one of two services we pay for, for a total of something like $30 per month. Streaming wins by a LARGE margin. And that doesn't even count the mental cost of binging. If I binge and each episode costs me additional money, I have t justify it to myself. When I'm paying monthly for all you can watch, that isn't a problem.
dwighttk 6y ago
Movies often drop to $4 or $5 (and you can almost always rent them for $4 and sometimes less) and complete tv series often go for $20-50. I don’t currently have Netflix, but when I did have it there were rarely two movies per month that I wanted to watch that they had. Seemed like they mostly switched to niche tvlike series.

bryanlarsen 6y ago

How much TV do you watch a day? Buying a couple of seasons of TV a month is going to be about the same price as a couple of subscriptions to streaming TV. And theoretically it gets you exactly the TV you want, something which you need 5 subscriptions or so to do right now. I think consumers would be better off with the Season Pass model than having to subscribe to a bunch of services, but what really kills it is that it doesn't have all TV, or anywhere close. Season Pass isn't horrendously expensive if that's all you have, but it does get expensive on top of Netflix and/or cable. As for movies, you can rent them from $1 - $5, so a couple of movies per week can also be cheaper than a couple of streaming services.

tarboreus 6y ago
People watch A LOT of TV. Americans watch 4 hours per day, still ahead of the amount of time they spend on smartphones, approximately 3.5. https://www.statista.com/chart/15224/daily-tv-consumption-by-us-adults/ https://www.statista.com/chart/15224/daily-tv-consumption-by...
- jacquesm 6y ago
  That's a nice 7.5 hour workday right there.
silicon2401 6y ago
> How much TV do you watch a day? Just a side comment, 'watching TV' today when TVs and monitors are common and cheap is different from 'watching TV' 20-30+ years ago, when TVs were more of a luxury good (I know displays still aren't free but they're much more accessible than they used to be). It's common for people to have netflix on in the background while doing things (e.g. studying, netflix and chill), to have netflix on a secondary monitor while gaming, to fall asleep to, etc. People probably don't 'watch' TV in the sense of sitting down and just staring at the screen like they used to, but they still 'watch' a lot of TV in the sense of having it on. From that perspective, it's easy to imagine someone watching 8+ hours of netflix a day: auto-playing sitcoms in the background during chores or studying, switching to a favorite show to watch during meals, binging multiple episodes or seasons of a new show on weekends, etc. That would rack up the cost quick using your pay-per-show model
- logifail 6y ago
  > 'watching TV' today when TVs and monitors are common and cheap is different from 'watching TV' 20-30+ years ago, when TVs were more of a luxury good [..] Source? Today, people seem to spend a significant amount of money on purchasing an expensive (large) TV. They then spend even more money on subscription services for content to watch on their TV. Rewind 30+ years (when I was young): TVs were small, and the number of channels was too. No-one paid per month for access to channels. You watched what was being broadcast live, or you drove to Blockbuster and rented a tape. I don't recall that being considered "luxury".
  - silicon2401 6y ago
    Maybe it wasn't a luxury for you, but for me and the people where I lived growing up TVs were much more of a luxury than they are today. People practically give away monitors and TVs, especially if they're old or small. Add in laptop and phone screens, and you have even more displays for 'watching TV'. If a poor family has an old phone per person and one TV, that's easily more than most families would've had when I was growing up, which was often 0-1 TVs for the whole household. To tie it back to my original point, people can afford more screens than the equivalent people could've afforded 20-30 years ago. This makes it easier to have netflix on in the background, whereas back in the day it would've been more of an active activity
jacquesm 6y ago
> How much TV do you watch a day? None.
RHSeeger 6y ago
Using my family as an example and guestimating some numbers... 1. One 24 minute episode of a show during dinner with the family. That's not strictly accurate, but it averages out around there. That's 30 episodes per month, at 13 episodes per volume and $20 per volume (on itunes), that's ~ $46 / month. 2. One 47 minute episode of a show with my wife, each weeknight. That's 20 episodes per month, at $30 for 26 episodes on iTunes, that's $23 per month. 3. Two movies per month with the family (one per two weekends.. I'm guessing here), at lets say $12 per movie, is $24 per month. 4. Some nights I watch TV alone, as does my wife. Lets call it one show per 1 between the two of us. So 30 shows per month at an average of something like 20 shows per season and $20 per season on iTunes, is $30 / month. So with that, we have 46 + 23 + 24 + 30 = $123 / month. Everything we watch is one of two services we pay for, for a total of something like $30 per month. Streaming wins by a LARGE margin. And that doesn't even count the mental cost of binging. If I binge and each episode costs me additional money, I have t justify it to myself. When I'm paying monthly for all you can watch, that isn't a problem.

dwighttk 6y ago

Movies often drop to $4 or $5 (and you can almost always rent them for $4 and sometimes less) and complete tv series often go for $20-50. I don’t currently have Netflix, but when I did have it there were rarely two movies per month that I wanted to watch that they had. Seemed like they mostly switched to niche tvlike series.