• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Netflix loses subscribers for the first time in 10 years

Wildebeest

Member
Seemed to be a huge amount of money flowing through these guys to fund new shows, but there is not that much of any level of quality to show for it. Maybe you love Stranger Things and House of Cards, but what if you don't and have been paying that sub for years, but just wanted to watch friends reruns while getting smashed on cheap wine in the bath. They were a content delivery platform that lost its most desirable content to the original rights owners. That is the long term trend, but I understand it has been hit by people being forced to cut household budgets and one off big losses of subscriber accounts due to cutting off Russia.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Elon knew what he was doing. Nice kick in the balls while they were down.
Good time to buy because they are inevitably going to head back up (in the short term at least).

I almost wonder if Elon is straight up using twitter to manipulate the market and if that is even an illegal act?
 

Catphish

Member
They lost me years ago the moment they doubled down on the pedo film 'Cuties'
I never watched it, didn't want to give it the +1, but I watched some kind of parents video that pointed out the bullshit going on in it. Even that was disturbing as hell.

I actually called Netflix and asked the rep to forward the following sentiment up the chain:

If you guys ever produce content like that again, consider my subscription cancelled.

Whether or not she did, I'll never know. But that show was some bullshit. I actually still feel kinda guilty that I didn't cancel it right then, but my kid was knee-deep in Stranger Things, so I let it go.
 
"Covid" is not a good excuse. While all streaming service stocks were down, Netflix was down by an order of magnitude from everyone else. Per the Wall Street Journal:

"The stock is down more than 60% this year including Wednesday’s fall.

Several other streaming stocks fell Wednesday. Paramount Global was recently down 7%, and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. was off 5.9%. Walt Disney Co. retreated 4%, while Spotify Technology SA lost 10%."
 

MikeM

Member
I cancelled because of the woke growth.

I'm also planning my exit strategy for ps plus and game pass as this is a trend with rental subs at the moment.

I won't be conned into paying to dig my own grave.
Not sure I get your “paying to dig my own grave” piece, but I feel ya on the second paragraph. I’m not sure if subs are the way I want to spend my money when I have no forward idea of content incoming.
The only reason I have Netflix is my son watches cartoons there.
Same fam!
Seemed to be a huge amount of money flowing through these guys to fund new shows, but there is not that much of any level of quality to show for it. Maybe you love Stranger Things and House of Cards, but what if you don't and have been paying that sub for years, but just wanted to watch friends reruns while getting smashed on cheap wine in the bath. They were a content delivery platform that lost its most desirable content to the original rights owners. That is the long term trend, but I understand it has been hit by people being forced to cut household budgets and one off big losses of subscriber accounts due to cutting off Russia.
Too much quantity without any quality. Seems this is the inevitable path forward for most sub services.
 

Doom85

Member
I keep it for the exclusive anime series they get plus they have a few solid cartoons like Arcane, Bojack, and Green Eggs and Ham. And a few good live-action movies they still have though their library there is so limited these days. Don’t really watch their exclusive live-action shows but I just don’t watch much of those anywhere these days aside from the new Marvel shows, too busy with games, anime, etc. as it is. I would like to finish up Series of Unfortunate Events sometime.
 
Last edited:
I only keep it because my mom uses it, can't wait until they implement the anti password sharing stuff.

I have like 4 friends using it too and I'm the one stuck paying for something I almost never use. Every show I liked turned woke. Stranger things, You (latest season was super woke), etc.
 
Last edited:

akimbo009

Gold Member
Been watching Hulu and Amazon Video a lot more lately, and some Disney & Apple. Not sure why that it is, exactly, but Netflix seems to be some place I go for a week or two, then stop for a long time. Wasn't always the way. Not cancelling, but it'd be on top of the list.
 
