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While I don't entirely agree with you I do think the price of Netflix is getting a little higher than the value we personally get out of it. Our personal breakd

While I don't entirely agree with you I do think the price of Netflix is getting a little higher than the value we personally get out of it. Our personal breakdown this year (in the UK): Adults in the house, we are quite picky but if we love it then we will keep watching: Netflix @£9.99: 2 tv shows, 4-5 films Apple TV+ @£4.99: 3 tv shows, 2 films Disney Plus @£7.99: 1 tv show, Loads of movies Amazon Prime @£7.99: 3 tv shows, quite a few films, plus "free" shipping! Kids (3 and 7): Netflix: They watch quite quite allot but we don't give them free access even to the kids profile (*see note) Apple TV+: Only 1 tv show, but haven't really explored. Disney Plus: All of it, I think they have "completed" it!... Amazon Prime: None Disney is by far the best value for money for us as a family, Apple TV+ for us grownups is best value. I don't think we would get rid of any but Netflix is probably now the least value. Point is, Netflix know from their retention metrics that you only need a couple of shows that a customer loves to keep them subscribed. Add in some content to amuse their kids and it's a done deal. *Note: Netflix seems to still show image for adult shows in search results in the kids profile even if not available when clicked on, some of this images can be quite aggressive. Hence not giving the kids free access

