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Netflix's Original Content Library Is Growing By 185% Each Year (cordcutting.com)
An anonymous reader writes: From Q1 of 2012 to Q1 of 2016, Netflix has added an incredible 111 original series and films. The numbers translate to an average quarterly growth rate of 34.22% and an average annual growth rate of 185.41%. And there is reason to believe that future growth rates could be even higher -- with competition coming from all sides, Netflix is likely to keep pushing more and more cash into original content. Those wondering why Netflix has grown increasingly interested in owning the shows it airs, you have to realize that not long ago the streaming company was struggling to snap any good TV show from cable channels. The New York Times' profile of House of Cards' Beau Willimon, from 2014, sheds more light into this : Around three years ago, Netflix realized it had a problem: It was paying large sums to license other people's content -- TV shows and movies produced by other companies -- in order to then show them to you, the Netflix subscriber, at home. This initially proved successful, but there were two troubling aspects to this model: 1) It left Netflix very vulnerable to competition, since the shows and movies it licensed could, theoretically, be licensed by anyone willing to outbid them, and 2) the most popular TV shows, episodic dramas like "CSI" and sitcoms like "The Big Bang Theory," were already being sold for huge deals into syndication at basic cable channels like TBS and USA. What was left to Netflix were the kind of serialized shows that don't typically play well in syndication, like "Lost" and "Breaking Bad," which have complicated story arcs that compel a viewer to watch all the episodes in order. Traditionally, while these kinds of serialized shows could be big hits in their initial broadcast runs, they proved tough sells to aftermarkets, precisely because of the demands they placed on the audience.
https://www.allflicks.net/netflixs-us-catalog-has-shrunk-by-more-than-2500-titles-in-less-than-2-5-years/
I want other networks to make the investments in content, get burned, and for Netflix to pick up the least crispy remains a few years later. New Netflix shows like House of Cards (which began to suck after just two seasons) just aren't needed: compared to what I do watch on Netflix its original content is only a small fraction.
Speaking for myself, I came to Netflix for the back-catalog movies and TV shows. Their original shows are just icing on the cake. But lately Netflix seems to think that they can be just another TV network like HBO, and have neglected what made most of their customers subscribe to their service in the first place.
As their back-catalog shrinks, so do the chances I'll renew my subscription each month. If I wanted to subscribe to HBO, I would just go subscribe to HBO.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
1. Lack of ads. 2. Not paying for cable TV package.
How about demand / customer base?
If you have two coconuts and three buyers you have a market.
If you have three coconuts and two buyers you don't have a market.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
I like the original content push - it seems NetFlix is more willing to be original and take some chances rather than create yet another "CSI" or "Law and Order" or just some stupid hospital based soap opera. Not all the original content is great but it's mostly pretty solid with some standouts. I hope they continue to embrace original content. The back catalog stuff is sometimes interesting but mostly stuff I've already seen, it's a dead end.
I've really been getting into international shows. "The Almighty Johnsons", "Wentworth", "Happy Valley" are all excellent.
as I'm about to pull the plug on Netflix for blocking VPS/DNS services. I do watch them quite a bit from Canada but I don't really need them. Even the wife who could care less about tech stuff was like what? Off with their heads.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Some do (Star Trek for example, streams on multiple services). However, most rights-holders feel they can get more money by charging a lot to one service for exclusive rights rather then getting a little money from many services. Likewise, the streaming services are willing to pay more to deny their competitors access to the same show.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
Either that is because of a change in focus of Netflix or because the content providers are getting more difficult/greedier? Without an official comment from Netflix it is hard to know, but any change of focus of Netflix is probably triggered by the latter?
The one reason I would give for someone pirating: is that you can't be sure where to find the content or find the content in 1 year and at a reasonable cost. I appreciate content owners need to stay profitable, but there needs to be some sort of balance?
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Netflix's original content is license for world wide distribution, so this actually increases the library for everyone in every territory.
what's the real difference...?
C O S T !
