Are Netflix and the Like Dying?

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mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
After reading earlier this week how subscribers are leaving streaming services, Netflix mainly, is the initial interest in 24/7 film viewing coming to an end?

I do wonder if the growth of such services is to blame for some of the pretty dire films I've watched these last few years, by which I mean Hollywood is pumping out any old tripe just to keep the streaming services happy?

With ever increasing subscription fees and folk leaving in droves is there a future for these providers?

They also say they are clamping down on folk who 'share' their passwords with family members/friends, whether that is right or wrong I can't say but it sounds like a desperate move to me.

$50bn wiped off Netflix’s value as subscribers quit - BBC News

I also just read CNN's streaming service is to close after a mere 1 month.

CNN streaming service to shut a month after launch - BBC News

Regards,

Jay.
 
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The radio interview I heard about CNN+ made the decision sound like more of a "keeping the network on track" decision, instead of based on sales sorta thing.

Netflix is having issues with loss of revenue based upon people sharing passwords. With people leaving cable in droves here, I see more and more people turning to Netflix, Hulu, Roku, etc... I really don't think they are in any danger of becoming extinct just yet, but cable networks... yeh, F 'em. Let the cable companies bleed out, IMO.

Quality of movies? IMO, movies have never been better. Give me series with lots of blood, violence, and nudity. I don't think anyone wants to go back to Lavern and Shirley or Family Ties type of series again. Heck, I can't stand cable based series where you'd have to sit through commercials or watch a show at a day and particular time again. On Demand is where it is at.
I think that most viewers prefer a series, where you can binge a story over 50+ hours at a time than a movie where you only get 120 minutes and its over. But, even movies... best ever, IMO.

Maybe a contributing problem is how many streaming services there are now. Everyone is making a new streaming APP... and APPs are so yesterday. Starz, Premier, HBOMAX... if I can't get them in a Prime or Roku package, I am not about to pay to download an APP.

But quality... I can't even think of a pre-streaming series that comes close to Yellowstone, Game of Thrones, Ozark... nope, nothing comes to mind.
 

beefeater33

Lifer
Apr 14, 2014
4,063
6,119
Central Ohio
I don't think the streaming services are dying. Too me, it seems that the playing field is just getting too crowded. I have one of those firestick things, and it seems that there is more channels added every week, many of them free.

I think Netflix rose to dominance early in the game. The pandemic increased (artificially) it's subscribers, with everyone at home so much, they naturally watched more TV.

With people going back to work, inflation woes, etc..... I just think some people are weaning themselves of it. I just looked at Netflix stock price- looks like it's down to 2018 levels. I think it's more of a "return to normal" scenario than a dying out of the industry.......

BUT............... what the hell do I know?
 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,993
26,607
New York
I just don't watch T.V as its all so depressing. With so many remakes of older movies that have become now vehicles for inclusion propaganda I just don't bother. I might watch Operation Mince Meat which is a remake of the 1950s movie The Man Who Never Was but that is more out of curiosity.
 

kschatey

Lifer
Oct 16, 2019
1,118
2,271
Ohio
The issue with the original series like Netflix is that the original main content producers now all have their own streaming services. It's like going back to having to get individual cable channels. Netflix and the like are left with mostly their own produced content only. Unless they are able to create their own content that people are willing to pay to view, then the rest of the content they used to have has evaporated.

Basically, the choice to have Netflix is has shifted from getting aggregated content to whether or not you want the Netflix original content.
 

mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
I don't think the streaming services are dying. Too me, it seems that the playing field is just getting too crowded. I have one of those firestick things, and it seems that there is more channels added every week, many of them free.

I think Netflix rose to dominance early in the game. The pandemic increased (artificially) it's subscribers, with everyone at home so much, they naturally watched more TV.

With people going back to work, inflation woes, etc..... I just think some people are weaning themselves of it. I just looked at Netflix stock price- looks like it's down to 2018 levels. I think it's more of a "return to normal" scenario than a dying out of the industry.......

