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Subscriptions and Keeping Us Hooked

-- By MattDial - 08 Oct 2019

Subscriptions surround us in modern society. Subscriptions as a concept are not new, but the shifting ways in which we interact with technology are changing the ways subscription services recommend items, how the items get produced, and even what gets produced. These changes, along with the auto-renew, auto-play design of modern subscriptions combine to serve a familiar purpose- keep us interacting with the service.

Netflix As A Case Study for Increased Interaction

Using Your Data For "You"

A prime example of the modern subscription service is the streaming giant, Netflix. It operates similarly to other TV and movie streaming services, recommending shows and movies based on what is popular overall on the service as well as what you have already watched. In fact, in 2017 Netflix specifically pivoted away from a “star”-based recommendation service to a “thumbs up, thumbs down” viewer rating system for purposes of better recommending shows and movies to viewers. This specific policy shift came from a desire to get the viewer more involved and less confused about the recommendation process. And what comes from better recommendations? Why, more “bingeing”, of course! Ultimately, Netflix also tracks viewing to work its recommendations, but this personal interaction aspect helps mask that the recommendation system ends up placing better media on your Netflix home page and keeps you discovering shows and watching Netflix for longer periods of time.

The Evolution of Content

Streaming services producing original content is a commonplace occurrence now, but it was not always this way. When streaming was a new idea (for legal platforms anyway), and Netflix was transitioning from a DVD rental service to a streaming service, it launched an open-source competition to better improve its recommendation algorithm. And the next step of a well-oiled recommendation machine is to tailor the content available to viewers to correspond with choices. When Netflix hosts shows and movies, it works to efficiently license movies and TV, or in other words to get the most viewers relative to the licensing cost. But the growing trend on Netflix and other streaming services is in original shows.

Netflix’s focus on original content has had an effect on what type of content is available for viewing. Increasing the number of original productions has corresponded since 2010 with an increase of 300% in TV shows available on Netflix, and a decrease of 40% in movies available. While Netflix has produced some original movies, the vast majority of hours of content produced are from new TV shows. Furthermore, there is an evolution even within the meaning of the phrase “TV show”. Shows are now no longer beholden to the standard, 22-episode broadcast TV season. Now a “TV show” can have a “season” that is six or eight episodes long, and it all releases at the same time. The line between what makes something a TV show and a miniseries is becoming blurred. TV shows are still either renewed or discontinued, and a miniseries has a definite end in mind from the beginning. The “mini” certainly no longer refers to the number of installments involved as compared to a regular series.

Overall though, whether a “TV show” or “miniseries”, the shift toward increased production of series plays to the “binge” model for how many viewers intake TV today. It is quite uncommon to “binge” one movie into another, but extremely common to “binge” one episode of TV into another. And with auto-play features built into the service, the intended effect is to keep the viewer attached.

Subscriptions for Physical "Content"

While Netflix has specifics that render it unique, including its original status as a DVD rental service and its rare position as a streaming giant, its evolution and the TV shift toward subscription streaming services corresponds with a huge increase in subscription model services for non-media items. There are clothing subscription services, meal subscription services, even toothbrush subscription services, all of which you can manage through their convenient smartphone apps to have the products delivered straight to your home. These also can include built-in recommendation services and changes in available content based on users’ preferences and item popularity. And while this can sound like an ideal form of shopping, it can also come with increased attachment to the service. Auto-renewal with the option of later canceling is a standard form of subscribing to TV streaming and other services now, but relying on the service itself in this way can be detrimental. Changes in subscription price can outweigh any financial benefit they may have offered in the first place. There are now many options of apps that help track and flag recurring payments to subscription services for you- but first, you must give them access to your bank information. Suddenly the ease of a subscription service becomes a headache.

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Whatever benefits subscriptions services give to consumers, we must be wary of the drawbacks, whether increased time spent watching Netflix or increased time dealing with Blue Apron payments. Executives producing subscription service items surely enjoy the consistency of a recurring payment or eyeballs on the screen, but consumers must work to question the system behind it and whether it really is giving us the best content and goods that we can get.

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