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'Stranger Things 4': Let These Incredible TikToks Tide You Over Until Vol. 2
'Stranger Things 4': Let These Incredible TikToks Tide You Over Until Vol. 2
The final episodes of Stranger Things, season 4 arrive tonight! It's been a couple of weeks between volumes and with the wait just about over, maybe some shorter content will help plug the gap. Noah Schnapp and more cast members from Stranger Things have been providing the content we need to tide us over to the new episodes.
In a video posted on May 29, two days after Stranger Things season 4 premiered, Schnapp appears in full Byers garb -- a plaid shirt and khaki-colored pants he wears on the show -- and does an understated dance to a hip-hop track. "Will Byers making a TikTok?," the caption reads. You can check it out below.
@noahschnapp
Will byers making a tiktok?
♬ no idea X poke it out X out west - VNDRE
If you've scrolled through TikTok over the past month, you've probably taken note of the Stranger Things chatter. Season 4 has inspired everything from a TikTok challenge where people reveal which song would save them from Vecna's curse, to an auto-tuned version of Eddie's plea to a possessed Chrissy in the first episode ("Chrissy wake up," the track starts off. "I don't like this…").
Seventeen-year-old Schnapp and his Tiktok-savvy co-star, 20-year-old Caleb McLaughlin, are adding their own entertaining videos to the mix, and it's exactly what I've needed during this gap between season 4 episodes. Neither actor is new to the platform -- McLaughlin has been on since at least 2021 and Schnapp since at least 2019 -- but they've both delivered for fans during the show's interim.
In his follow-up TikTok to the Will Byers dancing vid, Schnapp pokes fun at TikTok's adoption of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill, the 1985 song that saw a resurgence after the release of season 4. "Me scrolling on my For You page after May 27," appears on-screen, while he scrolls through numerous normal and sped-up versions of the song. In addition to the TikTok recognition, the track charted around the world.
Meanwhile, McLaughlin, the actor who plays Lucas, has spent the season 4 pause lip-syncing to Pass the Dutchie, another song highlighted in season 4, and introducing Stranger Things music-lover Max to his own 2022 single, Soul Travel. (McLaughlin, like several actors in the Stranger Things cast, is also a musician.)
All of these videos have individually crossed a million likes. So chances are I'm just recapping TikToks you've already seen. But if not, it's a fun way to spend some more time in the realm of Stranger Things. Schnapp has posted behind the scenes photos and videos of the cast, including some throwback pics from when they were all younger. McLaughlin's other videos also reveal how much fun the gang has together when TV cameras aren't rolling.
Netflix users watched 286.8 million hours of Stranger Things season 4 in its first three days -- more hours than the second season of Bridgerton. The second half of season 4 debuts in a little over a week, on July 1. If you want a mood boost while you wait, head to the accounts of these two creative cast members.
Netflix stranger things season 4 stranger things season 5 release date netflix stranger things season 5 netflix stranger things will brother stranger things will byers birthday stranger things will byers stranger things will and mike stranger things will s dad stranger things stranger things characters stranger things wiki stranger things quiz
'Stranger Things' Will Be Netflix's Biggest Hit Yet. How? Netflix Changed its Rules
'Stranger Things' Will Be Netflix's Biggest Hit Yet. How? Netflix Changed its Rules
What's happening
Netflix ranks the popularity of its originals with all-time Most Popular charts, but last month it quietly changed the way it measures the watch time for some shows. The stats for those shows inflated dramatically.
Why it matters
For Netflix to launch a cheaper tier with ads, it must win over advertisers, and its measurement takes on new significance when advertisers become part of the equation.
What's next
Stranger Things, which released seven episodes last week and will drop two more July 1, is all but certain to be ranked as Netflix's biggest hit yet thanks to this rule change that works in the show's favor.
Stranger Things returned Friday with season 4. By the end of the summer, Netflix will almost certainly proclaim the retro sci-fi series' latest season its biggest hit yet. But Stranger Things 4's viewership victory, set to trump the likes of Bridgerton and Squid Game, was assured weeks before a single subscriber streamed a second of it, when Netflix quietly tweaked its own popularity rules.
The change last month has already inflated the stats for shows like Ozark and Money Heist. Stranger Things 4 is next.