BUT............... what the hell do I know?
Beefeater, I too have a Firestick which really is a terrific little device and as you say, much stuff is free which pleases me no end :col:

Regards,

Jay.
 

mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
I just don't watch T.V as its all so depressing. With so many remakes of older movies that have become now vehicles for inclusion propaganda I just don't bother. I might watch Operation Mince Meat which is a remake of the 1950s movie The Man Who Never Was but that is more out of curiosity.
Simon, I'm also looking forward to Operation mincemeat. A cousin of mine (Alan Hillgarth OBE, CMG) played a crucial role in the operation. He was Churchill's man in Spain as British Consul & it was his job to make sure the Germans got the fake papers whilst at the same time being seen to do everything to prevent them doing so.

He was in Ben Macintyre's book of the same name & Man Of War by Duff Hart-Davis, both excellent books on the subject.

Regards,

Jay.
 

anantaandroscoggin

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 9, 2017
647
1,008
70
Greene, Maine, USA
The onset of "reality TV" was the beginning of my inability to find much of interest to watch on broadcast TV. We got rid of cable when our last kid moved out, as there was little we watched on it besides BBC America, and we no longer needed all the sports channels for him.

I tried Peacock free services, but found that when I finished watching something, either my browser crashed or the entire computer went down. Every. Freaking. Time.
 

mawnansmiff

Lifer
Oct 14, 2015
7,385
7,295
Sunny Cornwall, UK.
The onset of "reality TV" was the beginning of my inability to find much of interest to watch on broadcast TV. We got rid of cable when our last kid moved out, as there was little we watched on it besides BBC America, and we no longer needed all the sports channels for him.

I tried Peacock free services, but found that when I finished watching something, either my browser crashed or the entire computer went down. Every. Freaking. Time.
Regards 'reality TV', I have never understood the need or desire to watch/spy on other people going about their daily lives.....but apparently there's a huge demand for such bile....which in my book speaks volumes about those who get off on such programmes but of course, it's each to their own I suppose :rolleyes:

Regards,

Jay.
 

HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,580
40,853
Iowa
Yep, my kids use our Netflix account, so far no repercussions, but our use and their use is so sporadic. We may be discontinuing - my rate recently took a jump and for me, there isn't much on there that gets me tuning in. The movies I want to watch aren't largely supported on there and I'm more likely to find something on Amazon Prime, but it is getting annoying when 3/5 times I find an old movie I want to watch or rewatch there is the "sub-channel" I need to subscribe to to watch it (and yes, I get the free trial, but they are counting on and usually win with my ability to remember to cancel, lol).
 

canucklehead

Lifer
Aug 1, 2018
2,863
15,323
Alberta
CNN+ died because no one wanted to watch it. They had less than a quarter of the viewers they expected and needed to make it a viable platform.

Normal CNN lost 90% of its viewers this year due to their crap content and court cases against their terrible anchors, so for them to spend 300 million+ on marketing a streaming service was incredibly shortsighted on their part.
 

telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
Personally, and this is just my opinion, media has moved away from story telling and more to a Circus Maximus style of entertainment. Blood, violence, and nudity.

I realize this is nothing new, but it is unfortunate. Margarette Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale was a well-written book. The Series has it's moments, but the writers seem to approach challenges to story telling by upping the ante on the blood, violence, and nudity. In this case, literally saturating us with a voyeur spot light on rape - given that June's main role in the series is to be raped by the family as well as others under all sorts of pretenses.

I see this as unfortunate because humans are so easily programed, sensitized, and de-sensitized to all sorts of stimulation. Milgram's experiments on obedience deliver terrifying results by demonstrating what "good" people are capable of, especially if they can pass on the responsibility for their actions. The maximum that what we are watching is only "pretend" allows viewers to give themselves permission to indulge with dispensation.
 
Personally, and this is just my opinion, media has moved away from story telling and more to a Circus Maximus style of entertainment. Blood, violence, and nudity.
For me, you can't have one without the other. I mean, sure, you can have a good story, but who cares. When I say that I love this new violence and nudity in series, what I mean is that they are sticking it to the FCC controlled networks that have had a heavy hand in censoring shows and movies for decades. F' em. Let's see our stories how we really are.
To me, to have a war, cowboy, or even crime drama movie without real depictions of violence is glorifying the violence. War is nasty, and we need to see that. Rape is nasty and horrible, and if rape is a part of the story, but we don't see the horror of it, then they are glorifying it. And, in exclusion is where the evil lies. IMO

And, what's the harm is some boobies and maybe a flash of the ol' in out, in out? it makes us all smile, right?