Perhaps Netflix should have never turned a blind eye in the first place. Family sharing is one thing but this has gone far beyond that and as usual, people take things too far and kill the Golden Goose. Adding an ad-supported tier and offering no ads at extra cost seem perfectly reasonable. I hope they do something like Apple with Family sharing of apps, which seems to work.
There’s a huge window for Apple to take share but I have a feeling they won’t take advantage of it.
And how would Apple do that? Buy a catalog of shitty movies and documentaries, 1950s Sci-Fi schlepp like the other streamers? Yes, explain how Apple could take share.
And if Apple were to vastly expand its offerings but then increase subscription prices would you be back screaming that you were canceling because of that?
Is that an admission you are sharing login credentials and do not want to pay full price?
I gladly and freely say it -- I upgraded to the multi-device tier so my mother can stream, even tho we now live in separate houses. Frankly that seemed like the intended purpose -- multi-user profiles on a multi-streaming plan, so I see no reason to not do this and will continue to use the streams I paid for (and that's only 3 of the 4 max streams).
Netflix keeps ignoring their real problem -- they've invested in amassing licenses to tons of low-quality content, with the the occasional big-spend on a crappy movie starring The Rock. Their content just isn't that appealing, and I doubt my fixed income senior mother would wish to pay $21/mo for it.
Perhaps Netflix should have never turned a blind eye in the first place. Family sharing is one thing but this has gone far beyond that and as usual, people take things too far and kill the Golden Goose. Adding an ad-supported tier and offering no ads at extra cost seem perfectly reasonable. I hope they do something like Apple with Family sharing of apps, which seems to work.
Blaming family sharing for Netflix's business failures is being a rube. That isn't why they're struggling.
Apple is proof -- they encourage families to share, as you've noted. ATV+ as well as any subscribed channel shares across Family Sharing and is not penalized. This is as it should be.
Netfux moves to eliminate sharing, while Apple TV+ and paramount plus promote sharing.
I didn't know Apple promote sharing outside of the family plan. Can you elaborate, please?
You misread or miscomprehended. ATV+, as well as Paramount+ and all other ATV channels, promote sharing within a family -- they inherently share across Family Sharing. Thus, they are promoting sharing across families. Netflix is moving to eliminate sharing across families. One of these mindsets is aligned w/ their customers. One is not. you don't have to be a marketing genius to know which is more popular w/ customers...the model that is aligned w/ customers, of course. Business get into trouble when they start diverging their interests from that of their customers.
Nobody claimed anything about Apple promoting sharing outside of families, making it a strange thing for you to suggest.
Netfux moves to eliminate sharing, while Apple TV+ and paramount plus promote sharing.
I didn't know Apple promote sharing outside of the family plan. Can you elaborate, please?
You misread or miscomprehended. ATV+, as well as Paramount+ and all other ATV channels, promote sharing within a family -- they inherently share across Family Sharing. Thus, they are promoting sharing across families. Netflix is moving to eliminate sharing across families. One of these mindsets is aligned w/ their customers. One is not. you don't have to be a marketing genius to know which is more popular w/ customers...the model that is aligned w/ customers, of course. Business get into trouble when they start diverging their interests from that of their customers.
Nobody claimed anything about Apple promoting sharing outside of families, making it a strange thing for you to suggest.
100% to your last 3 posts. I distinctly remember Netflix saying that they didn’t feel threatened at all by the new streaming services either being started from scratch (Apple, Disney, Peacock), or being upgraded from existing offerings (HBO, Paramount). They arrogantly said that the Netflix experience spoke for itself. Then, they stood by, as one by one, each of these services recalled all their legacy content when their licenses expired. Their response to this loss of content was to pump money into either mediocre offerings (Red Notice, Adam Project, etc), or outright garbage (too numerous to mention). So…they lost the reason that many people were there in the first place and didn’t replace it with any equivalent options. Then, they raised the prices (again).
It’s just bad business. Blaming the customer when it was their own arrogance, complacency, and lack of foresight that got them into this whole mess. I can’t wait to cancel and trade them in for HBO Max.
I’m getting the impression reading these posts that maybe some people think that commercials are coming to everybody on Netflix. Do they not realize that it will be a completely new tier in addition to the current commercial-free one?
