Netflix loses nearly 1 million subscribers

[GranpaB]

I must say i am not surprised, especially as there is talk(?) of removing the subscriber sharing, plus the obvious cost of living crisis at the moment.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62226912

[sjg]

Not to mention competition from the likes of Amazon, Disney+, Apple TV+, Paramount and others.

I've had Netflix for ages but considering resting it for a bit, until the next Drive to Survive there's not a lot I'm keen for. Between Amazon and Disney+ we have plenty. Also we've got a 4k set now and I don't really fancy going to the £16 premium plan for it when others just include it.

[LimaDelta]

The quality of programming seems to have declined of late. 'Netflix Original' used to be a worthy accolade, now it is just any old rubbish. That and there is talk of introducing adverts - for me that will be the final straw. We no longer have a TV licence, so Netflix, Amazon, Disney and (free) YouTube only in our house.

[jackofall84]

I read an article on this the other day, basically the more streaming services that become available, the more people are dropping them altogether. Netflix had a monopoly a few years back (around 2015) as being more or less the only streaming service with reasonable content available. However it appears the content is drying up somewhat and the big hitting favourite shows are being scattered across multiple streaming platforms. But as people feel the financial squeeze they're dropping all the streaming sites altogether, rather than having to sign up to several different ones. This in turn is increasing Piracy levels back towards pre 2015 levels, as whilst it's illegal and though it's a little bit more of a faff or not always reliable, it's free and easy enough to stream all the big shows from multiple platforms rather than subscribing to all the streaming platforms, or just signing up to one and missing out on lots of other content. When Netflix first really took off it helped to reduce piracy at it was easier to pay £7/month and get loads of decent content than to try and pirate the stuff.

[bristolracer]

I never understood this obsession with big business that you always have to keep expanding and not increasing revenue from one year to another is somehow a failure.

It's no surprise to me. People have got off their backsides and gone back to work. No more sitting at home,in lockdown with nothing else to do.

[MarkJS]

Surely, many of the losses can be attributed to people switching to other streaming services as more & more appear, rather than what Netflix is actually offering itself. As someone previously said, they used to be pretty much the only option, so this was inevitable.

They're also not exactly leaving in droves.

[joropug]

I’ve had Netflix for about 5-6 years continuously and have just cancelled it - we were account sharing and that’s the only reason I had it this long.

I might go back for a month at a time ad hoc once some decent new series are out but there’s very little I’m interested in at the moment.

[Truckosaurus]

I've cancelled my NetFlix as well.

Really need to bin off my Sky subscription too, and just watch 'free' content - plus Amazon Prime, and maybe the NFL GamePass, and go to the pub to watch the football whenever Southampton are on the contractually minimum number of game each season.

If something pops up on Netflix that I fancy then I can always re-join. Similarly you can just sign up for month for other services and binge watch all their content for that month - I've done it on MotorTrendOnDemand (caught up on all the RoadKills etc) and MotorSport.com when there were 2 WEC races within a month of each other.

I wonder if they'll introduce year long contracts for these streaming services (with 'discount') to encourage people to be loyal forget to cancel.

[GranpaB]

I started off with Netflix back in the late 90's when it was DVD rental via mail and it was great, then i've been on and off since.

221 million subs worldwide vs Prime on their heels with 174M users.

[joropug]

GranpaB said:

I started off with Netflix back in the late 90's when it was DVD rental via mail and it was great, then i've been on and off since.

221 million subs worldwide vs Prime on their heels with 174M users.

The difference with Prime is I think, for most people its secondary to the other prime benefits. If it was a standalone product I doubt it would be as popular.

There's some good stuff on all of these platforms but they ruin it by piling in huge volumes of utter tripe. The number of films I've stopped watching after 20-30 mins is staggering on streaming sites. Same with some of the TV shows.

Apple TV seems to be slightly different, I had it for a year free and I have to say everything I tried on there if found to be really high quality. Severance, See, Foundation, Invasion to name a few - Their Sci Fi is really good. Just not a lot of it.

[ChocolateFrog]

I certainly wouldn't pay for it if they stopped password sharing so I think that would largely be a false economy.

Even free I'll often put it on and then switch it off after searching for something to watch for 5 minutes.

Netflix Original now largely means it'll be unwatchable tripe. Most films I've either watched or they're C-list straight to the DVD reduced bin affairs.

