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People Like Netflix's Original Content More Than Its Other Content: AllFlicks (allflicks.net)
According to a study by IHS Markit this month, in the last two years Netflix's spending on original content rose from $2.38 billion to $4.91 billion. The company has invested big in original programming -- and it looks to be paying off. The folks over at AllFlicks have found that Netflix's subscriber base prefers Netflix's original content to that of its syndicated content. AllFlicks reports: Netflix user ratings show that Netflix's subscriber base prefers Netflix's original content to its syndicated content. Netflix originals sport an average rating of 3.85 stars out of five; all other content averages 3.47 stars. That means that user ratings for Netflix originals are 11% higher, on average, than user ratings for syndicated content. Netflix does best in the documentaries category, where users rate non-original content, on average, at 3.54. Netflix's documentaries average 4.07 stars, a pretty impressive showing. Netflix's TV shows do the worst, but still edge their other TV show content by 5.7%. It's possible that the frequent reviewers among Netflix's user base differ from the user base as a whole, but there's not a lot of reason to doubt the raw data here. The Netflix originals and non-originals were both reviewed on the same service and using the same rating system, yet originals consistently outperformed the rest of the content.
I'm not sure that you can infer that the original programming is paying off from what's given here. Yea, people like the original stuff better, but that could just as easily be because Netflix has given up having really good third-party content on it's system anymore, and all that's left is dreadful.
What matters is whether the size of the Netfix userbase is changing, and in what direction, and in what direction Netflix profits are moving (if any).
A thousand pounds of wood moving at 300 feet per minute. Don't get in the way.
Considering the rest of the Netflix catalog consists mostly of B movies and long forgotten television, this should come as no surprise.
I say mostly because there is a gem or two to be found in there.
For the most part, however, it seems the majority of the streaming catalog is the bottom of the barrel stuff that few are interested in.