Move Over Netflix

story and photo by Carolina Watlington

Before moving to the United States from Brazil in 2012, Leticia Nunes hadn’t even heard of Netflix – but now the 19-year-old dietetics student can’t imagine her life without it. But Netflix isn’t giving up the fight. The streaming giant recently announced that it will be adding “Seinfeld,” an NBC show, to its streaming in 2021 in the hopes of keeping the ‘90s-loving subscribers.

“I’m by no means addicted, but, for me, it’s my way of cooling off or relaxing at the end of a busy week,” Nunes said.

With the upcoming launches of HBO Max, BET+ and NBCUniversal’s Peacock, the million-dollar question looming over Nunes’ and the rest of the world’s heads is this: What will this mean for Netflix?

Netflix knows the streaming war battlefield all too well, as it has been fighting Hulu and Amazon Prime for the crown of best streaming service for years. The market is still dominated by Netflix due to brand loyalty, but with a high saturation in the market, a healthy amount of its 150 million subscribers are likely to jump ship.

It is no secret that the media giants behind the new streaming services are all simultaneously withdrawing their owned content from Netflix. Will there be room for one more? How many is too many?

Three of Netflix’s most popular shows – “Friends,” “Parks and Recreation” and “The Office” – are all leaving within the span of the next year and a half.

“I’m just not a big fan of what’s coming because you’ll have to subscribe to multiple streaming services just to get what you used to be able to access on just one,” Nunes said. Disney+’s Nov. 12 launch has fans buzzing about its original content and diverse options from its catalog. It’s not just the content that Netflix has to worry about though.

Disney+ offers its plan for $6.99 per month and a bundle that includes Hulu and ESPN+ for $12.99 per month, with the ability to simultaneously stream on four devices. The basic Netflix plan is $8.99 for a single device, and the standard plan allows up to two. At nearly double the price with half of the available devices, will consumers stay with Netflix or make the switch?

Since its launch, most users haven’t ditched Netflix – yet. With not even one month under Disney+’s belt, even the most eager of Disney fans want to test the waters before making a decision.

With Disney’s eye-catching prices, fans are more likely to pull the plug on cable (if they haven’t already) to get the best of both worlds.

Nunes doesn’t think she’ll be leaving Netflix anytime soon.

“My Netflix reaches Brazil,” she said. “I’m not sure if the others will be able to do that. If I go for two months, I won’t be able to watch anything.”

Either way, Netflix needs to hang onto its crown for what’s coming, there's competition moving in. O&B