discardable_dan 5y ago
I'm about in your boat, except with HBO Max instead of Apple TV+ (their shows aren't as appealing to me). And as those numbers climb and I look at one to cut, Netflix is the easiest. That's the whole point, though: Netflix is going to be the service on the chopping block before these others.
- ericmay 5y ago
  Why aren't Apple's shows (and movies?) appealing to you? If you dropped them on HBO I wouldn't know the difference. There are lots of different genres, great actors, and compelling stories. We have Netflix (via T-Mobile), Hulu, Prime, HBO, Disney+ and Apple TV. Some of these (Disney/Hulu) are from family or friends. WE only pay for Prime (probably the lowest quality of all of these) and Apple TV (because of Apple One subscription). HBO and Apple TV and Disney+ have the best quality content IMO. Netflix is kind of around there sometimes but a lot of just pure garbage (Looking at you Cowboy Bebop). Hulu isn't bad. Comparable to Netflix but less content. Prime is just bad for the most part. If Wal-Mart had launched it instead it's about what I'd expect it to be.
  - FinalBriefing 5y ago
    I agree. If I had to pick 2, it would be HBO and Apple TV+. If I had to pick 1...probably HBO because their movie rotation generally has great classics.
  - rkk3 5y ago
    > Why aren't Apple's shows (and movies?) appealing to you? Isn't this basically just asking why doesn't Ted Lasso appeal to you? I think the biggest problem is Apple doesn't have much of a catalog.
    - ghaff 5y ago
      There isn't a lot but For All Mankind is great and The Morning Show is pretty good. Foundation is OK.
    - xionon 5y ago
      Ted Lasso is the best thing there, but far from the only thing. The catalog is pretty solid. I personally loved Mythic Quest and Schmigadoon. I have mixed feelings about Foundation as an adaptation, but I like it pretty well as a stand-alone thing. Looking forward to trying out For All Mankind, See, Macbeth, and Invasion; the first two seem especially well liked by friends. Bounced off Physical and Dickinson, but that had nothing to do with the quality of the shows; they're well made and have excellent acting. The wide variety of stories and genres are lacking, but I think the quality of the average Apple TV+ show is quite a bit higher than the average Netflix show, on par with most of HBO.
      - aphexairlines 5y ago
        HBO is known for hugely popular shows with critical acclaim. Just last year, HBO had Succession, Mare of Easttown, and The White Lotus in several top-10 lists. It's hard to compare the mostly-okay offerings from Apple TV to either the current HBO shows or its back catalog full of hits.
      - rkk3 5y ago
        > I think the quality of the average Apple TV+ show is quite a bit higher than the average Netflix show Netflix has a ton of content so 'average' is going to differ based on your algorithm. But in the last year I can think of... The Crown, You, Cobra Kai, The Queen's Gambit, Bridgerton, Squid Games, Arcane all being massive successes. There are probably more I'm forgetting because they pump them out month after month. > on par with most of HBO. Maybe on par with HBO Max Originals...
hylaride 5y ago
Stillwater and the new Snoopy show are quite good Apple TV+ shows for kids. But otherwise, Apple TV+ has been very meh. We only have it because we have the big bundle for the icloud storage.
- samwillis 5y ago
  Our kids love Snoopy. To quote my wife though “I would pay for Apple TV+ just for Ted Lasso”. That says allot about how people look at these services. Apple are treating their tv service the way they do their whole product range, small number of products but done very well.
  - hhmc 5y ago
    Although, if you're interested in one offering on a service, you really only need to be actively subscribed for 1-2 months a year (to watch the newest season)?
    - fluidcruft 5y ago
      I think that's a major challenge here and it will ultimately drive up the costs for everyone. Subscribe for 6 months = 50% annual discount Subscribe for 4 months = 67% annual discount Subscribe for 2 months = 83% annual discount etc. And that looks great! But producing the content costs the same regardless. So as more people do this, a vicious cycle will set in. Prices must increase to cover production costs with shorter subscription periods. Rising prices cause more people to shift to cycling through shorter subscriptions. Which further drives prices higher. Basically you end up with the a la carte cable nightmare where you pay the same amount to for access to only one channel at a time. The only real way to stop this is to switch to longer term discounts and early termination fees or bundles.
      - whoisthemachine 5y ago
        Or maybe the market will naturally transition to an a la carte model, and we will maybe pay more for that one show we have to watch, but pay less overall, and have fewer recurring bills to clean up?
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
redm 5y ago
I'm surprised YouTube isn't on your list. We having streaming services, but my kids mostly watch YouTube.
- SllX 5y ago
  In previous threads I’ve asked about the same thing and some parents have very strong opinions about what’s available on YouTube. I remember one thread in particular where someone told me that you could find some very strange stuff just by typing a period in the search box (autocomplete does the rest, NSFW if that’s not obvious), and that school age Kids tend to figure this out or share this “trick” amongst themselves. So to each their own, but I’m not a parent yet so I abstain from having any strong opinions for the moment.