Stranger Things 4's first volume of episodes hit Friday. The season's final two episodes, running nearly four hours combined, will land July 1.
Netflix
When the final numbers are in, Stranger Things 4 will likely eclipse Bridgerton and Squid Game in Netflix's all-time Most Popular rankings based on total hours watched. These are charts that Netflix updates weekly at Netflix Top 10. All three shows are colossally well-watched worldwide. But among them, only Stranger Things will enjoy Netflix counting its "watch time" for twice as long. Instead of tallying up viewing hours in its first 28 days of release, as Netflix did for Bridgerton and Squid Game, Netflix will be racking up Stranger Things 4's views over 56 days total thanks to its two-part release schedule.
While these charts can be dismissed as pageantry without much consequence, they're still the most direct data available pointing people -- whether it's Wall Street suits, Hollywood insiders or viewers like you -- to the biggest titles on the world's largest streaming service. They give investors a gauge for Netflix's competitiveness, they can help Netflix recruit talent, and they stoke buzz that may nudge you to watch something you otherwise wouldn't.
But Netflix measurement is about to take on much greater consequence, as the service launches advertising. For Netflix to be able to offer you a cheaper tier with ads, it will need to broaden its measurement beyond watch time and get more transparent in order to win over advertisers, experts say.
Netflix has gotten by this far releasing whatever data it wants on its own terms, said Dallas Lawrence, the head of communications and brand for Samba TV, a television researcher and ad measurement firm. That will change when Netflix must sell itself to advertisers too.
"The buyers will not allow Netflix to grade its own homework," Lawrence said.
Watch time turned upside down
When Netflix launched its Top 10 rankings website in November, it unlocked an unprecedented trove of viewing data. The site details the service's most-watched titles of the previous week and how many hours they were viewed, both globally and in more than 90 individual countries. For its most voraciously viewed titles, Netflix updates a set of Most Popular charts, which rank its most watched originals of all time.
And for a show or movie to make it on the all-time Most Popular rankings, Netflix looks at the 28 days from its premiere to rack up watch hours.
The latest season of Bridgerton, for example, is Netflix's most watched show in English at 656.3 million hours. Squid Game, the breakout South Korean dystopian thriller, is Netflix's most-watched show in any language, at 1.65 billion hours watched in the 28-day window.
Squid Game is Netflix's most watched title so far.
Netflix
That 28-day shot clock was the same for every movie and TV season, until May 10. Then Netflix quietly tweaked the rules to give some shows 56 days -- twice as long -- to amass views. For any series that releases its season in two "volumes" on different dates, the shot clock runs for 28 days after its first batch of episodes, then it resumes again for an additional 28 days after the second batch. Netflix counts the viewing of a volume's episodes only during that volume's first 28 days.
But shows like Stranger Things 4, with seven episodes out now and another two coming July 1, still get 56 days to generate viewing hours toward their ranking. And because the release of a second volume can come soon after the first, the first 28-day window can potentially include rewatch views of the first batch as fans catch up as the second approaches. In the case of Stranger Things 4, fans who immediately binge-watched volume one could revisit these episodes to refresh in anticipation of volume two. And any of that rewatching before June 23 would count.
Shows like Bridgerton and Squid Game, which followed the Netflix convention of releasing a full season at once, are still stuck with their count over 28 days.
Netflix disclosed this change by, essentially, updating its fine print. Judging by archived screenshots of the Top 10 website, Netflix added two sentences to its methodology statement on May 10. Netflix didn't otherwise disclose that it had altered its methodology for the Most Popular rankings.
When reached for comment on this article, Netflix referred to the methodology stated on its site.
Stranger Things 4 was already sure to be a smash by Netflix's standards. Its last season is among Netflix's most watched programs ever, even though it came out when Netflix had two-thirds the subscribers it does now. A three-year hiatus has built up fan demand, and this season's runtime is much longer than the rest. (Its runtime is also much longer than that of Squid Game or Bridgerton. Its first volume of episodes runs an hour longer than the entirety of Squid Game or Bridgerton's whole last season, and Stranger Things 4 still has nearly four hours coming July 1.)
But May's methodology change stacked the deck in favor of Stranger Things. It has already generated 286.8 million hours in the first three days of availability. With 53 more days on its shot clock, it needs to generate less than a tenth of that daily to accumulate enough watch time to become No. 1.
