Netflix Braces for Growth Slowdown, Stock Plunges

I only use the streaming service to watch some movies here and there but mainly to let my son watch his Thomas the train and Caillou series. Worth every penny, im sure you parents of littles ones can agree.
 
canmanone said:
i hope they miss every single one of those profit target. that way they will realize that we as consumers rule the roast not them. see when you hike prices for no reason people will flock to BBD. we will find bigger better deal somewhere else.
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Yes, because it's absolutely netflix's fault for ISP's and Movie Studious putting the squeeze on them with bandwidth limitations, data caps and the studios wanting more money for their upcoming contract renewals.
 
Boozer said:
Theres a homeless guy with a netflix sub. He uses a PO box and watches the movies at the local shelter. If he can afford netflix, any one of you can. $6 is nothing.
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I can afford lots of things, doesn't mean I have to spend.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Oh goody another story to continue the emo-rage over a $6 increase in a price that most people agreed was an amazing deal.
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Seriously. What the fuck is wrong with an already great deal going up in price $6 a month..

One thing that is seemingly forgot in all of these "emo" articles is that Netflix's license fee's just shot up almost 70 percent this year. Streaming all that unlimited content isn't cheap , all of the studios resist heavily and constantly raise there rates each year.

Its still the best deal around and 10x cheaper than paying for a monthly content provider like Cable or Sat.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Oh goody another story to continue the emo-rage over a $6 increase in a price that most people agreed was an amazing deal.
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This. Programming you want when you want and none of the fluff for 1/10 the price of cable. You can't have it all for $10/16 a month.
 
Cable companies are robbing their customers. First, they make a ton of money by selling 20%-30% of programming time in advertisements (when a 1-hour episode is 43 minutes long, something isn't quite right.

This outrage has a twofold benefit:
It will encourage people to look for alternatives to netflix, creating competition in the streaming world, and it will make people realize that streaming services still beat cable hands down, even if the price quadrupled.
 
Well Hulu+ is $9/month and their current programming selection is a lot better than NetFlix. Plus you don't have to wait a whole tv season later to watch syndacated programs.

A lot of streaming netflix stuff is good if you want children's programming. But far as current releases for adults, it quite literally stinks. You might as well use Crackle which is free!

Capitlism is great!
 
Mr. Bluntman said:
This. Programming you want when you want and none of the fluff for 1/10 the price of cable. You can't have it all for $10/16 a month.
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Cable has been overpriced since its inception. It has also been an outdated model for about a decade. Netflix has the right idea with their method of delivering content, but their next quarter results will likely suffer.

If they can offer me DVD/Blu Ray + streaming for under $15, I'm all for it. If not, I'll go to RedBox for the 3-4 movies I rent a month, which will be cheaper.
 
Funny, I'll actually be saving money by dropping the streaming portion of netflix. I'm glad to no longer subsidize a service I never really use.
 
I ended up cancelling after having a membership since 2002. I can afford the difference but I recently lowered to 1 dvd at a time since I rarely watch dvd's anymore.. and the streaming content is not worth it at this time. So basically, I am forced to choose.. the decision was pretty easy. Also the new interface SUCKS. My experience has been great with Netflix until recently. No complaints at all for years. However there's a different vibe recently... They raised prices a few months ago already, dumbed down the gui to make it hard to sort by rating or try finding a movie to watch without knowing the name of the movie (You will be scrolling sideways for days), I was getting netflix DRM errors on all my windows boxes until recently (I had to use silverlight 3 developer which always installed 4 even though I told it not too. F'ing annoying), the fee I'm paying went up 60% with no explanations. Hell at least tell me I'm getting "something" for the 60% markup!, I realize there are other costs.. and also realize they are making money monthly off 25 million people. and last but not least.. the "latte" remark by the CEO. I understand it's only a difference of $6-7 a month.. but we can take that and multiply that by 12. That's enough to go out and say... pay for a year of Amazon prime.. or other options out there now. I agree it's still a good deal and for most people it's a great deal.. Just not for me. /rant


here's a couple fixes for chrome and firefox users to go back to the old interface...

Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ngacmlmclfopgbnmefcffgbcjiafbfpo

Firefox: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/105047
 
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Boozer said:
Then don't.
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I agree. Nice thing about a free market is that if you feel a company is scum, greedy or provides a product that doesn't warrant the price, don't buy it.

