Netflix seems to be the number one movie service of its time. With over 100,000 titles under its belt, Netflix is changing the way people watch films.
Its vast online movie database allows for a larger variety of movies to be seen. People are now able to view foreign or indie films with Netflix’s huge streaming library.
“Several years ago, Netflix wasn’t near as extensive with its movie titles especially streaming, you would want to look for a certain film and you wouldn’t be able to find it. Now, Netflix is adding more and more titles and so people are being able to experience movies they would never be able to watch with physical media,” said Jeremy Scott, eighth grade teacher and advisor for movie club.
Now Indie movies such as Hunter Prey or Chasing Ice are getting more popularity. This may be attributed to the amount of time people use Netflix.
“Binge-watching is a pandemic that has afflicted many of the nation’s college students, with sites like SideReel, Netflix, and Megavideo—not to mention full-season DVD sets—readily at their disposal,” said Jim Pagels, writer for slate.com, in his article titled “Stop Binge-Watching TV.”
Some people are even starting to dump Cable and Dish network in favor of the much more convenient Netflix arsenal.
“I don’t have cable tv, so I just indulge myself with services like hulu plus and Netflix instead,” said Olivia Winn, sophomore.
This is the case for many a family with the cost of the services that Dish network and Cable TV provide exceeding Netflix’s cost per month. It seems to be that buying Netflix is cheaper than the latter.
“I think Netflix is changing a lot of what people think about TV, I have at times purposefully not watched some of my favorite shows on air, simply because I knew I would catch it on Netflix,” said Scott.
Though Netflix is extremely popular, its presence as a business as of late has been less than appetizing. Services that Netflix provides are being mimicked by competitors such as Amazon and Blockbuster.
“They certainly used to have something special: that whole distribution channel of people getting DVDs in the mail and sending them back. But when it comes to streaming, or online delivery, is their infrastructure that rare?” said Tim Worstall, contributor to Forbes, (a leading Business magazine).
This is becoming an increasingly challenging issue for Netflix. Coming up with something new is an arduous task for a company with one definitive objective, to provide movie rentals for a small fee. This is not the only challenge Netflix has faced. In a recent survey researched by Consumer Reports, results indicated that out of 15,000 Consumer Reports subscribers, 81% of people who have used an internet streaming service in the last month used Netflix. But services like Vudu, Hulu, and Itunes all scored higher in the user satisfaction rate.
Netflix consumer approval is not the only thing plummeting with its shares at an all time low, recently passing below their 200 day moving average of $80.17, with only a measily $80.07 a share. Their biggest low being $52.81 out of the 52 week range. This recent descent may be deserved by multiple trifling problems such as pirating.
“Pirating is becoming huge, just the other day I wanted to watch a documentary on Prometheus, and found the whole thing in HD on Youtube,” said Scott.
Pirating has always been an issue, with different rates of piracy in different countries, it varies on effects.
“Netflix is quite useful in the way that it allows unlimited streaming but this doesn’t get rid of the fact that some people just don’t want to pay,” said Peter Kim, junior.
Netflix changed the way people think about movies but the challenge they will face is trying to remain prevalent in a market that is continually changing. Will they pick up where Blockbuster left off, or will another movie service such as Redbox or Hulu take up the throne. Students and monthly subscribers alike ask themselves this as the numbers continue to fall for the worlds most popular movie rental service.
