Netflix Is Lying About Its Volume Of Content

[Vonnegut]

I'm on Netflix right now and I'm searching for Horror films.

There are multiple categories but they're a major overlap in the content available in each category.

There are:
Horror
Horror movies
Chilling horror movies
Psychological horror movies
Supernatural horror movies
Demon horror movies
Horror comedies
Horror movies based on books
Zombie horror movies

But these categories may give one the impression that's Netflix has a huge catalog of films that fall into genres and sub-genres, but in reality it's the same films being added to different categories.

"Gerald's Game" is in 4 of the categories I listed.

And while I understand that any one film can fall into multiple genres (e.g. Shaun of the Dead is a zombie film and a comedy film and a romance film), my experience with Netflix these past few years leads me to believe that the service is losing content faster than it can replace it. It feels bare-boned. And sometimes I find stuff films on Netflix that I cannot imagine anyone wanting to watch, such a "Naked," the latest failed effort by Marlon Wayans. And Netflix financed that film.

This shit sucks, man.

It's like water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.

On the other hand, I just binge-watched all of "Maniac" today. It stars Jonah Hill, Emma Stone, Justin Thoreau, Sonoya Mizuno, and Sally Field. It was a deeply moving miniseries and this is the kind of stuff Netflix should continue to finance. But right now, the service seems very skeletal.

They got rid of 30 Rock, The X-Files, and King of the Hill.

In its place there's is a mediocre British tv series starring Rupert Grint called Sick Note. And they also have an animated series called "F is for Family" and despite having a good cast of actors doing voices, I find the first few episodes underwhelming.

Anyway, the main point of this post is that I think Netflix is actively deceiving its customers about the amount of content that it offers. It keeps pulling beloved shows and films from its streaming service and replaces them with its proprietary content that is comparably worse. And it has many differently categories in its search options but many of those categories house the same content.

 

[Scullibundo]

Lying doesn't mean what you think it means. Where does it say there is no overlap?

 

[Deleted member 4482]

as long as Netflix has the live action Beauty and the Beast I will continue to subscribe.

 

[Diunx]

Stop paying.

 

[Richietto]

I mean if the horror was only 1 subgenre someone might not see it so why not give it as many relevant tags as possible?

 

[Ogami Itto]

Lying doesn't mean what you think it means. Where does it say there is no overlap?

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This.

 

[BDS]

Aren't Netflix's categories algorithmically generated or something? Meaning I won't see all those horror categories you have and you won't see all of mine.

 

[TheIlliterati]

Get over yourself.

 

[collige]

And sometimes I find stuff films on Netflix that I cannot imagine anyone wanting to watch, such a "Naked," the latest failed effort by Marlon Wayans. And Netflix financed that film.

This shit sucks, man.

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You say that, but remember that Adam Sandler also had the most watched movie on Netflix. Lots of people watch trash movies.

Also, I think describing the loss of shows as "Netflix pulling" them is deceptive. Netflix doesn't own the shows, they signed limited deals with the rightsholders that are now realizing they can make their own streaming services (aka Hulu). That's why Netflix has to double down on their own stuff.

 

[Armadilo]

You don't like it. Stop paying for it.

Netflix is the best that people have for the price and the variety of stuff on it.

Be open and give stuff a chance.

 

[Captain of Outer Space]

https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/the-netflix-id-bible-every-category-on-netflix/

Netflix has 211 categories, so of course there are some overlapping content since it surfaces them to you based on what you tend to watch and enjoy.

 

[xxracerxx]

Just because what they show in Horror on your UI, doesn't mean that is all the horror movies they have.

 

[Werd]

Licensing a ton of third party high profile content in perpetuity is no longer practical with all the other services bidding for it or specifically keeping their own content, so they pick and choose while spending billions on originals that will always have available. Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, it starts at $8 a month what do you really expect.

A cheap one service catch all streaming platform was never going to last. But choosing from among them for the most value to you is still worlds better than cable packages while paying hardware fees.

 

[Vic_Viper]

I mean, this has been the way since Netflix's streaming service started lol.

 

[Burt]

 

[caliph95]

H-how is that a lie, that doesn't sound like a lie they didn't say there wouldn't be overlapped and it's like they told you the numbers of the titles

 

[Vonnegut]

Just because what they show in Horror on your UI, doesn't mean that is all the horror movies they have.