There's only so many times I can watch Star Trek and I even heard they might be removed at some point.

[Da Original Whyayedee]

I don't think its much of a surprise, its the amount of services that are now available. Out of all of them though I think it always seems to me (whether it be the case or not) that Netflix content seems to be the most stale, or they don't make it very obvious as to what the new fresh content is.

We're guilty of subscribing to all of them, but that's changing, and I can see Netflix the first to get the can, probably followed by Disney as they continue to trash Marvel and Star Wars content.

[Truckosaurus]

GranpaB said:

.... when it was DVD rental via mail and it was great....

I was with one of those services back in the day, if you did the '3 DVDs at once' level you could have one disc to watch, one in the post going back to them, and one in the post coming to you. Having to watch a box set by ordering one disc at a time, with a delay if someone else had the disc you needed next....

[otherman]

bristolracer said:

I never understood this obsession with big business that you always have to keep expanding and not increasing revenue from one year to another is somehow a failure.

I think partly the BBC do like to report on issues netflix are having, because they've run 3 or 4 articles about this. But it does seem strange that losing 0.25% of your customers equals a disaster for the business. How many would they have to crash and burn?

[ChocolateFrog]

otherman said:

bristolracer said:

I never understood this obsession with big business that you always have to keep expanding and not increasing revenue from one year to another is somehow a failure.

I think partly the BBC do like to report on issues netflix are having, because they've run 3 or 4 articles about this. But it does seem strange that losing 0.25% of your customers equals a disaster for the business. How many would they have to crash and burn?

Not a disaster but in the context of 11 years of continuous growth and it probably signals that the gravy train is slowing.

[TheInternet]

otherman said:

I think partly the BBC do like to report on issues netflix are having, because they've run 3 or 4 articles about this.

The story has equal or greater standing on the various other news platforms I've looked at.

[TheInternet]

ChocolateFrog said:

Netflix Original now largely means it'll be unwatchable tripe. Most films I've either watched or they're C-list straight to the DVD reduced bin affairs.

Having lost a lot of shows back to original rights holders and their own platforms it now has the air of the Woolworths DVD bin mixed with Channel 5 at times. Lots of very generic 'global' content.

[Greg_B]

joropug said:

The difference with Prime is I think, for most people its secondary to the other prime benefits. If it was a standalone product I doubt it would be as popular.

There's some good stuff on all of these platforms but they ruin it by piling in huge volumes of utter tripe. The number of films I've stopped watching after 20-30 mins is staggering on streaming sites. Same with some of the TV shows.

Apple TV seems to be slightly different, I had it for a year free and I have to say everything I tried on there if found to be really high quality. Severance, See, Foundation, Invasion to name a few - Their Sci Fi is really good. Just not a lot of it.

Netflix needs a combine to go through what they offer and separate the relatively small amount of wheat from the mountain of chaff they push.

I agree with you regarding Prime. I wouldn't have it except for the other things it offers. There are a few good things available but again, a lot of utter crap. However taken together with the other benefits it is cheap and gives you something to watch on a slow night. As for Apple TV I found it hugely disappointing. Aside from Lasso and The Morning Show which were somewhat entertaining if not great, everything else was utter tripe or a come-on to pay them more money to watch. I don't want to have to pay money to get lectured on progressive causes or politics like so much of their stuff seemed to be.

One thing I find baffling is just how difficult it is to find out all of what they have to show you. Yes, there is a search function, but you need to know what to search for. I think all of these services could benefit from a simple full index of offerings.

[LimaDelta]

Greg_B said:

I agree with you regarding Prime. I wouldn't have it except for the other things it offers. There are a few good things available but again, a lot of utter crap. However taken together with the other benefits it is cheap and gives you something to watch on a slow night. As for Apple TV I found it hugely disappointing.

Same for me RE Prime, if it wasn't for the huge amount of crap I order through Amazon, I wouldn't bother. I haven't even tried Apple even though I've had several 'free' trials through new devices, nothing on there interested me enough to sign up even for free.

[joropug]

LimaDelta said:

Same for me RE Prime, if it wasn't for the huge amount of crap I order through Amazon, I wouldn't bother. I haven't even tried Apple even though I've had several 'free' trials through new devices, nothing on there interested me enough to sign up even for free.

Long way round, down, up - worth it even if you just watch them