Netflix Eyes Yet Another Price Hike As It Slowly Devolves Into Comcast
from the more-money-for-a-shittier-product dept
Clearly keen to not miss another opportunity to show how they’re slowly turning into Comcast, Netflix this week indicated they’d be pushing yet another price hike in the wake of the recently successful writers’ strike:
“Netflix is planning to increase the cost of its streaming service yet again, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The streamer will reportedly issue the price hike a “few months” after the Hollywood actors strike ends, which could happen in the coming weeks.”
The financial compensation writers were demanding was a pittance compared to Netflix’s ongoing earnings, so this is likely just a lazy opportunity to blame writers for the price hike the company was probably already planning. According to the WGA, the cost of their new contract will amount to just 0.2 percent of Netflix’s annual revenue.
The increase comes on the heels of an unpopular price hike the company implemented last year. It also comes shortly after the company’s decision to start nickel-and-diming users who share passwords with friends and family members, something Netflix openly supported until a saturated market forced the company to start chasing its tail in the never-ending quest to please Wall Street.
The unyielding quest by streaming companies to endlessly jack up prices as their product catalog shrinks and the overall quality deteriorates is the exact doom loop that traditional cable giants have been stuck in for the last fifteen years. Impatient Wall Street wants its improved quarterly returns at any cost, forcing most of the streaming companies to start nickel-and-diming their users at every opportunity.
Amazon recently announced it would be charging Prime users (who already pay $140 annually) an additional $3 a month just to avoid ads. Disney recently announced it would be following Netflix’s heels and cracking down on password sharing. Then there’s whatever nonsense the jumbled mess of detritus created by the pointless Time Warner Discovery merger is up to on any given week.
There’s still a bit of runway for these companies in terms of the consumer perception of value, but it’s becoming pretty clear they’re just going to keep pushing their luck until that relationship ultimately breaks. That will open the door wider for the streaming industry to be disrupted by Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok in the same way Netflix once disrupted Comcast.
Filed Under: competition, disruption, password sharing, streaming, tv, video
Companies: netflix
Comments on “Netflix Eyes Yet Another Price Hike As It Slowly Devolves Into Comcast”
That will open the door wider for the streaming industry to be disrupted by Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok in the same way Netflix once disrupted Comcast.
And wall street will then want its improved quarterly results on those services, resulting in the same enshitifacation (might’ve misspelled it) that hit cable and streaming.
And since wall street is bigger, they aren’t gonna say no.
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It happening on YouTube with creators getting less and less of the advertising revenue. However, some are striking back by including directly sponsored adverts, where the creator get the advertising dollars. YouTube still run their adverts, but they are easily avoided using Addblock plus.
Sounds like a fantastic reason to spend the money on a VPN service instead and then torrent the content you want >_<
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It also avoids funding the MAFIAA, to which Netflix had always paid royalties before becoming an actual (MPAA) member a few years ago. The torrents, by the way, are usually published the same day the show is, and aren’t shitty like TV-rips or cams (excepting the subtitles, which frequently deviate from the dialog but are exactly as published by Netflix).
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I understand the temptation but I’ll always advise against this today. It was fine when things literally weren’t available, but it’s a different argument when you’re haggling over price.
The way to change things is to support the places showing what you want to watch at the price that’s right, not to just keep consuming the same content but try to avoid paying for it.
A banner week for canceling streaming...
I’d already canceled the Hulu/Disney bundle this week. I had missed the story about the extra charges for avoiding Prime ads, so I just canceled it.
I’m only keeping Netflix because I get it for free with my T-Mobile plan. If that changes then I will cancel it too.
Paramount is already set not to renew (paid for a year), ditto with Peacock.
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Yeah, if not for the discounted rate I have with Amazon prime through school, I would be dropping it as well. That being said, school ends in June I hope.
The giant collection of discs was wonderful.
Increasing bills to subsidize unwanted production while having a tiny shrinking library to stream is less worthwhile. Maintaining a subscription to an already consumed tiny set of titles is not happening.
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It really wasn’t. There are plenty of reasons to criticize streaming services at the moment but I don’t for a second miss how much space physical media wasted and the turn-of-the-century video quality.
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Also, any argument about that service is missing a lot of the point. Netflix is what it is now because of international streaming, and it would be literally impossible to scale the DVD service to the same size.
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I’m not quite sure what you mean by that. The number of films and shows on the old Netflix disc-mailing service was vastly larger that what’s available for streaming (because no licensing was required). If you mean in number of subscribers or hours or video service, it’d quite feasible to scale up. Basically, they’d become Amazon, except with all products being 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick. Which actually makes things quite a bit simpler that what Amazon’s doing (smaller and fewer fulfillment centers, and much easier to automate).
There are good reasons why they might not want to do it.
Hey, there’s an idea: why don’t they just merge and get it over with? (Not that I perceive the current devolution as happening “slowly”.)
Well, what if Amazon just buys one of those companies? Oh, wait, they’ve already owned Twitch for 9 years. Don’t be too optimistic about a coming “disruption”. YouTube’s gigantic parent company isn’t known for disruption or innovation anymore either.