BTW - I cancelled my account and went outside. Meh! Fuk'em. :cool:
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Oh goody another story to continue the emo-rage over a $6 increase in a price that most people agreed was an amazing deal.
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Its actually a pretty interesting study to see how short sighted consumers are.

For the ENTIRE TIME we have essentially gotten streaming for free. They added streaming and there was 0 cost increase. Clearly they were not making more money by doing this move. Now streaming has become a self-sustaining product and they want to separate it from the dvd by mail business which is still only in the US. All the foreign market growth has been for streaming only. Minus the streaming for free part, this has been their tune the entire time....its time to separate the products.

Sure, streaming is not great but its a helluva lot better than when it first came out and 50% of all content was softcore from the 60s.
 
infect0 said:
Its actually a pretty interesting study to see how short sighted consumers are.

For the ENTIRE TIME we have essentially gotten streaming for free. They added streaming and there was 0 cost increase. Clearly they were not making more money by doing this move. Now streaming has become a self-sustaining product and they want to separate it from the dvd by mail business which is still only in the US. All the foreign market growth has been for streaming only. Minus the streaming for free part, this has been their tune the entire time....its time to separate the products.

Sure, streaming is not great but its a helluva lot better than when it first came out and 50% of all content was softcore from the 60s.
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It's because consumers (mainly of the American variety) are fickle. They want something in addition to what they are paying for, but when it comes time to pay for the 'freebie', they say, "Hell no! You're a greedy corp that wants to take all of my money!"

I wonder how many of the people that are planning to or have already cancelled their Netflix membership, cancel their cable tv service when the price increases $5-$15 every 6-12 months (some Comcast customers know what I'm talking about)? I used to have cable, I cut the cord some 15 months ago. Got tired of paying $50+ for what amounts to garbage.

The fickle consumer will be the death of internet streaming. The studios are smart, they are looking for any reason to kill anything that competes with their valued theater and DVD/Blu-Ray cartel.
 
JMccovery said:
It's because consumers (mainly of the American variety) are fickle. They want something in addition to what they are paying for, but when it comes time to pay for the 'freebie', they say, "Hell no! You're a greedy corp that wants to take all of my money!"

I wonder how many of the people that are planning to or have already cancelled their Netflix membership, cancel their cable tv service when the price increases $5-$15 every 6-12 months (some Comcast customers know what I'm talking about)? I used to have cable, I cut the cord some 15 months ago. Got tired of paying $50+ for what amounts to garbage.

The fickle consumer will be the death of internet streaming. The studios are smart, they are looking for any reason to kill anything that competes with their valued theater and DVD/Blu-Ray cartel.
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Oh I wouldn't say fickle, I'd say American consumers are like spoiled little brats and/or whiny bitches, but I'm not very diplomatic. :D
 
I hope that large numbers of people will drop the rental plan and go streaming only. Then maybe I won't see "Long Fucking Wait" on every movie I wanna see.
 
TwiceOver said:
Umm. Netflix hands out a 60% increase to customers with no real official explanation. What did anyone expect.
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most companies dont devulge what they pay for the parts they use to provider thier service.. BUT IF you didnt get all butthurt and read some of the news on what netflix pays now and will be paying for the movies you WILL CLEARLY SEE (its pretty simple math) that THEY HAVE TO CHARGE MORE. Maybe not this minute, but at the ned of this year when all their current contracts end.

how come nobody SCREAMS bloody murder when apple charges $300 something that costs them less than $150(tt was $150 at release, parts and manufacturing is closer to $100 now) in parts and labor to assemble. They consistantly do this but I dont se screaming about it.

Netflix price hike only matter if you use it and enjoy it. Anybody complaining who doesnt is a tool. And If you think $9 for streaming is to much. Again I challange you to look at what content prices from thes studios will be in 2012 and show me how Netflix can stay in business with the old prices. But REALLY look at what the projected prices will be, dont just read some whiney news story, RESEARCH/BE informed for real.. do notbe a sheep, dont believe what you are told just cus some lasy ass wants to wine. READ, understand, know. And if you still feel Netlfix is raping you for $$$ cancel its pretty simple and you put your money where your mouth is.
 
