Will NETFLIX become a victim of it's own success
 

(DIGITALSPY) In 2018, Netflix will deliver around 700 TV shows at a cost of $8 billion.

That's a truly unprecedented output, dwarfing its rivals. After years of growth, Netflix has the financial might to go all-in on quantity.

"Let's continue to add content – it's working, it's driving growth," the company told Variety last month.

The numbers back it up. Subscribers are at an all-time high (130m at last count), and Netflix added more of them in 2017 (24m) than in any previous year. Average streaming hours per member rose by nine per cent. With so much more content on the way, those numbers will only continue to grow, right?

Wrong.

This quarter, they were a million short of their projected target. Only a million? Who cares? The stock market, for one: the company's market value shrank by £23 BILLION when the news was announced. The market clearly worries that Netflix has finally peaked.

So what happened?

Dropping 700 shows in a single year is extraordinary, and has led to an easily parodied perception of its quality control: "Hello, you're through to Netflix. You're greenlit."

How many Netflix Originals can legitimately lay claim to a place among TV's elite? How many are truly memorable? Any answer will be subjective, but it's a handful at best.

In the past, this hasn't mattered. (Let's not forget that 80% of subscribers don't even watch their original content.) Netflix enjoyed success thanks to its groundbreaking delivery model: creators no longer had to adhere to strict episode lengths and viewers were free to binge. The chance to break from storytelling convention offered showrunners more creative freedom than ever. It was liberating for everyone. It changed the way we watch and became the new convention.

But this did not lead to consistently high-quality programming. Netflix continues to trade heavily on novelty, nostalgia (more Gilmore Girls! Fuller House!) and gimmicks.

Sure, why not release a 'name' JJ Abrams movie nobody knew existed, with two hours' notice? The Cloverfield Paradox got terrible reviews. How many people will fall for that stunt again? (DIGITALSPY)

As long as there are a couple of shows to engage subscribers, a few stand-up comedy specials for the weekend, some familiar archive content to veg out with, and something they can stick the kids in front of, customer retention is unlikely to be a problem while the price remains the same.

The shows may not be acclaimed modern classics like Game of Thrones as long as the recommendation function is working. Such is the power and granular nature of Netflix's algorithmic approach, this is entirely achievable.

Heck, the company tailors the preview artwork depending on your viewing habits (Stranger Things, for example, has nine different images) and tests multiple ranking algorithms on users at a time. This will become even more important as sheer volume of content renders word of mouth more difficult.

The tightrope Netflix walks is convincing people they're missing out if they cancel that subscription. Right now it's succeeding. But it's a fine line. There's so much choice now that we don't have to settle for 'good enough' TV. The days of Netflix as a must-have could be over.

I was thinking a while ago those Android TV box Type would be the Start of the end for Netflix.

Netflix will have to eventually add live TV streaming.

Right now nobody care about tv box, when you have a netflix app in your TV :)

I'm sure those hurt but until they make them foolproof a service like netflix will still be desired. I see too many people that buy them then get frustrated when they need reprogrammed and end up ditching them..

The problem with more content is.....

More bad content.

I remember when Netflix was a quarter of the size it is now, and any of their own content I chose to watch was 99% top notch. Now, there's a lot of junk to wade through.

At the moment I think that I have about 20 tv series where I have watched the first 1-2 episodes and stopped watching.

lol I got Netflix app in my LG smart tv. Im in Canada so Netflix is kind poor in what is available to watch compare to Netflix USA.
Thats why the Box was giving me Lots of show we don't have access here :winkwink:

I agree, when i got my first box i have canceled netflix membership the next day. Couple weeks later i have to drive back to the seller to fix programation.
After the third trip i have kind of give up and sign up again on netflix. But now Our Internet Cable company Keep rising their rates so i was recently looking into purchase another one.

:thumbsup That's right. 80% of the content is junk

I find it overwhelming. I don't even watch Netflix anymore.

There was a lot of excitement when Netflix 1st started doing shows (House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, etc.) because you expected something really great and unique. The last few shows I watched I could have done without. Even the series' that I was formerly into.

I use my tv box for other tv access, Kodi. etc. and use Netflix from my tv app. via app you have access to 4k content straight on your tv screen in my opinion with higher quality for audio and video (than you get from tv box), you don't connect any extra cables and decoding devices and one remote control :)

netflix is hard to search and they don't provide as good of suggested flicks to watch as Amazon Prime imo. but they do have some good shit.

At some point you would have to assume their growth will come to an end and they will level out but I think many people will keep them around. It's cheap and you get a lot for the money. They will likely eventually have some struggles where they work on figuring out the right blend of new, original content and stuff they buy from other people but I think they will be around for a while.

Downfall of Netflix is greatly exaggerated.:2 cents:

True, for now. Soon they will come up with a better way to do it. One button update.

I do wish they would start to require better quality in their movies and especially their comedy specials. Comedians almost exclusively phone in their sets for their Netflix specials. Even a few of my favorite comedians are very hard to watch on their Netflix specials.

They are eating up the animation studios here in Korea...and they are not stopping

Think about this for just a moment... Netflix has $130 million subscribers. All of which stream movies. That's fucking huge.

I'm not terribly shocked to hear some of them are not very good.

I was listening to the Joe Rogan podcast a few months back and they were talking about Netflix and comedy specials. It was very interesting. Apparently, not too long ago, the only real outlets for comedy specials were HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central. Of course, you could put it on VOD and DVD etc, but as far as getting it distributed, those three were the only real options. Netflix came along and now there are also a few other comedy only websites and streaming services out there that are buying up a lot of stand up specials. All of a sudden, there is competition in the marketplace and Netflix is trying to become the new HBO when it comes to stand up specials. They were explaining how a lot of comics were rushing to throw things together and get stuff out there so they could sell a special because the market was prime.

Netflix will be fine. Yea there is a lot of bad content, but they come up with enough good shit to watch and that makes it worth it to me.

Waiting for the new season of Ozark and more episodes of Black Mirror.

I found Iron Fist so offensively terrible that I cancelled my Netflix in between the 6th and 7th episodes and have not re-upped yet.

Between On Demand from the cable company and Amazon Prime and TiVo, I don't have to watch anything in realtime, so they have to have original programming for me to want a membership.

Netflix is currently i think only worldwide available streaming service, most other are US only.

:thumbsup:thumbsup

Every dog has its day, technology changes all the time. The newest and biggest, probably hasn't been invented yet ! :2 cents:

on point

More than glad I bought Netflix stocks a few years ago :)

and ur going to sell it ASAP :1orglaugh:1orglaugh

What did you buy at? Must be a nice chunk of profit!

I bought a little slice earlier this year and then sold it off after a little profit.

Don't watch NETFLIX if you're white

shit production.

They are chasing monopoly

:Oh crap . . .