Is Netflix still worth subscribing in 2021?

It’s almost hard to remember now, but in 2013, when Netflix launched its first original series “House of Cards”, some people thought the company was crazy. The first season alone cost tens of millions of dollars and suddenly pushed Netflix into competition with cable channels such as HBO and Showtime. However, the bet paid off, and Netflix now launches original shows or movies almost every week.

Despite this, there are still a large number of people who choose to cancel their subscription. In the second quarter of 2021 alone, the company lost 430,000 US and Canadian users. This does not mean bad luck, but it clearly shows that it can do better. So is Netflix worth subscribing?

Only on the basis of Netflix Originals, there are a lot of content that can be watched exclusively on Netflix. Although House of Cards may have fallen out of favor due to Kevin Spacey’s participation, there are still reliable shows. You can choose from Stranger Things, Black Mirror, Castlevania, The Punisher and The Witcher, to name a few. The quality can vary greatly, but any given genre usually has something worthwhile, except for current affairs shows such as Vice or PBS Frontline on other services.

The company’s films have achieved varying degrees of success, but there are still reliable, occasionally award-winning novels such as Okja, Rome, Beasts Without Borders, and The Trial of Chicago 7. It can be said that some of the best movies on the service are documentaries. These include Ava DuVernay’s 13th or Werner Herzog’s Into the Inferno-again, you can’t watch it anywhere else.

related: The best documentaries on Netflix

If you like sketching or stand-up comedy, Netflix is ​​worth a subscription. Making Netflix special shows is almost a cliché in the comedy world. It allows people to maintain a good relationship with headlines like Patton Oswalt and Amy Schumer.

Third-party content varies from country to country-in the US, people can watch shows such as Breaking Bad, Community, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, even if other popular shows like the office are now exciting Crazy. Movies loop more frequently, but there is usually something worth seeing on any given weekend. Some of the selection cuts in August 2021 include Terminator 2, the rescued Jiang Ge, Inception, and Team USA: World Police.

What is hindering service

A major problem is that Netflix will soon cancel original works that have not reached the level of success of Stranger Things.A notorious example is Office, Despite its enthusiastic followers, its second and final season ended in suspense. Tuca & Bertie-an animated show starring Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong-was cancelled after only one season, but it is still popular enough to find one on Adult Swim New home. Netflix is ​​not a service you can count on to complete the storyline, and sometimes it can’t even keep the great shows alive.

However, the bigger concern is that the rise of new services has taken away popular third-party content from Netflix, and (sometimes) offers more attractive options elsewhere. If you want to order “Friends” for some reason, you may need to pay for HBO Max. The office is surrounded by peacocks. Most (if not all) Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars games have moved to Disney Plus.

In fact, if you subscribe to HBO Max and Disney Plus at the same time, you can more reliably access top-notch materials because these services are owned by large media groups. HBO Max includes not only HBO’s lineup, but also many other WarnerMedia subsidiaries and partners, such as Warner Bros. and Turner Classics. As if owning the Avengers and Luke Skywalker is not too much, Disney also owns National Geographic and former Fox brands such as 20th Century Studios. The queen in “Alien” becomes a Disney princess.

People with niche tastes may also have better choices. Tremor is the best service for horror fans, and art lovers will choose something like The Criterion Channel or Mubi. In addition to comedy, Netflix does not have much expertise, except for Netflix.

What can Netflix do to retain people?

Netflix’s first priority should be to focus on fewer, higher-quality works and get them through. Think about how many people may have signed up for Disney Plus just to watch “The Mandalorian.” People will definitely join a service to watch one or two high-quality programs. If there are more, they will stay. Netflix has built a great library-but many subscribers have been binging on high-quality options.

Movies should be given the green light, focusing on repeated viewing, rather than famous names that keep people at the door for a month. Yes, “Extract” is a good movie starring Chris Hemsworth. But if they cancel, people will not regret what they have lost. Tolkien fans will think twice when giving up HBO Max, because they will lose the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies-of course, if they haven’t bought them yet, but this is an expensive proposal.

New business transactions may also help. Netflix is ​​already included in some T-Mobile plans, and offering similar bundles elsewhere will attract as many viewers as possible. The company should also spend a lot of money to license popular movies, although given that the studio is hoarding exclusive movies for its platform, it may not have more options.

Is Netflix still worth subscribing?

Is Netflix still worth subscribing? For people with limited budgets, the answer to this question may be no. The explosive growth of services in the past two years has broken content so much that you need multiple subscriptions to get a lot of content. At least in terms of instant appealing content, other places will be more cost-effective. Low-intensity anchors may even be satisfied with Amazon Prime Video, which is weak in some ways, but still has content worth watching at a lower price. Speaking of Tolkien, this is also the only place where you can watch the upcoming Lord of the Rings TV show.

Netflix has evolved from an all-encompassing service into its own niche market: you can find Netflix original content, comedy specials and some classic shows here. This is still powerful, but only if you are at the sweet spot between the first tasting and heavy binge drinking. The quality of the new Originals is mixed, and you can’t expect third-party materials everywhere. The best strategy may be to pay close attention to new must-see content and only subscribe for one month at a time.