How to fix the worst thing about Netflix

Image: Etienne Laurent/Epa/REX/Shutterstock

If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you definitely have mixed emotions right now about your favorite source of streaming entertainment. On the one hand, Netflix is about to jack up its prices next month and it’ll be the biggest price increase in the history of Netflix’s streaming service. Netflix’s most popular plan will increase a whopping 18% from $10.99 to $12.99, the premium plan with 4K jumps to $15.99 from $13.99, and the cheapest plan climbs from $7.99 to $8.99. Then, on the other hand, the fact that Netflix is premiering a whopping 62 new original movies, shows, and specials in May 2019 alone serves as a great reminder of how much value people get from their monthly subscriptions. Think of it like this: Netflix will release more new original content this month than Apple will likely release on its new Apple TV+ service over the course of the whole year.

Netflix is indeed a fantastic service and it’s worth every penny, even at its newly increased prices. It’s not perfect, however, and there are some things about the interface that are definitely annoying. One thing in particular goes far beyond “annoying” and actually teeters on the edge of being infuriating, but thankfully there’s an easy way to fix it.

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We’ll cut right to the chase: Netflix’s autoplaying previews and trailers are awful. They’re so, so annoying and no one likes them. Netflix is usually pretty good at listening to user feedback and making the appropriate adjustments, but this seems to be an area where the company won’t budge. Ugh.

If you’re browsing Netflix’s content catalog on your TV or smartphone, there’s nothing you can do to stop autoplay. If you’re on a computer though, you’re saved. Netflix Classic is a free extension for the Google Chrome web browser that was created by a developer called DBK Labs. It tweaks a few things, but the big news here is definitely the fact that it stops trailers and previews from playing automatically for each title you navigate to.

Here’s the description:

Harken back to the glory days of no weird hover states, autoplaying videos, and annoying Who’s Watching prompts.

Hate going to Netflix to be surprised and confused by all of the autoplaying videos and strange hover effects? Feel like you’re out of control? Take back that control with Netflix Classic! Netflix Classic gets rid of all autoplaying videos on Netflix, forces the browser to take you to dedicated title pages for each video you click on, and, as a bonus, gets rid of the annoying Who’s Watching prompt every time you visit the website. Enjoy!

This extension is completely free in the Chrome Web Store, and you should definitely install it immediately so you never have to deal with and autoplaying preview ever again.

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Netflix

Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 15 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.