Netfix loses subscribers, plans to include option with ads.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62158936

Excerpt:

“After enjoying a long reign as the king of streaming, Netflix faces a tough fight to keep its crown.

It lost almost a million subscribers between April and July as more people decided to quit the service.

The streaming giant has now lost members for two quarters in a row, but the drop was smaller than it feared.

Asked what slowed the exodus, the firm’s boss Reed Hastings, said: “If there was a single thing, we might say ‘Stranger Things.'”

The new season of the hit drama has been a phenomenal success, and may have helped stem the exodus of Netflix customers.

The company reported its first subscriber loss since 2011 in April, news that was followed by hundreds of job cuts and a sharp drop in its share price.

Rivals are challenging its dominance, while price hikes have taken a toll. ”

What goes up tends to come own (unless it’s Mr Musk’s old Tesla, now flying for ever through outer space):

Netflix has been growing its number of subscribers for years, even while offering what I believe is the most expensive of streaming services.

It experienced a very large increase in subscribers during the pandemic, with so many people staying mostly at home or actively isolating themselves and Netflix being, at the time, the biggest source of online entertainment streaming shows and movies.

Now that most people have decided that is time to go back to leading a normal life now that the pandemic has (somewhat) abated and are no longer staying mostly at home, as well as with the appearance and, or growth of serious competitors in the streaming business, not to mention the rising cost of living and their repeated rise in monthly fees, Netflix is no longer growing and is instead (slightly) shrinking (one million more or less subscribers is not a very big deal for this company). But, in the current way business is done, this is a catastrophe at the stock exchange. When in fact this is just an adjustment in the goods and services real market, because of a negative change in external factors affecting sales volume.

So Netflix is planning to add to the existing ones a cheaper streaming option with advertising. In other words: Netflix is going the way pioneered by Hulu.

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OscarCP wrote:

After enjoying a long reign as the king of streaming, Netflix faces a tough fight to keep its crown.

This is just stupid.
Netflix lost 1M subscribers and added 1M subscribers.
Total time watch on Netflix is 2X that of all other streaming services put together.

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OscarCP

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To be clear: I did not write that, it’s something I quoted from the BBC article linked in my comment.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

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I know you have quoted BBC.

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So, please, in the future write “Quoted by”.

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Netflix, CBS Commanded the Most Viewing Time in 2021-22
Nielsen data show TV users watched 4 trillion minutes of programming on the big four broadcasters and the five streamers it publicly tracks.

1. Netflix, 1.334 trillion minutes viewed
2. CBS, 752.8 billion
3. NBC, 596.7 billion
4. ABC, 471.9 billion
5. Fox, 323.1 billion
6. Disney+, 245.4 billion
7. Prime Video, 173.7 billion
8. Hulu, 128.1 billion
9. Apple TV+, 21.7 billion…

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OscarCP

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“Over one trillion” of hours watching Netflix, and that seems to take into account just the USA viewers. That is quite impressive.

But the article is incorrect in at least one thing reported there: Apple TV + does not offer only original content. Same as Amazon Prime, other content is available if one buys it. I have bought in this way two movies from Laika Studios, that do only stop-motion animation. They are both in my Apple TV + “Library”, along with one of Apple’s own, the wonderful Irish “Cartoon Saloon” studio movie “Wolfwalkers.”

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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I quit Netflix a couple of years ago. After being a loyal, long-time customer, having started with their DVD by mail service, before streaming was a reliable medium. I was in the 3-disk at a time plan. I always looked forward to making my movie selections online, and then those little red and white disk mailers would show up in my mailbox. What a thrill! I cancelled my Blockbuster membership!

But then I eventually switched over to the Netflix streaming service as it became more reliable and my broadband internet became fast enough to stream full HD.

But I was always mostly into it for blockbuster Hollywood movies. Over time Netflix started dropping major studios and spending millions on in-house productions. Some of them were OK, but many were just mediocre, IMO.

Then they started putting a major emphasis on in-house produced TV series. That was the beginning of the end for me and Netflix. I added Redbox and a few pay-per-view streaming services to watch the movies that I wanted to see, then decided I no longer needed Netflix at all.

Next along came HBO MAX and Disney+ which have replaced most of the pay-per-view movies that I had been renting each month.

I think that Netflix may have an issue now that the major studios are pulling back their film catalogs and starting their own streaming services. A lot more competition in the streaming market these days!

Netflix was once a very successful innovator. But so was Blackberry, and look where they ended up!

 

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

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OscarCP

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I started also years ago subscribing to their mail-delivered DVDs and then added the online streaming part. I am still with this arrangement.

I agree with JohnW that many of the shows made at Netflix are subpar and often also short-lived, and the removal of popular shows, some having been on Netflix for years and years, is not something enjoyable when it happens to something one particularly likes.

But some Netflix shows and movies have been very successful, including some films that won the Oscar and a number of other prestigious awards.

I have some of these in “My List”, and also a good number of shows and animation movies, as Netflix has in its catalog many of the best available on line. Now Hulu (another successful veteran in the business), HBO, Disney, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime have also good movies and shows — some of these used to be in Netflix — so there is more than one place to choose from. And when subscribing to several of those streaming services, all the subscription costs go up and up, and that is a problem. Besides, good or bad, who has the time to watch all that?

In other words: competition for a finite number of users and market saturation.

So what can those at Netflix do? In my opinion: adapt, without repeatedly rising prices. Recognize that they are going to downsize somewhat their business by circumstances beyond their control, prioritize quality over quantity, and plan to do this so it creates as little problems as possible for themselves and their subscribers. How? That’s exactly their problem.

