Last night I sat through three episodes of Pokemon the Series: XY and then another four episodes of Inuyasha, all because there was nothing else to watch on Netflix. I’ve blown through Daredevil, the entirety of The Office three times and Bojack Horseman, so what’s left? Anime? Cartoons? Foreign flicks? I’m starting to run dry, Bros.
Maybe if Netflix’s catalogue hadn’t started shrinking I would be able to find something to watch easily – according to research from AllFlicks.net, the number of movies and television shows Netflix has available for US-based consumers has shrunk from 6,494 movies and 1,609 television shows in January 2014, to just 4,335 movies and 1,197 television shows as of March 23, 2016. That’s a combined total of 2,571 fewer titles, a 31.7% drop in less than two years!
However, Mirror explains that the drop in content is because of the streaming service’s desire to create its own original content:
Netflix is planning to offer 31 new original shows in 2016 alone – as well as continuing the likes of House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.
The reason Netflix is pushing towards original content is that it avoids the costly licensing fees it has to pay to other companies to distribute their content.
What’s more, rival streaming services like Amazon and Sky are also producing original content – and Netflix has to keep up.
If that means that I get more shows like Orange Is the New Black and Jessica Jones, I suppose I can put up with getting rid of crappy television options like 2 Broke Girls and whatever other sitcom swill they throw in there for the sake of variety. Hell, maybe I’ll even check out one of the 10 scariest shows on Netflix right now:
What do you think – is the decrease in options worth it for the increase in quality? Let us know in the comments!
[H/T Mirror]