Netflix Shows Are All Worldwide Hits -- Until They're Not (bloomberg.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: On a conference call last October, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos described the hip-hop drama "The Get Down" as a success, like the booming streaming service's other popular shows. Eight months and 11 episodes later, "The Get Down" is history, a flop after one season on the world's largest paid video service. The sci-fi thriller "Sense8," another of the company's lavish productions, was scrapped after two seasons. The back-to-back cancellations caught Hollywood by surprise. Netflix has defied convention by offering no inkling of how many people watch its shows and claiming just about everything is a hit. That's vexed competitors worried about Netflix's growing customer base and influence in Hollywood. The streaming company will spend more than $6 billion on programming this year, a good chunk of that on about 1,000 hours of original shows. Cancellations are common for all TV networks -- even for Netflix, which has wrapped up most of its first crop of original shows. Without the need to attract advertisers, the company is shielded from the weekly audience ratings that determine the fate of most dramas and sitcoms. "One of the great things about Netflix is we don't have to release ratings," Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings said in an interview this week on CNBC. "Each show gets to have its own audience because it is very personalized." That's great for Netflix and its 100 million customers, who pay up to $12 a month for the service. Without pressure to deliver weekly ratings, the company can give shows time to develop a following. "House of Cards," the thriller starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, just started its fifth season. It's not so great for competitors -- or producers who must grope for ways to measure the success of a given program and wonder if they're getting paid enough by the streaming service. With no data, they must rely on the positive remarks Netflix executives make for all their shows.

Comments

Dear Netflix, a bit of advice

[DickBreath]

Dear Netflix,

I have no interest investing time to watch a show that goes nowhere. Gets cancelled. Or has no definite ending. Even worse, that ends on a cliffhanger.

Follow a formula like Babylon 5 used. A story with a beginning, middle and end. Having a definite ending where everyone lives happily ever after is important. In the last few episodes you can see the pieces being moved off the chessboard as everyone gets promoted or retires or whatever. It doesn't have to be a five year story arc. But it does have to be something that you can definitely pull off without cancelling it.

I've watched shows that had a well conceived first season. Obviously thought out by a single mind. Or maybe a small number of people. Excitement builds from episode to episode. It has a good season 1 ending. Then it gets a second season and goes off the rails. In season 2 the show has no planned story. The writers wander aimlessly. Eventually the writers turn to thinking about what outlandish twist can we do to a major character -- completely ruining the character's back story in previous episodes.

I know it is tempting to think that if you can drag a show on for more seasons that it makes more profit. That is true in the short term. Eventually your audiences get tired of being strung along without ever having a conclusion. Resolution. They just quit watching. Find other forms of entertainment that have a satisfying ending -- like reading a good book. In the long run, it is more profitable to have a limited pre-planned number of seasons with a story that winds up and makes everyone happy. This kind of show might be watched and re-watched for generations. Just like a good book.

Stop worrying about trying to make a show that everyone wants to watch. There is no such show. This thinking is what killed television, and later cable tv. Make a show that a certain audience will love dearly. Make another show that another audience will love. People who like particular types of shows will continue to appear as new viewers -- forever. There will always be new sci-fi viewers, for example.

Re:Dear Netflix, a bit of advice

[es330td]

Dear Dickbreath:

The world does not revolve around you. As a series, Law & Order has no beginning middle or end and premiered before current college graduates were born. People like different things and Netflix could not care less what *you* want. They are going to make shows to draw viewers. They know what you watch. They don't need Nielsen ratings. If you like a show, watch it. Enough people like you and it will continue. Too few and it will get the axe. If you want Netflix to know what you want, show them through viewing behavior. This is about as direct democracy as you can get. Just get on and vote.

Re:TV Shows - ALL episodes at once

[Cro Magnon]

OTOH, I don't like the way regular TV releases a few weeks, waits a couple of months in the winter, releases a few more, takes a spring break, then releases a few more and quits for the summer.

Re:This may be difficult for you to accept

[HornWumpus]

Have you been paying attention? Not agreeing with idiots 100%, makes you Hitler.

Re:Success can be cancelled

[Oligonicella]

At first. But - never *ever* bring back a character that you have demonstrably killed off. Do that and the viewer will then rightfully think that every closure, regardless of how small, is just a plot device to be demonstrated as a trick later. Lazy third grade story telling. No, sorry, not even an eight year old does that.