Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • - Like a third season of a Netflix show.

  • - There's a good chance that one

  • of your favorite shows on Netflix is already canceled.

  • Netflix is facing a series

  • of issues that they didn't face even five years ago.

  • They've got looming competition

  • from some of the biggest players in entertainment today.

  • They also just announced that they lost

  • subscribers in the United States

  • for the first time in nearly a decade.

  • And because of all this Netflix

  • has to do something that it really didn't have to

  • up until now, start acting like a cable network

  • and cancel shows.

  • Remember when Netflix was like super exciting?

  • Every show that came out felt like a blockbuster release

  • because everything about it felt really cool and unique.

  • Netflix came in

  • and essentially Beyonced the heck,

  • can I say hell?

  • Beyonced the hell out of TV

  • by dropping entire seasons at once.

  • This is something that only

  • a network on the internet could do, no one else could.

  • By 2015, Netflix was like this hotbed for creators.

  • Everyone wanted to work with them

  • 'cause Netflix was doing some cool things.

  • - Orange is the New Black.

  • - Orange is the New Black, House of Cards,

  • and even Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

  • were being nominated for

  • and winning Emmy's.

  • The company's content budget grew every single year,

  • which let them take chances

  • on weirder projects.

  • The Wachowski sisters, best known for The Matrix,

  • had a Sci-Fi series,

  • which reportedly cost Netflix nearly nine million dollars

  • an episode.

  • That's on par with some of Game of Thrones episodes.

  • Netflix had one major advantage,

  • it was the only player in the game.

  • Most importantly, if Netflix was winning Emmy's,

  • it proved to everyone,

  • including major networks with ABC and CBS,

  • and also prestige networks like HBO,

  • that internet TV was actually a thing

  • people should pay attention to.

  • But that's simply not good enough anymore.

  • By 2020, Netflix is gonna have major competition

  • from some of the biggest companies in the world.

  • Apple, Disney, Comcast, NBC Universal,

  • and AT&T's Warner Media are all

  • launching streaming services.

  • And in order for them to compete with Netflix,

  • they're removing their own content from Netflix,

  • meaning if you wanna watch Friends,

  • you have to go to HBO Max,

  • Warner Media's streaming service,

  • in order to do it.

  • - I can't even begin to explain to you

  • how much I am gonna miss you.

  • - With less licensed shows,

  • Netflix has to invest in more original content

  • in order to keep subscribers.

  • Netflix relies on something called the efficiency metric.

  • Basically, Netflix puts more

  • of an emphasis on shows

  • that can bring in new subscribers

  • or keep those who are at risk of canceling.

  • That makes it harder to justify renewing a series.

  • How many people are gonna subscribe to Netflix

  • for a third season of the OA

  • if not many people watched the first two seasons?

  • The way executives see it

  • that money would probably be better spent on a new series,

  • particularly in an emerging market

  • that's not the United States.

  • Basically, the United States is over saturated.

  • Everyone in the U.S. who's going to have Netflix

  • probably already does.

  • But there are huge markets in East Asia

  • or South America that are clamoring

  • to sign up for the service.

  • That might explain why you're also

  • seeing more Bollywood films

  • or South American soap operas on your service.

  • But Netflix's investment in other series

  • doesn't stop fans from hurting

  • when their favorite show gets canceled.

  • Take Tuca & Bertie.

  • That show is critically adored

  • and had a dedicated fan base,

  • but unfortunately it just wasn't big enough.

  • Creator Lisa Hanawalt even tweeted

  • that it just didn't have the sizeable

  • viewership it needed for Netflix to renew it.

  • What's interesting and unique to Netflix

  • is that Hanawalt blamed the algorhithim.

  • It's unclear just how many people

  • were actually served the show on their homepage.

  • Unlike traditional cable,

  • which slots shows into one specific spot every week,

  • Netflix is more like YouTube.

  • There are so many shows, movies

  • and specials that Netflix relies

  • on a recommendation algorhithim

  • to try and pair viewers with things they'd be interest in.

  • It doesn't always work.

  • It's not like Netflix isn't interested

  • in investing in creators or original shows,

  • it's just about to get much more focused.

  • The company's investing hundreds

  • of millions of dollars into specific creators

  • that they think can deliver guaranteed hits.

  • You've got David Benioff

  • and D. B. Weiss,

  • who created Game of Thrones,

  • coming to Netflix for $250 million.

  • Ryan Murphy, the creator

  • of American Horror Story,

  • he's coming over for $300 million.

  • And Shonda Rimes,

  • the creator of Grey's Anatomy,

  • one of my favorite shows,

  • is coming over for $150 million.

  • So it's not all bad news.

  • Netflix still needs new shows

  • and is clearly still willing to pay for them.

  • There's a good chance that weird niche TV

  • is still going to wind up on Netflix,

  • it's just that based on everything

  • we're reading and seeing,

  • it's likely that it's gonna come

  • from someone like J.J. Abrams.

  • There are still shows that can make the case for renewal

  • past the third season,

  • but those are increasingly becoming

  • the exception to the rule.

  • One of those shows is Stranger Things,

  • which third season saw more than 40 million

  • people watch it in just four days.

- Like a third season of a Netflix show.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it