I came across an article today about the sizes of Netflix and Amazon's streaming libraries. For those of you who pay attention to these things, Netflix claims something in the realm of 60,000 "movies and TV programs." Amazon has over 10,000.
That sounds like an awful lot, right?
But what if Amazon said, "We have over 10,000 movies and TV programs, 4.2% of which are Mighty Morphin Power Ranger episodes"? Suddenly, that number doesn't seem as cool, does it? And yet that's what Netflix and Amazon are doing--counting every single episode of a TV show as a separate "TV Program." This just seems ridiculous. Why not just present the actual count of TV shows and movies? At best, I think you could count each season of a show as a separate program. But each episode? That means The Dick Van Dyke show accounts for 158 of Netflix's holdings. I don't know about you, but I don't view every 22 minute episode as an entity in and of itself. It would only take a 380 Dick Van Dyke shows to round out a full complement of 60,000 "TV Programs."
But, since that's the metric they're using, I guess that's what we're stuck with. It's not like either Amazon or Netflix is going to suddenly release a press release bragging about how they've reduced their holdings from 60,000 to 5,000 or anything. But next time when you go to watch something on Netflix and are stumped as to why it feels like the selection is much smaller than 60,000 . . . you'll know why.
And on a lighter note, here's a cool version of Google for your wanting-to-relive-the-early-days-of-the-internet self. The best thing about it? It's fully functional. I came across it and just had to share. Enjoy!
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