But I think Netflix isn’t likely to end up as “the next Blackberry.” It is not selling a gadget and about to be out competed with something like Apple’s iPhone. Besides, they have too many artistic treasures in their combined streaming and DVD libraries for it to just end up abandoned on the side of the road.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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OscarCP wrote:

So what can those at Netflix do? In my opinion: adapt, without repeatedly rising prices.

I think that’s what finally made me pull the trigger on cancellation. A price rise was announced, and at the time I felt that was a big ask. A price cut would probably have kept me around!

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OscarCP wrote:

Now Hulu (another successful veteran in the business), HBO, Disney, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime have also good movies and shows

Hulu is owned by Disney, so the Hulu and Disney+ bundle is a great value!

Disney+ includes the Marvel and Star Wars franchises, Disney movies, plus all of the classic Disney animated features, and Pixar. Plus National Geographic! I have been catching up on many of those animated features that I never saw in the theater or rented, like the Lion King, Jungle Book, Ice Age, Cars, Wall-E, and many more!

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wavy

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Sometimes, the Satire Web Sites make more sense than the news sites.

https://babylonbee.com/news/netflix-loses-1-million-subscribers-leaving-10-million-people-wondering-why-their-netflix-login-doesnt-work-anymore

Where am I? What am I doing in this hand basket?

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OscarCP

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Quoting from the “Babylon Bee” article linked by Tiny:

“After years of spending billions to make terrible content instead of licensing shows that people want to watch, Netflix is starting to reconsider its approach. “We were so sure that removing ‘The Office’ to fund more dark, disturbing shows about murder was going to work,” said CEO Sylvia Hazeltine. “We did succeed in cornering the market on pedophiles who love to watch Cuties, but sadly there just aren’t enough out there.” ”

There is true in satire.

And not just about Netflix. I can think of other streaming companies that have gone mostly dark and “edgy” to the point of unwatchable pointlessness.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
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OscarCP wrote:

And not just about Netflix. I can think of other streaming companies that have gone mostly dark and “edgy” to the point of unwatchable pointlessness.

Disney+ recommended for a pleasant viewing experience!

Caution: some Star Wars and Marvel content can be dark and disturbing, but you can always switch to the Disney classics or National Geographic if some newer content gets to be a bit much to handle!

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JohnW: It’s not so much “dark and disturbing” that bothers me. After all, “Das Boot”, “Downfall”, “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “Rashomon” are not exactly Sunday picnics in a glade by a burbling brook. And as far as TV shows go, neither is “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Nor are both great tragic plays and the equally great movies based on them, such as “MacBeth”, both Shakespeare’s original and Kurosawa’s movie version “Throne of Blood.”

What bothers me is dark, disturbing and pointless.

Of which there is too much out there already for my taste.

I agree that Disney is a good place to find solace in mostly heart-warming beauty. (“Snow White” is pretty dark in places, but uplifting overall.)

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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OscarCP wrote:

What bothers me is dark, disturbing and pointless.

Agreed. That is something we could use less of these days…

As I recall, even Grimms’ Fairy Tales were dark and disturbing, i.e., Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Cinderella, Hansel & Gretel, etc. But they had a point!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimms’_Fairy_Tales

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OscarCP

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Netflix plan to charge for password sharing.

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OscarCP

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Netflix has a great collection of classical movies on DVD.

Tonight I watched the 1955 movie “The Night of the Hunter”, with Lillian Gish, Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters, directed by the famous actor Charles Laughton in his first and only movie as a director.

Mitchum plays the role of a misogynistic serial killer of women, mostly widows that he marries, murders and disposes of, and then steals the money that was theirs, as was his intention all along. He does this while pretending to be a preacher of some undefined protestant church. Shelley Winters plays the wife of a man condemned to death the Mitchum character met in jail while serving a sentence for car stealing, and learns he stashed, somewhere in his house, 10,000 (1955) dollars he had robbed, killing two men. So the fake preacher goes to the little town with the house of the now widow and there he charms everyone, particularly her and her children, a boy of around 13 years and a little girl of maybe 6. He marries the widow and, one night soon after, he kills her with the switch blade he has used in all his previous murders, puts her in her car and pushes the car into a deep river nearby, where eventually she is accidentally found by an angler. He tries to force the children to tell him where their father hid the money, but they manage to run away and eventually escape down the river in a boat, while he follows them on foot along the bank. This way the two children arrive to the city where the Gish character lives. She takes care of orphans and takes them in. She is a severe but caring woman, very sensible and of deep religious beliefs, in counterpoint to Mitchum’s fake preacher. He shows up and tries to con her, but  she figures him out and, eventually, sends him packing with the convincing argument of her shotgun. He comes back that same night and gets the worst of it, because the Gish character still has her shotgun handy and is awake and waiting for him. And that is how the movie gets its title.

This movie was a flop when shown in the 50’s, but since it has gained the audiences and critics appreciation and is now considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-night-of-the-hunter-1955

Excerpt:

“Charles Laughton showed here that he had an original eye, and a taste for material that stretched the conventions of the movies. It is risky to combine horror and humor, and foolhardy to approach them through expressionism. For his first film, Laughton made a film like no other before or since, and with such confidence it seemed to draw on a lifetime of work. Critics were baffled by it, the public rejected it, and the studio had a much more expensive Mitchum picture (“Not as a Stranger”) it wanted to promote instead. But nobody who has seen “The Night of the Hunter” has forgotten it, or Mitchum’s voice coiling down those basement stairs: “Chillll . . . dren?” ”

I found the movie dark and scary, although not as remarkable as Ebert did. But Lillian Gish is in it and she is, to me, one of the greatest movie actresses that ever lived and she proves this once more in this movie. Mitchum is also remarkable playing the sinister but superficially charming fake preacher.

And this is why I still subscribe to Netflix’s DVDs.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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