Source: Nielsen, Wall Street Journal, Fast Company
With the announcements of new streaming platforms coming from all major players in film and TV industry, it’s quite likely that Netflix could lose its current status of the place to go when you want to chill and watch reruns of your favourite shows, like The Office, writes the Wall Street Journal.
Namely, Netflix built its popularity on the backs of several great original shows, however their original content isn’t what’s keeping the audiences glued to their screens. According to Nielsen SVOD Content Ratings data, 72% of viewing time on this platform actually goes to non-original titles, and 8 of the 10 most watched shows on Netflix are actually old hits such as The Office, Parks & Recreation, Friends and others.
All these shows might start to dissipate with the emergence of new platforms, opened by their original studios. Disney has already left Netflix with its content, and the line of those preparing to leave is getting longer and longer.
However, in a statement to the Wall Street Journal, Netflix said: “Looking at overall watch time skews towards titles with many seasons. Most Netflix originals have three or fewer seasons at most. It’s why we focus on the individual shows or films members watch, as opposed to how much time they spend on one series versus another. And if you look at most watched titles, Netflix originals accounted for 10 out of 10 in the last quarter, or 21 out of the top 25.”
Fast Company notes that Netflix has actually been preparing for this turn of events for years, investing heavily in original programming with shows such as Stranger Things and The Crown. This year alone the company will invest $12 billion into content, a portion of which will go toward original titles.
But while Netflix executives tout the popularity of those shows on earnings calls–and begin to actually release viewership data–statistics show that even with popular titles like Stranger Things, viewing is less sustained than on reruns. For example, when that show’s second season debuted in the fall of 2017, viewership spiked, but then the numbers dropped. Over a period of 12 months ending last July, Stranger Things was watched for 27.6 billion minutes, according to Nielsen. Watch time for The Office during that time was 45.8 billion minutes.
As things stand, 2019 will be a decisive year for Netflix, as three of its biggest suppliers are preparing to launch their own competing platforms by the end of the year, which might actually be good news for fans of Netflix originals, as the company will have to find ways to keep them satisfied and watching.