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That's a problem. If I search for horror, I want all the horror film series that are available to come up.

 

[Deleted member 40102]

Forget about that, what I hate the most is they took off the user rating, now it takes me at least 30min to find out if the movie is shit or not.

 

[collige]

Forget about that, what I hate the most is they took of the rating, now it takes me at least 30min to find out if the movie is shit or not.

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AFAIK, there was never a rating system, the stars just did the same thing as the match % except more misleading.

 

[Miss Piggy]

Netflix's film offerings has always been disappointing, but I feel the subscription is worth it for their TV shows.

 

[pj-]

This complaint makes no sense. Lots of things fall under multiple categories. People aren't complete morons, if they see Gerald's Game under "Psychological horror movies" and "Horror movies based on books" categories, they will understand it's because the movie is a great fit for both of them.

Would you prefer that Gerald's Game not show up under "Horror movies based on books"? Or would you prefer that the "Horror movies based on books" category not exist at all?

 

[MinusTydus]

Is today Misleading Thread Title Day?

This is like, the third one today.

 

[CassCade]

That's not lying, you just made a misconception and when you realized it was wrong, you now blame Netflix.

 

[Shy]

#Viewersriseup 🙄

 

[Deleted member 40102]

AFAIK, there was never a rating system, the stars just did the same thing as the match % except more misleading.

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?? The stars are from user ratings and they are not misleading in anyway. I use to see if the movie is at least 3.5 then I would watch it and it will be fine movie. Now the matching system is so bad that almost 90% of the movies I watch are bad. If it doesn't work for you then it doesn't mean it is misleading.

 

[House_Of_Lightning]

They got rid of 30 Rock, The X-Files, and King of the Hill.

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Let's not blame them. "They got rid of" may be "FOX or the IP owner asked more money than it's worth". 100 million for a year of FRIENDS is fucking laughable.

 

[17 Seconds]

is this satire

 

[NightShift]

Giving customers the option to categorise stuff into specific sub-genres is great. There's plenty of things to bitch about regarding Netflix but this is not one of them.

 

[JamesQuall]

You skipped over mentioning the great British stuff on there. Crashing, Flowers, Chewing Gum, Happy Valley, The Fall to name a few. But sure, let's bemoan the lack of ability to rewatch X-Files and King of the Hill.

 

[metsallica]

We're complaining about the volume of content on Netflix now? Netflix?!

Subscribe to Shudder if you want a boutique streaming service focused on horror.

 

[Scullibundo]

I mean, your average studio is lucky to have 20 feature film releases in a year.

Next year, Netflix will be releasing 90 films.

But sure, they don't offer enough content.

 

[tropoFarmer]

Who shoved the stick up your ass? Tell them great job.

 

[Septimus Prime]

Think of the categories not as buckets but as filters. Like, there are no "Popular on Netflix" or "Just for you" genres, but they can sort what they do have to surface specific titles to you based on your viewing habits with those categories.

 

[Abstrusity]

That's why Hulu stays winning.

This comment is not sponsored by Hulu.

 

[Gifted]

I'm mad you lied about the content in this thread.

Spoiler

Sorry, had to do it.

They don't say that there are no overlapping categories, and personally I have a lot of things in my queue I need to watch still. Currently it's worth the money to me, but if it's not to you that's okay. Nothing wrong with taking a break from it and doing another service, you can always re subscribe if there's new stuff you like. Also F is for family is decent, not amazing but enjoyable and has its moments.

 

[Book One]

I went from the movie theater thread to this one.

Might be time to call it a night.

 

[Carthago Delenda Est]

?? The stars are from user ratings and they are not misleading in anyway. I use to see if the movie is at least 3.5 then I would watch it and it will be fine movie. Now the matching system is so bad that almost 90% of the movies I watch are bad. If it doesn't work for you then it doesn't mean it is misleading.

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The stars you saw weren't an average user rating. They were a guess at what you might rate a movie based on what you have rated previously and how others rated that movie who also rated your previous stuff. What you saw as a 3.5 I might have seen as 4.5 or 1.5 in the UI.

The current system is basically the same. Your conception is just confirmation bias.

 

[Vish]

It's still funny that Netflix ditched that AI that helped you find movies by asking you a series of questions.

 

[Vonnegut]

Let's say you go to your friend's house and he asks you if you want a snack.

You say, "sure, what do you have?"

