Why is Netflix so popular when there is hardly much selection on it?

I read that Netlfix is putting HMV out of business, which explains why when I got to HMV there are not near as many movie selections anymore there. But I don't get how Netlfix is beating it.

Every time I go to look for the movie I feel like watching off of Netflix, it's almost never on there. I felt like watching The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly -- not on there. Slumdog Millionaire -- no... 12 Angry Men -- no. Whiplash -- no.

And many many more that I have looked for that are not on there. You get the idea. Even newer movies like Whiplash, you can't even find on there a lot of the time. And all of those movies I did want, HMV had, even if you had to order them, unlike Netflix.

I tried looking for Jaws (1975), which is a really popular movie. A big hit. They didn't have it but guess what they did have... Jaws: The Revenge (1987). They don't have Jaws, but they have Jaws: The Revenge! Really???

I do not understand how Netflix even stays in business, which such a minimal selection, and most of the movies that are on there are movies you haven't even heard of. And a lot of times when I pick those, they are usually bad movies, with bad scripts. Probably why they didn't make it very big I guess most likely?

So how is it that Netflix is beating HMV exactly?

I think there are a number of reasons:

1) Movies come and go, so while lots of great movies aren't on there now, they were before and/or will be again. (This, incidentally, answers your disbelief about Jaws and its sequel: they don't DECIDE they'd rather have one than the other. They have to negotiate licenses for films, which expire and/or vary in price.)

2) I'm not sure the selection is as bad as you say. You list some examples, but that's necessarily anecdotal. There are lots of good movies on Netflix, even though it's also easy to pick out lots of good ones that aren't. But it's pretty hard to apply much perspective to what a "good" selection would even be compared to the total number of movies in existence.

3) What you consider good movies is not going to be the same as your average user. If you consider yourself a cinephile (and I assume you do), it shouldn't be surprising that a business model can be successful without appealing to you, because most people aren't cinephiles. There are a lot of okay, semi-recent movies on there, and for most people that's just fine. Most people would rather have Tropic Thunder than Aguirre, the Wrath of God

4) Netflix has a lot of TV shows, and one TV show means a lot of content (a hundred hours, sometimes). This is a huge part of Netflix's value, so if you're only interested in movies, a big part of its appeal is lost.

5) There is, of course, a whole business apart from streaming, and the selection there is much, much wider.

You say HMV had them "even if you had to order them," but that's not a minor difference. One movie rental can be half a month (or more) of Netflix all by itself! And if you have to go outside of Netflix's flat monthly fee, I don't know what sets HMV apart from any other media store (Amazon, iTunes, et cetera).

For me it's Yoda's #5. The streaming combined with the DVD service is awesome.

I dont know anyone in the real world who doesn't have it.

Further to the comments above, they dump n entire season of a show at once so that is perfect for binge watchers.
They also make very exy productions.

You rent movies from Netflix from their rental adjunct - DVD.com. The streaming Netflix doesn't have as many movies as before, but they're available through Netflix DVD/Blu-Ray Rental through DVD.com.

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I managed to catch Natural Born Killers and Fargo for the first time through Netflix.

But a big appeal for me is the TV shows, some of which can't be found in their entirety on the Internet. It makes the process a hell of a lot easier if you want to binge watch.

I totally hear what you're saying. I've cancelled my account for a while. I check http://instantwatcher.com/ once a month to see what they've added and decide then if I wanna start back up. I've found truly great movies on NF and seen many films I love. But yes, after you'ver seen everything it can be tedious flipping through gambles for such long stretches when all you want is something to fall asleep to, which is usually the case for me. That's why I buy Wim Wenders on blu ray Criterions..always a dull moment and no NF surfing, which can take literally hours to find the right guess of what to settle on.

I agree that Netflix streaming is ****. Amazon has a far better selection. But, I singed back onto Netflix by mail a while ago and have never looked back.

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I have Netflix/DVD.Com (where I get DVDs in the mail). I just checked and they have every one of those movies you mentioned available.

It's true that their streaming selection gets worse and worse every year. Even their once vaunted collection of TV shows has waned.

Unless you're using their DVD service, it isn't worth the money.

I don't have it. My friends do but everytime I go to look up movies, they are literally almost never on there. But even when it comes to non-cinefile selections, like Whiplash, not even that was on there. I mean that was still a popular movie for the average viewer wasn't it? I could name lots of other examples, of movies, and not just the few I named before.

I wanted to watch the second Dirty Harry movie for example, not one Dirty Harry movie was on there. Those movies were hits without having to be a cinefile, aren't they? That is just one example.

The streaming is $9 a month. A single episode of a TV show runs you $2 to purchase, and a single rental of even an older film is maybe half that. You barely need to find anything worth watching to justify the cost. It's a friggin' bargain if you find a movie a week, and if you find an entire series you want to see, the value is downright absurd.

I understand where you're coming from, but I find it hard to justify keeping it when they keep increasing the price while the selection dwindles.

Amazon Prime and Hulu have rendered Netflix Instant obsolete.

Whiplash is probably closer to a "cinephile" movie than a mainstream one. It made $13 million domestically (though I'm guessing it's done better on home video). I'd wager most people haven't heard of it.

See point #2. Whether the selection is good, bad, or somewhere inbetween, random examples don't really give us any perspective on this, given how many tens of thousands of movies are out there.

This kind of thing is going to turn on idiosyncratic tastes. Example: if you loved Herzog documentaries, you'd probably have a totally different view, because there's like half a dozen on there.

They didn't increase the price: they added streaming, for free, on top of the DVD service. Then, after awhile, they actually decided to charge for it, and allow people to pick one or the other (or both). It was wildly underpriced before that.

Anyway, the math is pretty clear if you compare it to any alternative: you need to find very, very few watchable things on Netflix to justify such a tiny cost. A few movies a month, or a single TV show, and you're basically there already.

Yeah, there's just millions of us rubes throwing our money away, I guess.

Both Amazon and Hulu have all the same kinds of holes in their content that ironpony's talking about. You can play the "why isn't X on there?" game with both of them, and both have demonstrably fewer exclusives.

If they happen to have more stuff you like: cool, enjoy. Why not leave it at that? I realize this is the Internet, where everyone feels the need to rephrase personal preferences as universal qualitative declarations, but I don't think there's any objective criteria backing most of this stuff up.

Possibly very relevant question: how many of the people who think Netflix isn't worthwhile download lots of movies for free, and are therefore probably comparing it to that, which obviously isn't going to be a favorable comparison?

The problem I have is that they keep removing shows and movies I like while adding original content I don't give a crap about.

Also, the math is even clearer when you understand there's always the alternative of watching whatever you want for free.Amazon Prime Instant has most of what you'd find on Netflix, not including the "Netflix Original" stuff obviously. On top of that you have free two-day shipping. As for Hulu, its television show selection puts Netflix to shame, especially with the many shows you can watch the day after they air on live TV. To be honest, unless you really really love their original content, they don't have much in the way of a edge on their competition.

And no, there's no objective criteria for this, but it should be obvious I'm merely stating my opinion. Netflix Instant ain't worth it anymore. Fortunately though I can use my brother's account whenever I want without paying a dime.

Did you check your Library, most libraries have DVD sections and they are more discriminating.

I always had Blockbuster/Netflix by mail. I never had to download a movie ilegally, because they have had everything on there. The only movie I ever pirated was New Orleans After Dark (1958) because holy **** that was hard to find.