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andybak

Just like with the resentment over Google shuttering things - this is a classic case of ignorning second order effects.

Yes - not enough people are watching to justify the cost.

But cancellation has a whole raft of hidden costs:

1. Reluctance of viewers to invest time in the next thing that comes along

2. Users defecting to rivals out of anger

3. A negative effect among those demographics that tend to influence others the most

4. Loss of creative talent - edgy directors and actors won't want to risk your platform

I'm sure there are more but they all circle around a common theme. Loss of trust.

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> I'm sure there are more but they all circle around a common theme. Loss of trust.

Users failing to recommend shows on your platform to possible new users because they were canceled without a resolution. “The OA” is perfect example. Netflix won’t make another dime off that show because anyone that has seen it will adamantly steer people away and anyone that googles it and sees it was canceled on a cliffhanger will have zero interest.

Shows don’t need to run forever, but they need to finish them. If that is 1 season, fine. If that is 6 seasons and a movie, great. But I’m not interested in a show that just stops airing without an ending, just like I’m not interested in reading a book where the publisher just stopped printing chapters at some random point.

Ugh. The OA was great, thanks for reminding me.

I've always found it frustrating that a lot of fantasy has to be in trilogies. I almost always wait for all three books, for the whole story to be finished, before I'll start.

Your comment for some reason compelled me to check up on Patrick Rothfuss, as I occasionally do:

> In July of 2020, Rothfuss's editor and publisher Betsy Wollheim said, "I've never seen a word of book three" and that she doesn't think Rothfuss has written anything since 2014.[10]

well, fuck.

Netflix has terrible recommendations and discovery. I watch Netflix almost every day, and I didn’t know about some shows mentioned in the article! I’m constantly surprised when we watch Netflix through my wife’s profile: she gets completely different slice of Netflix, and many shows I would like to see on my profile as well.

People looking at data often ignore that every user uses a specific subset of the total subset of features or content.

Just as a simplistic example, user set A wants content `x` and `y`, user set B wants content `y` and `z` - data shows that `y` is popular, but by removing `x` or `z` they make those users very reluctant to continue using the service.

I've seen it multiple times with services I use where only the common set is kept and then people start loathing and leaving the service.

I definitely won't be starting any new Netflix series, that's for sure. Only if one gets to several seasons and has an end.

Syfy is another source I now avoid, after what they did to Dark Matter (criminal) and The Expanse (saved by AMZN).

I'm still so incredibly pissed about the (non-)end of Dark Matter. Absolutely criminal, indeed.

Makes me want to start a "corporate war." :-D

Trust is also very difficult and expensive to win back. It should be viewed as a fairly non-renewable resource. Even if you do something big to regain trust, that memory will remain as a cognitive anchor. Any semblance of the prior bad behavior will be met with, "of course, that's what they do." Back to square one.

1. for sure. I stopped watching anything that only has one season.

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