And he says, "we've got tons of stuff. We've got something popular, something chewy, something sweet, something salty, something nougaty, something peanuty, and something chocolatey, and something with caramel."

"Wow. That's quite a menu," you say. "How about something chocolatey?"

"Sure thing, dude"

He opens his pantry and tosses you a Snickers bar

"Eh. I have Snickers all the time. What else you got? How about something peanuty?"

Your friend smiles and says, "Sure thing, buddy."

He digs into his pantry and tosses up another Snickers bar.

"Huh? Nah, man. I just said I don't want a Snickers. I'm sick of Snickers. How about something salty?"

Your friend furrows his brows. Beads of sweat form on his forehead. He looks nervous. "Sure thing, dude. Something salty coming up."

He buries himself in the pantry, and you hear him rummaging around for several minutes.

Finally, you walk over to see what's happening. And then you see him. He's sitting in the pantry with a pile of Snickers bars stacked on every shelf.

He takes one look a you and bursts into tears.

That's Netflix.

 

[Scullibundo]

Let's say you go to your friend's house and he asks you if you want a snack.

You say, "sure, what do you have?"

And he says, "we've got tons of stuff. We've got something popular, something chewy, something sweet, something salty, something nougaty, something peanuty, and something chocolatey, and something with caramel."

"Wow. That's quite a menu," you say. "How about something chocolatey?"

"Sure thing, dude"

He opens his pantry and tosses you a Snickers bar

"Eh. I have Snickers all the time. What else you got? How about something peanuty?"

Your friend smiles and says, "Sure thing, buddy."

He digs into his pantry and tosses up another's Snickers bar.

"Huh? Nah, man. I just said I don't want a Snickers. I'm sick of Snickers. How about something salty?"

Your friend furrows his brows. Beads of sweat form on his forehead. He looks nervous. "Sure thing, dude. Something salty coming up."

He buries himself in the pantry, and you hear him rummaging around for several minutes.

Finally, you walk over to see what's happening. And then you see him. He's sitting in the pantry with a pile of Snickers bars stacked on every shelf.

He takes one look a you and bursts into tears.

That's Netflix.

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Stop being a dumbass. You know why this is a bad analogy. You're complaining about multiple films occupying multiple genre spaces because they do.

And again, how is Netflix lying about the volume of their content? Show me the lie.

 

[Aselith]

its recommending geralds game in all categories because its their content.

 

[Puck Beaverton]

It's a fuckin conspiracy

 

[Vonnegut]

Stop being a dumbass. You know why this is a bad analogy. You're complaining about multiple films occupying multiple genre spaces because they do.

And again, how is Netflix lying about the volume of their content? Show me the lie.

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The lie is implicit.

Netflix advertises that it has a robust collection, but I disagree.

I think it's pretty bare-boned, but it displays rows upon rows of the same stuff but in different categories.

 

[Dark_EMT]

Today was a good day. I had a good laugh with this thread and the theater one. Thanks Era.

 

[Scullibundo]

The lie is implicit.

Netflix advertises that it has a robust collection, but I disagree.

I think it's pretty bare-boned, but it displays rows upon rows of the same stuff but in different categories.

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They do have a robust collection. They're releasing 90 new films in 2019 lol.

Maybe your idea of robust is silly?

 

[Vonnegut]

They do have a robust collection. They're releasing 90 new films in 2019 lol.

Show me who has more content.

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If those films are of the same quality as Cloverfield Paradox and Bright I'm not looking forward to it.

Are they making the films or are they shopping for films at festivals? Shopping for films at festivals often leads to poor content.

 

[sfedai0]

The lie is implicit.

Netflix advertises that it has a robust collection, but I disagree.

I think it's pretty bare-boned, but it displays rows upon rows of the same stuff but in different categories.

Click to shrink...

OP being so ignorant here makes me chuckle.

 

[Deepwater]

Aren't Netflix's categories algorithmically generated or something? Meaning I won't see all those horror categories you have and you won't see all of mine.

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Everything on Netflix is personalized down to the thumbnails

 

[Vonnegut]

OP being so ignorant here makes me chuckle.

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Well, the jerk store called....

 

[Fanuilos]

The lie is implicit.

Netflix advertises that it has a robust collection, but I disagree.

I think it's pretty bare-boned, but it displays rows upon rows of the same stuff but in different categories.

Click to shrink...

Well, it's nice to think things. Doesn't mean you're right.