I agree with your point. Netflix is in the custom content business. If anyone is confused about that and thinks their engineers will ultimately make or break the business, a rude awakening is inbound.
The Netflix tech lead, if it matters much at all at this point, is perpetually shrinking. There's only so much that shuffling what-to-watch-next algorithms on the Titanic deck will do for you. Disney has an epic amount of money to throw at anything they want to, so do Apple and Amazon. Netflix stands zero chance of keeping a magic lead via a couple thousand very highly paid engineers; there is only so much those engineers can do to make a difference, only so much to optimize in that product, and they can do absolutely nothing to bolster the biggest value proposition: content wins out.
I've been a Netflix subscriber for a very long time. I can't name anything they make that I care about or have watched recently. I can't name a single mega show I permanently associate with them (like I might the Sopranos with HBO etc). I agree with most everyone else in this thread, Netflix is first on the chopping block, because their content sucks. A streaming product has to be exceptionally bad to lose in the market if you have superior content (with a reasonable price); the largely tech superior streaming product that Netflix has had isn't going to be enough to beat their competition unless their content is stellar too.
I won't say a streaming platform is a commodity at this point but it's close. Others may disagree but I don't really find a meaningful usability difference between Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+.
I do. Netflix always works for me and I don't think I've ever found a bug. HBO Max on the other hand routinely fails to stream with an error and has lots of UI bugs. Little things like if you're watching a show and go to the episode list there's no way to change seasons.
That said, it doesn't matter much because HBO's crappy app is the only way to watch their content so I put up with it.
On a similar note, I didn't end up getting Peacock or Disney+ for several months because they just didn't have apps for the streaming devices I use. Whereas Netflix up until recently even had an app for Nintendo DS. They've put a lot of effort into being available on most platforms.
The Netflix tech lead, if it matters much at all at this point, is perpetually shrinking. There's only so much that shuffling what-to-watch-next algorithms on the Titanic deck will do for you. Disney has an epic amount of money to throw at anything they want to, so do Apple and Amazon. Netflix stands zero chance of keeping a magic lead via a couple thousand very highly paid engineers; there is only so much those engineers can do to make a difference, only so much to optimize in that product, and they can do absolutely nothing to bolster the biggest value proposition: content wins out.
I've been a Netflix subscriber for a very long time. I can't name anything they make that I care about or have watched recently. I can't name a single mega show I permanently associate with them (like I might the Sopranos with HBO etc). I agree with most everyone else in this thread, Netflix is first on the chopping block, because their content sucks. A streaming product has to be exceptionally bad to lose in the market if you have superior content (with a reasonable price); the largely tech superior streaming product that Netflix has had isn't going to be enough to beat their competition unless their content is stellar too.