WHAT?
Here's the bottom line. Netflix knee-jerked and established an ad-based tier after a quarter of bad numbers to appease Wall Street and now the model is floundering, as if one couldn't see this from the get-go.
People hate commercials. Period. Netflix established a new model, then it punted. It'd be like Mercedes-Benz offering the right to drive a car three days a week for a cheap price. Not only does it make no sense, because people need a car all seven days of the week, or not at all, it CHEAPENS THE BRAND!
It's bad enough that Zaslav trashed the HBO brand. It'd be like Columbia Records changing its name to Black Rock Records. Why? Zaslav's logic is too many people have a bad impression of HBO, they see it as elitist, so he caters to the lowest common denominator and...according to Scott Galloway Warner Discovery is soon going to be in play.
But not Netflix. Because the bottom line is Netflix had first mover advantage in streaming, it kept pushing the envelope, adding product when Zaslav was eliminating it from Max. Yes, I want to pay for less, in what world does that work? Netflix is a powerhouse of production, Zaslav eliminated foreign production but Netflix carried on, and I'll argue their best original content is foreign. Good move.
I had no intention of dropping my Netflix account. I even paid five bucks extra for 4k. But now, you want to raise me three dollars because your advertising tier is a failure?
Yes, the advertisers themselves are complaining because Netflix is not delivering the audience it said it would. So, how do you goose the ad-based audience? BY RAISING THE PRICE ON EVERYBODY ELSE!
I'm just here minding my own business, touting Netflix, check the archives, and the pricks who run it don't care about me at all. Steve Jobs was against raising prices at the iTunes Store, he didn't want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. And when Spotify raised its streaming price, it did it by a dollar. I can understand that, it's been under ten bucks for years, and inflation is rampant, Spotify deserves a dollar. But why does Netflix deserve THREE?
Once again, Netflix is looking at its bottom line, playing to the Street instead of its customers. I mean how out of touch can you be?
I was cool with cracking down on password-sharing. Because we're all paying the price for that, as we are for shrinkage at retail outlets. But Netflix won that war, raw subscriptions went up, and now you're going to put the shiv in me?
Never mind the issue of price points. $19.99 is not twenty dollars, even though it is. Perception is it's less than twenty. So, if like Spotify, it went to $20.99, I could rationalize that. But $22.99? What, did Ted Sarandos pull that number out of his ass? There is a limit to what people will pay, just ask the cable providers, who were the only game in town until they weren't. Cord-cutting is rampant. Because people are sick of paying for content they're not watching, especially ESPN.
And now Netflix is turning into cable. The most hated outlet in the country. The record industry was tops there for a while, when it sued its own customers to keep revenue from physical product coming in, trying to eliminate file-trading, but the record industry saw the light, well, Daniel Ek made the industry see the light, he started the streaming juggernaut and now the labels are rolling in dough with many fewer expenses, how great is that?
I never thought of canceling Netflix. I'll let it run, I thought, there's always something I want to watch on the service, especially if I can't find anything elsewhere. Yes, Netflix is bedrock. And most people see it this way, which is why it's the only streamer in the black. So what does Netflix do? You'd think they'd reward us, but instead they disregard us.
At $22.99 a month... Maybe I'll disconnect when there's no good product. Kinda like BritBox... I just signed up to watch a series, I'll keep it for a month and then I'll disconnect. Like I do with Mhz. Like I do with Apple TV+. And don't tell me dripping an episode a week changes the paradigm, with Apple TV+ I just wait until the series is done and then...usually I don't even bother watching it, there's new stuff to watch. Apple TV+ is an insult, there's just not enough there.
Didn't anyone learn the lesson of the new millennium, that the customer comes first? If we all stop subscribing to Netflix, the outfit is screwed. And Netflix is not like water or food, we can live without it. Turns out many people can live without the aforementioned ESPN. Treat me bad and I'm out.
I want it all and I want it now. That's one of the reasons I love Netflix. If I hear about a show I can dig in and watch it all the way through. As for waiting a week for a new episode, what, are we living in the last century, it's already 2023! Sure, some complacent oldsters who never learned how to use their DVR, never mind their VCR, are cool with an old model they grew up with, but poll the youngsters... Holding back product, that's insane!
Remember when the issue was leaks in the music business? Yeah, the bad people put out the album without authorization, it screwed up the label's promotion plan. For all the complaining, the script has flipped. Now labels just wish there was that kind of hoopla about a new release, that someone would care so much that they'd make the effort to leak it and the audience would clamor for it. Today you put out new music to crickets. It's hard to gain attention, you'll do anything for attention.
It's not like Netflix does not have competition. And I'm not talking about Prime or Disney or Hulu or... I'm talking about TikTok. That's the story no one wants to amplify, that the hours spent on TikTok far outstrip those spent on these streaming services. Just give me more of an incentive to drop my subscription Netflix, I dare you.
But you can admit your mistake. Delta lifted its frequent flier milestones so high that members went berserk. Then Delta backed off. They still have higher thresholds, but it's not quite the insult.
Most people don't know Netflix is raising its prices, there's time to backtrack. Charge me a dollar more. I'm with you on that. Like I said, there's been inflation, prices have gone up everywhere. But you're going to raise me more than 10%? Inflation has been tamed, what are you thinking?
They're not. This is just further demonstration of the elite being out of touch with the public. Many people are struggling, they're on a budget. For all the b.s. about people paying for subscriptions they're not using, the truth is most people know exactly what they're paying for, and when they see $22.99 on their next bill, they're going to think about it.
Like your cable bill. I mean enough already. It's like a car payment. Why do I need cable? But I've got to give the cable outfits credit, they're starting to realize this, they know their future is internet delivery, which is why Comcast stood up to Disney. Allow me to excise my ESPN subscription. And while you're at it, let me cut out Fox too. Two outlets that I'm supporting with my three digit cable bill. I get to vote with streaming, but not on cable. Which is why people are cutting the cord.
No one at Netflix understands business, understands people. Excel is inert. It's all about emotions. And I'll never feel the same way about Netflix again. The company is not looking out for me, it's looking out for itself. We had a partnership, now Netflix is an overlord squeezing me. Well, I don't need Netflix...and I'm not the only one.
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