Netflix Canada Discussion

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

nobody is putting capital into content at the moment. Almost all streaming services are losing money hand over fist. Even Netflix aren't nearly as profitable as they want to be. They wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for their investors calling for growth.

Prices are going to go up rapidly and the only content we're going to see is lower budget TV. It's why disney just announced major cost cutting and a whole bunch of crappy sounding sequels to guaranteed money making franchises. But those will all be theatre tentpoles.

The problem right now is a glut of content. I actually think D+ is the only one that semi had it right early on, and even they are skewing towards the other guys. ~80 high quality TV episodes and 10 movies per year at a pretty low price, plus some dirt cheap production cost reality shows/documentaries, plus some syndicated TV content. That's what the market needs from these platforms. instead we are getting netflix content mill 12,000 medicore TV shows / year and as soon as one becomes popular and the stars ask for money they get the axe.

[Swift]

I think maybe one part of Netflix's problem is the way they release their programming. Disney gets this right by airing their shows like normal and so people follow along and talk about them online, so a show's buzz is sustained over 6-10 weeks. Then ideally, another show comes along a few weeks later to keep those customers hooked.

Netflix on the other hand dump a show all in one go. People binge it over a few days, talk about it online for a bit and then go "Huh, now what!? Netflix never has any good shows on"

[MoneyGuy]

^this

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Swift

I think maybe one part of Netflix's problem is the way they release their programming. Disney gets this right by airing their shows like normal and so people follow along and talk about them online, so a show's buzz is sustained over 6-10 weeks. Then ideally, another show comes along a few weeks later to keep those customers hooked.

Netflix on the other hand dump a show all in one go. People binge it over a few days, talk about it online for a bit and then go "Huh, now what!? Netflix never has any good shows on"

Which, realistically is such an easy thing to do. But I do agree.

That being said, I do like being able to binge shows.

So its a lose/lose proposition really.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Swift

I think maybe one part of Netflix's problem is the way they release their programming. Disney gets this right by airing their shows like normal and so people follow along and talk about them online, so a show's buzz is sustained over 6-10 weeks. Then ideally, another show comes along a few weeks later to keep those customers hooked.

Netflix on the other hand dump a show all in one go. People binge it over a few days, talk about it online for a bit and then go "Huh, now what!? Netflix never has any good shows on"

Yeah, I remember trying to watch Tiger King after the buzz has already faded down, and damn was it boring.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Yeah releasing all episodes at once actually can kill the buzz for a show - “water cooler” talk like we saw with GoT and now with TLOU is almost impossible because you can’t really talk about the details of an episode because everyone can be at different places and you risk giving away spoilers.

The side of me that lacks self control really enjoys the fact that I can binge an entire season on the day it was released and don’t have to delay gratification but binging anything probably isn’t the ideal way to consume things.

[Locke]

As an interesting thought experiment, imagine what would have happened if Netflix had done this in Feb/March 2020 when they had the world by the balls.

Would they have taken over the world and become Omni Corp or would the entire global population have rioted?

I mean, more than they already rioted, obviously.

That would have been some interesting Profiteering.

[getbak]

Another thing I'm surprised Netflix never did was introduce a discounted annual subscription like Disney+ and Amazon Prime both have. Give me 12 months for the price of 10 and I'm more likely to keep the subscription year-round rather than paying month-to-month, where I'll cancel for a few months at a time.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by getbak

Another thing I'm surprised Netflix never did was introduce a discounted annual subscription like Disney+ and Amazon Prime both have. Give me 12 months for the price of 10 and I'm more likely to keep the subscription year-round rather than paying month-to-month, where I'll cancel for a few months at a time.

Yea the Netflix monthly bill is a constant reminder that it's not worth the money to me, if my wife ever gets tired of those Korean drama shows it's gone. With Disney+ I completely forget about it even if I don't use it for awhile, then the annual renewal comes up and I figure "That's not that much for a year of stuff". Seems like Netflix has lost the pulse

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Locke

Which, realistically is such an easy thing to do. But I do agree.

That being said, I do like being able to binge shows.

So its a lose/lose proposition really.