JMccovery said:
I wonder how many of the people that are planning to or have already cancelled their Netflix membership, cancel their cable tv service when the price increases $5-$15 every 6-12 months (some Comcast customers know what I'm talking about)? I used to have cable, I cut the cord some 15 months ago. Got tired of paying $50+ for what amounts to garbage.
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*raises hand. Already did, and it was for the exact reason you state: I got tired of a few dollars increase here and there for programming I didn't use enough of. Sooner or later, products will hit a price threshold for what the consumer feels it's worth, and once it crosses that threshold the consumer will either find an alternative product or stop using that product.

Same goes for Netflix: people have an expectation of what they feel the service is worth. Many people feel that the 60% increase takes the cost of the service above their value threshold. The movie industry still believes that their products are worth far more than they actually are, and that's the problem we're running into. Supply/Demand isn't working.

When Netflix loses sales because of the higher costs, the money is not going to be funneled back through other channels. I haven't seen a movie in the theatre since Transformers 2. I have bought a total of 2 DVD's in the last 3 years. If the industry loses the money they get from me for Netflix, it will be total loss as there is no replacement. I know I'm not the only person that feels this way, either.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Oh I wouldn't say fickle, I'd say American consumers are like spoiled little brats and/or whiny bitches, but I'm not very diplomatic. :D
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Stupid consumers and their stupid money and stupid ideals. Companies would do MUCH better without customers at all.
 
I know its often the case that the company never gets the benefit of the doubt, but I dont think the price increases are all the unreasonable if what they say is true.


If the reality is that thier current pricing is not enough to allow them to bring in more content, then I understand why they had no choice. Lets not forget that the content providers are going to demand a high price for Netflix to really grow thier library. I can completely believe that the price was climbing too much in order to keep pricing as it was.

If it means more content and a better service, well then the price isnt so bad.
 
Jeremy C said:
*raises hand. Already did, and it was for the exact reason you state: I got tired of a few dollars increase here and there for programming I didn't use enough of. Sooner or later, products will hit a price threshold for what the consumer feels it's worth, and once it crosses that threshold the consumer will either find an alternative product or stop using that product.

Same goes for Netflix: people have an expectation of what they feel the service is worth. Many people feel that the 60% increase takes the cost of the service above their value threshold. The movie industry still believes that their products are worth far more than they actually are, and that's the problem we're running into. Supply/Demand isn't working.

When Netflix loses sales because of the higher costs, the money is not going to be funneled back through other channels. I haven't seen a movie in the theatre since Transformers 2. I have bought a total of 2 DVD's in the last 3 years. If the industry loses the money they get from me for Netflix, it will be total loss as there is no replacement. I know I'm not the only person that feels this way, either.
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The only way people can get the studios to understand is to NOT go to any or buy any movies for a while. Leaving Netflix for other services will not change the the status quo at the studios, they will continue to crush anything that they feel threatens their outmoded cash cows.

Just like the RIAA, the members of the MPAA are relics of the past that begrudgingly cling onto their outdated distribution methods.
 
"The only way people can get the studios to understand is to NOT go to any or buy any movies for a while. Leaving Netflix for other services will not change the the status quo at the studios, they will continue to crush anything that they feel threatens their outmoded cash cows.

Just like the RIAA, the members of the MPAA are relics of the past that begrudgingly cling onto their outdated distribution methods."


See, this is the part I have difficulty grasping. I don't think that the physical distrubution methods are outdated. My argument is two-fold and applies to a lot of households out there. Streaming is not an option for me because A) the quality of the streaming sucks and B) the internet speeds in my state are generally not very good except in one or two areas. Truth is, in many of the towns around me, one cannot get any high speed internet service (by high speed, I mean more than dial up. I'm definately not talking about the 20mb+ speeds that some of you are fortunate enough to have access to).

I've been fortunate enough to be able to travel a little around this beautiful country of ours and I keep seeing the same thing. Most areas do not have the infrastructure to use streaming services effectively. This of course does not even address the quality issue.

I'll be honest, I was a bit of a grognard when it came to shifting on online distribution services (Steam) due to a bias for physical media. However, after using Steam for a couple of years, I really prefer it over other options. That said, the quality from steam is as high (actually better with regards to patching and updates) as actually buying the physical media. The same is not true of streaming. I much prefer the better picture and sound that Blu-ray offers. Is this not an important issue to most? I want quality, followed closely by convienience. Not the other way around.
 
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