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Comment by cgriswald | Hacker News Reader

There is a disconnect between what I want and what providers are trying to offer me. I want quality content with powerful search. Providers seem to think I want a huge unsearchable library from which they will make recommendations. Netflix has lots and lots of great original content, but given a random show, it's far more likely to be average or less (versus, say, HBOmax).

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> Providers seem to think I want a huge unsearchable library from which they will make recommendations.

Providers want to act as gatekeepers who have the power to make something popular by limiting your options to alternatives. Sometimes they also want to be able to accept money for heavily promoting specific things over others. It's not about delivering a quality product to you at all, it's about what gives them money/power at your expense.

On the other hand, a lot of people are fine with putting unremarkable content on as largely background noise. That's what a lot of broadcast TV was. So there's probably at least some market for a large catalog of OK stuff rather than more of a focus on prestige TV.

There was a while where they were talking about providers making a lot of Niche Content. I wonder if they need to do a better job of adapting to personas. I love the Victorian/Edwardian Farm series that are on Prime, and I think of shows in a niche as sort of "beyond rating". i.e. They are never going to get the money to be considered "exceptional", but will be draw just as strongly for people who appreciate that niche. (Deep not broad). So can Netflix create a curated and simpler interface that optimizes for Outstanding/Exceptional or period pieces or whatever instead of just a long list that's hard to grok.

The probably is we've coupled the gui and the service, the people making the UI have a monopoly and no reason to improve. Same goes for spotify, audible and just about every streaming provider these days.

I had HBO and tried to watch every show. There are plenty of ho-hum shows. An HBO show has a theme and style their own which makes getting into a show a lengthy affair only to realize it's not what you really want. Netflix sums up the show in a preview making it easier.

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