So much for the great exodus that was predicted.
Savvy tech users consistently underestimate how much hostile corporate behavior the general population is willing to put up with.
I thought that Netflix would be caught out by the number of people turning to piracy, but I guess there’s also a lot of older people who have to setup their own account now that they can’t use a relative’s. Or just get the add on for the relative’s existing sub.
I cancelled my Netflix subscription, but it looks like I might need to set one up for my mum and my nan instead :/
Older people are an obvious demographic that won’t jump ship, but don’t turn a blind eye to the younger generation. It isn’t boomers who throw $70+ at video games on a constant basis. The threshold for a convenience/value ratio seems very low for a lot of people.
As an unrelated and statistically insignificant anecdote, the two biggest pirates I know are both actual literal boomers.
That’s true about young people tolerating it.
I’ve got a Sonarr/Plex setup that works really well for me, but it was a pain to get it all set up initially and I think even computer literate people would struggle.
You’re absolutely right.
I built my own computer, been using PCs since I was two years old, I know how to use CLIs and I already run Plex. But Sonarr was such a fucking hassle to set it up that I got halfway through the set up and gave up.
What they don’t explain is that you need two accounts (or more) for these to work.
A Usenet account.
An indexer account that is basically a search engine.
You also need a download app like nzbget. And ofc you setup an account on that and plug it into sonarr.
And an account for the nas or storage if it’s not local.
Sonarr searches the index, finds the files, talks to nzbget and says “download that shit for me and put it together”. Nzbget uses the Usenet account to fetch the stuff, assembles the parts and tells sonarr I’m done. Sonarr then renames it and puts it on your nas.
It’s admittedly fairly abstract, even for someone seasoned in systems admin work.
eh, as someone quite used to pirating on private trackers with qbittorrent, I didn’t find it too difficult to conceptualize once I really looked at how the *Arr pipeline works - at least with torrents. Usenet is an entirely different beast that I haven’t needed to tackle since torrents have everything I need so far.
As per most tech things, though, I don’t think there’s a good end-to-end guide out there (lots of piecemeal ones, though) and having good research skills and being able to fill in the gaps in guides yourself is pretty important.
How do those things work? When I first saw them come in to existence I was under the impression they were just front ends for navigating and playing media in your personal library and storage, like windows media centre used to be, but they seem to be something altogether a lot more capable and complicated. Where does the content come from? Is it streamed?
The content is either ripped from Blu-ray/dvd or (most commonly) just pirated. Sonarr is an “automated” pirating software. You hook it up with a couple of popular torrent trackers, and configure TV shows you want to track/watch. It queried TVDB and other IMDb like services as well as torrent trackers to automatically detect when a new episode was released and auto-download it.
Plex is the media organizer/player after you’ve “acquired” your media.
But then I couldn’t watch Netflix!!
When was the last time you actually did watch Netflix, and even then how often have you watched it?
…but I need to watch Netflix
Soo…what about reddit?
We wait and see. My guess is the company looked at the number of 3rd party users verse official client and desktop users and decided: “Yep, we can lose them”. It will all depend on how much of a dive the site takes. Similar to all the leave campaigns on FB, Twitter, Digg, etc… it won’t shutdown by this protest.
I look at it that the best users will be the ones to leave.
IMO lurkers that just browse Reddit just for getting answers to something they were searching on Google will obviously continue using the app. For them this won’t matter, and they constitute the majority of the Reddit user-base.
I guess most of the Third Party App users are somewhat tech savvy and understand that their official app is a total piece of shit. But as you said, Reddit is okay with losing these somewhat small amount of users.
I think this is right, but there is a bit of a confounding factor in that mods and power users of reddit are disproportionately likely to jump ship IMO. So while the masses might still show up to reddit, it’s entirely possible that the quality of the content will take a nosedive anyway. I’m not really sure how much of a difference that makes. I suspect not enough of one to kill reddit off completely, but I do think there’s a good chance that it’s enough to get Lemmy off the ground and viable. I think we probably only need to see 1% or maybe even fewer users migrate here from reddit to make Lemmy active enough that I never have any reason to go back to reddit again.
So while the masses might still show up to reddit, it’s entirely possible that the quality of the content will take a nosedive anyway.
This. This is highly likely and if this happens, Reddit will be soon reduced to something like Quora. Still will be Google’s favourite, but won’t have the quality content and/or the community it needs to become what it once was.
I think, and hope, that you’re correct.
Reddit has a different problem: most of the moderation and most of the content came from power users who are now jumping ship en masse, and Reddit, Inc doesn’t have anywhere near enough personnel to replace them. They’re a minority on Reddit as they are on Netflix, but whereas Netflix can live without them, Reddit cannot. With them gone, it’ll soon become a wasteland of spam and trolls like Usenet. This kills the platform.
