Leaving Netflix Soon

For the last week, or less, I have been choosing what to watch, not based on what's new, or recommended, but on what is leaving Netflix soon. With netflix it is very easy to think "I don't know what to watch" and "I don't want to watch anything that is being recommended.

By noticing the films that are "Leaving Soon" the challenge of choosing what to watch is simplified. If you have to choose what's vanishing within a few weeks then the choice is smaller.

Last night I watched Mortal Engine and Running Man.It's funny to watch Running Man today because at the time it took place in the future. The future, for that film was 2017. For everyone reading this post, that's the past.

## Filter by Leaving Soon

Netflix makes it easy to filter by "Recently added" and "coming soon" with e-mails and more but it makes it quite hard to see what is leaving. To see what is "leaving soon" you need to browse through films and notice that they have the red "leaving soon" banner. They should simplify the process of spotting what's leaving soon.

Lists are available to show you what's leaving in the US, but not for other countries, so if you're not careful things that you want to watch may vanish before you've had time to see them.

## Negative Effect

Would it have a negative effect if Netflix made it easy to see everything that is leaving their streaming services? Cinemas have "coming soon" as well as "final play" for films so it would make sense for Netflix and similar services to let people know that a series or film is about to vanish from the service. Maybe if we see how many films are being removed we would have a negative reaction to the cycle of change.

## Hours Spent on Youtube

> The impact is so significant, that in May of this year, 9.7% of all content viewed on televisions across America came from YouTube, according to a study by Nielsen. That’s a clear sign that viewership habits are shifting, and media companies can’t ignore it.
[source](https://www.prdaily.com/scoop-youtube-toysrus-waymo/)

The reason for which I am not as active on Netflix is that I still watch plenty of "content" on YouTube. YouTube has easy to view content that you can watch whilst having dinner, before watching something properly once you have finished eating. YouTube bites into the time that I would otherwise spend getting through series and films on Netflix.

I saw something that struck me as misleading.

> YouTube, which effectively invented user-generated content, claims a daunting share of overall media consumption. And it’s no longer just dominating the internet, it’s dominating the living room, too.
[source](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/26/youtube-streaming-dominance-media-strategy.html)

This is absolutely not true. User generated content has been on the web for a decade before YouTube came into being and decades before that if we look at the early days of the Internet, with BBS services and more. The writer wrote propaganda in favour of YouTube, rather than fact.

The article wrote about YouTube's growing dominance, which I disagree with. YouTube does have a monopoly but that' monopoly position is fraying. I used to watch hours of YouTube content, sometimes a day, but that has degraded because the content that is being suggested is what I like to call "user generated crap". Most of the content on YouTube now is sensationalist rubbish because the algorithms have gone for the lowest common denominator.

## What Does This Have to Do With Netflix "Leaving Soon"?

YouTube encourages sensationalism and spammy behaviour. "Don't forget to like and subscribe" and "if you want us to do more like this video" and "If you think Action A was good 'like' right now". It's clickbait content, with less and less actual content.

The harder it is to find something compelling on YouTube, the better Netflix et al will do. If I am pushed away from YouTube then I am drawn to Netflix, and by being drawn to Netflix I can watch films that are about to be removed, before getting to the newer content.

## And Finally

I can go for weeks, or even months without finding much to watch on Netflix. By allowing Netflix "leaving soon" to whittle down the choice I find it easier to commit to watching a film or series before it is too late.

If you watch a lot of Netflix you need to know what's arriving, but if you watch a minimum then knowing what to watch before it is too late works better. As YouTube chases the Lowest Common Denominator I feel myself drawn back to Broadcast quality content and cinema quality films once again.