Overnight sensations
The rule change has wildly inflated the watch time for several other shows already. Multiple programs suddenly appeared in Netflix's top 10 charts or shot to a much higher ranking, with hundreds of millions of hours suddenly added to their counts.
Money Heist, which released its final season in two volumes, saw its watch-time ranking jump seemingly overnight after Netflix changed its popularity rules.
Netflix
Money Heist is a hit Spanish thriller series also known as La Casa de Papel. Its final season was released in two volumes, with five episodes landing on Sept. 1 and the last five episodes arriving Dec. 1. After the methodology change in May, its watch time more than doubled. Money Heist is now positioned as Netflix's No. 2 most watched show of all time regardless of language, right after Squid Game. Before the rule change, it didn't even make the top 10.
Other shows have gotten big bumps too. Fantasy police procedural Lucifer released half its fifth season in 2020 and the other half nearly a year later. Lucifer had been absent from Netflix's Most Popular rankings since they launched, but in May, it suddenly appeared as Netflix's No. 7 most-watched program in any language. The latest season of the drama Ozark, released partly on Jan. 21 and partly on April 29, needed three extra weeks of streaming after its original 28-day window to make the English language top 10.
Netflix's Top 10 website still characterizes the watch time of all these shows as hours viewed in their "first 28 days on Netflix."
To bolster the credibility of its stats, Netflix recruited accounting firm EY -- formerly known as Ernst & Young, one of the world's biggest accounting companies -- to vet its data. But EY finished its first Netflix report in February, long before Netflix revised its methodology. And EY's report was a light-touch vetting called a review, which essentially accepts the measurement criteria as Netflix defines them and then verifies that the data abide by those rules. Netflix has no existing plans for another accounting review.
Grading its own homework
Netflix was notoriously tight-lipped about its viewership for years. Beau Willimon -- creator of House of Cards, which put Netflix's original programming on the map -- once said the company wouldn't even share audience metrics with him. But since 2018, Netflix has grown more open about the popularity of its shows and movies, culminating with its Top 10 website.
During Stranger Things' three-year hiatus, Bridgerton became Netflix's most-watched show in English.
Netflix
For Netflix to start offering you a cheaper tier with ads, it needs to actually win advertisers -- and advertisers won't go by Netflix's numbers. Because TV advertising is so expensive, brands and agencies want measurements comparable across services, so they can know what they're getting at Netflix versus Paramount Plus versus Disney Plus, said Needham senior analyst Laura Martin.
Netflix "can do weird things, like introduce new measurement," added Martin, who has called for Netflix to add advertising for years. "But it would slow adoption by advertisers."
Traditionally, advertisers evaluated TV programs by how many people tuned in. "As we enter this new phase, transparency around viewership data is going to be essential, especially on 'closed' platforms" like Netflix, said Anjali Midha, co-founder and CEO of Diesel Labs, a media intelligence firm. Viewership will naturally remain important, she added, but so will demographics, psychographics and other metrics of watching behavior.
But Netflix's own reputation as the gold standard of streaming TV will work in its favor, Lawrence said.
"Streaming has historically been rife with a myriad … sites that still seem like the Wild West, fraught with risky content," he said.
Advertisers may come to welcome Netflix's safety and scope, even if its own measurement rules still shoot from the hip.
Correction, 6:07 a.m. PT June 2: An earlier version of this story suggested Netflix may count viewing of all episodes from split-season shows over a full 56 days. Netflix counts the viewing of episodes only within 28 days of their release, but split-season shows get two 28-day periods -- 56 days total -- to amass watch time.
5 Streaming Services You Can Cancel in August, FOMO-Free
5 Streaming Services You Can Cancel in August, FOMO-Free
This year marked the return of the summer blockbuster to movie theaters, luring people back to the big screen in droves. But streaming services can claim some victories this season, too. Netflix had Stranger Things 4 in July, Disney Plus had Obi-Wan Kenobi in June. And while both platforms have more to offer in the coming weeks, August is the time for HBO Max to soar. Why? Four words: House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones prequel that's one of the most-anticipated shows of the year.
Every month I give advice on which streaming services to cancel and which ones to keep, based on their new releases and current content mix. That's because, in these difficult financial times, you may be thinking about canceling a few streaming service subscriptions. I'd like to offer my strategy: Churn like ice cream.