I don't think it's a lose/lose proposition at all. Airing weekly releases of epsiodes like every other streaming platform is doing, keeps people interested in at least one show for 1.5 - 2 months. Do this a few times per year and there's your subscriber base not getting ancy/switching/quitting.

On the contrary, I've never heard of a single person cancelling a streaming service because a show they like/were anticipating is releasing every week rather than dumping.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Yea the Netflix monthly bill is a constant reminder that it's not worth the money to me, if my wife ever gets tired of those Korean drama shows it's gone. With Disney+ I completely forget about it even if I don't use it for awhile, then the annual renewal comes up and I figure "That's not that much for a year of stuff". Seems like Netflix has lost the pulse

This is it exactly. While the other streaming platforms feel the pulse and make moves, Netflix is the Calgary Flames of streaming - "No, everything is fine because there's lots of people in our building. We don't need to get better and try to win a cup we just need to further monetize the people that are already here and then we'll have even more revenue!!!"

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by jayswin

On the contrary, I've never heard of a single person cancelling a streaming service because a show they like/were anticipating is releasing every week rather than dumping.

On the flip side, I'm not re-subscribing to Crave to watch The Last of Us until most of the episodes have aired. Then I can watch the whole thing in a couple weeks and be done with the subscription.

[Engine09]

I signed up for Netflix years ago for movies, the movie selection got worse and worse and now it's all low quality episodic TV shows, this crap TV series programming is about on par with 80s and 90s network sitcoms and dramas.

Cancelled last year and haven't missed it one bit. Things are getting expensive, I'm not paying another monthly bill for this.

[Minnie]

We canceled on Friday. Wanted to get to it before the next payment hit the cc. Today is the last day we have access. Not all that sad to see it go, it has been getting crappier and crappier, lots of lousy movies and shows outweighing the content we'd actually watch, so what's the point in paying for a service we were using less and less.

Read a random musing about all the streaming companies, that they're all doing crap, financially. However, the rest of them have large parent companies that are able to cover them - but Netflix does not, so this is a massive risk because they have no parent company to help them ride this out. Random muser also theorized that they used Canada and some other smaller markets to test this whole scheme out, because the financial fall-out wouldn't be near what it would be if they rolled/roll this out in the US. So, depending how it plays put with subscribers here, will determine next steps in the US and worldwide.

[FireGilbert]

I really hope Netflix can get through these rough times and stick around. Would much rather have the other streamers fail so Netflix can go back to the old days of access to tons of content, instead of the current trend towards niche services each with a handful of content.

[Locke]

If Elon Musk had half a brain he'd never have fataed with Twitter and instead applied his enormous fortune to starting a company to buy and bundle a bunch of streaming services into one thing.

Because at this point only a mind-boggling amount of capital could possibly accomplish such a Herculean feat.

And yes, I am aware that I'm essentially advocating for a return to Cable, but if you've got a better idea I think we'd all love to hear it.

[MoneyGuy]

All Quiet on the Western Front, excellent, realistic WWII movie.

[Wormius]

^^^ WWI, I thought.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by #-3

The problem right now is a glut of content. I actually think D+ is the only one that semi had it right early on, and even they are skewing towards the other guys. ~80 high quality TV episodes and 10 movies per year at a pretty low price, plus some dirt cheap production cost reality shows/documentaries, plus some syndicated TV content. That's what the market needs from these platforms. instead we are getting netflix content mill 12,000 medicore TV shows / year and as soon as one becomes popular and the stars ask for money they get the axe.

The #1 content, by a gigantic margin, on D+ is...

The Simpsons.

Like by a country mile. Viewership for The Simpsons is something like 10X more than the next most popular anything on D+.

This whole spending money on new content and hoping millions of people pony up $10/mth isn't working.

There's a reason why cable/broadcast TV was chock full of commercials.

[Northendzone]

as a reminder, the docuseries about the PGA is now on Netflix

last week i received a renewal from crave. my rate went from $100/yr to $130. i called Crave to complain, as was told i am getting a grandfathered rate as the market rate is now ~$200'ish and the renewal was a take it or leave it

i guess i need to thin out my shaw offering to allow me to continue to have netflix, crave and D+