Netflix used to be beloved. It put out tons of content, so many shows it was mind-boggling with it seeming there was a random program for anyone ("Saturday Night Live," spoofed this previously as well as, "South Park," among other shows). Lots of folks loved using Netflix--and yes, sharing passwords. At some point, it all changed. Kathryn Porter has an article up on Paste discussing, "How Netflix Went from Media's Golden Child to the Bane of Its Own Subscribers." It is worth a read and got me thinking too.
Netflix is hemorrhaging subscribers, canceled tons of shows people loved (enraging many folks), wants to make it really hard to share profiles without paying extra, and has an ad-based model that seems counter to what Netflix stood for from the start. I won't hold that last one against them too much as some streaming services we use feature ads with a cheaper subscription and that works for our household, but it just seems counter to what Netflix stood for long ago. From its humble beginnings to being a near-monopoly in the streaming space until others started chipping away at it, Netflix has lost that rosy-fresh smell, and now a sniff appears it is rotting a bit from the inside.
The idea of shutting-down profile sharing has more people considering quitting Netflix altogether than having a group share it and could harm the company more than it helps it, and the rampant cancellations are not as horrendous as HBO MAX basically obliterating a ton of its programming from existence, but still stings when a cult favorite gets the axe. The fondness everyone had for Netflix has evaporated and it is no longer the streaming service, it is just a streaming service. Netflix still has plenty of cool new shows and a massive back catalog, but the sheen is gone, revealing a tarnished-if-functional streaming choice.
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