Netflix may have kicked off the streaming wars, but they stand to lose out. Netflix is making a bunch of dumb decisions and their quality has gone way down, and honestly, I don't even think they're going to be worth having a subscription for later.

Here are the major issues:
  1. Netflix is cancelling shows left and right, when their standards used to be very lenient. You used to be allowed to build your following, you used to be given at least two seasons and often more, you used to be able to tell long-form stories. Not anymore. Word is that Netflix has imposed a 3-season cap on most shows to keep ratings consistent across the board, and furthermore have cancelled shows have a month or two just for not being the next Stranger Things. It used to be an extreme rarity for shows to not make it past two seasons. Now, most shows are failing to even reach the third. You know how bad it looks that Netflix has all these incomplete shows? Really bad.
  2. Furthermore, they're over-saturating the market with originals. They released over 300 originals in this year alone. Having all this content sounds great, but it isn't. Netflix doesn't have the pockets of Disney or WarnerMedia, and they can't control the quality of said releases. Their strategy amounts to "throw **** at the wall, see what sticks". The fact is, with over 300 shows a year, many shows are going to get the low end and that's a problem. Combine this with the above issue, and the best analogy is that they're making a big wall of content -- but one with gaping holes and unfinished parts.
  3. Netflix owns nothing. They have no nostalgic content, compared to how Disney+ and HBO Max will have full access to massive libraries of content. Disney has their own vast Disney library, alongside Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and more. HBO Max has their own HBO library and Warner Bros., DC, TBS, TNT, CNN, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Hanna-Barbera, Adult Swim, CW, Rooster Teeth, Crunchyroll, New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainment, Turner Classic Movies, among others. The best Netflix can do is fund lesser stuff, like a revival of the '80s lamest sitcom (Full House) or a Beverly Hills Cop 4. This also means that they're always at the risk of losing stuff, and lose they do. They're losing almost everything including content from Disney and Warner, and that's not even all. If you think Netflix is still great now, just wait a year when they have a far less.
  4. Netflix Originals are beginning to look subpar, and will be even more so next to the competition. This goes back to Netflix's strategy of throwing stuff at the wall, and having no quality control because they don't own anything. Even worse is that it's well-known, to the point that Netflix has even admitted it, that Netflix uses their originals as propaganda for their political beliefs instead of being focused on telling stories that are actually good. I think we all tune into these shows to get entertained, not to get preached to.
  5. Even aside from that big problem, their talent and budgets are lacking. Most of Netflix Originals, with few exceptions, star lesser-knowns or those past their prime, and their making deals with lesser creators like Adam Sandler and Michael Bay. For every Martin Scorsese, there's more than 10 creators whose names aren't worth mentioning. Disney and Warner, on the other hand, have top tier talent both in front of and behind the camera, and their budgets just blow Netflix's allowance out of the water. It helps, again, that they own a lot of assets, studios, and IPs to make that possible.
  6. Finally, Netflix isn't as big as the other companies overall. Netflix only has their streaming business, and they have to keep putting themselves in debt just to fund more of their self-destructive originals. Disney and Warner however, are massive conglomerates who make tons of money from other sources, which is money that can go into further developing their services. They also have a guaranteed stream on content coming in, as every Disney and Warner produced movie going forward will be on Disney+ and HBO Max respectively. They can also much more easily make their originals, not only for being able to fund them easier, but also because they own many of the IPs, so they don't have to spend big bucks to secure them and can just focus on the product itself.

Honestly, I'm just waiting for HBO Max to come out so I can get rid of my Netflix sub forever. Some of their originals look great, like The Witcher, but I'll just get the Blu-Ray version of the ones I really want to see. I have Disney+, and I'll only need that and HBO Max going forward to get my streaming fix.

But really, what is appealing about Netflix going forward anyways? I think it's telling that most of the support Netflix receives amounts to "I don't want to subscribe to different streaming services!", but really, that's the reality, and Netflix stands to become a bad value. I think when HBO Max comes out, it'll only highlight how bad Netflix looks by comparison. Things will only go down from there.

What do you think?