Netflix Trending Towards TV Episodes

[admin]

Netflix seems to be shifting in focus, even while it grows in popularity. Late last year, Netflix had capitalized on the good press that their members had consumed over 2 billion hours of video in the fourth quarter. This June, the company reported, it exceeded (for the first time ever) 1 billion hours of streaming content in a single month. That's about a 50% increase in viewing if that rate keeps up. What's more interesting, however, is the Neilsen data showing the trending of Netflix towards television episodes as opposed to movies. According to Netflix, a full 60% of viewing hours are spent on television shows, compared with 40% for movies. The trend is both expected, in my opinion, and dangerous for their business model. Let me explain why...

Discuss "Netflix Trending Towards TV Episodes" here. Read the article.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Good article, and I agree with every point. We joined Netflix for movies, and the selection of movies is terrible. Since I generally don't watch TV we select Netflix less and less. Netflix is currently on path to irrelevance, IMO.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I watch mostly TV shows from Netflix. Even the BD are TV shows like Game of Thrones, Dexter, Breaking Bad, etc.

I prefer TV shows over most movies.

 

[kini]

Makes sense since Netfilx no longer has any movies worth watching. I think most users just keep Netflix around for the $8 just so they can have stuff to watch when there's nothing good on cable/satellite etc...

 

[seabow]

Netflix is better

Ok so for 8 bucks a month I can watch movies tv and docs without commercials. What on earth is there to not like. As for movies I have see a number of top Hollywood releases added in the last couple of months. The Starz movies were all Crap so not really sure who's ccares that they are gone. Also Hulu is far from perfect. The still have commercials, content may be newer but is only available for a short time, and they rarely have the complete series.

 

[j_garcia]

I use Netflix almost exclusively (Amazon Prime also), and though I also joined for movies, I do tend to watch mostly TV shows on it recently because I can watch episodes that I missed of series that I enjoy or whole seasons of things I never got a chance to watch. They have the content, so why do I need cable at all? Oh wait, I got rid of cable because Internet + Neflix is about 50% less expensive (for relatively fast internet too) than ANY cable service.

I can honestly say that I was paying a pretty decent amount for cable and realistically only watching a few regular shows and the occasional movie. That is kind of pointless. And to say "when there's nothing on cable" is just plain blank, because other than the big Emmy series, there really ISN'T much to watch on cable. If I don't like it on Netflix, I can at least find something else I like as opposed to cable where you are pretty much going to have to channel surf unless you have a bunch of stuff you never watched on the DVR - at which point you are doing practically the same thing as watching a streaming service.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I use Netflix almost exclusively (Amazon Prime also), and though I also joined for movies, I do tend to watch mostly TV shows on it recently because I can watch episodes that I missed of series that I enjoy or whole seasons of things I never got a chance to watch. They have the content, so why do I need cable at all? Oh wait, I got rid of cable because Internet + Neflix is about 50% less expensive (for relatively fast internet too) than ANY cable service.

I can honestly say that I was paying a pretty decent amount for cable and realistically only watching a few regular shows and the occasional movie. That is kind of pointless. And to say "when there's nothing on cable" is just plain blank, because other than the big Emmy series, there really ISN'T much to watch on cable. If I don't like it on Netflix, I can at least find something else I like as opposed to cable where you are pretty much going to have to channel surf unless you have a bunch of stuff you never watched on the DVR - at which point you are doing practically the same thing as watching a streaming service.

I agree, and I'm on the verge of going to "basic cable" myself (just to get Comcast internet, you can't without CATV of some sort here). My son recently dropped CATV completely and just gets internet support (you can where he lives), and he says he's happy even though he is a TV sort of guy.

It does make you wonder how long the cable companies can continue to remain successful while they only offer expensive bundles of crap most of us don't really want, including many channels with 15min/hour of mega-loud compressed commercials. Companies that mistreat their customers tend to go out of business.

 

[PENG]

My main complain is the lack of DD, DTS, DD+. The PS3 is probably among the few that let you select DD+ on some movies but none of my other BDP including the Oppo an do it.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

My main complain is the lack of DD, DTS, DD+. The PS3 is probably among the few that let you select DD+ on some movies but none of my other BDP including the Oppo an do it.

I'm getting Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 on many HD movies and TV shows on Netflix using my $100 Panasonic 110 BD player.

But yeah, it's not available on many movies and shows.

I'm also just getting basic cable, mainly for ABC, NBC, CBS, & FOX HD for football.

 

[j_garcia]

My main complain is the lack of DD, DTS, DD+. The PS3 is probably among the few that let you select DD+ on some movies but none of my other BDP including the Oppo an do it.

The list of devices that support 5.1 via Netflix is slowly growing. At one point the only one, but a lot of new models have it as well as some of the Roku boxes (only via HDMI), but I still think there are only something like 5 to maybe 10 devices currently.

The list of titles that have 5.1 if you browse around Netflix, has grown considerably. About 60% of everything I've watched in the last few weeks has been in 5.1. It is the older titles; not older by date, but were on there prior to the addition of 5.1, that generally are not. If you look at recent releases, almost all of them are 5.1.

 

[Boltonite]

Netflix demise

I think we're entering the phase of Netflix's downfall. The movie selection has degraded to the point where it is nearly as sad as it's free alternatives (e.g. Crackle, etc). Competition in the movie sector is going to leave it hurting (Redbox, Amazon, etc). But, as you accurately pointed out, it's focus on TV will pit against Hulu; and in the current state, there it's a hands-down win for Hulu.

 

[j_garcia]

I think we're entering the phase of Netflix's downfall. The movie selection has degraded to the point where it is nearly as sad as it's free alternatives (e.g. Crackle, etc). Competition in the movie sector is going to leave it hurting (Redbox, Amazon, etc). But, as you accurately pointed out, it's focus on TV will pit against Hulu; and in the current state, there it's a hands-down win for Hulu.

Except that Crackle SUCKS. Not sure what you mean by "degraded" since movies don't often "leave" except in the case of Starz, and that wasn't a massive loss. They are obviously focusing on TV shows because that is what people are watching. I do notice that Netflix hasn't been adding as many movies lately though. Amazon's selection of included "free" viewing via Prime is still very small compared to Netflix. Hulu is hit or miss, and I've found that unless a show is fairly recent, it is either not on there or is only partially there. I signed up for Hulu Plus for the free month and found myself watching stuff that was already available on their site free, so I cancelled it.

 

[KEW]

Local stations are still broadcasting!
I connected an antenna and found out I can pull in 30 clean HD stations, including all of the networks! That made it a no-brainer for me. Netflix, Hulu plus, and network are more than I need, but at a total of $18/month I don't mind keeping everything.

 

[psbfan9]

too lazy to read all the posts. Not sure if this has been posted already.

I got an odd email the other day about a class action law suit against Netflix...

Current and Former Netflix Subscribers Could Be Affected by A Class Action Settlement - PR Newswire - The Sacramento Bee

 

[j_garcia]

Yes, I got it too.