This is so strange to me. I guess people enjoy being ripped off and getting less and less value for their money.
This would be strange if Netflix didn’t have enough of easily accessible good content.
When after finishing work we want to watch “a movie”, it’s much easier to choose a Netflix recommendation than to do a half an hour reasearch online and then wait for the movie to be downloaded.
Now add to this time, energy, and expertise needed for looking up and trying pirating options, figuring out technical aspects, paying for a VPN, doing maintenance… Very few can and are willing to do all that.
For me it’s usually hear about a few things that could be interesting throughout the day and download them while I shower after work. A 5gb movie comes through in a few minutes so I don’t even feel it. It’s usually 2 or 3 at a time, and since I’d still be going in blind on Netflix recs, it doesn’t seem much worse.
I can’t say I’m terribly surprised. Many people are too lazy to pirate and the alternative services are also pricy now. Cable and satellite companies did the same stuff before streaming, and most people were too hooked on the product to abandon it.
The comments in a Reddit and Lemmy post are not indicative of broader behavior. Just because everyone in the comments says they’re bailing, that doesn’t mean Netflix is screwed. This is a bubble.
With massive businesses in the US, I operate on one very simple assumption: Americans will take anything. Low quality products, price hikes, evil behavior— nearly 100% of the time, it doesn’t matter. Americans will take it lying down.
Very rarely, there will be significant pushback. Usually this leads to a minor walking back, but the thing that was tried will probably be tried again. Among hundreds of “this is now worse” decisions, maybe two or three are actually significantly haltered or occasionally truly stopped every year.
I don’t even really blame them. American consumers have been treated like absolute shit for so long, and the draw of escapism on TV is probably hard to resist.
Nothing to do with Americans specifically. Netflix gains are worldwide.