  - bondarchuk 5y ago
    Has everyone forgotten Elsagate already?
    - SllX 5y ago
      I wasn’t aware of it.
  - mandmandam 5y ago
    What the actual fuuuck. Tried searching just a dot and I got a fish cutting video, an indian woman being slapped around, and some creepy horror doll shit.
    - SllX 5y ago
      Seems you got further than I did. I scrolled through and decided “there be dragons” and left it at that. There’s an audience for everything but I am not the audience for everything.
      - mandmandam 5y ago
        Not even - those were my top results. Yeah I noped tf out pretty quick too. This isn't even the first time I've seen crazy shit about YT - these parents are 100% right not to let their kids on unsupervised. Weird how it's not news more often tbh.
bin_bash 5y ago
Netflix has by far the easiest to use download feature (for Amazon Fire). As long as that's the case I'll be a subscriber so my daughter has something to watch when flying.
marcelarie 5y ago
[dead]
brimble 5y ago
Hulu (ad free) and HBO Max are easily the best services I have, these days. It's not even close. D+ is a bargain if you have kids and intend to let them watch any streaming at all. Apple TV only stays around because it's cheap and was free for quite a while initially. I've watched like two shows and a couple movies on it in the ~15 months I've had it. Probably ought to cancel, really. Netflix and Amazon (better catalog than Netflix but UI—on every platform—so bad that I rarely use it) are on my personal chopping block. I doubt I'll have either by next year.
- samwillis 5y ago
  Sadly no Hulu or HBO Max in the uk, but I think the better shows end up on other services here. I think we get some Hulu shows on Disney Plus under the Star banner.
babyshake 5y ago
Is there any decent way of creating a custom kids profile, ideally one that cuts across multiple services? For example, I would like my child to be able to watch 5 shows on Disney+, 4 movies on Netflix, etc.
- kroltan 5y ago
  Download the content and put it on a device to watch offline. You'll have complete control of what content is available.
pnathan 5y ago
After having sampled Disney+, HBOMax, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime a fair bit in the past year, my take is that Netflix has the UX nailed. I can, for instance, "thumbs down" a recommendation. Some offerings I never want to see. Their catalog tends to the darker themes, and I'm not fond of that. Hulu and Amazon Prime are mostly irrelevant to me. I'll probably axe the Hulu sub. HBO has a few things I like. Disney+ targets the kids/family/lighter theme demographic tightly. I think that the general provider landscape is a bit overdone; some consolidation would be welcomed by consumers, and any competitor that falls behind in offerings will crash exponentially.
- gtaylor 5y ago
  I feel like there are two minutes of ads for every ten minutes of content on Hulu. It's ridiculous that you have to pay even more for an experience that is similar to the flat rate on Netflix and Disney+.
  - bradknowles 5y ago
    I refuse to watch anything on Hulu. Every time my wife insists and makes me watch something she really, really wants to see on Hulu, I am reminded of why I refuse to watch it. And yes, we have the highest level of Hulu+ that is supposed to avoid most ads.
    - vanilla_nut 5y ago
      Subtitles on Hulu on my Roku TV have been broken for months now, despite regular app updates. They work in every other streaming app. I’m this close to just investing in a seedbox…
    - gremlinsinc 5y ago
      I'm the same.... though we did watch Catherine the Great and that Murder Podcast one w/ Martin Short /Steve Martin... The thing that irks me w/ Hulu -- we have kids sleeping and it'll be soft for the actual show, then the ad comes in and it's like 5 decibals louder. and we have to physically just mute the commercials... it's the most annoying thing ever!
irrational 5y ago
Same here. We’ve cancelled everything except for Disney+. Well, we also have Amazon prime, but that is mainly for the shipping. We rarely watch anything on Amazon.
- egeozcan 5y ago
  I cancelled Disney+ when they wanted to charge extra for a movie, on top of the subscription. I'll just buy the DVD cheaper than what they asked for on top of the sub. Admittedly, I'm not automatically entitled to all the things they release but still feels wrong and wanted to vote with my wallet. The Mandalorian was an amazing series though!
  - irrational 5y ago
    That is only temporary. Within a few weeks everything becomes free. If you can’t wait a few weeks, there is always the buccaneer bay.
    - egeozcan 5y ago
      I hadn't figured that out, thanks!
boringg 5y ago
You know that Apple TV+ has an artificially low rate to get people on Platorm and will do the same thing as Netflix over time (that is escalate its pricing).
mixmastamyk 5y ago
To restrict a kids profile you need to go to the website and reduce their rating ceiling, then put a passcode on the other profiles. Probably needs a recent client as well. One of our tablets couldn’t upgrade, believe it was because it was on Android 4.x or something.
FerretFred 5y ago
UK .. slightly off-topic but you (and I) are also paying £13.25 a month for the BBC...

