" Netflix’s most popular plan, which gives a customer two simultaneous streams, will get the largest increase, to $13 a month from $11. Still, it’s cheaper than HBO, whose streaming service costs about $15 a month. The $8 a month plan will now cost $9, and the high-end version, which allows for four simultaneous streams, jumps to $16 from $14. (The new prices took effect Tuesday for new subscribers. For existing customers, the increases will start in about three months.) "
I don't see how this balkanization of content - Netflix only has Netflix, Disney has Disney, NBC has NBC, etc. - is going to do anything but hurt both companies and consumers.
Suppose that right now I can watch 70-80% of the TV shows I'd like to see by using only Netflix and Amazon Prime (the only two services I actually subscribe to). If that's reduced by moves like this to 20-30%, then the price I need to pay (even disregarding individual services raising their prices) to see the same amount of content is going to shoot up.
Even if all these new streaming services are priced decently, uses will soon have to pay for two or three times as many of them to get the same content. That just seems like a great way to encourage us to stop paying at all, and to go back to either not watching as much, or (for some users, I'm sure) obtaining them illegally. One of the big issues in defeating piracy was that it was sometimes more convenient than obtaining the content legally; this change may resurrect that issue. (I'm not saying it's OK to pirate, but there are a lot of people who don't have a problem doing so; it seems reasonable consequence to infer here.)
You are forgetting 1 aspect. Advertisement. I gladly pay extra to not watch commercials.
I agree with most of your statement. Netflix a few years ago was the only service I needed. They had tons of content from multiple providers. Today it's very few shows outside of their own content. I'm about to cancel honestly, I don't want Netflix's 90% crap content. Amazon Prime is probably the worst of the services from a content perspective even though they are the richest company. Please do yourself a favor and swap to Hulu from Amazon, at least with it you can get some of the latest TV Shows and cartoons.
Per your pirate commentary: The problem I am having is finding a service that has the show or shows I want. Some of the content owners make it impossible to stream the content anywhere, even if you want to pay money! Thus, forcing us to have to go out of our way to find the products, probably illegally.
> You are forgetting 1 aspect. Advertisement. I gladly pay extra to not watch commercials.
Yes, it's good to point that out. I think people _are_ willing to pay more to have no ads, and have on-demand access to content.
I would throw in another thing I could have thrown in originally as well, which I didn't really think of - the TV equivalent of "killer apps." The reason I stick with Amazon is because they picked up a couple of shows I really, really love - The Man in the High Castle and The Expanse. I don't want to lose access to those.
Similarly, I briefly subscribed to CBS All Access while the new Star Trek: Discovery season aired last year - and when Season 2 comes out, I'll likely do so again. I love Star Trek so much that I'm willing to pay the $7 per (call it $3 per episode) month just for that... but as soon as it stops coming out, I cancel.
Unfortunately, Amazon Prime now has ads. Not as much as cable TV, but still very annoying now that I am used to no ads.
I watched the Illusionist last night on Prime video, and not only was there a minute of unskippable ads at the start, but there were 30 seconds of ads in the middle of the movie as well.
Except even paying for all the Hulu feature tiers to stop commercials, Hulu forces you to watch their On-Demand versions which have--> commercials. Youtube TV was even worse on that front. After having a TiVo DVR and then a cable DVR, the ability to Fast Forward thru commercials or skip them was a godsend. Now we are heading to Streaming balkanization--with eventual price rises as well.
Once Criterion (https://www.criterion.com/channel) goes online, it will be that + HBO for my main viewing needs. The other streaming services will get an occasional monthly subscription just for binging.
It hurts customers, but the big companies will be fine. HBO and Disney can afford to do this.
They can also put things onto more combined services like Hulu. Amazon selling individual shows and movies also makes it easier.
I'll probably cut Netflix the way things are going. I really only want a few of their original shows. Every time I open the app it feels like a mountain of crappy content to sift through. Amazon too, but it's prime at least.
It varies though. Lately I've been watching lots of Hulu stuff.