One had to have seen this coming with Prime Video, which started off as an unwanted “bonus” that just happened to get bundled with the Amazon Prime subscriptions people were already paying for. Last Christmas, a family member was complaining about being unable to watch Yellowstone after it had moved to Prime Video. “But don’t you already pay for Prime shipping for all those next-day orders you place?” “Yeah…”; and, shortly afterward, their TV was set up with Prime Video “for free”. Of course Amazon’s costs are gonna go up if they get people to actually use their service.
see
For years I’ve been telling fools on this site that “cord cutting” was a fallacy because you’re still paying the same ISP that you were paying before you “cut the cord” -and- that eventually, with both streaming services and ISPs continuously raising their prices, things would be the same price as cable tv. But nah, no one wanted to listen. Now get off my lawn!
Moses.
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So?
What did you expect?
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Yes, ISP monopolies in the US are a problem, especially if you don’t exercise your right to choose what you subscribe to and blindly just pay for the same things even if you don’t actually watch them.
I’m not sure why this makes you think that greater consumer choice is bad just because you don’t have it in the last mile and you opted to pay extra, but I do think you’re missing several points.
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Did you respond to the wrong person? The parent comment doesn’t say anything like that, and mostly seems to be making the semantic point that no “cord” is “cut” because we still need that cord for internet access.
Netflix is on thin ice
This customer survey just came out today, and among other interesting tidbits, it shows that Netflix’s perceived value has absolutely cratered over the past few years, dropping from #2 to #6.
https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/streaming-satisfaction-ranking-max-netflix-disney-plus-hulu-1235743906/
Which totally jibes with my experience. They jacked up prices while I realized there was nothing good to watch anymore. Cancelled. As everyone realizes the same thing, maybe Netflix seeing their subscriber numbers crater will change their minds about a few things?
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As ever, I understand if you don’t like certain things, but this is the opposite of my experience. There’s plenty to watch, especially if you don’t insist on only US produced content. It’s a great examples of the old adage that you can’t please everyone, but while people are diving in to the new Lupin or Castlevania series or the original movies that just popped up, you’re fine to say you’d rather go elsewhere. My to watch list is ever growing, though.
But, if it’s not for you – that literally the point. Netflix used to be the only game in town, now you can go to places that fit your tastes better, which is an improvement from the “subsidise 200 channels but only really watch 4” business models that came before.
Re: 'Sure I'll be out of business tomorrow but today is looking great!'
As everyone realizes the same thing, maybe Netflix seeing their subscriber numbers crater will change their minds about a few things?
Possible but I suspect that what we’re seeing now is their response to that.
If you’re bleeding customers, want to make just as much if not more money than before and all you care about is short-term profits then jacking up the price on what customers you have left will do the trick.
Netflix stopped offering anything of value to me so I cancelled this year. It was just non stop price hike after price hike while they removed show after show after show that I enjoyed, their original content was mostly garbage and cancelled after the first season
Yeah, about that…
Youtube and Twitch are trying to screw content creators left and right. The Adpocalypse did result in much less ad revenue for creators and well, Twitch is pulling out all the stops to Make Line Go Up and Make Creators poor.
Tiktok is doing similar things with a much worse streaming front AND back end.
It is not something one can fix by taking Business 101.
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And this is why we don’t get nice things. (Not being rude to you, but this is why these won’t replace streaming.)
Crime Report: Netflix was Found Dead
Six+ years ago, when Netflix and the studios began to destroy streaming, we dropped paid streaming forever. Back then streaming was only Netflix, which is guilty of inflicting its own wounds along with the studio’s mortal wounds. That was the last time we paid for any content of any sort (except for local indie short films). Torrents once again became an equalizer, which completely shunts Hollywood greed. Torrents free content from DRM, from time restrictions, from forced menus & screens, from ransoms, and from all of Hollywood’s bullshit. Torrents allow us to know exactly what we will be watching this evening and guarantee it will not be arbitrarily removed by studio greed tomorrow. Our forever growing collection includes everything we would ever want to watch (all wheat/no chaff). Streaming and cable are dead, they will never be resurrected.
Pity though, Netflix figured out how to get people like me (who abhor bribed copyright laws/DRM/et al) to gladly pay for content via their original fair deal and extensive catalogue. Never quenchable Hollywood greed and the complete shitification of Netflix altered an attractive paid proposition.
Disclaimer……………..
Though my mighty ship oft sails the seven seas, I’m not writing that I pirate content nor endorse friendly file sharing.
It’s already broken for me. Netflix has already been tossed out and I’m just pirating whatever I feel the urge to watch. Thankfully, downloading for personal use is not a legal issue here.
Next on the chop block is Amazon. Then HBO depending on if they start charging for streaming in different location. Disney is still safe because I have it in a bundle of a local online retailer I buy a ton of stuff from and I pay less than half the full price otherwise it’d be gone before Amazon.
As much as they scream “piracy”, they are the only ones to blame for this. And considering how writers, actors and workers earn are treated and how low the wages are… I couldn’t care less about their whining regarding piracy.