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Netflix is facing the rise of competing streaming platforms. They're forced into creating their own content because other producers would rather release content

Netflix is facing the rise of competing streaming platforms. They're forced into creating their own content because other producers would rather release content on their own platforms and keep all the streaming revenue, rather than license it to Netflix. Streaming video on demand isn't a technical moat that is stopping anyone.

cam0 5y ago
True, but Netflix has gotten really good at this over the past 10 years. They create/fund some great content (and a lot of mediocre/bad content) - kind of similar to a VC fund now that I'm writing this out. They're an integral component of the entertainment industry now.
- hobs 5y ago
  And they've been actively harming that idea by then canceling pretty much everything by the third season.
  - posnet 5y ago
    I keep hearing this from people, so I must be in the minority. But I actually like the fact that they do limited run or self contained shows. Not only does it mean that the show doesn't drag on for 10 seasons slowly reducing in quality until it's axed due to waning viewership. But I've found their limited series runs to be more engaging since the writers and director are able to tell a self contained and complete story since they know the duration of the series and can pace out the story from start to end. Also on a personal note, seeing a show has more than 5 seasons just feels like an exhausting time commitment to me at this point.
    - CrazyStat 5y ago
      I'm with you. If a show ends after two solid seasons I might wish there was more, but I'd rather that than watch it descend into an additional six seasons of mediocrity as so often happens.
    - alisonkisk 5y ago
    - ghaff 5y ago
      I've always said that I have a 5 season rule--especially with network-length 20 episode seasons. Hit somewhere in that vicinity and I'm tired of the setting, style, and characters. There are a number of series who got to the 5, 6, 7 season point and even though they didn't necessarily "jump the shark" I just got less and less interested in them and eventually stopped watching. I actually really like the fact that streaming helps allow for limited runs with episodes of the length that they want to be though one always hopes that a series ends at a natural point.
- dhosek 5y ago
  I was thinking as I was leaving the movie theater over the weekend and saw a poster for some movie billed as an Amazon Studios production that Google and Facebook are the only ones in the FAANG who aren't producing TV/movies. It will be very interesting to see how that progresses over the next decade. I want to believe that the data-driven approach that Netflix and Amazon have taken with their productions won't be the future of entertainment but who knows?
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    Google and Facebook are very much in the video space, they are just trying to crowdsource it. And YouTube has a lot of ad supported movies and shows they are starting to roll out. Meanwhile Meta is very much trying to develop interactive VR content.
    - dhosek 5y ago
      Thinking about this a bit more (and triggered by your comment), it occurs to me that the big difference between Google and Facebook vs Apple/Amazon/Netflix is that the former derive their income primarily from advertising. Netflix has established an expectation that online video is largely a premium thing that you pay for and don't have to watch ads during and while there are some exceptions to this in the major streaming services (Amazon's imdb.tv has free-with-ads programming, Hulu shows ads to most subscribers, and I'm pretty sure a lot of the lower-tier players do ads, but the big names in the space are all ad free with subscriptions and I don't know that Google/Facebook really have it in their DNA to do anything like that.
  - efficax 5y ago
    Incredible how quickly Facebook TV and YouTube TV have been forgotten
2muchcoffeeman 5y ago
There’s too many now though. The producers are getting greedy. I don’t think people will put up with having multiple subscriptions and eventually it’ll all come back down to a few key players. My money is on Netflix, Prime (because we want the free shipping) and Disney.
- rietta 5y ago
  In our household if it is not on Netflix, Amazon Prime (since I have that for work purposes anyway), or YouTube, it doesn't exist. We are not going to subscribe to Disney, CBS, or anything else. The kids can watch old Disney movies on DVD.
cogman10 5y ago
Agreed. What made netflix successful initially was their access to IP. That's going away fast as every IP producer is pushing for their own paid streaming service (which sucks, btw). With big heavyweights like Disney that own a huge percentage of content having their own services, netflix is really going to struggle being anything more than niche media providers (anime) and their own inhouse media. If they are lucky, they'll be an HBO style platform. However, the quality of their in-house content has left a lot to be desired. Some is good, but a lot is garbage. That netflix has technical chops isn't going to be a saving grace. Rather, it will mean engineers from netflix will likely be able to secure jobs at other streaming providers.
- nr2x 5y ago
  That said, until other streaming services entered the scene I didn't appreciate exactly how good Netflix's engineering is. The only service comparable is YouTube, but even then, Netflix has much higher quality. HBO Max has a great content library, but barely works.
  - xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
    > I didn't appreciate exactly how good Netflix's engineering is. This is poignant as even the shittiest streaming service can dominate with the right IP. Content is king, engineering quality is not a differentiator. Because of this, Netflix is ripe for disruption, which we've been witnessing creep up slowly over the last decade. Netflix is easily the first of my several subscriptions to hit the chopping block, should it come to that.
    - Lamad123 5y ago
      WTF is this 'IP' that y'all keep bouncing around?
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - 5y ago
Laremere 5y ago
Netflix is just another television network at this point, pivoting from being primarily a tech company. There's a bunch of content which jumps around between different streaming services, but Netflix produced shows and movies are on solid ground at this point (eg, Stranger Things is over 5 years old). It's weird that it's included in the same list as these others. If they came out with a phone, office suite, cloud service, social network, or something of that ilk, then yeah they'd be more in "tech company" territory again. Until then their engineering is going to assist their content production, not the other way around.
r00fus 5y ago
I used to think this 5 years ago. I would have bet against them lasting 5 years back then, but they're still the biggest platform out there still now. Headwinds for sure (Disney, Amazon, Apple!) but they seem to have made the right calls so far.

