I Binge, Therefore I Am

Netflix is one of the big winners of the attention economy, accounting for about 15% of the megabytes consumed on the internet in 2023. That number could go up. Live events, including a couple NFL games and a terrible boxing match, and other tweaks helped Netflix pull in 19 million new subscribers last quarter, which sent its stock price to new heights. It turns out the attention economy and the regular old money economy are often related. So along with the increased popularity comes a price increase. Netflix is raising prices again, as the standard plan goes up to $17.99. Given how much people I know want to find distractions from the news these days, they could probably charge $1799.00 and still maintain their subscriber base. I wouldn’t quit even if they went back to mailing out DVDs. Give me, I need, I need.

+ A lot of people must have decided to binge a show on Monday. The inauguration TV viewership numbers were way down. I’m reminded of the scene in Remains of the Day when Mr. Stevens played by Anthony Hopkins explains, “You know what I’m doing? I’m placing my thoughts elsewhere while you chatter away.” (Spoiler alert: Sadly for us, he wasn’t actually able to place his thoughts elsewhere…)