I'm fine with spending the money for a service that's worth it. Disney, maybe since I don't have kids. HBO yes. Combined services like Netflix or Hulu, for now yes. CBS no, I'm not getting their streaming service just for star trek. NBC ad supported, absolutely never. I will never use a service that shows ads.
> It hurts customers, but the big companies will be fine. HBO and Disney can afford to do this.
I imagine they must have crunched numbers indicating they'll make more money from people signing up for this service than they do from licenses, even if fewer people use it than view the content from Netflix via license.
I still believe that in the long run, though, it may be a mistake for them.
if I see content prices go up to much, I'll just go on youtube. there's so much free content there (with advertisement) and it's just growing more and more and more.
Have licensing agreements changed at all in the past 10-15 years?
It seems like shifting to a model of [Base License Fee] + X Revenue/Hours Streamed would improve the situation and allow IP holders to commodify streaming services.
You would still have exceptional cases like HBO and Disney where it would be worth the effort to run their own streaming service to capture all the revenue, but I don't see the average consumer willing to subscribe to an endless number of streaming services (maybe 2-3 tops for an average US consumer).
I think it is very interesting to see all of this come down and the criticism it receives. Back in the day, it felt like many people (I have no hard numbers here nor would it be easy to find them) wanted their cable provider to offer channels a la carte. They wanted to select and choose what they watch and only pay for the things they need. Now these big services (Netflix, HBO, Disney...) which helped bring the downfall of cable are doing what everybody originally wanted by breaking up into a multitude of services for you to pick and choose what you want. People are once again upset but now for them having to subscribe to so many different services. I think it mostly has to do with price, but I still imagine paying less for a handful of services than the cable packages we were all forced into.
Somewhat off-topic: If Netflix continues to resurrect and pick up shows from other providers that I like, then I don't mind paying an extra couple bucks per month.
Recently they picked up Lucifer [1] after Fox canceled it and millions of fans lit up twitter. I am looking forward to this, as Netflix typically allows darker and more adult friendly versions of a show.
I recently wanted to view a few back episodes of some random TV show, to see if I would be interested in it. I found the back episodes on Hulu. After about 5 minutes of the first, the screen went to commercial and said something like "1 of 8".
No, I'm not going to sit thru 8 commercials in a row. So I just exited and totally forgot about that show.
I.e. it's not just pirating as an alternative. Many people simply say "fuck it, I have other things I can be doing".
I barely watch anything any more on Netflix streaming. When I do try something new -- especially one of their "Netflix originals" -- I increasingly feel I am being fed the same set of tropes. (E.g. There's only so much dystopia I can take. Especially when it recycles the same plot and dialog points.)
This price bump may be it, for me. I'm too inclined to just keep on keeping on. I don't do "resolutions", but this year, one intention is to stop that.
Besides, I increasingly feel like I'm funding, with my subscriptions, the very people -- and their lawyers -- who keep making things worse and worse.
(Reading the recent reporting that Netflix software engineers average 300K a year hasn't really helped my attitude, either. So, THAT's what I'm paying for... (?) )
(Reading the recent reporting that Netflix software engineers average 300K a year hasn't really helped my attitude, either. So, THAT's what I'm paying for... (?) )
Business media has been saying that Netflix's content acquisition costs are or shortly will be in the neighborhood of $10 billion per year. You're paying a lot more for the content than for the software engineers.
21 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 56.7 ms ] threadSuppose that right now I can watch 70-80% of the TV shows I'd like to see by using only Netflix and Amazon Prime (the only two services I actually subscribe to). If that's reduced by moves like this to 20-30%, then the price I need to pay (even disregarding individual services raising their prices) to see the same amount of content is going to shoot up.
Even if all these new streaming services are priced decently, uses will soon have to pay for two or three times as many of them to get the same content. That just seems like a great way to encourage us to stop paying at all, and to go back to either not watching as much, or (for some users, I'm sure) obtaining them illegally. One of the big issues in defeating piracy was that it was sometimes more convenient than obtaining the content legally; this change may resurrect that issue. (I'm not saying it's OK to pirate, but there are a lot of people who don't have a problem doing so; it seems reasonable consequence to infer here.)