cam0 5y ago

True, but Netflix has gotten really good at this over the past 10 years. They create/fund some great content (and a lot of mediocre/bad content) - kind of similar to a VC fund now that I'm writing this out. They're an integral component of the entertainment industry now.

hobs 5y ago
And they've been actively harming that idea by then canceling pretty much everything by the third season.
- posnet 5y ago
  I keep hearing this from people, so I must be in the minority. But I actually like the fact that they do limited run or self contained shows. Not only does it mean that the show doesn't drag on for 10 seasons slowly reducing in quality until it's axed due to waning viewership. But I've found their limited series runs to be more engaging since the writers and director are able to tell a self contained and complete story since they know the duration of the series and can pace out the story from start to end. Also on a personal note, seeing a show has more than 5 seasons just feels like an exhausting time commitment to me at this point.
  - CrazyStat 5y ago
    I'm with you. If a show ends after two solid seasons I might wish there was more, but I'd rather that than watch it descend into an additional six seasons of mediocrity as so often happens.
  - alisonkisk 5y ago
  - ghaff 5y ago
    I've always said that I have a 5 season rule--especially with network-length 20 episode seasons. Hit somewhere in that vicinity and I'm tired of the setting, style, and characters. There are a number of series who got to the 5, 6, 7 season point and even though they didn't necessarily "jump the shark" I just got less and less interested in them and eventually stopped watching. I actually really like the fact that streaming helps allow for limited runs with episodes of the length that they want to be though one always hopes that a series ends at a natural point.
dhosek 5y ago
I was thinking as I was leaving the movie theater over the weekend and saw a poster for some movie billed as an Amazon Studios production that Google and Facebook are the only ones in the FAANG who aren't producing TV/movies. It will be very interesting to see how that progresses over the next decade. I want to believe that the data-driven approach that Netflix and Amazon have taken with their productions won't be the future of entertainment but who knows?
- HWR_14 5y ago
  Google and Facebook are very much in the video space, they are just trying to crowdsource it. And YouTube has a lot of ad supported movies and shows they are starting to roll out. Meanwhile Meta is very much trying to develop interactive VR content.
  - dhosek 5y ago
    Thinking about this a bit more (and triggered by your comment), it occurs to me that the big difference between Google and Facebook vs Apple/Amazon/Netflix is that the former derive their income primarily from advertising. Netflix has established an expectation that online video is largely a premium thing that you pay for and don't have to watch ads during and while there are some exceptions to this in the major streaming services (Amazon's imdb.tv has free-with-ads programming, Hulu shows ads to most subscribers, and I'm pretty sure a lot of the lower-tier players do ads, but the big names in the space are all ad free with subscriptions and I don't know that Google/Facebook really have it in their DNA to do anything like that.
- efficax 5y ago
  Incredible how quickly Facebook TV and YouTube TV have been forgotten

2muchcoffeeman 5y ago

There’s too many now though. The producers are getting greedy. I don’t think people will put up with having multiple subscriptions and eventually it’ll all come back down to a few key players. My money is on Netflix, Prime (because we want the free shipping) and Disney.

rietta 5y ago
In our household if it is not on Netflix, Amazon Prime (since I have that for work purposes anyway), or YouTube, it doesn't exist. We are not going to subscribe to Disney, CBS, or anything else. The kids can watch old Disney movies on DVD.

cogman10 5y ago

Agreed. What made netflix successful initially was their access to IP. That's going away fast as every IP producer is pushing for their own paid streaming service (which sucks, btw). With big heavyweights like Disney that own a huge percentage of content having their own services, netflix is really going to struggle being anything more than niche media providers (anime) and their own inhouse media. If they are lucky, they'll be an HBO style platform. However, the quality of their in-house content has left a lot to be desired. Some is good, but a lot is garbage. That netflix has technical chops isn't going to be a saving grace. Rather, it will mean engineers from netflix will likely be able to secure jobs at other streaming providers.

nr2x 5y ago
That said, until other streaming services entered the scene I didn't appreciate exactly how good Netflix's engineering is. The only service comparable is YouTube, but even then, Netflix has much higher quality. HBO Max has a great content library, but barely works.
- xyzzy_plugh 5y ago
  > I didn't appreciate exactly how good Netflix's engineering is. This is poignant as even the shittiest streaming service can dominate with the right IP. Content is king, engineering quality is not a differentiator. Because of this, Netflix is ripe for disruption, which we've been witnessing creep up slowly over the last decade. Netflix is easily the first of my several subscriptions to hit the chopping block, should it come to that.
  - Lamad123 5y ago
    WTF is this 'IP' that y'all keep bouncing around?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - 5y ago

Laremere 5y ago

Netflix is just another television network at this point, pivoting from being primarily a tech company. There's a bunch of content which jumps around between different streaming services, but Netflix produced shows and movies are on solid ground at this point (eg, Stranger Things is over 5 years old). It's weird that it's included in the same list as these others. If they came out with a phone, office suite, cloud service, social network, or something of that ilk, then yeah they'd be more in "tech company" territory again. Until then their engineering is going to assist their content production, not the other way around.

r00fus 5y ago

I used to think this 5 years ago. I would have bet against them lasting 5 years back then, but they're still the biggest platform out there still now. Headwinds for sure (Disney, Amazon, Apple!) but they seem to have made the right calls so far.