  • Mindhunter season 1: compelling show with great story and characters, instant hit
  • Mindhunter season 2: almost nothing that made season 1 great remains (after first few episodes), replaced with forced LGBT romance that takes up huge percentage of runtime and poorly fitting social justice storyline
Netflix cancels Mindhunter, citing low watch numbers for season 2

  • Altered Carbon season 1: compelling show with great story and characters, instant hit
  • Altered Carbon season 2: showrunner Laeta Kalogridis fired and replaced with incompetent activist, writing team and cast also replaced, politically sanitized across every relevant dimension, now has zero redeeming qualities
Netflix cancels Altered Carbon, citing low watch numbers for season 2


:messenger_expressionless:
And don't forget Stranger Things. That last season had a noticeable dip in quality.
 

sol_bad

Member
I never watched it, didn't want to give it the +1, but I watched some kind of parents video that pointed out the bullshit going on in it. Even that was disturbing as hell.

I actually called Netflix and asked the rep to forward the following sentiment up the chain:

If you guys ever produce content like that again, consider my subscription cancelled.

Whether or not she did, I'll never know. But that show was some bullshit. I actually still feel kinda guilty that I didn't cancel it right then, but my kid was knee-deep in Stranger Things, so I let it go.

You're hilarious, being outraged over something without even watching it. Reminds me of all the screeching angry parents blaming video games for everything.
 

SafeOrAlone

Banned
I think I've turned it on like three times since The Office left. That was the reason I used it. I'm on my parents account, and if they cancel it, I probably won't know for months.
 
You're hilarious, being outraged over something without even watching it. Reminds me of all the screeching angry parents blaming video games for everything.
Really, dude? This is the hill you're choosing to die on?

I'm with Catphish Catphish -- I've never watched it either, but from everything I've heard and read, it's a repulsive movie that has no business being streamed anywhere. In fact it's got no business being made in the first place.

Let's use Wikipedia's help here. This takes only but a few seconds:

Cuties (French: Mignonnes) is a 2020 French coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré in her feature directorial debut. The film's ensemble cast is led by Fathia Youssouf who portrays Amy, a Senegalese-French girl with a traditional Muslim upbringing who is caught between traditional Muslim values and Internet culture when she joins a twerking dance crew.

.....

.....


Amy, an 11-year-old girl from Senegal, lives with her mother Mariam and two younger brothers......

Following the link to "twerking," Wikipedia gives you this:

Twerking (/ˈtwɜːrkɪŋ/; possibly from 'to work') is a type of dance that came out of the bounce music scene of New Orleans in the late 1980s. Individually performed chiefly but not exclusively by women,[1][2] performers dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving throwing or thrusting their hips back or shaking their buttocks, often in a low squatting stance.[3]

"Amy, an 11-year-old girl..."
"... joins a tweking crew...."
"... sexually provocative manner involving throwing or thrusting their hips back or shaking their buttocks..."


So I'll ask you again: Is this REALLY a hill you want to die on!?
 

thefool

Member
You're hilarious, being outraged over something without even watching it. Reminds me of all the screeching angry parents blaming video games for everything.

It’s a film that sexualizes children and displays some gross images. Its actually positive people are repulsed by it and not watched it.
Its anything but hilarious that you’re trying to compare a film that has closeups of underage girls crotches with videogames.
 
Last edited:

Hari Seldon

Member
Personally Netflix is probably my 2nd most watched streaming service behind Hulu. HBO is worthless to me since I'm a grown up and I have seen most of the back catalog and their new shit is largely garbage. But I like a lot of the random shit on Netflix. Witcher, Stranger Things, first couple seasons of Narcos, all of the historical docudrama's, the foreign stuff, some of their in-house movies like Metal Lords and the Christmas one that came out with the Nintendo plot.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
You're hilarious, being outraged over something without even watching it. Reminds me of all the screeching angry parents blaming video games for everything.
Did you watch cuties and say to yourself “ that’s okay 👍😬
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Cuties has always been a disgustingly disturbing film that actively promotes the sexualization of underage girls. The people who are actively defending it need to take a long hard look in the mirror and probably their closets.