I’ve looked into it and the data is for 2 days. It might be an outlier…
The general consumer is an idiot. It’s basic psychology. Rewarding behavior increases it’s likelihood. Soon other streaming services will follow.
BuT tHe FrEe MaRkEt WiLl HoLd BuSiNeSsEs AcCoUnTaBlE!
Oh the late stage capital slogan is now “what the market will bear”
Which is too bad. I never went back and never plan to.
I have a tendency to think this way when I see this kind of disappointing news, but I think it’s a good idea to resist the temptation. Assuming everyone that chooses this particular streaming service is an idiot because of something that for me is an issue but for them either doesn’t matter or more likely still, isn’t even on their radar, well I guess it just helps reinforce a distorted world view that assumes everyone is or should be like me and the people I talk to online.
Still though, I was definitely hoping this would bite them in the arse and it’s a shame to see them come out of this smelling like roses somehow.
Yeah, soon is probably putting it mildly, especially with the news that it only helped Netflix.
I only consume content the way God intended : Torrent
Praise be
Absolutely the best way of consuming content, if you have access to the better trackers.
The sad reality most of us who comment on social media and forums forget is we are just a vocal minority, majority of consumers don’t care for these outrages unfortunately. If the end product works good enough for most people then they will keep it/use it.
majority of consumers don’t care for these outrages unfortunately
See also: Preordering video games
Preordering online video games is such a rip off.
I usually pre-order PC games that come with a pre-order bonus on Steam because I can just refund it in two hours or playtime/2 weeks in library if it sucks. If it doesn’t, well, I was going to buy it anyway. I know game prices are ridiculous now and I’m buying far less than I used to but being able to just refund it is a game-changer.
I go nuts on anyone preordering digital releases just to be outraged when it turns out the game sucks balls.
Yep, already seeing in the family, people having to pay for their own sub now that netflix is cracking on password sharing
They knew they’d face backlash with this decision, but the average person just want to turn on the TV and watch something, so they’d keep paying for that instead of suddenly learning how to pirate things, or move on to other streaming services
It’s a short term measure. Long term is: will it have enough exclusive content that makes it worth it?
It seems that business has gone the way where, as long as you keep making profit, who cares if you have less customers? It’s such a backwards way of thinking when you actually apply it to reality. I wish I could find the article, but I remember there being a discussion about the trust threshold for businesses. Where, a business who constantly pulls moves like this makes more and more money out of fewer customers, until they suddenly pass a threshold of trust, and BAM! It all falls down.
Ofc, I know, it’s capitalism. The endless pursuit of profit and the expense of all else. It’s just… Exhausting to see it happen everywhere.
The anti-piracy scare tactics paid off huge dividends for the powers that be.
Bear in mind that Antenna (the source of this info) has no access to internal Netflix metrics, only to opt-in consumer information. We won’t really know what’s going on with Netflix’s numbers until their next quarterly report.
This is a super important piece of the puzzle that no one seems to be talking about. It’s surface level at best
I wouldn’t be surprised if the kind of person who voluntarily participates in opt-in surveys like this has a different likelihood to get their own account in a situation like the Netflix password sharing crack-down.
I’m about to the point where I’m just going to go back to pirating. The value of streaming services was in their convenience. I was willing to pay money for that, but the more fragmented and complicated all of it gets, when I can just pay for 1 VPN and go to a site and click a few links…
Piracy can be pretty convenient too. There are some services that are a kind of a hassle to set up, but work really well once everything is configured. You can have one docker container running qbittorrent and set up so it’s only able to access the Internet through VPN, other containers running sonarr/radarr etc to automate the downloading, and one runing plex to organize and stream all the content.
I subscribe to several streaming services because the people who work on and create this content deserve to be paid, but often will watch something on my plex server rather than through the streaming site because it’s just more convenient. Also it’s nice to have local copies of that media in case it ever gets removed from the streamer in the future.
That’s what I’ve got too. Family and friends are slowly catching on the more I talk about it haha. Got a few friends and my whole family on my Plex server now. It’s a fun side project/hobby too imo
The recent loss of Rarbg has been pretty bad for Piracy community. Big shuffles on the internet lately.
Yeah, not surprising tbh. They tested the change in smaller countries like NZ first, which allowed them to determine if it was worth doing the same elsewhere.
Password sharing is really common, but I don’t think enough people realise - if they give a shit about what they use and where it comes from, they’re the minority. That goes for almost any service, not just streaming. The people willing to change their habits to protest are always going to be less than the entrenched people who can be pushed, inch by inch.
Most Netflix users just want something to watch with minimal effort and without having to try or think about it. So if the password doesn’t work, they shrug, they accept it, they make their own account, and their routines stay the same. In fact I’m willing to be that of the new Netflix users, a majority of them are probably also subscribed to at least one other streaming service, too.
Convenience is a commodity, and users have different price points.