discardable_dan 5y ago

I'm about in your boat, except with HBO Max instead of Apple TV+ (their shows aren't as appealing to me). And as those numbers climb and I look at one to cut, Netflix is the easiest. That's the whole point, though: Netflix is going to be the service on the chopping block before these others.

ericmay 5y ago
Why aren't Apple's shows (and movies?) appealing to you? If you dropped them on HBO I wouldn't know the difference. There are lots of different genres, great actors, and compelling stories. We have Netflix (via T-Mobile), Hulu, Prime, HBO, Disney+ and Apple TV. Some of these (Disney/Hulu) are from family or friends. WE only pay for Prime (probably the lowest quality of all of these) and Apple TV (because of Apple One subscription). HBO and Apple TV and Disney+ have the best quality content IMO. Netflix is kind of around there sometimes but a lot of just pure garbage (Looking at you Cowboy Bebop). Hulu isn't bad. Comparable to Netflix but less content. Prime is just bad for the most part. If Wal-Mart had launched it instead it's about what I'd expect it to be.
- FinalBriefing 5y ago
  I agree. If I had to pick 2, it would be HBO and Apple TV+. If I had to pick 1...probably HBO because their movie rotation generally has great classics.
- rkk3 5y ago
  > Why aren't Apple's shows (and movies?) appealing to you? Isn't this basically just asking why doesn't Ted Lasso appeal to you? I think the biggest problem is Apple doesn't have much of a catalog.
  - ghaff 5y ago
    There isn't a lot but For All Mankind is great and The Morning Show is pretty good. Foundation is OK.
  - xionon 5y ago
    Ted Lasso is the best thing there, but far from the only thing. The catalog is pretty solid. I personally loved Mythic Quest and Schmigadoon. I have mixed feelings about Foundation as an adaptation, but I like it pretty well as a stand-alone thing. Looking forward to trying out For All Mankind, See, Macbeth, and Invasion; the first two seem especially well liked by friends. Bounced off Physical and Dickinson, but that had nothing to do with the quality of the shows; they're well made and have excellent acting. The wide variety of stories and genres are lacking, but I think the quality of the average Apple TV+ show is quite a bit higher than the average Netflix show, on par with most of HBO.
    - aphexairlines 5y ago
      HBO is known for hugely popular shows with critical acclaim. Just last year, HBO had Succession, Mare of Easttown, and The White Lotus in several top-10 lists. It's hard to compare the mostly-okay offerings from Apple TV to either the current HBO shows or its back catalog full of hits.
    - rkk3 5y ago
      > I think the quality of the average Apple TV+ show is quite a bit higher than the average Netflix show Netflix has a ton of content so 'average' is going to differ based on your algorithm. But in the last year I can think of... The Crown, You, Cobra Kai, The Queen's Gambit, Bridgerton, Squid Games, Arcane all being massive successes. There are probably more I'm forgetting because they pump them out month after month. > on par with most of HBO. Maybe on par with HBO Max Originals...

hylaride 5y ago

Stillwater and the new Snoopy show are quite good Apple TV+ shows for kids. But otherwise, Apple TV+ has been very meh. We only have it because we have the big bundle for the icloud storage.

samwillis 5y ago
Our kids love Snoopy. To quote my wife though “I would pay for Apple TV+ just for Ted Lasso”. That says allot about how people look at these services. Apple are treating their tv service the way they do their whole product range, small number of products but done very well.
- hhmc 5y ago
  Although, if you're interested in one offering on a service, you really only need to be actively subscribed for 1-2 months a year (to watch the newest season)?
  - fluidcruft 5y ago
    I think that's a major challenge here and it will ultimately drive up the costs for everyone. Subscribe for 6 months = 50% annual discount Subscribe for 4 months = 67% annual discount Subscribe for 2 months = 83% annual discount etc. And that looks great! But producing the content costs the same regardless. So as more people do this, a vicious cycle will set in. Prices must increase to cover production costs with shorter subscription periods. Rising prices cause more people to shift to cycling through shorter subscriptions. Which further drives prices higher. Basically you end up with the a la carte cable nightmare where you pay the same amount to for access to only one channel at a time. The only real way to stop this is to switch to longer term discounts and early termination fees or bundles.
    - whoisthemachine 5y ago
      Or maybe the market will naturally transition to an a la carte model, and we will maybe pay more for that one show we have to watch, but pay less overall, and have fewer recurring bills to clean up?

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

redm 5y ago

I'm surprised YouTube isn't on your list. We having streaming services, but my kids mostly watch YouTube.

SllX 5y ago
In previous threads I’ve asked about the same thing and some parents have very strong opinions about what’s available on YouTube. I remember one thread in particular where someone told me that you could find some very strange stuff just by typing a period in the search box (autocomplete does the rest, NSFW if that’s not obvious), and that school age Kids tend to figure this out or share this “trick” amongst themselves. So to each their own, but I’m not a parent yet so I abstain from having any strong opinions for the moment.
- bondarchuk 5y ago
  Has everyone forgotten Elsagate already?
  - SllX 5y ago
    I wasn’t aware of it.
- mandmandam 5y ago
  What the actual fuuuck. Tried searching just a dot and I got a fish cutting video, an indian woman being slapped around, and some creepy horror doll shit.
  - SllX 5y ago
    Seems you got further than I did. I scrolled through and decided “there be dragons” and left it at that. There’s an audience for everything but I am not the audience for everything.
    - mandmandam 5y ago
      Not even - those were my top results. Yeah I noped tf out pretty quick too. This isn't even the first time I've seen crazy shit about YT - these parents are 100% right not to let their kids on unsupervised. Weird how it's not news more often tbh.

