Netflix is planning to raise prices... again

return2ozma@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 293 points –
Netflix is planning to raise prices... again
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They'll probably pin it on the actors and writers when we all know it's because they lost subscribers to their no password sharing policy.

lost subscribers to their no password sharing policy.

What, we're just gonna gloss over how absolutely dogshit their in-house "Netflix Originals" media has become?

It's also because their current shows suck, and because any shows that are actually good get shitcanned after season 2, because Netflix sees less consumer growth after two seasons.

Their saving grace is stuff like Black Mirror but to be fair that didn't start out as a Netflix original and Charlie Brooker has tight control over his property.

When they started Netflix Originals, they knocked a bunch of them out of the park, now they just make weak trash with bad CGI, costumes, and makeup.

Stuff like 13 Reasons Why or The Witcher are just straight up irredeemable trash.

It’s also because their current shows suck, and because any shows that are actually good get shitcanned after season 2, because Netflix sees less consumer growth after two seasons.

I'm always surprised at how often other people (not you) will defend this practice from Netflix. It's classic case of following the data in a stupid way. If their data shows that interest drops off after two seasons, I don't doubt it.

But... that comes with a cost. They have built a reputation as a company that doesn't properly finish shows that they start, that will leave viewers hanging. That makes it harder to get people invested in a new series, even one that's well reviewed. Why get interested in something you know will end on a cliffhanger?

That kind of secondary order impact from their decision isn't going to show up in data. Doesn't change that it happens all the same.

Just gotta say you fucking nailed it. The long-term knock-on effect of people not wanting to start a new Netflix show only to like it and for it to be cancelled is too real.

It's basically the Google Effect, with how no one gets excited about their new products these days for much the same reason.

Also their non-fiction is pretty bad too. It's almost as bad as Amazon Prime now.

Graham Hancock's series "Ancient Apocalypse" on there is essentially nonsense.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/nov/23/ancient-apocalypse-is-the-most-dangerous-show-on-netflix

Why did it get approved? Because his son is senior manager of unscripted originals!

Also, they have a documentary on the "Blue Zones" where people supposedly live to 100 regularly. This is pseudoscience that has been exposed as poor record keeping for years.

I mean, they employ people who are clearly completely out of touch and don't give a shit about anything but making money. They don't care about controversy as long as people are just talking about it and not suing them or bringing legal charges against them.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/oct/29/dahmer-series-creator-ryan-murphy-victims-families-friends

Ryan Murphy apparently can't figure out that since nobody wants to talk to him about this that maybe it was a bad idea to begin with. Pretty much all the families and friends of victims thought the whole thing was in incredibly poor taste. Apparently all of them rejecting being involved wasn't enough to clue Ryan Murphy into this being incredibly offensive to them.

But Netflix doesn't care about anything but money.

Like when they removed an episode Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj's show in Saudi Arabia because they didn't want to offend anyone.

Reed Hastings on that decision:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/11/netflix-reed-hastings-saudi-arabia-patriot-act

**“We’re not in the news business,”** Hastings said at the New York Times’ DealBook conference, per Variety, of the decision to remove the episode after Saudi Arabia threatened legal action. “We’re not trying to do ‘truth to power.’ We’re trying to entertain…We don’t feel bad about that at all.”

Same reason they consulted with suicide prevention organizations on 13 Reasons Why: got told that this show would increase copycat suicides and it was written in a way that glorified suicide, but fuck it, who cares, let's make some money and throw this up on Netflix!

https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/05/05/526871398/facts-about-teens-suicide-and-13-reasons-why

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-news/2019/release-of-13-reasons-why-associated-with-increase-in-youth-suicide-rates

Even when they're told by everyone not to do it, Netflix does it because money matters more.

One Piece Live Action was better than I dared hope for. I hope the quality continues, but given their track record, I'm not holding my breath.

I'm worried it will end up like Game of Thrones and slowly go off the rails as the series goes on, ending sooner than the original series and botching the ending.

I say this as someone not particularly invested in One Piece, but I know lots of folks who are, and it would be genuinely shitty for the live action to undermine the original. I agree, I hope the quality manages to keep up to the fans expectations and in this instance, they don't flub it.

Thankfully, the difference is that One Piece is still releasing new chapters regularly, and is apparently in its final arc. So, if nothing changes, the live action will almost certainly not finish before the manga does.

I had to stop admitting how much I hated the Witcher because of the torrential down votes I would get. It was irredeemably unwatchable.

Honestly the first season gets a pass from me cause Henry cavill did a spectacular job even with lacklustre writing. That second season was a step back in every way and after finding out that they'll continue the series after cavill leaves because the writers are sh*tying on the ip, I just haven't bothered watching the 3rd season. Nothing their to keep me invested anymore.

That's sad because it's absolutely trash. Writing is trash, sets are trash, costumes are trash, makeup is trash, CGI is trash.

Also, super unpopular opinion: Cavill wasn't a very good Geralt, yet everyone wants to jerk him off like he's the only saving grace of the show. Nah, he fucking sucks, too.

I'm upvoting you for contributing to the discussion but I have to disagree. I think they did get a lot right with that show. Many of the things you mentioned. That said, the most important stuff, like the story itself, the pacing, the characters failed to hold up. The show started great and didn't know where to go from there.

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they lost subscribers to their no password sharing policy.

In what world? They gained subscribers when they did that lol.

Their content sucks, and people are starting to cut ties, but don't pretend it's because people were upset they couldn't share their accounts.

They lost subscribers and gained subscribers. The net total may have increased but they absolutely lost people from doing that.

Okay. You could say that if three people left and 8 million could have signed up. It'd be factually true. So?

The comment I replied to was claiming the price hike is because they lost subs because of the password changes. That implies the loss was big enough to reduce their income to the point they needed more. It's not.

I agree with you there. There could be negative repercussions involving the subscribers they did lose in the form of bad PR.

Sadly they had a net increase in subs after the policy change.

Whenever businesses try to 'pin' raising prices of an already profitable product on anything, we know the real justification is this:

"We know people are going to pay it and it will make us more money. That's why we do it. We're just saying it's something else for the useful idiots who think businesses are their friends."

They actually got more subs (in most countries), its just that theyre bloating up, and compeition is happening which atm is making for a better or worse depending on how you look at it, situation for the consumer.

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