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Rutgers students discuss decreasing popularity of Netflix

Photo Illustration | Netflix is a streaming service that inspired several other companies to also begin streaming video. These competitors may have impacted the former DVD-rental company, as its stock prices have gone down in recent months.  – Photo by Achint Raince


"Netflix and chill" seems like a popular hobby today, but Netflix has in fact been losing popularity in recent years. 

Netflix, the monthly subscription-based video-streaming service that offers a selection of movies and television shows to watch, has been decreasing in popularity, according to USA Today.

Hulu, HBO and Amazon Prime are Netflix’s biggest competitors. 

Netflix, which began by offering DVDs by mail, now is most popular for its instant streaming service. Its service is described as the “godfather of video on demand," according to cheatsheet.com.

A basic subscription includes video streaming for $7.99 per month, according to Netflix.com. That offers a variety of movies and television shows available for streaming. 

New subscribers can watch as much of the programming as they want for one solid rate. Netflix also produces original content like “Orange is the New Black,” “House of Cards,” “Marvel’s Daredevil,” “Narcos” and more. 

Hulu can compete with Netflix because it can stream currently airing shows. <st1><st1><st1>They also offer a one-week free trial for new subscribers, according to their website. </st1></st1></st1>Their streaming service costs $7.99 per month with limited commercials and $11.99 without advertisements.

<st1><st1><st1></st1></st1></st1>Amazon Prime is similar to both Netflix and Hulu. It produces original content and can stream movies and shows for $99 per year, according to their website

There is a student discount with a six month free trial and 50 percent off Amazon Prime once the trial is over. Amazon Prime also offers more than just video streaming such as free two-day shipping, music, unlimited photo storage, deals and discounts. 

HBO is also directly competing with these other services. The company has two streaming platforms, including HBO Go and HBO Now. 

HBO Go provides access to the network's full library of shows and a selection of movies but requires a cable subscription, according to their website.

HBO Now costs $15 and is a separate subscription service where a cable subscription is not needed. 

Netflix is known every month to add and eliminate movies. Netflix’s deal with the movie network Epix expired in September, according to PIX11, so a lot of more current movies were lost and Hulu gained them. Hulu has 10 million subscribers, while Netflix has 65 million subscribers.

Netflix's original content will make up for the loss of popular movies, said Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, according to Pix11. 

Jasmine Moradi, a Rutgers Business School junior, said she preferred Netflix out of all of the streaming services.

“It’s cheap, it’s convenient, (and) you can use it at your display whenever you’re bored,” she said. 

But Moradi said she was losing interest in Netflix.

“They used to be very popular. It’s getting a little bit old (though). Their choices aren’t as (expansive) as they used to be,” Moradi said.

Maria Sales, a Rutgers Business School junior, said she prefers Netflix. 

“I think it has better shows, and you don’t have to pay for them like Amazon sometimes requires you to pay for a couple of like good shows and movies,” she said.

Sales said she is not losing interest in Netflix, but she thinks there are too many original Netflix shows.

Liandro Cordova, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, uses Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Every once in a while, Cordova said he does lose interest but then becomes interested again when Netflix updates their library.

“Netflix, I’ve been using for a long time, and I guess I’ve grown accustomed to it. It has a lot of the shows that I watch. Amazon Prime is super convenient, especially with the student account,” Cordova said.

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Christopher Bohorquez is a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore. He is a contributing writer for The Daily Targum. See more on Twitter @c_bo_sauce



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