What does that mean? Subscribe for a period, cancel, choose a different service, then resubscribe, keeping your favorites in a rotation. Feel free to pick one or two must-haves for the year and treat additional streaming providers like seasonal add-ons. The upside is that you get to save money when Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max and others don't have the content you want to watch at a given time. Just remember to shut off auto-renewal for your monthly subscriptions. Churning may not be an option if you're sharing your accounts with people outside your household, but if you can work out an arrangement with your streaming clique, go for it.
Here are my recommendations for which streamers to keep or cancel for the month of August, based on new TV shows and movies (I didn't consider sports and live TV streaming services) arriving on each platform. Of course your tastes may be different, but if nothing else, I urge you to at least consider the concept of churning for savings. It's easier than you might think.
Read more: Stop Missing Out On New Episodes of Your Favorite Shows With These Apps
Streaming Service Rotation for August 2022
Keep
Cancel
HBO Max
X
Hulu
X
Netflix
X
Apple TV Plus
X
Disney Plus
X
Prime Video
X (for non-Prime members)
Starz
X
Peacock
X
Paramount Plus
X
Keep the streaming going on these services in August
HBO Max: HBO Max holds the crown in more ways than one this month. As Westworld Season 4 ends on Aug. 14, the Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, ignites the Targaryen family saga on Aug. 21. You can spend some of your time streaming GoT (which, like House of the Dragon, will be available in 4K this month), bypassing those episodes or seasons you don't want to re-watch. In addition to a ton of movies arriving on Max in August, The Princess, a new documentary about Princess Diana, debuts on Aug. 13. And remember: Harley Quinn season 3 is airing through August and into September.
Netflix: One of the hottest releases on Netflix this month is season 1 of The Sandman, the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's popular graphic novel series (Aug. 5). There's also Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (Aug. 5), Riverdale season 6 (Aug. 7), the final season of Locke & Key (Aug. 10), Never Have I Ever season 3 (Aug. 12), Day Shift starring Jamie Foxx as a vampire hunter (Aug. 12), and the anime movie Full Metal Alchemist: The Revenge Scar (Aug. 20). And Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg team up in the comedy film, Me Time, which lands on Aug. 26.
Disney Plus: This service will be a must-have for many of you who have children, especially with Bluey season 3 arriving on Aug. 10, and Lightyear making its streaming debut on Aug. 3. She-Hulk comes out on Aug. 18 (after a date change) with nine episodes that run into mid-October. Appearances from MCU heroes Wong and Daredevil may entice you to tune in now versus waiting to binge in October, but it's up to you. On Aug. 10, I Am Groot arrives with five shorts. For Star Wars fans, Andor drops its two-episode premiere on Aug. 31, but you may as well watch in September or later. The show has 12 episodes for season 1.
Catch Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer "Jen" Walters/She-Hulk in Marvel's She-Hulk: Attorney at Law on Disney+.
Marvel Studios
Starz: P-Valley ends season 2 on Aug. 14, so if you want to cancel after that, go for it. The biggest new Starz arrival is Power Book III: Raising Kanan Season 2, produced by 50 Cent, and if you're prone to FOMO about missing the premiere on Aug. 14, keep it. The show's 10 episodes will air into October, however, so the better value is to wait it out or pay for three months of Starz to watch it weekly -- if you can find a deal. Starz is $9 per month after their $3 promo ended.
Rotate these streamers out for August
Hulu: Generally a keeper if you like network shows, Hulu typically gets at least one original each month. For August, Reservation Dogs' 10-episode second season debuts on Aug. 3, and the Predator prequel Prey arrives on Aug. 5. If you've been keeping up with Only Murders in the Building, season 2's finale airs on Aug. 23. The Mike Tyson miniseries, Mike, premieres on Aug. 25. If none of these float your boat or if you prefer to catch up on everything after all episodes are available, pause Hulu this month.
The Predator prequel movie Prey may or may not be a reason for you to keep your Hulu subscription this month.
