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Updated at 6.30pm
NEIL HUNT, NETFLIX’S chief product officer, has told Gizmodo that the service won’t offer offline playback of content because it will create a “paradox of choice” that will leave some users “paralysed” and unable to use Netflix.
Speaking at IFA in Berlin, Hunt said that “one of the things I’ve learned is that every time you offer a choice [i.e. offline playback], you paralyse some people who can’t decide if that’s what they want to do or not.”
Hunt took a dig at Amazon Prime stating that “[u]ndoubtedly it adds considerable complexity to your life with Amazon Prime – you have to remember that you want to download this thing. It’s not going to be instant…and [I'm not sure] that it’s worth providing that level of complexity.”
Amazon, which runs Prime Instant Video, recently announced that it would make some content available offline, while Netflix has previously stated that the company will “never” offer offline playback.
While the reason for not allowing offline playback may seem anecdotal at best, Hunt claims that Netflix has lots of data about why adding more complexity won’t work — even if users request it.
“We did an experiment with our five star rating system, for instance; everybody said ‘you’ve got to do half stars’… [When Netflix trialed it they] had 11% less ratings coming in,” Hunt said. “[It was] just insane! We’ve plenty of cases where we’ve seen that happen.”
Hunt argues that instead of users downloading content, the ability to stream content should be made more robust with better internet access in places such as hotels and planes. “I think Amazon is playing a good game of PR, but I’m not sure it’s a good consumer experience,” he said.
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If they allowed customers to download content at very slow speeds so they would be able to play it offline later, then people in rural areas would subscribe in their droves. Big opportunity there.
That’s the difference between Netflix and a Torrent
“We don’t need to change our service, the entire infrastructure for net access needs to change” exceptionally short sited view from a company who pride themselves on being forward thinking. Nevermind the fact that the ability to take things offline is practically an industry requirement, it’s incredibly simple to just cache the content for a period without needing to offer the user the choice. Bad move.
Sky go extra is great for off line activity. Download in a wifi area, watch at your own leisure while commuting or seat.
Exactly,
And do you feel confused by that option?
This comment from Netflix makes no sense.
Pirate Bay tbh lads.
The issue is that any time you allow content to be downloaded, you increase the risk of the files being copied and shared. Even if you load it up with DRM, chances are it will be cracked or circumvented at some point.
Netflix are using the excuse of consumer confusion to control the supply of their content, and by extension, their revenue stream. They’re in the dominant market position, so they have to. Amazon, being a smaller player (backed by a much bigger company) trying to catch up, can afford to take the risk – even just for the publicity boost.
There’s no risk, Grigori. The worst case scenario already happens everytime a new show is put up on Netflix. It wasn’t even a day after the most recent series of Orange is The New Black went up on Netflix that it was also up on TPB, KAT or whatever other popular torrent sites you like, in HD quality, with the intros cut.
All Netflix are doing here is harming their less tech savvy customers. There’s culchies and people in rural America and developing nations out there who have internet connections hitting 1mbps at a push, they can’t stream Netflix but they could download from it. I’m still baffled that Netflix ever took off to be honest. Torrenting is so much better.
Grigori,
That’s preventing a problem that already exists, with a method that doesn’t work.
Makes zero sense.
Sure recording onto the Sky+ box is doing the same thing but very few bother their balls to convert the filetype and upload it to tinterweb
The Movie HD App let’s you download and watch later. http://moviehdapp.com/
Yeah and it being illegal and liable for shutdown at any time is a great selling point. Good lad.
If I recall correctly there was one released that required you to have a Netflix account to download the Netflix content
The US courts declared that it was against the Netflix terms of service but not illegal because you were merely watching what you paid for
It’s been working well for the last few months.
Maybe they can beat piracy by selling us content that’s invisible. Then you won’t know if it’s worth copying or not, but you’ll just have to use your imagination a bit more.
The real reason is obvious, it converts Netflix . You download the media to watch offline, there’s nothing stopping you then uploading the files to your favourite torrent site.
That’s really not the case.
You can already capture streamed media, so they aren’t preventing anything that isn’t already possible by not allowing downloading of content.
have your say