The other streaming services will undoubtly follow this trend now that Netflix has shown it works.
I’m honestly sort of suspicious of this report. I wouldn’t be surprised if the information is misrepresented or outright fabricated.
I am not really that surprised. I think a lot of people use netflix and just didn’t get a sub, because why pay for something that is free. I think a lot of people used the same account then grew up, moved out, moved on and just kept using the same account. Now that they cannot, they are happy to pay for it. My wife and I have not been kicked off my parents account yet. I do not know how long it takes to kick in. But, once we do, we may subscribe again, but it is not a rush as we are watching a lot of disney plus at the moment.
Of course, I did figure that at least some folks would get their own, but the growth is much higher than I was expecting. It’s also a death knell of sorts that will start a feeding frenzy for other streaming services I think though. In a few years, it may not be an option for ANY service to share passwords.
Yeah, someone on Tumblr has pointed out that the data does not actually support the headline here. The spike actually started just before the crackdown and immediately dropped.
It coulr be misleading, but outright lying here wouldn’t be particularly useful since they have a duty to report truthfully on their finicial results.
E: nvm I just realized the source isn’t Netflix themselves.
A spike in subscribers for a period doesn’t necessarily mean they’re making more money than before, even if the number of new signups offsets the cancellations.
I used to pay for the Premium plan, sharing with my parents, but downgraded to the Basic plan. My parents ended up getting their own Basic plan. So a single account essentially split into two, but the sum of both payments is now less than what it used to be for the single account. So Netflix gained an extra subscriber, but is now making less money from that pool of users.
It’s totally possible that some number of these new signups consist of people who did the same thing. It could even be that some number of these new signups are people who joined because others who were sharing with them closed their own accounts.
Basically, seeing a spike in new signups isn’t itself a measure of success.
As Netflix tested these changes in other parts of the world first, they had sufficient metrics to know how this change will affect their user-base. They are expecting an increase in subs and in income.
I cancelled my sub (4 screens), which was shared among 5 people. Two of these decided to resubscribe by themselves, although not in the 4 screens configuration. From my calculations this means:
- Cancellation of a 18EUR subscription
- 2 new customers on Standard, 13EUR each
- Netflix took a profit of 6EUR from this operation, while gaining an extra subscription.
I think this matches their “100% increase in subs” metric. The only question is how many others who resubscribe will go for the 2 screens (Standard) sub, or the 1 screen (Basic) sub. With basic, the same situation would result in a ~2EUR decrease in revenue.
While I don’t watch enough Netflix that this decision will affect me directly, this is awful news, because now I expect more streaming services to see this as a viable option and it will likely be repeated.
I’m skeptical. If this is indeed true, I believe it will be short lived. The simple reason is that the content is not worth the cost. It worked better when people shared their passwords maybe? I gave up my subscription long before they announced these changes because the content, IMO, mostly sucks.
There’s a reason to be skeptical. The data is for 2 days
I actually had no issues with Netflix enforcing their ToS but people can of course cancel their subscriptions if they want. I have no issues with paying for a good service.
The problem I had was I was basically paying so my parents could use it - and they are mostly using my other sibling’s HBO account. I barely watch TV and would only really put it on to have something to fall asleep to, so at least in my case, they’ve lost minimal my account’s minimal usage + whatever I was paying them.
I understand and that’s your experience of course, you can add non household members for a small fee if needed.
What makes netflix a good service in your opinion?
Personally I enjoy that they have a lot of Star Trek and anime, they also revived some really good shows like Manifest.
Thats fair I suppose. If it has what you want then thats good. I never found it to be convenient at all for my tastes.
Plex + Sonarr/Radarr and you won’t need Netflix anymore ;)
That’s what I moved over to a few months ago, I will say…it was a challenge to set up but it’s been fantastic so far. Have you by any chance automated downloads via trakt TV lists?
Yeah! I also use Overseer to manage library requests and automate those downloads.
Jellyfin if you don’t want to pay at all
I would also recommend spending time looking into Usenet providers with lifetime subscriptions as it provides a great resource for pulling media from. I use NZBgeek and Frugal UseNet, rarely have problems finding seeders. It does take a bit more setup than just pulling from Torrent Indexers but the ease of finding the content I’m looking for is 100x better than just torrents from personal experience.
Wow, lifetime subscriptions, really? As in pay once and use forever? That sounds too good to be true. Any recommendations?
It’s a little buried in the account settings, but Netflix does allow account sharing for an additional fee (~$7?). I know families that went with this option so they could continue sharing their account with elderly parents, and college aged children.
I imagine that if a group of friends agreed to split the cost of an account + fees, they would end up paying less than having individual accounts.
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Wasn’t it more like $3?
Depends on where you live!
Ahh ok. I still get mine through T-mobile so I have no idea how much I pay they just roll it into my bill.