20th Century Studios
Prime Video: If you have a standalone Prime Video subscription, you can cancel it this month unless you want to see the A League of Their Own reboot series (Aug. 12) or Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives movie (Aug. 5) about the Thai soccer team cave rescue. Those of us who have the streaming service included with our Prime membership may want to stream the titles above or Sylvester Stallone's Samaritan (Aug. 26). Hip-hop fans interested in a behind-the-scenes look at Lil Baby can watch the documentary Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby when it drops on Aug. 26 or wait until September to stream.
Apple TV Plus: Not much going on with Apple TV Plus. The streamer will drop its animated feature Luck on Aug. 5 and season 3 of See arrives on Aug. 26. Last month, we suggested waiting until August to binge every episode of For All Mankind. If you're a fan, season 3 wraps on Aug. 12.
Peacock: While Tour de France and Love Island USA are currently streaming on Peacock, They/Them (Aug. 5) is the only new noteworthy release. The horror film stars Kevin Bacon as a preacher who runs a gay conversion therapy camp. If you're not interested in these titles or new reality TV episodes, cancel or switch to a free account for August.Things should pick up for Peacock by the fall, however.
Paramount Plus: If Big Brother and the new Beavis and Butt-Head TV series (Aug. 4) aren't beckoning you to the service, then you can put Paramount Plus on ice for now. For Evil fans who've been putting off your subscription until all season 3 episodes become available, you can sign up in mid-August to stream the entire season.
Save more money by waiting things out
If you're not someone who routinely gets FOMO, then a smart method is to wait until the bulk or all episodes of your favorite series land on a platform. That way, rather than pay for a service for two or three months to cover the 6- to 10-week run of a show, you can catch up on everything by subscribing for one month. And then repeat the cycle again.
As an example, there are 12 episodes of Andor coming to Disney Plus. The finale airs in November, so all episodes of the show will be available to stream at that time. Though it premieres on Aug. 31 and continues throughout the fall, why pay for four months of Disney Plus when you can wait to watch it in full anytime in November? If this is the only series you want to watch during this period, it makes sense to be patient in the interest of saving money.
Think about how much you're paying per month for each streaming service you have, and do the math. Netflix is $10 to $20, Disney Plus is anywhere from $3 to $8 depending on bundles, HBO Max costs $10 or $15, Hulu starts at $7 and Starz runs $9. The others have a base rate of $5 per month. Should you decide to churn, set yourself a calendar reminder to ping you when it's time to re-subscribe or cancel. We'll see you in September for another streaming breakdown.
When you think of streaming TV shows and movies, there's a good chance that Netflix is comes to mind first. Though competition from rivals like HBO Max and Disney Plus is fierce, it's still the best choice for streaming entertainment, period.
Netflix includes a wide variety of familiar network shows and more original series, films, documentaries and specials than any of its myriad competitors. Despite challenges with retaining subscribers and a price bump, the world's first major streaming service remains our favorite choice thanks to its huge library of constantly refreshed content and its easy accessibility across different devices. In 2021, Netflix won 44 Emmys, making history and racking up more than the next two media companies combined. If you're looking for something new to watch, Netflix should be your top choice.
Like
Strong recommendation engine
Easy to use across different devices
Offline downloads available
Extensive list of movies and shows
Massive selection of original programs
No commercials
Don't Like
Cost for premium plans is on the higher end
Can't watch shows as they air on other networks
Depending on the plan you choose, Netflix costs between $10 and $20 per month, which is at the higher end for a streaming service, as you can see in the chart below. Its recent price increase shook up the streaming world and moved Netflix closer to HBO Max in terms of cost. However, the pricier package lets you watch up to four screens at once, and create different user profiles, so in theory, you could split it among friends to lower the price. Thanks to its sheer variety and number of new things to watch, Netflix also gives you the most bang for your buck.