This was the final excuse before I cut the plug with Netflix. No way am I paying a streaming company who actively promotes trash like that. Thankfully I was not alone and it seems the ball is still rolling with people leaving in droves.
 
Cuties has always been a disgustingly disturbing film that actively promotes the sexualization of underage girls. The people who are actively defending it need to take a long hard look in the mirror and probably their closets.

This was the final excuse before I cut the plug with Netflix. No way am I paying a streaming company who actively promotes trash like that. Thankfully I was not alone and it seems the ball is still rolling with people leaving in droves.
100% correct.

If I have this right, there are people in this thread justifying the existence of, and proclaiming pride at having watched a movie.... Sexualizing children.

I've had enough Internet for the day, I'm out...
 

ClosBSAS

Member
Price hikes and their new zero tolerance rumors for account sharing...all anticonsumer actions plus COVID 19 going away. Fuck u Netflix.
 

Flutta

Banned
Yeah, my wife and I enjoyed it, good story, well acted, emotional.
sick puke GIF
 

Paulxo87

Member
To be honest with you I use Hulu, Pluto tv, peacock, and even YouTube more than I was using Netflix. And price just kept getting to the point where I said the hell with it. My ex's account is still linked on my tv when I get desperate for breaking bad or something tho. Netflix is just too many originals I have no interest in anymore.
 

belmarduk

Member
A handful did, the main people voted with their wallets.

Seemingly like they're doing now.

I mean, its pretty obvious that the COVID lockdowns created ideal conditions for Netflix to thrive. Surely, that wasn't sustainable and they would've lost subscribers now that people aren't always stuck at home anymore.

But, If either you or the radical transgender activists really think you've achieved some sort of cultural victory, Here ya go:

culturalvictory.jpg
 

belmarduk

Member
I dunno. While I'm not sure Netflix has a specific agenda they want to push, I'm pretty sure if you tried to pitch a new Robin Hood show set in 1200's england using casting and gender roles appropriate to the accepted historical record they would either pass on it or push for more diversity in casting and more action parts for the ladies. Viking:Valhalla certainly bears this out, though whether it is the creators choice or netflix, who can say? But having women fill the shield wall or row a longship into battle...yeah that's an AI driven choice, if not a specific agenda to portray women as equal fighters to the men in defiance of all archeological evidence and common sense.

Show me a domestically produced show that doesn't have color wheel casting to the point where the script has to run loops around itself to explain it (October Faction) or it's just straight nonsensical given the ethnic based dialogue in the script (Shadow and Bone and Witcher). For YA trash shows, who really cares, but it irks for shows with better source material.

I get it, they have a global market and want every possible identity to "see themselves" on screen as much as possible. But I find it tends to make for unfocused, easily distracted, bland plots where the quality of the final product is a distant second to the press release heralding how stunning and brave the creative choices were. Seems to me most of their recent successes are imports coming from homogeneous places with vision, not excessive DEI initiatives.

I haven't watch the Jamie Fox Robin Hood movie (although was it done for Netflix? I don't remember.) nor Vikings:Valhalla, I don't believe either were documentaries. Both are works of fiction, no? Lots and lots of fiction that is set during medieval or Viking times will have fantasy elements to it. Ever seen How To Train Your Dragon? Great movie, not historically accurate. I would think having female warriors or a black guy wouldn't be too much of far out element for a fantasy to have.
 

JahRumble

Banned
Man you guys are all so off on why Netflix is losing subs, especially if you think it has to do with "wokism" that's just dumb.

Many of you are correct to say it's due to content. That's only part of the picture though. Netflix's content issue is that even the content that is good, can be consume really quickly and loses their mindshare fast. Mandalorian fans wait a week in between episodes and in that week they are discussing the most recent episode. Stranger Things fans consume the entire season in a few days to a few weeks and then the show is out of sight, out of mind. Nobody wants to discuss it because of spoiler implications on a lot of communities. I prefer the Netflix binge model as it allows me to watch a show at my own pace but it's not great if you want to keep the show in the cultural zeitgest for a while.

