Netflix has just eliminated one of the most basic, useful and veteran functions of its service: the ability to send content (cast) directly from your mobile phone to most televisions and Chromecast-type devices. They have also done it quietly, without press releases or major announcements. It’s another straw that breaks an increasingly terrible camel’s back.
what has happened. Netflix no longer supports the transmission of its content from a mobile device to the vast majority of TVs or Android TV-type devices. The solution they offer is for you to find your TV remote control and navigate through the native Netflix application on it. According to several users, the change was applied with zero warnings around on November 10, and Netflix did not announce it, although it has updated one of their support pages to indicate that that feature is no longer active.
It’s unfortunate. The most embarrassing thing is not only the removal of the feature, but the fine print that accompanies it on that support page. According to the new regulations, support for this casting function is restricted to Third generation Chromecast (or previous ones) that did not come with a remote control can continue to receive that signal. And you can only take advantage of this function in plans without advertising: if you have the plan with adsthe feature will be locked even with that supported hardware. It is a move reminiscent of the one they made in 2019 when they eliminated AirPlay support in 2019 under the excuse of “guaranteeing the quality standard.” Traditional corporate phrases that today sound emptier than ever.
A sign of something more disturbing. But let’s not let a tree stop us from seeing the forest, because this is actually another drop in the glass of users’ patience. The journalist and writer Cory Doctorow created the term “enshittification” to define this phenomenon that we are experiencing with streaming platforms:
- First, the platforms are good with their users to attract them
- They then abuse them to improve business for their commercial clients.
- Then they abuse everyone to capture the value for themselves
From bad to worse. If we look back, using Netflix in 2018 was objectively a much superior user experience than today. The interface was cleaner, the catalog was not so fragmented by licensing wars, the cast worked universally and pay attention: the company itself I encouraged you to share your password on Twitter as an act of love and technological goodness. Sharing was living until it stopped being so and Netflix began its particular crusade with shared accounts. We have encountered the Inquisition.
This is out of control. This time it has not happened like in 2019 with AirPlay, and there is no explanation or argument behind this elimination of the feature. What is clear is that Netflix has decided that your comfort in using your phone as a controller is acceptable collateral damage. With this they manage to force you to use their TV interface, where they control much better the visibility of their original content and advertising.
Netflix is not alone in this boat. The degradation of the user experience is a transversal trend in the market, and affects other streaming services. Amazon Prime Video, which was born as a premium service free of interruptions, began to display advertising and has been increasing its appearance gradually and consistently. You can only get rid of it unless you pay extra, thereby somewhat breaking the basic promise of the service: what was previously an added value for being a Prime customer is now an advertising showcase for which, paradoxically, you are already paying an annual fee.
Noise. We are seeing the same thing in two services that dominate our leisure time: both YouTube and Spotify have been filled with advertising and the user experience is objectively worse than it was a few years ago. In Spotify, the strategy has also been even more bloody, because there now appear vertical videos in the TikTok style and an absolute visual intrusion. Functionality and minimalism have been sacrificed because what matters is the engagement.
Users do not react. The alarming thing about this situation is not that companies try to maximize their profits; that is what is expected. What is truly disturbing is how quickly we, the users, have accepted that that user experience has gone and is going back without us doing anything to prevent it. We have normalized the loss of rights and functions, and although there have been some ephemeral reactions on social networks, these have not gone beyond an anecdote. The elimination of shared accounts from Netflix in 2022, for example, sparked a lot of criticism and comments from users who boasted about leaving the platform. There was certainly a fallbut it didn’t last long: Today Netflix has more users than ever.
The philosophy of less gives a stone. This collective passivity is what allows these changes to occur without companies even announcing it. Companies have been training us for years to be grateful that the service simply works. The shittification continues its course, and our lack of protests and actions in this regard is like the gasoline that fuels this terrible trend.
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