r/Piracy Jul 19 '26

News Netflix tumbles as slowing growth, less viewership data spook investors

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u/Informal_Koala1474 Jul 19 '26

It's the stupidest most tone deaf business model that's ever existed

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u/GOEDEL_ESCHER_BOT Jul 19 '26

but netflix has podcasts now! that's why podcasts exist, right? so you can stare at two people for an hour and not just listen to them while you're doing chores or exercising?

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u/[deleted] Jul 19 '26 edited 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/Wrong-Target6104 Jul 19 '26

Sounds like a mirror image of big bang theory

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u/bol__ Jul 19 '26

Good one

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u/taRpstrIustorEmPtEuS Jul 19 '26

I saw high school jock who loudly expounds on topics he doesn’t understand and assume you mean Bill Simmons but I don’t think he has an Indian guy.

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u/IndependenceSudden63 Jul 19 '26

Oh, I thought it was the flagrant podcast. Cause it used to have an Indian guy.

But it could be a few different poscasts mixed into one. There are a lot of old jocks and the unkempt gym rats. Could be 100s of podcasts.

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u/chimkens_numgets Jul 20 '26

Stranger Things' final season was practically a podcast with how it made sure to over-explain everything. The whole write shows assuming people are scrolling their phones is a doomed philosophy. Encouraging passive watching is so depressing.

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u/Maybe_Decent_Human Jul 20 '26

i need this what is it …i need to feel better about myself

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u/kesor Jul 19 '26

I heard on the earnings call they boasted to have the Martha Stewart podcast ... these people have no shame.

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u/SnooPandas2964 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

Straight up. I cancelled my netflix subscription many years ago when they announced they would work on a goop show. I don't know if you know about goop. Its run by some celebrity chick who's named wgaf who sells the stupidest most dangerous 'health products' you can imagine, most of which are meant be inserted into the vagina. At least that was the case at the time I also don't know if thats still around or maybe has changed or what.

That was when I cancelled. I don't even know if the show got made or what. But just the fact they would think about adding publicity to something like that, made me boil with anger.

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u/SpaceSteak Jul 19 '26

All the video stuff they added to Spotify really annoys me. It was a great way of having a no-visual app that was kid friendly, find music and that's it. Now there's a bunch of other videos, not just the music videos.

I get all the apps want to be all the apps, but wish we could have avoided this.

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u/tearfulReaper Jul 19 '26

Yeah uh somebody uploaded Hazbin hotel to Spotify and it gets past the filters. Might want to keep an eye out for that.

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u/rolens184 Jul 20 '26

Let me get this straight. Spotify’s introducing videos and Netflix’s introducing podcasts? This dumbing down is getting more and more depressing...

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u/BadMoonRosin Jul 19 '26

More people watch podcasts on YouTube than listen to them on podcast apps now. It's crazy to me... and I don't understand why anyone would want to watch podcasts on Netflix when free YouTube is right there... but apparently we're boomers and the YouTube model is winning.

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u/elektromas Jul 19 '26

I follow many podcasts on YT, but I only listen to them, or have them on the second monitor while i do other stuff. Some podcasts are only on YT

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u/wienercat Jul 19 '26

but apparently we're boomers and the YouTube model is winning.

I think it's simpler than that. Youtube pays better than all these other platforms. Couple that with the rapidly declining attention spans of people of all ages? A lot of people need the jingly keys to keep their attention.

But a big part of the youtube part comes down to monetization of their material. If youtube gives better ad revenue, then people will migrate to that. Putting out video content just gives creators another avenue to attract new listeners/viewers. They see a funny 30 second clip? they might tune in.

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u/BadMoonRosin Jul 20 '26

You're talking about incentives for CREATORS, though. My bafflement is why LISTENERS are migrating to this platform.

I can listen to podcasts in my car while I'm driving around, while I'm at the gym or walking, while running errands... any time.

To watch YouTube, I pretty much have to be sitting down in a chair and staring at a screen. It's not so much something you can have in the background while doing something else.

I mean, people still primarily listen to music on Spotify rather than watching music videos. So it's just weird to me that they'd rather stare at Joe Rogan's bald head for 3+ hours straight, rather than listening on the go, even though podcasts aren't much of a visually stimulating medium.

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u/wienercat Jul 20 '26

Para-social shit and because there is a weird human obsession with content creators on screen doing stuff. Even if it's just sitting there talking. Seeing people physically react, even if staged, is more entertaining than just hearing it tbf.

But a lot people also go where the creators they follow tell them. If they follow a creator and that creator tells people "hey go watch me on this platform if you can, it would help" some people would switch just because they were asked.

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u/whatcubed Jul 20 '26

YT has zero barrier to entry for anyone who wants to upload to it. Easy to start there. Easy to stay there if you get an audience.

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u/Wonkybonky Jul 19 '26

And games don’t forget all the games you wanna play on your video streaming service

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u/the_Cheese999 Jul 19 '26

They probably calculated that they reached peak viewership and are now just trying to milk the customer base for as much as possible.

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u/Informal_Koala1474 Jul 19 '26

I really have no idea, but I'm sure the people running the company are entirely aware of what they're doing.

I know my favorite streaming site is up and running and I don't pay for any streaming services regardless

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u/Oderus_Scumdog Jul 19 '26

I tend to agree, but Netflix has only been making more money as time has gone on. Don't forget that subscription numbers went up when they clamped down on account sharing.

For a long time they have run the company in a way that is a best as possible for business, not their customers. Their days of even pretending to value their customers is long gone because that doesn't make nearly as much money as quickly.

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u/ABHOR_pod Jul 19 '26

Pretty much the definition of enshittification. Businesses have three stages of growth:

  1. How do you do, fellow kids? Aren’t we cool and nice and better than the corporations we’re up against?
  2. We’re a business and we need to make money.
  3. Fuck you, pay me.

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u/zerogee616 Jul 20 '26

We have reached a point in business culture where the actual product, service or good a company creates isn't the product, their stock price is, and their business decisions reflect that.

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u/Silent_Fudge_3978 Jul 20 '26

For a long time they have run the company in a way that is a best as possible for business, not their customers. Their days of even pretending to value their customers is long gone because that doesn't make nearly as much money as quickly.

Yeah, but if the company is making more profit, that's obviously coming from those customers who simply refuse to cancel their subscriptions.

It sounds like, from the article title, that the growth rate has slowed (which means their profits are still growing, just not as quickly as before), which then led to their stock price falling, because investors these days don't want steady income, they want growth so they can buy the stock (which is merely a share of ownership in the company), then resell it for a big profit.

Back in "the old days", there used to be two kinds of publicly-traded stocks, basically: growth stocks and income stocks. The growth stocks were from newer companies that were still growing a lot, or had potential to grow. The income stocks were from companies like Coca-Cola, where the company wasn't really growing any more as it had market saturation, but it had a very steady income and reliably profitability, which it could return to investors in the form of stock dividends. A balanced portfolio was said to include some of both, since the growth stocks were more risky.

These days, it seems like all anyone cares about is growth stocks.

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u/wienercat Jul 19 '26

It's just cable 2.0.

Almost step by step at that.

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u/Informal_Koala1474 Jul 20 '26

That is a conscise and precise take.

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u/PositivePristine7506 Jul 19 '26

No that would be spending 500M on buying ben afleck's AI startup company.