The second issue they have is that many of their competitors are vertically intergrated. Disney, HBO - even shitty ones like Paramount and Peacock. Those companies all were content providers first, ecosystem maintainers second. Disney produces movies for the theater, TV shows for traditional TV networks and then can easily port those things over to Disney+ for little cost. Netflix's content only exist on Netflix or it has to be licesned from other content providers (ie: Seinfeld). Licensing content opens up a whole new can of worms as the holder can decide whether or not they want to continue providing it on your service. And that's not even mentioning the content libraries that HBO or Disney has is far larger than anything in Netflix's portfolio. Disney has the MCU, Star Wars and Fox just off the top of my head.

Amazon Prime is a different animal but Prime is something you get with Amazon Prime which has a lot of other benefits. Amazon ropes you into their ecosystem with other benefits beyond just TV showls. AppleTV is the only service that really resembles Netflix right now and Apple is a far larger company.

To me the future of Netflix is to get into live sports. They CEO said it's something they never wanted to do but live sports is the only thing keeping cable subscribers interested in traditional television. Becuase of it's international nature, it wouldn't even need to be a big mainstream sport. Maybe something like Bellator MMA or the CFL. There are lots of B-tier sports leagues that would hugely benefit from a Netflix deal, it would expose them to a much wider audience. Then you intergrate your own talking head shows, into it and you got a winner. When you're ready, you can bid for the Big 4 or soccer packages. Amazon Prime is already doing this with the NFL and baseball. They know what's coming. Live sports is the last thing that hasn't joined the internet content world. It's not going to be the only thing.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Make a compelling service that’s straight forward and value for money.

Once you have enough subscribers, reduce quality (read expense), increase cost and make things difficult for the end user (crack down on account sharing).

Lose subscribers; shocked Pikachu face.

It’s a tale as old as time.
 

Lord Panda

The Sea is Always Right
I was infuriated when they removed the rating system. I used it to sift through all the shit in their catalogue. However I still get some decent value out of Netflix despite their Woke bullshit. I mainly watch foreign shows and some of their older stuff like Narcos was really good too. They also had Arcane, Hilda, Scissors 7, Squid Games, Hellbound, Demon Slayer, and heaps of Korean and Japanese films like the Fable and Kenshin movies. Hopefully this wakes (geddit?!?) them up.

PS: I can't wait for the shitstorm that their live action Avatar: The Last Airbender will cause
 
Last edited:

jason10mm

Gold Member
I haven't watch the Jamie Fox Robin Hood movie (although was it done for Netflix? I don't remember.) nor Vikings:Valhalla, I don't believe either were documentaries. Both are works of fiction, no? Lots and lots of fiction that is set during medieval or Viking times will have fantasy elements to it. Ever seen How To Train Your Dragon? Great movie, not historically accurate. I would think having female warriors or a black guy wouldn't be too much of far out element for a fantasy to have.
You can also produce a fictional tale that strives for as much historical accuracy as possible. But if said tale is mono ethnic and sets gender roles as they were known for that period, would netix produce it? Their current content suggests no, if the homogeneity is of the 'wrong' type.
 

Mr Hyde

Member
I´m still subbed but I rarely watch anything on Netflix. It´s mostly for my sister and her kids I´m still paying but if Netflix is gonna kill off password sharing I don´t think I´ll sub anymore. 90 % of their shows and movies suck ass so I´ll watch Better Call Saul last season, The Witcher, Stranger Things and Cobra Kai. When that is done I´m canceling.
 

Tams

Gold Member
Seemed to be a huge amount of money flowing through these guys to fund new shows, but there is not that much of any level of quality to show for it. Maybe you love Stranger Things and House of Cards, but what if you don't and have been paying that sub for years, but just wanted to watch friends reruns while getting smashed on cheap wine in the bath. They were a content delivery platform that lost its most desirable content to the original rights owners. That is the long term trend, but I understand it has been hit by people being forced to cut household budgets and one off big losses of subscriber accounts due to cutting off Russia.
It's called debt. Billions of it.
 