Streaming Services Compared
Netflix
Peacock
HBO Max
Disney Plus
Apple TV Plus
Amazon Prime Video
Hulu
Monthly price
Starts at $9.99
Basic free with ads, ad-free for $5
$9.99 for basic with ads, $14.99 for ad-free
$7.99
$4.99
$8.99 (or included with $140/year Prime membership)
Basic $6.99 with ads, ad-free Premium for $12.99, Live TV for $70
The Office, 30 Rock, Bel-Air, early access to Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Game of Thrones, Dune, Euphoria, DC titles
The Mandalorian, Loki, Encanto, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, CODA, Severance
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Boys, Reacher, The Wheel of Time
Handmaid's Tale, Pen15, The Great, Bob's Burgers
Mobile downloads
Yes
Yes (Premium Plus plan)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
4K HDR available
Yes (on Premium plan)
No
Yes (limited titles)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Number of streams:
1 (2 for Standard, 4 on Premium)
3
3
4
6
2
2 (Unlimited with Live TV $9.99 add-on)
How Netflix started vs. how it's going
Between 2012-2013, Netflix premiered its first original TV shows, including Lilyhammer, House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. Today, it has a catalog of more than 1,500 original TV shows and movies, including global hits like Stranger Things, Emmy winners such as Bridgerton, The Queen's Gambit and The Crown, as well as Oscar-nominated movies such as The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick… Boom! and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Though the company's been known for its commercial-free streaming experience since its inception, there are plans to introduce an ad-supported tier before 2022 ends. Additionally, Netflix aims to crackdown on password sharing by charging a fee for extra users on an account. The program is still in the pilot phase, but the days of crowdfunding your Netflix subscription may soon be over.
As of 2022, Netflix has more than 220 million paid subscribers across 190 countries, after seeing a major spike in users during the pandemic. A dent in its subscriber base caused numbers to drop by 200,000, but there are still reasons to keep the service, with the main draw being its content.
What shows and movies does Netflix have?
Netflix may have had the first-to-market advantage in the world of streaming services, but it's kept its momentum with its increasing number of original shows and movies -- many of which have won critical acclaim and major awards and nominations.
Compared to other streaming platforms, you can't beat Netflix's slate of original TV shows that are now considered among the best of the modern era of television, including those mentioned above plus many more, such as Squid Game, Ozark, Never Have I Ever, Money Heist and Cobra Kai.
Read more: Netflix: The 49 Absolute Best TV Shows to Watch
Outside of TV shows, Netflix's original programs include a wide range of comedies, dramas, foreign films and shows, documentary series, anime, stand-up comedy specials and reality dating and competition shows. Not all of them are runaway hits, but many of them are, and there's enough to explore interesting shows that may not have found a home on traditional network TV. And at a time when going to the movies is more fraught than it once was, Netflix offers a place to find new films: In 2022 alone, Netflix is set to release over 100 new movies, at least one per week. The selection spans across genres and geography, and includes K-dramas, animated features, and fantasy book adaptations.
Stranger Things is one of Netflix's powerhouse originals.
Netflix
Netflix typically adds shows a full season at a time, though not while a show is airing on network TV -- so if you don't have cable or another platform like Hulu, you'll have to wait to watch for a few months to watch seasons in full.
One complaint: Netflix content sometimes can come and go without warning. The only way to tell if something is leaving the service in the next 30 days is if you happen to tap on the details page for the given show or movie -- or search online for everything coming and going in a given month.
Another potential content issue to flag: In recent years Netflix has lost some of its most popular content (such as The Office, which moved to NBC's Peacock, Daredevil, which moved to Disney Plus and Friends, which moved to HBO Max) as other networks created their own streaming services. While it started as an online video store that was trying to offer every movie and TV series online, it may be slowly becoming more akin to the old HBO -- mostly featuring its own original programming, complemented with some things it licenses from other companies.
What's it like to use Netflix?
I first subscribed to Netflix back in the first streaming days of 2007, so using the platform feels like second nature at this point. Even if you're new to it, it's pretty user-friendly: Open the app and tap on your profile (if you have one set up), and you'll see a homepage. You'll see Popular on Netflix, Continue Watching, Trending Now, Top Picks for you and a number of (sometimes oddly specific) other categories based on shows you've watched before. Mine include Critically-acclaimed Witty TV Comedies and Suburban-dysfunction TV Comedies, for example.
Netflix's design encourages scrolling -- there are so many different categories to look through, and then shows and movies within those categories to continue scrolling into. You can create a watch list to help you cut down on this, but the vast, colorful library makes it easy to spend more time looking through options than actually watching a show, so be careful.
The Netflix app operates similarly across various devices. My home page on the web browser is nearly identical to that on my Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire TV Stick, both in content and layout. It's more condensed on the smaller iPhone and Android phone screens, but still follows the same format, and has a clear "Downloads" tab to find content to save to watch offline on your device.
