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I immediately think of Netflix when I read stuff like this -- They are struggling to find a way to raise their prices (or at least create a tiered pricing stru
by sharkweek 13y ago
I immediately think of Netflix when I read stuff like this --
They are struggling to find a way to raise their prices (or at least create a tiered pricing structure) that doesn't immediately give everyone flashbacks to the Qwikster debacle.
Netflix got, after a few months of hooplah, a pass on that one because there wasn't a lot of competition yet, but I think it's a different story now; or at least becoming one. I run a Netflix blog on the side, and a lot of people comment their intent to cancel their subscription when I write about how certain shows are being removed (King of the Hill caused quite the storm). But I'm fairly certain very few people actually go through with it. $7.99 a month is an afterthought for most, especially compared with alternatives ($50/mo cable subscriptions, competition not being up to par, etc).
All that said, I believe I would pay considerably more for Netflix, or a better streaming service,(I'm guessing upwards of 20-30 bucks a month) if their content library increased alongside the price change. I think many people would likely agree.
- skizm 13y agoI always thought people gave netflix a pass when they increased price because the film/TV industry was basically holding them hostage when they realized how popular netflix was getting. Netflix's contracts were about to expire and when they went to renew the movie/TV guys increased what they were charging to show content so netflix basically passed along the bill. What was nice is that they split up the digital/DVD content in order to keep the price pretty much unchanged for most (most people only did one or the other anyway (I think)). So basically Netflix's hands were tied and they did the best they could for the customers. Is that right? Or am I misinformed?
- sharkweek 13y agoIn my experience and with a somewhat smaller sample size, a lot of people blame Netflix anytime a show gets removed or the service changes at all. Example: here's an announcement we published that King of the Hill was being removed (be mindful of affiliate links if you're sensitive to that stuff): http://thebestofnetflix.com/bad-news-king-of-the-hill-to-be-removed-from-instant-stream-october-1st/ http://thebestofnetflix.com/bad-news-king-of-the-hill-to-be-... Check out the comments, people get rather upset about it and seem to direct their anger at Netflix
- dbecker 13y agoAmazon's post is more direct and honest than anything from Netflix during their price increase. I don't think they are similar at all. And most customers will understand the need to raise prices once every nine years.
- sharkweek 13y agoThat's what I meant, Netflix needs to just rip the bandaid off -- the Qwikster headache being an example of them trying to sugarcoat a price increase as a new service and having the whole thing backfire. I disagree that most customers will understand, but I think most will grumble for a bit then continue to pay. Read the comments on this page, people are awfully entitled when it comes to Netflix (be mindful of the affiliate link in the post if you're against that kind of stuff): http://thebestofnetflix.com/bad-news-king-of-the-hill-to-be-removed-from-instant-stream-october-1st/ http://thebestofnetflix.com/bad-news-king-of-the-hill-to-be-...
- mikeash 13y agoRising prices are common. People understand and deal with it even if they don't necessarily like it. Inflation is a fact of life. Netflix's problem was twofold. First, they increased prices enormously. A lot of people's rates almost doubled overnight. Second, they presented it as an improvement. The combination is a real killer. Cost increases are rarely sudden, so people know that a sudden massive price increase is not being done to compensate for increased backend costs, but is instead being done to extract more profit from you. And people really hate being lied to, especially in such an obvious way, where it looks like they think their customers are idiots. Amazon isn't doing either of these things. This is a pretty small price increase, and they're not presenting it as anything other than an unfortunate effect of rising costs.
- ProAm 13y agoI would agree except inflation has not increased 20% since 2005. Many Prime 2-day shipping items cost more than the same items without it. The Prime video library is sub-par to Netflix as well.
- mikeash 13y agoThe CPI inflation calculator actually puts total inflation since 2005 at almost exactly 20%: http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=100&year1=2005&year2=2014 http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=100&year1=2005&... I can't argue with the other parts though.