VN1X

Banned
  • Mindhunter season 1: compelling show with great story and characters, instant hit
  • Mindhunter season 2: almost nothing that made season 1 great remains (after first few episodes), replaced with forced LGBT romance that takes up huge percentage of runtime and poorly fitting social justice storyline
Netflix cancels Mindhunter, citing low watch numbers for season 2

  • Altered Carbon season 1: compelling show with great story and characters, instant hit
  • Altered Carbon season 2: showrunner Laeta Kalogridis fired and replaced with incompetent activist, writing team and cast also replaced, politically sanitized across every relevant dimension, now has zero redeeming qualities
Netflix cancels Altered Carbon, citing low watch numbers for season 2


:messenger_expressionless:
Oh ffs I didn't realize Mindhunter was cancelled?! There was still so much material they could've worked with to churn out at least another two seasons!

That's disappointing as hell. :/
 

Mr Hyde

Member
I also agree on the sudden cancellation of shows that Netflix currently does. Why invest a lot of time in shows when they can pull the plug anytime for any reason? For instance, I loved the Dark Crystal show. I thought it was awesome that they brought back a legendary film from the grave and made a show that was true to the source material. And then they just fucking cancelled it! I should cancel my fucking subscription just for that dick move alone. I ain´t got time for that sorta bullshit.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
netflix is probably my favourite streaming service and that might sound positive but it's only because Disney+, Amazon, and Apple are shite. Amazon is probably #2 but i hardly sign up. I watched Wheel of Time recently and will watch LOTR. Disney+ about the only thing i'm interested in is Star Wars and new Pixar movies.

While Netflix is my "favourite" their pricing is fucking ridiculous. £13.99 just to get 4K? fuck off. i grudge paying it. no doubt they will hike prices again so i'll probably just go back to watching in 1080p SDR. i don't even sub all the time. i sub for a month then cancel. if there's something else i want to watch i'll keep the sub but if not i'll leave it until there is something worth watching. my netflix ended a few weeks ago but i'm waiting on the last part of Ozark. i'll watch Better Call Saul too. I could've joined earlier this week to watch it but i'll hold off so i don't need to sub for 2 months. there's a shit load of stuff on my list so there's always something to watch.

they need to sort out what they are doing with shows. at this point i'm not going to watch any of their shows unless there are 4 or more seasons of it. i'm not starting a new show or a show with only 2 or 3 seasons because chances are they'll scrap it. i still don't forgive them for shit canning Santa Clarita Diet or The OA.
 
Last edited:

JahRumble

Banned
I also agree on the sudden cancellation of shows that Netflix currently does. Why invest a lot of time in shows when they can pull the plug anytime for any reason? For instance, I loved the Dark Crystal show. I thought it was awesome that they brought back a legendary film from the grave and made a show that was true to the source material. And then they just fucking cancelled it! I should cancel my fucking subscription just for that dick move alone. I ain´t got time for that sorta bullshit.

I forget what the exact number is but after a certain number of seasons of a TV show means you have to start paying out syndication fees. That's why Netflix cancels a lot of shows after a few seasons. TV shows that aren't mega hits are not worth it to Netflix since they don't operate on a traditional TV model. It's something that TV hasn't properly adopted to the internet yet. If NBC/CBS/FOX/ABC/etc. has a short lived but cult TV show that goes for 3 seasons before cancellation, they can still sell those broadcast rights to other networks in multiple countries and continue to make money off the show even if they themselves no longer air it.

The Netflix Model doesn't allow for that. Netflix shows are only available on Netflix, many of them aren't even on DVD if I recall correctly. No revenue stream there. Netflix shows are also not geoblocked so no revenue stream in selling to overseas broadcasters. Netflix now has a dilemma if a niche show isn't cancelled. They either have to remove it entirely from their service or pay syndication cheques out to the staff as long as it remains on the service.

