Netflix is adding commercials https://popculture.com/streaming/news/netflix-officially-adding-commercials/
Netflix wasn’t the only streaming service to take a hit, apparently Disney did too. Begun the streaming wars has. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/04/18/media/streaming-subscriptions-fall-uk/index.html
Just saying, for about half the price of a Netflix subscription, you can get a really decent VPN and just pirate shit (I have 1.2 Gbps internet, and Express VPN gets me like 600-800 Mbps of that, which isn't too shabby). Piracy has always been about convenience and not getting nickeled and dimed, and the more the streaming services do shit like add commercials and remove content, while jacking up prices, the more enticing piracy is. I do like how easy Amazon's movie rental system is, and I don't mind paying $3-$10 (depending on the movie), but if content isn't easily available, it's just easier to pirate. The latest Spider Man movie was available on Amazon only to purchase for like $20+. I'm not going to watch it more than once, and I was able to download a torrent of it in less than 5 minutes...so why not? Thankfully the music industry figured this out a long time ago. Between Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, etc., I don't think I've pirated music in like 10 years.
Campea made a good point the other day. Amazon, Apple and Disney have other revenue that Netflix doesn’t really have. Netflix relies solely on streaming and they drop a lot of their stuff all at once. Other streaming services drop their stuff week to week, therefore keeping subscribers interested.
What is Campea? But yes that is a great point. Also, Netflix cancels their original shows that are doing well. Stranger Things is one of the few Netflix originals (other than reality style shows) to last more than three seasons.
It would be interesting to measure what effect weekly drops have versus dropping an entire season at once, and if there's a big social factor. "Appointment TV" is no longer a thing, but posting here definitely makes me more likely to try to catch new episodes of things that are being discussed as they drop, which necessitates staying subscribed.
I dropped Netflix. I have Amazon Prime for the next-day service, but it means I get Prime Video. What fucks me off is Prime keeps offering content from other services. They have a 3-part documentary that I'm in for about 30sec but it's Acorn TV and you have to sign up for a free trial or pay. Fuckers. BBC used to carry it free on iPlayer, but it's been so long (2015 I think) they removed it.
I hate to use the phrase, but Netflix kinda doesn't have an identity anymore, to serve as a sufficient answer to "why should I pay for this service?" They used to be *the* game in town. Now Disney+ has Disney and superheroes and etc. Paramount+ or whatever has Trek and old CBS shows. Amazon has Prime shipping and if something isn't marked for streaming you can buy the physical copy. Crunchyroll has anime. Even Youtube and Twitch are getting in on live sports. Netflix has some scattered original series (a lot of which only go a few seasons or are the same awful-sounding stuff I avoid from the traditional studios), they never really had a super-comprehensive library of movies or TV shows and some of what they did have has been taken away to live on other studios' own streaming services. My casual viewpoint is that they're increasingly toothless in terms of what they have to offer. I want to say they stream better than most other services, but it's been so long since I was willing to suffer our buffering times to sit through long videos anywhere other than casual stuff on Youtube.
I've found I use Netflix less and less. Their content have really expanded much lately. I'm looking forward to Ozark and Stranger Things. But they've cut our cancelled subs show that were pretty good after one season. Other services like Paramount Plus or Disney Plus now have what was on Netflix as an exclusive to them. Which I get, but several of the other streaming services simply don't work as well as Netflix does. Paramount for example will cut out out take forever to load something. Or when watching a show on there, when there's a commercial break on the show (I use the commercial free one) the fade out and in will freeze then jump ahead ten seconds or so. So I need to rewind to catch what happened. An example of this is watching TOS, that never happened on Netflix or Prime. Disney gives me errors too. It will but load or tell me there's an error when trying to watch something. Netflix isn't perfect, but playback or errors on Netflix happens about a tenth as much.
Netflix has by far the best user interface. This goes all the way down to their episode thumbnails -- if you know a series reasonably well, there's a good chance you'll be able to identify an episode just by its thumbnail, while many other services go with something totally generic and unhelpful. (On Hulu, for instance, the thumbnail for most Buffy episodes is just a closeup of Sarah Michelle Gellar. Useless for conveying any information.) Paramount Plus is okay. Peacock is terrible, to the point where the last time I was watching stuff on it, I actually had to do a password reset after every single episode I watched.
Is netflix really losing subscribers, or are people just being frugal and cutting their subscription for the summer and now that the pandemic is over? Now would be the time to drop some streaming services when you are doing more things away from the TV. The great thing about streaming services is you can cut them at a moments notice and restart them with a couple of clicks. These sorts of dips may be a part of the service model. One thing that might effect me is the addition of commercials. If they want to add a cheaper service plan that has commercials to get some cheapo customers back then OK. If they want to up my current bill to avoid some ads I am off to another service because I not paying for commercials. I am all in for piracy when the commercials are added into a pay for service. I cannot stomach cable TV anymore. The show is just a string of commercials with a plot within a sea of commercials that repeat.
Yeah, but let's be clear on the distinction between music and TV/movies. The music labels seem comfortable letting other companies distribute their catalogues - Apple, Amazon, Spotify. That used to be Netflix, right? Netflix didn't create TV/Movies before and just distributed TV shows once they were put on DVD. But for some reasons, the TV/movie content creators broke away from the music model - they all created their own streaming platform - Disney, Comcast (Peacock), Paramount, HBO/Warner. Maybe this is because they were previously invested in distribution (TV stations/networks) where music was always dependent on stores like Wherehouse, Tower, Best Buy, etc. But I'm not sure what's stopping the music labels, of which are there are less and less of given corporate mergers, from pulling the same shit as what broke Netflix.
I think people have been over Netflix for a while. I keep it because I get a discount via T-Mobile but it ain't been hot shit for a minute.
On one of the podcasts that I listen someone pointed out that the reason Netflix is screwed is that they only make their money from streaming, and they have a small catalog of content that they own. Contrast this with Apple, Amazon, and Sony. None of them do streaming video content as a primary source of income. The big entertainment companies (Paramount, Disney, Warner Brothers, Universal) not only have huge back catalogs, but they also own record labels, publishers, amusement parks, and license all kinds of merchandise. Unless they can do more than stream content (theirs or others), they're not going to be able to compete with the other companies, especially if finances get tight and people have to cut back on luxuries.
The same criticism has been thrown at Apple+. The difference is that Netflix is a standalone service, while Apple+ is part of the Apple ecosystem. Apple+ doesn't have a huge catalog, but it's high quality stuff and getting bigger. They've also added Friday night baseball doubleheaders. Amazon and Apple are both just drawing in customers while Netflix is trying to make money. Interesting that Netflix didn't foresee a time where they might need to expand their foundation, but
Oh yeah, Netflix has a good interface. Usually it just means I get to find out they don't have what I'm looking for all the quicker.
My sister texted me early in the morning upset about Netflix possibly clamping down on sharing because I share w/ her, we live in different households. I laughed. She was super annoyed about it.
I subscribe to most of the main streaming services and my daughters share the accounts. If and when Netflix cracks down, they're not going to be happy that they'll have to start paying their own way.
The way I see it is Netflix won't die as much as it will be absorbed by a larger service. It will become weak but still have a subscriber base. That will be valuable to another company and it will buy them and their library. They have a ton of original content and licensed titles. It might also be a non-streaming company who buys them up and combines them with their presence. As much as I appreciate Netflix to this day, I know it is doomed to be bought up. I have been looking into getting some other streaming service, but it would be on top of Netflix at the moment as every time I start to get bored with them something new pops up, or an old series gets a new season.
god, I hate that "word". a commenter adds to a conversation. near as I can tell, a commentator provides only verbal static.