I enjoy a lot of the programming on Netflix, and I'm willing to pay for it. Does that make me a sucker? Y'all think everyone should get the whole enchilada for free. I have Apple TV+, and pay their very reasonable charge. Even though they don't have 1% of Netfilx titles, the AVERAGE quality of the programming, from cast, crew, photography, production values, etc. is a quantum level above that of Netflix, or Prime, or even HBO Max. "Foundation" on our new Samsung TV, through the Apple TV 4K box, using the Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones was a revelation!
You are not alone. I’ve had Netflix from day one and enjoy quite a bit of it’s content. Won’t be dropping down to ad free. No adds no thank you!
Perhaps Netflix should have never turned a blind eye in the first place. Family sharing is one thing but this has gone far beyond that and as usual, people take things too far and kill the Golden Goose. Adding an ad-supported tier and offering no ads at extra cost seem perfectly reasonable. I hope they do something like Apple with Family sharing of apps, which seems to work.
Blaming family sharing for Netflix's business failures is being a rube. That isn't why they're struggling.
Apple is proof -- they encourage families to share, as you've noted. ATV+ as well as any subscribed channel shares across Family Sharing and is not penalized. This is as it should be.
The common ground here is that Netflix should have been very explicit about its sharing policy and pricing from day one, as Apple has been. They can’t have it both ways. Netflix had no problem riding the waves of increasing subscriber numbers by ignoring and even implicitly allowing sharing and then suddenly try to blame sharing on their sudden lack of growth and declining revenues.
It doesn’t matter what any individual thinks is the way it “should be” for someone else’s business. That’s a subjective judgement. Don’t like it - don’t buy it. But what is not subjective is that Netflix as a business failed to protect themselves. They did not establish and control a business model that could sustain them over the long run. In other words, they didn’t think it through or plan for the long haul.
When Netflix started suffering from the flaws in their business model they tried to patch it over by constantly raising prices. That works in a market with few or no competition, or with competition with a similar mindset. But when stronger and smarter competition arrives in the the form of Apple, Disney, Paramount, etc., they could no longer hide their shortcomings. They need to regroup, fix their flaws, and hope that they can keep enough of their customers onboard to keep the show going. They will have to take the brunt of the pain themselves as a business. If they trying to push too much pain on their customers they may crash the whole damn thing.
It’s crazy that they don’t realize the madness of demanding a user with only one device, albeit a 4K device, pay their top-tier price regardless of how much they use the service.
Another big problem is they think having a big catalogue of irrelevant content is more valuable than a small catalogue of higher quality titles.
I will never subscribe to a service that has ads, one pays to avoid ads.
Agreed with all of this. I have 4K TV's, so I have to pay the premium price (or I did, I just canceled or "paused"). That's insane. I never use more than one stream at a time in my household.
The content is another major issue. The other streamers have eaten their lunch on current network/cable TV shows. They, of course, aren't about to sell their content to Netflix. I watched Breaking Bad on Netflix up until the last season, where I picked it up as it aired. Now, you can use AMC+ or even regular AMC OnDemand through your provided for that. It used to be that binging shows was a Netflix thing and nothing else. Now there is AppleTV+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Peacock, Paramount, Disney+, AMC+, Discovery+ and Prime, to name a few. That leaves Netflix with some older movies, Netflix original shows, and Netflix movies. Once the few shows I watch are done with a season, why would I keep it? For the occasional documentary? I'll re-activate when Umbrella Academy seasons 3 and Squid Game season 2 drop.
Hastings and company have made some bad decisions and put Netflix through some tough times. Remember separating the DVD and Streaming plans? Then he said they would separate the two businesses into Netflix and Quikster. Two strikes there. Then, they went billions into debt for content creation and acquisition. They grew out of that by producing some great originals. But now? Without a major shakeup beyond a stupid ad-priced tier, Netflix may be in real trouble.
A bit of history on how things can change so quickly: Blockbuster had 9,000 stores and $5.9 billion in revenue in 2004. By 2006, it lost 75% of its value. It filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Netflix's fall, if it comes, will likely be more gradual. But it may well come.