Disney and HBO don't have this issue as they have their own TV networks and operate under a different model. Amazon and Apple don't have it either as their ecosystems are more than just video content.

Dunno how movies work in that model but even if movies did work like that, they're one and done so it's not as expensive as a 13 episode season.

The way around it is to outsource production to foreign productions who don't work under the Writer's and Actor's Guild guidelines. Notice the uptick in foreign content on Netflix lately?
 
Last edited:

JayK47

Member
Interesting. So I guess Netflix is doomed to fail. I hated them cancelling good shows too early. I see no point in subscribing if most shows are cancelled before they wrap them up.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I forget what the exact number is but after a certain number of seasons of a TV show means you have to start paying out syndication fees. That's why Netflix cancels a lot of shows after a few seasons. TV shows that aren't mega hits are not worth it to Netflix since they don't operate on a traditional TV model. It's something that TV hasn't properly adopted to the internet yet. If NBC/CBS/FOX/ABC/etc. has a short lived but cult TV show that goes for 3 seasons before cancellation, they can still sell those broadcast rights to other networks in multiple countries and continue to make money off the show even if they themselves no longer air it.

The Netflix Model doesn't allow for that. Netflix shows are only available on Netflix, many of them aren't even on DVD if I recall correctly. No revenue stream there. Netflix shows are also not geoblocked so no revenue stream in selling to overseas broadcasters. Netflix now has a dilemma if a niche show isn't cancelled. They either have to remove it entirely from their service or pay syndication cheques out to the staff as long as it remains on the service.

Disney and HBO don't have this issue as they have their own TV networks and operate under a different model. Amazon and Apple don't have it either as their ecosystems are more than just video content.

Dunno how movies work in that model but even if movies did work like that, they're one and done so it's not as expensive as a 13 episode season.

The way around it is to outsource production to foreign productions who don't work under the Writer's and Actor's Guild guidelines. Notice the uptick in foreign content on Netflix lately?
Good post.

Never thought about tv syndication, but it is an odd thing. Kind of like console wars of exclusive games, but tv companies seem to have no problem selling tv shows to other channels at the expense those reruns may be killing their own tv station ratings. But they are willing to do it.

Like endless reruns of Seinfeld on Buffalo Fox 29. It was an NBC show, but for years Fox was showing reruns and you never know. These reruns might be getting better ratings than NBC at that time slot. But I guess the money is so good its worth putting on hit shows on other channels even if it sabotages their own program.
 

TheMan

Member
Welp, doesnt' help that there's is so so much competition and fragmentation now. Every single network has their own service and I'm sure Netflix has to pay out the ass for licensed content now. Completely different landscape from when Netflix started starting streaming all those years ago. They've tried their best to make OG content and clearly they've had some major hits and lots of duds, but they even cancel critically acclaimed shows which is not helping their rep.

And of course there's a more fundamental problem with our version of capitalism in that infinite growth is IMPOSSIBLE, literally impossible, but that's what investors want nowadays. It's untenable, and now Netflix is going to overreact and dig themselves a bigger hole
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
Most netflix original content is garbage. And occasionally when they have something good like G.L.O.W they cancel it before it has legs, or they milk it until its drained of all life, like the witcher and stranger things.
 

belmarduk

Member
You can also produce a fictional tale that strives for as much historical accuracy as possible. But if said tale is mono ethnic and sets gender roles as they were known for that period, would netix produce it? Their current content suggests no, if the homogeneity is of the 'wrong' type.

Though female warriors certainly were not the norm during that period there are numerous example of them in medieval Europe. Matilda of Canossa is an example and I'm sure you've heard of Joan of Arc. There is also recent archeological proof that women (or at least this woman) fought for Vikings in Sweden, as she was buried with a full weapon set next to a garrison.

There are also examples of non-white people in Europe in warfare during that time period. You are probably aware of the Moors, who conquered most of Spain and Portugal.

You should not let this sort of thing detract from your enjoyment of a work of fiction. If its good, then its good regardless of the sex or race of the actors.
 
Top Bottom