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Netflix's US Catalog Has Shrunk by More Than 2,500 Titles in Less Than 2.5 Years
According to a report on AllFlicks, a website that lists and categorizes Netflix content, the streaming service's library for American subscribers has shrunk by a third since 2014. The report claims that in March 2014, the US Netflix library consisted of about 6,500 movies and 1,600 television shows. As of this month, the same library offers 4,330 movies and 1,200 TV shows. An article on Quartz explains the shrinkage: The reason is that securing international streaming rights to shows and movies is exceedingly difficult -- laws and regulations differ by country, as does the type of content that people around the world consume. Netflix hopes that its library in other countries will eventually rival its comprehensive selection in the US.
All this tells me is that Netflix has looked at what people actually watch or want to watch and have lessened everything else. Furthermore, the real question is, how many titles do they have in their current catalog. How much of a percentage is 2,500 titles.
"and getting rid of obscure titles."
thereby removing one of the great attractions (for me anyway) of Netflix. Being able to watch things I may have just heard about in passing or stumbled across while browsing the catalog.
It really has nothing to do with international rights. Cost may be a factor, but it isn't the most important right now. They can license whatever the studios will sell them.
The studios aren't selling.
The reason is that they figure they've got the killer show that is enough to get them to install the service for just that studio's output. HBO and Starz are already exclusives (with HBO recently revoking Netflix's license with Sesame Street), Disney's working on theirs, CBS has forked off their own instead of signing on to Hulu with the other networks.
At $15/m, they figure they've got the one killer show that is enough to get that monthly subscription, and they're gambling they're right by taking their material off of Netflix.
In the end, "cutting the chord" is not going to save anybody any money, because instead of paying cable $99+ / month for shows and HBO, they're going to have to sign on to 7 services to get the same shows they want to watch, resulting in the same $99/month.
"But remember, most lynch mobs aren't this nice." (H.Simpson)
-- Joe
That would only serve to cause a loud portion of the internet to deride TPB as a "sellout", pick up their ball and go somewhere else they don't have to pay for it.
Perhaps true. But as a long time user of TPB for content I cannot find on Netflix/Hulu/etc, I'd happily pay for a legitimate version...they could even call it "The WarnerSonyEveryOtherFilmCompany Bay" for all I care.
Just put all the content in one place, and make it easy for me to watch it whenever I want on whatever platform I happen to have in front of me at the moment, and I'll be happy to pay a reasonable fee.
Netflix's deep catalog ended my piracy, since they made it so much easier... :/
I even bought a fire stick to get access to Prime content, only to find that nearly everything on prime you still have to pay extra for.
Time to fire up uTorrent and Plex once again
(I liked not having to manage my own content catalog for a few years).
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump