When you think of movie and tv show streaming sites, Netflix is one of the top results that come to mind. Good business is never a monopoly and there has been a crop up of different other streaming sites over the years that are giving Netflix a run for its money.
Netflix is a subscription streaming service of American origin based in California. It was launched on August 29 1997 by co-founders Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. The giant streaming platform offers various award-winning TV shows, movies, anime, documentaries, and more on internet-connected devices. You can watch as much as you want, whenever you want without a single commercial, at a fee. Although this November, Netflix plans on introducing a new streaming option with adverts.
You might be a prospective subscriber and are debating whether to go all in or look at another option. You might also be a subscriber already, and you are contemplating canceling your plan. Either way, the question remains, Is Netflix still good value for money?
Using facts, statistics, and projections, this article is bound to help you make a decision.
Contents
Is Netflix still popular?
Yes, Netflix is still the most popular streaming platform even with fast-growing competition from Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, and others. Netflix had an approximate total of 222 million subscriptions worldwide by the end of 2021. This had grown from 18 million subscribers in the same period in 2020. Its competition, Hulu, ended 2021 with approximately 43.5 million subscribers globally.
In the same year 2021, Netflix won 44 Emmys, which was a record broken as not even the following two media companies combined could beat this. So yes, despite its current hardships, Netflix is still popular among users compared to its competition.
Is the Nextflix Subscription Fee Worth it?
Just before the new year, Netflix raised its prices by $1 for the cheapest plan and by $2 each for the standard and premium versions. This is quite common with all streaming subscription services. Also, Disney+ and Hulu raised prices around the same time, and inflation, of course, forces everyone to raise prices eventually. A standard Netflix account is now pushing $16 per month making it one of the most expensive options. Price increases are becoming more frequent for instance a Standard Netflix account in 2014 was just $9 per month, and now it is pushing to $16 which is quite unaffordable to many users.
Although Netflix has been successful, it faces competition from over 200+ streaming platforms meaning that there are a lot of options to choose from. The increased quality and quantity of content competition from other streaming services have made Netflix subscriptions less justifiable. Also, there is a lot of content on Netflix however, searching through and finding the giem is a little more problematic than it should be.
At the start of Netflix, its exclusive content was remarkable however, it declined on creating its own original content. Further to that, Netflix has a tendency of canceling user’s favorite series after 1 or 2 seasons.
Is Netflix on a decline?
Netflix had lost up to 1 million subscribers by the final quarter of 2021. These are big numbers, but the irony is the company had projected a loss of up to 2 million subscribers. It had also anticipated 1 million new subscribers. At the start of 2022, Netflix reported a decline of almost 200,000 subscribers.
Netflix share prices also declined by almost 67% in 2022 alone. In a letter to its shareholders, Netflix wrote stating that it planned to revive itself by launching a low-cost plan that had advertisements. Not many details are known about this but it is believed this plan will be tested first in markets that spend big on adverts.
As Netflix loses subscribers, its competition is growing steadily, much as Netflix remains dominant statistically. For example, HBO gained over 3 million subscribers in 2021. To keep up and remain dominant, Netflix announced a plan to halt password sharing among its users. Over 41% of users do not use accounts they pay for and Netflix stated that this was hindering the growth of membership subscriptions and revenues.
In conclusion
So, is Netflix good value for your money?
I think not. Why? Because it is only going to get worse. I have and use Netflix daily but it is an account someone I’ve never met pays for and I have used it for years. Take that away and I won’t use Netflix again. So, what happens to my watch time, what is a substitute or a better option?
Well, there are numerous sites with Netflix shows and movies, FOR FREE. The beauty is these sites don’t only have Netflix shows but have the entire package. You can find more about these sites here.