How Netflix Can Bring Back True Netflix and Chill
Netflix was my family’s first love for streaming. We used to Netflix and Chill every weekend, in its literal meaning. No slang.
We spent entire weekends completing epic series like Designated Survivor / Full House, and eagerly googled when the next installment will come. We had never been such TV addicts in our 40+ years of lives.
What happened?
Until recently, when I am seriously considering we can have better options. And I subscribed to Amazon Prime Free trial.
I am also looking forward to more options when Disney and Apple will present themselves on my broadband modem platter.
As a software developer who often designs UX, I cringe at Amazon Prime’s nasty UI. Coarse playback, infinite number of keypresses to get to your desired command, relatively poorer streaming speed in regions outside US are just some of the things that almost take me to Cancel Trial button.
And yet, we are looking for Netflix options. Not because we are fed up with content options. Not because other platforms have lot to offer.
But because of our intrinsic belief that Netflix was poised to be better than its rivals any day. That Netflix would improve things that were completely within its control.
And it hasn’t.
Our displeasure of Netflix has outweighed our love / curiosity for other platforms.
Why it happened?
Being unable to put the money where the mouth is.
Netflix, despite being a loss making enterprise since its inception, kept investing frivolous amounts into things it would never fully own.
For example, it had debt of $2 Billion in Oct 2018. Yet it paid $100 Million to retain Friends - a show who is leaving it this year for HBO.
That amount, for a series that was already popular with masses. That amount, for a series that had been downloaded (torrented) a million times before. That amount, for a series that would keep making exclusive deals each year for the highest paying platform.
It goes against conventional business wisdom.
Not wrong if it could bring newer subscribers to Netflix — which is the only way to restrict its losses. Unless you have strong analytics / forecasts that could prove its impact given Netflix’s business model, such deals are huge money pits.
The problem is not just the amount spent after Friends.
Having realized its pain point in lacking original content, it has tried to become a content company since 2013. But it remains to be seen how much it has really paid.
One thing that I have observed is the fact that content generation for Gen Z is a gambling game as far as gaining subscribers is concerned.
Old studios had content, not the technology. They are still ruling the entertainment, and Netflix has validated a possibility for them. Now they are armed with technology too. And Netflix hasn’t gained much as far as content quality goes.
Which is why it should focus on its strongest arm, right now.
Where Netflix could improve in technology:
Some time ago, I wrote about where big tech companies lack in user experiences. It included horrible Netflix TV app design.
Excerpts:
- Hailed for its recommendation system, Netflix really does poor job with content. Searches produce suggestions that don’t really exist in their streaming database. The classification stills clings to IMDB style drama, crime, horror and mystery categories — something so broad that even millennials have difficulty connecting to it. I wonder where is AI as it was advertised in the entire recommendation system.
- Netflix TV app search results do not show movie description. One has to go inside to watch it just to view the description.
Besides those, Netflix also lacks English (or suitable for geography) subtitles for many of its movies. This is a huge turnoff compared to Amazon Prime.
It is unfathomable how creating subtitles could be costlier business than producing your own shows, or purchasing already hit series, rights issues notwithstanding.
Where Netflix could improve to erase Gen Z’s slang Netflix and Chill:
Netflix and Chill is a symbol of how new generation thinks of Netflix.
They do not consume content the same way millennials do. While they cannot relate to 80s and 90s classics, there are no guarantees they might stick to a platform that dedicatedly produce content for them.
Netflix’s biggest competitor for Gen Z shows are not other streaming companies, but Instagram and Youtube.
It will not do any good to Netflix to keep churning out shows portraying social media romances and teen influencers, especially when Gen Z is a generation with shifting focus and shorter attention span.
Netflix’s Gen Z content is also substantially lacking in story merit, something that big studio owned movies and 90s sitcoms didn’t, hence costing adult subscribers.
Conclusion - Go back to the basics:
Netflix must capitalize on its tech advantage by bettering UX. It’s the solution with the least cost that could better many other things going forward.
Netflix would also recover soon if it realizes it is a media company. And content is its most precious commodity.
Tell-a-tale worthy stories are abundant, and much more easily available in today’s times than it was during Netflix’s inception.
Netflix’s content acquisition must come out of its ivory towers and scour the world for underpaid, undervalued writers. If nothing, it would reduce the cash burn (cost / show), and has high probability of churning out aces against its competitors.
Look where no one else is looking, like you did in times of Blockbuster.
Netflix and Chill should stop being a slang for Gen Z, but a house party phrase for everyone.