Netflix Programming Cuts
By Molly Deadmond, July 25, 2019
In the past few years, Netflix has chosen to cut a surprising amount of shows from their service. Some of these cancellations make sense, such as the original Marvel series Jessica Jones and The Punisher, whose parent company (Disney) is starting their own streaming service. Other shows however, such as Friends From College– a series starring Keegan-Michael Key and Fred Savage- only received one season before being cancelled. As more and more fan favorites get the cut, viewers are left to wonder if their favorite show will be next. So what is the deciding factor in what stays and what goes? As with broadcast and cable television, the answer lies with the viewers.
Broadcast and cable television typically rely on data and budget to decide on what shows to produce and keep on air. A majority of what cable and broadcast choose to keep on the air is decided by what demographics the shows target. In order to maximize advertiser profits, shows that target larger demographics tend to stay on air longer than others. Netflix flips this trend on its head however, choosing to rely on what they refer to as ‘verticals’- very specific genres of television and film. Instead of the broader genres of romance and comedy, Netflix narrows these into sub-genres, such as period romances and young-adult comedies. By doing this, Netflix gains the ability to fill each genre with an extraordinary amount of content, as well as create shows that fit into multiple verticals, which increases the viewership for individual shows. This method of choosing new shows allows Netflix to be able to make more original shows, without the fear of having to appeal to advertisers.
After choosing new shows and movies to make, Netflix then has to analyze how viewers interact with their shows- more specifically whether or not people are finishing a series, or clicking off halfway through. Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos calls this the ‘survivorship’ of the show. Contrary to popular belief, Netflix doesn’t care if viewers are watching entire seasons the week that they come out.
“The completion of a single episode is a more important trigger. We wouldn’t be looking at, ‘Are people plowing through it in the first weekend?,’ because the number of people who do that is pretty slim.” -Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix
Instead of looking at how many people finish a season the week it comes out, Netflix looks at something called to 28-day viewership, or how many people completed a full season of a show within the first four weeks of its release on the service. Monitoring how many people fully complete an episode or series allows them to better understand how popular their shows really are, and in turn- helps make the decision on what gets cut.
The other major factor in deciding what gets cut is the budget of a show, and whether or not it’s cost-effective. Since Netflix uses its subscriber’s money to fund its shows, it makes sense that Netflix would choose to keep only those shows that generate the most interest from its viewers. Even if a show is relatively low in cost, if not enough people are watching episodes and seasons all of the way through, the show is no longer generating enough views to justify its cost. An example of this is the Netflix original Everything Sucks!, a show that cost a relatively low amount of money to make (less than $15 million for the one season.) Even though the series was cheaper to produce than most other shows on the service, there wasn’t enough viewer-generated interest to justify the cost.
As great as it would be to keep every show on Netflix, sometimes the tough decision of what to cut has to be made. Unfortunately this means that your favorite show could be next on the chopping block. The best way you can help to keep that from happening is to simply enjoy your favorite Netflix originals as much as you can. Watch and rewatch your favorite episodes and seasons, and try to get your friends to watch too. Just remember that at some point, your show might get the cut as well.
Source
“Inside the Binge Factory” New York Magazine