There are many problems with Netflix depending on who you are. For some, the content the platform produces lacks luster, for others the content doesn’t match their political ideals.
Despite bemoaning how Netflix treats it’s content like a turn-stile, giving content very little time to prove itself, some of the content on Netflix is good.
For example, Ozark is a gritty crime thriller with incredible performances from the entire cast. It’s bingeworthy and deserves every amount of praise it gets. The Umbrella Academy is one of my favourite “superhero” shows next to Invincible (Amazon Prime Video) and who can resist the voyeuristic nature of The Circle.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of rubbish on Netflix that I will never watch as well and these days I find myself re-watching content I’ve watched before instead of something new. Unfortunately, like many others, I am not the only person using the account.
Now to be fair to my friends and family, they have offered to contribute in the past, but back then I was paying R169 for a subscription. These days, however, Netflix’s top-tier Premium subscription costs R199 per month and that charge is starting to sting my wallet.
There have been many instances were I’ve toyed with the idea of cancelling my subscription, but every time the anxiety of tell friends and family this put me off. To my mind I needed to justify the cancellation with data and so I sought to obtain some.
So this week I set myself the task of seeing how much Netflix I actually watch in a week to determine whether it’s still worth the price of entry for me. In total, I watched one movie and “watched” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there as it was really just background noise while I was doing other things.
To put this into perspective, over the last seven days I have watched 32 hours of content on YouTube. Yes that is a lot of content, but it’s testament to the variety and quality of content YouTube makes available.
Now, I could simply lower my Netflix subscription to the Standard option which puts me back at R159 per month, but again, the issue is that I don’t watch Netflix anymore. As much as I love my friends and family, I’m not willing to pay for their access, especially since they can afford a Netflix subscription.
When Netflix first teased the idea of paying for extra members to be added to your account, this seemed like a good solution for me to keep my friends and family happy. Now however, I’m looking at how much I used Netflix this month and aside from Ozark, not much else has caught my attention.
The usefulness and allure of Netflix has washed away for me, and sadly, my friends and family are going to have to get their own accounts now. Keep them in your thoughts please.
PS: I’m not signing up for Disney+ either, although that’s because the service has launched with a wet flop.
It has only been a day, but how would you describe your experience of #DisneyPlusZA so far?
— Hypertext (@htxtafrica) May 19, 2022
[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]