People that don't care enough about teevee to accept the huge cost of cable teevee packages are far better served with a low cost streaming system. Netflix is doing it right; they learned back in 2011 not to jack up rates to pay for a huge catalog, and instead they're making new content and watching their subscriber base grow rapidly. They're doing it right and the endless horde of critics are arguing with success.
I think they need to go further. They should build a genuine news network and stream it live. CNN blew up news reporting in the 80's, displacing traditional network news and creating multiple cable exclusive competitors. Netflix has 65 million international viewers that would probably tune into a streaming exclusive news network.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
I disagree. I joined Netflix for the same reason you did, and grew concerned as copyright holders became intent on denying Netflix quality content. When they started producing their own content, I thought, "That's smart. Even if you just come up with a couple shows, it could spur interest."
After a couple years of new Netflix content, they produce a couple of my favorite shows. I definitely do not want them to stop. What's more, I do subscribe to HBO, and it's largely so that I can view their original programming. I also subscribe to Hulu. None of these has anything resembling a complete catalog, but putting them all together, I get to watch most of what I'd want to watch.
I think this is the right move forward-- not a good endpoint, but a good "next logical step". Streaming services with limited catalogs and great original programming will continue to hammer away at traditional TV, and you'll see more and more cord-cutters. I don't know how long it will take, but eventually the situation will become dire enough for traditional networks that they'll have to make their properties available on streaming services to make any money off of them. It'll be the Spotifycation of TV.
Give that a few years, and you'll see some method arise where you can pay a single subscription and get everything you want-- a complete back-catalog plus HBO/Netflix/Hulu originals. Now, that might be by some arrangement where these major providers agree on some common platform, or it may just be licensing deals (e.g. "Netflix pays HBO to get all their programming on a 1-year delay."). But that's the endpoint we want, and I still think it's going to happen.
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But Netflix appears to be slowly, drip by drip, screwing its customers of the DVD service.
The "next day" mail service has now been turned into two-day deliveries.
It also seems as if the turnaround at the distribution center once a disc is received is now next day, instead of same day.
I subscribe to the two discs at home level of service. I appear to be receiving about half the number of discs per month as I used to.
It looks as if Netflix is actively trying to chase customers away by reducing the amount of streaming content and putting large latencies into the distribution of their DVD service.
It looks like Netflix's US business has become too expensive, and Netflix is now looking to international markets for the profits as it withdraws from the US markets.
Agreed. Their back catalog of movies can be fairly tough to stomach. But I think that's because they're getting horribly squeezed b the content providers -- so Netflix has had to produce original series to keep the subscriber base, and I'm guessing that next time those catalogs roll around for licensing, that Netflix will be much more in the driver's seat. Also, Netflix isn't renewing any deals where they don't get licenses to stream it in all countries it services at once, which I think is a smart move. But that necessarily shrinks their catalog since the content providers are used to Balkanizing their distribution as much as possible and dislike the universal deals. That shrinks US content quite a bit, but I'm ok with it -- it's the right call for Netflix.
Blame the content owners, not Netflix. If it were up to Netflix, they'd put everything online and you'd be able to stream any movie/TV show ever made at any time. The problem is that each show is owned by someone and Netflix needs to negotiate rights to stream with each company. Some companies demand a ton of money and their content isn't worth it. Others sign exclusive deals with other providers. Still others refuse to put any of their content online or start their own online service thinking they'll be "the next Netflix" when they are anything but. (I'm looking at you, CBS All Access.)
There was also a movement by the content owners awhile back to starve Netflix. They saw Netflix growing in popularity and felt threatened so they decided as a group to withhold popular content from Netflix and only give them older, "B-Level" content. The theory was that Netflix's popularity would plummet and people would stay with cable TV so the content owners could keep getting richer fast. Instead, Netflix has begun producing its own content which insulates them from this kind of attack. Combined with the increase in people streaming and thus the increased pressure to put shows on streaming services, this ruined the content owners' plan, but Netflix still needs to negotiate and pay for each block of shows.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.