Please Stop Trying To Argue That Netflix Should Be More Like Traditional Cable TV
from the sometimes-change-hurts dept
Just a few years ago, more than a few analysts proudly proclaimed that Netflix had doomed itself with its one-two punch of dysfunction; namely the botched effort to split off their DVR rental and the immensely-disliked round of rate hikes. While both were indeed ugly, a few years later and most customers have long-since forgiven the company, with new users signing up in droves. Most of the analysts that predicted doom have been pretty quiet, though a few have been willing to admit they were wrong, and Netflix's international expansion and growing subscriber counts are pretty impressive considering where Netflix started not long ago.But where does Netflix need to go from here to win consumer hearts and keep pushing the barriers of television? An article over at Wired claims that the biggest thing missing from the Netflix experience is the ability to channel surf. Or, as Wired suggests, some feature that effectively just lets you turn your brain off and soak up a rotating, automated selection of ambient TV noise -- like lonely people used to do in the olden days:
That's the central problem plaguing both set top boxes like Roku and Apple TV and content services like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. Instead of letting you lean back and soak up content, these new challengers require decisions–a careful cost-benefit analysis of thousands of different options. If the traditional TV experience is about letting viewers surf channels, today's on-demand video is like giving them a speedboat and forcing them choose a destination before they can even get in the water.If your biggest problem is that you're awash in too many choices, that really doesn't seem like much of a problem. Many people claim there's not enough content on Netflix, many of these "choices" being an over-abundance of C-grade dreck like Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, or Gor (which are fine, if laughing at horrible film is what you're in the mood for). If ambient, empty-headed noise filling the apartment is all you need, why not just turn on Gigli and read a book?
It doesn't seem like making Netflix more like traditional TV would be doing Netflix any favors. If you recall, more than a few people questioned Netflix's decision to release original series all at once, insisting that this killed the "water cooler" angle of program marketing, where people would gather and hype a program every Monday in the office. As the data came in, it became more and more clear that people really love to binge watch on their own schedule, and as Kevin Spacey himself ultimately pointed out, giving people what they want isn't a bad thing.
Some of the article's other complaints are more valid, like Netflix's continued inability master their own GUI (though the author's headline suggests the traditional cable UI is "quietly brilliant," making me wonder if they've used a Time Warner Cable cable box lately). Netflix also made a mistake with locking out companies who were doing a better job than they were at highlighting new content. But a lot of Netflix's problems, as you can watch the Wired author figure out toward the end of the piece, is that content industry licensing has hamstrung live TV efforts (see: Aereo), better content and real innovation before it starts.
Keep in mind Netflix streaming is relatively young, and while there's a lot of things Netflix needs to do to improve, becoming more like the lowest-ranked industry in the history of customer satisfaction surveys probably isn't among them.
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Filed Under: cable, innovation, streaming, television
Companies: netflix
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but think of the time and the money that would be saved and how the traditional cable tv could then carry on ripping customers of by having them pay for services they dont want, just to get those it does want. doesn't matter about anything else, as long as the legacy industries are ok!
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This example only helps that kind of thinking.
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There have been times that by the time I am done browsing for something to watch...I've spent so much time just browsing, I have no desire to watch anything anymore.
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Re:
http://www.break.com/video/for-s5-netflix-now-lets-you-just-browse-endlessly-2578827
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The Onion's Exclusive Look at Netflix's Genius "Browse Endlessly" Plan
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Background noise
Perhaps something as simple as allowing someone to click on their super specific categories and having it randomly autoplay shows in that genre while allowing the user to skip episodes they don't care for. Something similar to how music playlists work on Slacker.
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Re: Background noise
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Re: Background noise
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Basically I'm saying that Netflix doesn't need a channel surf function. No one would use it after a while.
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Re:
I think the void they are trying to fill here would be done better with a queue system than with a channel system.
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That's just my personal preference though.
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Basically it's 1000 times better than cable, but requires that you take an active part in figuring out what you want to see, which is a big plus for me.
Trailers on Netflix would be nice though, and if they wouldn't go to a stupid menu screen before the credits are over.
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i specifically pay for netflix for two reasons- 1. cartoons on tap for the kids that i don't have to download myself
and
2. random channel surfing, for content outside of what i've specifically gone and gotten and already added to my home media server.
basically netflix IS my channel surfing randomness.
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What Netflix is missing
There should be more services like Headweb (which is unfortunately limited to a very few countries).
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Re: What Netflix is missing
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Re: Re: What Netflix is missing
And it's nonsense to charge you for the same thing second time if you ever want to watch it (i.e. renting is nonsense in the case of digital). Paying for convenience of streaming though makes sense, so you can have some monthly fee, because each time you stream you load their servers. But it's not because you need to rent and return the merchandise like with physical goods. So preventing downloading (which offloads their servers) makes completely zero sense.
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Re: Re: Re: What Netflix is missing
Netflix DRM has the unfortunate side-effect of restricting access to specific regions and operating systems - and those are great reasons to complain about DRM - not because you aren't also getting a download.
It obviously works great as a business model for streaming content, and is very different from renting.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: What Netflix is missing
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Re: What Netflix is missing
That's not what they do -- and they couldn't even if they wanted to.
Here's the reason that I'm OK with both the DRM and the lack of downloads: the service is not charging more than it's worth. DRM reduces the value of the thing that is DRM'd. The inability to keep the thing reduces its value even more. If the service is priced accordingly, as Netflix is, then I am OK with both of those things.
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If background noise is all you're looking for...
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Re: If background noise is all you're looking for...
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Destroying what is good about Netflix?
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