I don’t have Netflix but like the ad supported Hulu. It gives time to get up and go to fridge or even learn something about a product or service. We’ve had ads since the early days of TV, no big deal.
But the pause button is relatively new.
ATSC OTA & a DVR is still my preferred way. My kids do not even know what a commercial is.
Perhaps Netflix should have never turned a blind eye in the first place. Family sharing is one thing but this has gone far beyond that and as usual, people take things too far and kill the Golden Goose. Adding an ad-supported tier and offering no ads at extra cost seem perfectly reasonable. I hope they do something like Apple with Family sharing of apps, which seems to work.
How does it matter?
Netflix charges per stream.
If they aren't covering costs, they need to raise the price-per-stream.
This is approaching the idiocy of the cable companies forcing everyone to share the cost of live sports packages (the most expensive channels) by not allowing a tier w/o them. That let to my cord cutting in 2002.
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And if Apple were to vastly expand its offerings but then increase subscription prices would you be back screaming that you were canceling because of that?
Netflix keeps ignoring their real problem -- they've invested in amassing licenses to tons of low-quality content, with the the occasional big-spend on a crappy movie starring The Rock. Their content just isn't that appealing, and I doubt my fixed income senior mother would wish to pay $21/mo for it.
Apple is proof -- they encourage families to share, as you've noted. ATV+ as well as any subscribed channel shares across Family Sharing and is not penalized. This is as it should be.
Nobody claimed anything about Apple promoting sharing outside of families, making it a strange thing for you to suggest.
Can't wait to see another episode of frog-in-boiling-water come to fruition...
It doesn’t matter what any individual thinks is the way it “should be” for someone else’s business. That’s a subjective judgement. Don’t like it - don’t buy it. But what is not subjective is that Netflix as a business failed to protect themselves. They did not establish and control a business model that could sustain them over the long run. In other words, they didn’t think it through or plan for the long haul.
When Netflix started suffering from the flaws in their business model they tried to patch it over by constantly raising prices. That works in a market with few or no competition, or with competition with a similar mindset. But when stronger and smarter competition arrives in the the form of Apple, Disney, Paramount, etc., they could no longer hide their shortcomings. They need to regroup, fix their flaws, and hope that they can keep enough of their customers onboard to keep the show going. They will have to take the brunt of the pain themselves as a business. If they trying to push too much pain on their customers they may crash the whole damn thing.
Agreed with all of this. I have 4K TV's, so I have to pay the premium price (or I did, I just canceled or "paused"). That's insane. I never use more than one stream at a time in my household.
The content is another major issue. The other streamers have eaten their lunch on current network/cable TV shows. They, of course, aren't about to sell their content to Netflix. I watched Breaking Bad on Netflix up until the last season, where I picked it up as it aired. Now, you can use AMC+ or even regular AMC OnDemand through your provided for that. It used to be that binging shows was a Netflix thing and nothing else. Now there is AppleTV+, Hulu, YouTube TV, Peacock, Paramount, Disney+, AMC+, Discovery+ and Prime, to name a few. That leaves Netflix with some older movies, Netflix original shows, and Netflix movies. Once the few shows I watch are done with a season, why would I keep it? For the occasional documentary? I'll re-activate when Umbrella Academy seasons 3 and Squid Game season 2 drop.
Hastings and company have made some bad decisions and put Netflix through some tough times. Remember separating the DVD and Streaming plans? Then he said they would separate the two businesses into Netflix and Quikster. Two strikes there. Then, they went billions into debt for content creation and acquisition. They grew out of that by producing some great originals. But now? Without a major shakeup beyond a stupid ad-priced tier, Netflix may be in real trouble.
A bit of history on how things can change so quickly: Blockbuster had 9,000 stores and $5.9 billion in revenue in 2004. By 2006, it lost 75% of its value. It filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Netflix's fall, if it comes, will likely be more gradual. But it may well come.
But the pause button is relatively new.
ATSC OTA & a DVR is still my preferred way.
My kids do not even know what a commercial is.
How does it matter?
Netflix charges per stream.
If they aren't covering costs, they need to raise the price-per-stream.
This is approaching the idiocy of the cable companies forcing everyone to share the cost of live sports packages (the most expensive channels) by not allowing a tier w/o them. That let to my cord cutting in 2002.