bin_bash 5y ago

Netflix has by far the easiest to use download feature (for Amazon Fire). As long as that's the case I'll be a subscriber so my daughter has something to watch when flying.

marcelarie 5y ago

[dead]

brimble 5y ago

Hulu (ad free) and HBO Max are easily the best services I have, these days. It's not even close. D+ is a bargain if you have kids and intend to let them watch any streaming at all. Apple TV only stays around because it's cheap and was free for quite a while initially. I've watched like two shows and a couple movies on it in the ~15 months I've had it. Probably ought to cancel, really. Netflix and Amazon (better catalog than Netflix but UI—on every platform—so bad that I rarely use it) are on my personal chopping block. I doubt I'll have either by next year.

samwillis 5y ago
Sadly no Hulu or HBO Max in the uk, but I think the better shows end up on other services here. I think we get some Hulu shows on Disney Plus under the Star banner.

babyshake 5y ago

Is there any decent way of creating a custom kids profile, ideally one that cuts across multiple services? For example, I would like my child to be able to watch 5 shows on Disney+, 4 movies on Netflix, etc.

kroltan 5y ago
Download the content and put it on a device to watch offline. You'll have complete control of what content is available.

pnathan 5y ago

After having sampled Disney+, HBOMax, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime a fair bit in the past year, my take is that Netflix has the UX nailed. I can, for instance, "thumbs down" a recommendation. Some offerings I never want to see. Their catalog tends to the darker themes, and I'm not fond of that. Hulu and Amazon Prime are mostly irrelevant to me. I'll probably axe the Hulu sub. HBO has a few things I like. Disney+ targets the kids/family/lighter theme demographic tightly. I think that the general provider landscape is a bit overdone; some consolidation would be welcomed by consumers, and any competitor that falls behind in offerings will crash exponentially.

gtaylor 5y ago
I feel like there are two minutes of ads for every ten minutes of content on Hulu. It's ridiculous that you have to pay even more for an experience that is similar to the flat rate on Netflix and Disney+.
- bradknowles 5y ago
  I refuse to watch anything on Hulu. Every time my wife insists and makes me watch something she really, really wants to see on Hulu, I am reminded of why I refuse to watch it. And yes, we have the highest level of Hulu+ that is supposed to avoid most ads.
  - vanilla_nut 5y ago
    Subtitles on Hulu on my Roku TV have been broken for months now, despite regular app updates. They work in every other streaming app. I’m this close to just investing in a seedbox…
  - gremlinsinc 5y ago
    I'm the same.... though we did watch Catherine the Great and that Murder Podcast one w/ Martin Short /Steve Martin... The thing that irks me w/ Hulu -- we have kids sleeping and it'll be soft for the actual show, then the ad comes in and it's like 5 decibals louder. and we have to physically just mute the commercials... it's the most annoying thing ever!

irrational 5y ago

Same here. We’ve cancelled everything except for Disney+. Well, we also have Amazon prime, but that is mainly for the shipping. We rarely watch anything on Amazon.

egeozcan 5y ago
I cancelled Disney+ when they wanted to charge extra for a movie, on top of the subscription. I'll just buy the DVD cheaper than what they asked for on top of the sub. Admittedly, I'm not automatically entitled to all the things they release but still feels wrong and wanted to vote with my wallet. The Mandalorian was an amazing series though!
- irrational 5y ago
  That is only temporary. Within a few weeks everything becomes free. If you can’t wait a few weeks, there is always the buccaneer bay.
  - egeozcan 5y ago
    I hadn't figured that out, thanks!

boringg 5y ago

You know that Apple TV+ has an artificially low rate to get people on Platorm and will do the same thing as Netflix over time (that is escalate its pricing).

mixmastamyk 5y ago

To restrict a kids profile you need to go to the website and reduce their rating ceiling, then put a passcode on the other profiles. Probably needs a recent client as well. One of our tablets couldn’t upgrade, believe it was because it was on Android 4.x or something.

FerretFred 5y ago

UK .. slightly off-topic but you (and I) are also paying £13.25 a month for the BBC...