If history has proven anything it’s that the newcomers that develop and unleash a new idea for the people are going to come under fire eventually in one way or another. As John Finn of ScreenRant talks about Netflix is now feeling the heat, and might feel it even more in 2020 as it’s been announced that they might actually lose millions of subscribers due to the cost of the service. That’s kind of hard to believe since Netflix was able to beat out cable companies quite easily when it first came in. But then you might want to sit down and realize how long ago that was, and what’s happened since. Many other streaming networks have been established and many more are coming that are going to cost less than Netflix, which would appear to be suffering a bit from the hubris that has built up over the years as the network has sat high on the hog so to speak as one of the most successful networks out there. Hulu used to be one of the only competitors, then Amazon, and then Disney+ was said to be another nail in the coffin that would house Netflix at one point. A lot of that has been laughed off for a while now, but at this point it would seem that Netflix is really starting to see the trouble that might be caused by raising its prices and limiting its streams.
Price is a big concern since at this point Disney+ and other streaming networks are charging far less for their services and as a result people are expected to leave in droves. Josh Levenson of Digital Trends has more on this matter. While this might be an accurate enough prediction it still doesn’t feel as though it might be realistic. The reason behind this is that Netflix still has control of many properties that have been seen to grow in popularity over the years and are still desired by those that happen to think that Netflix is still worth the effort. Unfortunately a call for lowered prices might be an idea that might take shape since while the other networks are cheaper they don’t have the same programs and yet they do have programs that used to be on Netflix and aren’t now since they’ve been reclaimed. Disney+ is one such network that has begun to take a wealth of properties back now that they have their own streaming service and are chugging along without any sign of stopping or slipping at this time. While they’ve only been in operation for a month now the network is still seeing a very positive reaction by many people, especially those that have locked onto The Mandalorian and can’t stop talking about it.
Pricing might actually be the biggest thing that Netflix has to worry over since paying $15.99 for a service versus $5 to $7 dollars is a no-brainer in the eyes of many people and the competition knows it. The only thing that might need to be taken with caution on that front is that the other networks might eventually raise their prices as well. Does anyone recall just what Netflix was like when they first got started? You could order movies through the mail with ease, you could keep an entire list of the movies you wanted on your account and never to shuffle them unless you wanted to, and the cost for the service was pretty low at the time. Plus, Netflix had no ads and still doesn’t, and for many people this is one of the kickers that sent them to Netflix instead of Hulu. So many people wanted to watch their favorite shows without ads that it became a haven for many of them as they could binge-watch their favorite programs all day and night without having to see a single commercial. Some people might have said that they used commercials to get up and go do things around the house or use the bathroom or whatever they needed to do, but beauty of Netflix was that one could pause it and then go do something before coming back to continue to program. Netflix helped in a big way to revolutionize the streaming content that we know and love today, and to think that so many people would turn their back on the network isn’t hard to imagine in terms of price, but thinking that the other networks won’t raise their prices eventually is a bit naive. Andrew Heinzman of How To Geek has more to say on this subject.
Netflix could very well lose a lot of subscribers in the coming year, but given that they have original content and the rights to many other movies and shows that have nothing to do with Disney makes it easy to state that they won’t be hurting too bad. It might be that they’ll slip a bit in the streaming wars, but they won’t go away quietly.
Follow Us