Rows and rows of content on Netflix can keep you busy.
James Martin/CNET
One difference between devices is voice commands: You might find it more or less difficult to fire up a Netflix show from your device's home screen depending on which voice-capable device you're using.
For example, when you say, "Watch Stranger Things" on the Apple TV and the iOS app on iPhone, it will first have you click which specific show (Stranger Things or Beyond Stranger Things), and then will take you to an Apple TV page for the show, and there it will give you the option to open Netflix and start episode 1. On Amazon Fire TV Stick, you can say, "Watch Stranger Things," and it will open Netflix automatically if you're logged into the app. On the Roku 4K stick, if you say, "Watch Stranger Things," it will take you right to the first episode in the app. Those are more hardware-side concerns, but interesting to note.
Once you're in the Netflix app, though, voice commands work the same across devices: Go to the Search tab, hold the microphone button to dictate, and say the name of the show you're looking for.
When you select a show or movie to watch, you have the option to fast-forward, rewind, add subtitles and change your audio settings. If you have a Premium account and a big enough 4K TV, watching in Ultra HD makes for a very cinematic experience. The show or movie you choose will also show up in your "Continue watching" section at the top of your homepage for easier access.
How much does Netflix cost?
Netflix offers three pricing plans: Basic, Standard and Premium. Here is how the costs and features break down:
Netflix plans
Basic
Standard
Premium
Monthly price
$10
$15.50
$20
Number of screens you can watch on at the same time
1
2
4
Number of phones or tablets you can have downloads on
1
2
4
HD available
No
Yes
Yes
Ultra HD available
No
No
Yes
All plans include the ability to watch on any device, and the full, unlimited collection of movies and TV shows. All allow cancellation at any time. Netflix also offers a one-month free trial.
Netflix's Basic plan costs more than Prime Video ($9 per month), more than Hulu's ad-based plan ($7 per month) but less than its more comparable no-ads plan ($13 per month). If you're on a shared Netflix account with family, chances are it's a Premium one ($20 per month) -- if you're actually splitting it between four people, that's only $5 per month each, and a strong value for all of the original content available, including some in 4K Ultra HD. Plus: No commercials on any plan.
What features do you get on Netflix?
Outside of general streaming, if you have the Standard or Premium plan, you can create different profiles for different users, and find your own list of personalized recommendations.
Netflix's recommendation game is strong, from "Because you watched" carousels that have been improved by the new "two thumbs up" feature, to the option to remove content from your home page, to its "Play Something" shuffle feature for when you're unsure what to stream.
The platform also has a particularly appealing kid's section, with a solid catalog of content including CoComelon, Pokemon: Master Journeys and Trolls: The Beat Goes On! and a much more kid-friendly user interface – including the mystery box feature added earlier this year.
If you subscribe to the Premium plan, you can watch certain shows and movies in 4K Ultra HD on 4K TVs. You'll need a steady internet connection speed of at least 25 megabits per second, and streaming quality set to Auto or High.
Netflix has more 4K content than just about any other streaming service, and a lot of its 4K shows and movies are also available in HDR. High dynamic range provides an even bigger improvement in image quality than 4K according to CNET's tests, with better contrast and color, and the difference is especially apparent on large, higher-end televisions. Netflix supports the two major HDR formats, generic HDR (aka HDR-10) as well as Dolby Vision. If you have a device that handles Dolby Vision, Netflix will play content (if available) in that format by default.
You can search for a selection of 4K TV shows and movies on the service with the Premium plan.
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Data usage varies by format, ranging from about 1GB per hour for the standard-definition video to up to 7GB per hour for the highest-quality 4K streams. Downloading and streaming take up a similar amount of data, according to Netflix. If you want to avoid having Netflix eat up all of your data, you can take certain steps laid out on Netflix's website to adjust your data usage settings.
All subscribers can download TV shows and movies on the Netflix app on mobile devices for offline viewing, though certain titles aren't available to download.
Read more: 9 Handy Netflix Tricks That Can Help Make Streaming Better
Should you get it?
Netflix remains my favorite streaming platform of the increasingly large bunch. It has a huge selection of movies and TV shows old and new, tons of high-quality original programs, and an easy-to-navigate interface.
Even though it no longer offers a free trial, it's worth trying Netflix for a month if you want something new to watch.