I agree with most of your statement. Netflix a few years ago was the only service I needed. They had tons of content from multiple providers. Today it's very few shows outside of their own content. I'm about to cancel honestly, I don't want Netflix's 90% crap content. Amazon Prime is probably the worst of the services from a content perspective even though they are the richest company. Please do yourself a favor and swap to Hulu from Amazon, at least with it you can get some of the latest TV Shows and cartoons.
Per your pirate commentary: The problem I am having is finding a service that has the show or shows I want. Some of the content owners make it impossible to stream the content anywhere, even if you want to pay money! Thus, forcing us to have to go out of our way to find the products, probably illegally.
Yes, it's good to point that out. I think people _are_ willing to pay more to have no ads, and have on-demand access to content.
I would throw in another thing I could have thrown in originally as well, which I didn't really think of - the TV equivalent of "killer apps." The reason I stick with Amazon is because they picked up a couple of shows I really, really love - The Man in the High Castle and The Expanse. I don't want to lose access to those.
Similarly, I briefly subscribed to CBS All Access while the new Star Trek: Discovery season aired last year - and when Season 2 comes out, I'll likely do so again. I love Star Trek so much that I'm willing to pay the $7 per (call it $3 per episode) month just for that... but as soon as it stops coming out, I cancel.
I'm not paying for star trek simply because I don't want to support all access.
I watched the Illusionist last night on Prime video, and not only was there a minute of unskippable ads at the start, but there were 30 seconds of ads in the middle of the movie as well.
They can also put things onto more combined services like Hulu. Amazon selling individual shows and movies also makes it easier.
I'll probably cut Netflix the way things are going. I really only want a few of their original shows. Every time I open the app it feels like a mountain of crappy content to sift through. Amazon too, but it's prime at least.
It varies though. Lately I've been watching lots of Hulu stuff.
I'm fine with spending the money for a service that's worth it. Disney, maybe since I don't have kids. HBO yes. Combined services like Netflix or Hulu, for now yes. CBS no, I'm not getting their streaming service just for star trek. NBC ad supported, absolutely never. I will never use a service that shows ads.
I imagine they must have crunched numbers indicating they'll make more money from people signing up for this service than they do from licenses, even if fewer people use it than view the content from Netflix via license.
I still believe that in the long run, though, it may be a mistake for them.
It seems like shifting to a model of [Base License Fee] + X Revenue/Hours Streamed would improve the situation and allow IP holders to commodify streaming services.
You would still have exceptional cases like HBO and Disney where it would be worth the effort to run their own streaming service to capture all the revenue, but I don't see the average consumer willing to subscribe to an endless number of streaming services (maybe 2-3 tops for an average US consumer).
Recently they picked up Lucifer [1] after Fox canceled it and millions of fans lit up twitter. I am looking forward to this, as Netflix typically allows darker and more adult friendly versions of a show.
[1] - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4052886/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
and hopefully fails by 2021.
I see an ad, I pirate instead. That simple.
I recently wanted to view a few back episodes of some random TV show, to see if I would be interested in it. I found the back episodes on Hulu. After about 5 minutes of the first, the screen went to commercial and said something like "1 of 8".
No, I'm not going to sit thru 8 commercials in a row. So I just exited and totally forgot about that show.
I.e. it's not just pirating as an alternative. Many people simply say "fuck it, I have other things I can be doing".
This price bump may be it, for me. I'm too inclined to just keep on keeping on. I don't do "resolutions", but this year, one intention is to stop that.
Besides, I increasingly feel like I'm funding, with my subscriptions, the very people -- and their lawyers -- who keep making things worse and worse.
(Reading the recent reporting that Netflix software engineers average 300K a year hasn't really helped my attitude, either. So, THAT's what I'm paying for... (?) )
Business media has been saying that Netflix's content acquisition costs are or shortly will be in the neighborhood of $10 billion per year. You're paying a lot more for the content than for the software engineers.