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But what if I want a faster horse?

(rakhim.exotext.com)
1525 points saeedesmaili | 5 comments | 11 Apr 25 11:39 UTC | HN request time: 0.679s | source
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furyg3 ◴[11 Apr 25 12:19 UTC] No.43652977[source]▶
The TikTok-ification of advertising supported platforms is terrible, but makes sense to me. LinkedIn pivoted from making money on subscriptions and fees for job postings to ads, which mean the leading drivers are 'engagement' e.g. time you spend doom scrolling on their platform. This will end in disaster for the platform as a place to find jobs or employees.

Netflix I understand much less. They make money from subscriptions. If you perceive having a fantastic experience on the site by just going there, finding something you enjoy watching, and leaving... they win. Why they would foster a doom-scrolling experience I really can't really explain, other than imagining some dark pattern like they have to pay per view and want you to watch C grade movies? More time spent looking for something to watch means less time streaming?

I don't get it.

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kilian ◴[11 Apr 25 12:21 UTC] No.43652989[source]▶
This is strongly in tin-foil hat territory but: streaming video costs a lot more money than streaming some JSON to populate a UI. Every minute you spent browsing the catalogue over playing a video is probably a significant costs saving for Netflix.
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nottorp ◴[11 Apr 25 12:31 UTC] No.43653050[source]▶
But they play those previews automatically... and that's still bandwidth used.
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1. tonightstoast ◴[11 Apr 25 13:22 UTC] No.43653473[source]▶
And tragically most users prefer the auto playing previews. Theprimeagean has a YouTube video about how he tried to a/b test it before release thinking "no way that's what users would prefer" and was unfortunately wrong.
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2. HeyLaughingBoy ◴[11 Apr 25 15:16 UTC] No.43654782[source]▶
Well, there is a setting to turn it off.
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3. nottorp ◴[11 Apr 25 15:17 UTC] No.43654803[source]▶
Who's that and do they work for Netflix?

Tbh I don't mind the previews as long as they don't make the UI lag*. I was just pointing out that they don't save bandwidth.

* I'm also aware that they're blatant lies and have little connection with what's in the actual movie.

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4. zerd ◴[11 Apr 25 18:18 UTC] No.43656753[source]▶
My problem with turning it of is that if you _do_ want to watch the preview it's very cumbersome. Clicking on it goes to the movie/episode. So to get to the preview you have to go to the list of Episodes, scroll down (and try not to get spoiled) to trailers then play it. So I have one profile with it on and one with it off, depending on if I'm browsing or not.
5. tonightstoast ◴[11 Apr 25 19:37 UTC] No.43657644[source]▶
100%. Wasn’t trying to contradict your statement - just giving some additional context.

And he is a semi popular tech YouTuber that has risen to popularity in the last couple of years. I think he also streams on twitch but I’m not on that site so I can’t say. But he worked for Netflix for about 10 years.