Movies

Netflix: Worth it?

30 August 2017

By Lauren E. White

3/5

With Netflix being the tenth-largest internet company by revenue, it seems as though everyone has a subscription. But plenty don’t and, as someone who didn’t until the free month-trial, I wanted to know if it was worth the hype.

Netflix offers three different subscription plans that allow you to watch programmes on one screen to four at the same time. The lowest plan costs £5.99 a month and the highest £8.99. However you look at it, Netflix is cheaper than both Apple Music and Spotify. If you’re choosing between a TV subscription or music (like me), there seems to be an attraction to Netflix almost immediately.

I had a few films I wanted to watch and heard about some great programmes only available on Netflix before my exams, so waited until afterwards to watch them because I didn’t need the distraction. That’s one thing about Netflix: as they release a whole series at once, it’s easy to get too much into a fictional world and neglect the revision.

The films I wanted to watch weren’t on Netflix, so it didn’t get off to a good start. They weren’t my usual Old Hollywood films either; they were recent and quite popular.

With the lack of quality film content, I knew I wanted to watch something political as I’d heard so much about those dramas on Twitter. The West Wing? Nope, not available on Netflix. So it was House of Cards I ended up binge-watching for a week. Although it is completely amazing and the best thing I’ve seen since Sherlock (which is available on Netflix!), one series doesn’t justify paying £5.99-£9.99 a month.

There was little else on Netflix that interested me. I had already seen Jessica Jones and loved it, but I didn’t fancy watching it again. Another programme interested me, but it would take me a long time to get through seven series with 13 hour-long episodes in each.

Overall, Netflix is pretty overrated. Unless you want to sit and watch trashy teenage TV like Gossip Girl and the odd conspiracy documentary, it’s not worth a monthly subscription. However, if another series of my favourite shows is released, I will pay again for one month. If you think about it, £9.99 is less than the price of a DVD, so you’re still winning in the end.

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