Did Netflix Content Strategy kill it?
Too much subpar content to consume.
Ahh, Netflix, the tiny startup that started mailing DVDs and creating a streaming empire. The darling of the streaming era. Forever imputing “Netflix and Chill” into the cultural lexicon. Netflix has had a good run but has been in trouble for the past quarter losing subscribers for the first time in a decade. This has caused the usual blame game on “people sharing passwords”, increased competition and so forth but what if the content is to blame.
Netflix's golden years in content started with the launch of “Stranger Things”, “Orange Is The New Black”, “Bright”(bear with me here), “Glow”, “Narcos” etc. These shows and movies won awards and critical acclaim and attracted users to the service and created a bond with its consumers as a repository for unique content compared to the regular TV studios. This era established the company as the leading streaming website in the world. Then something happened,
Netflix content is basically an all-you-can-eat buffet. Other tv studios or streaming services may release an episode weekly but Netflix releases all its episodes on the same day. This was the main draw to Netflix and it is not a bad concept. The problem started when they started producing shovelware content.
Content Troubles
Go to the Netflix youtube channel and there are a lot of show and movie trailers(and I mean a lot). The thing is most of the shows and movies are mediocre. They are basically content that is not enduring in the cultural psyche. Just basic teen shows and wacky movies. Why does Netflix take this approach of throwing anything on the wall and hoping it sticks. Well, it has a little something to do with copyright.
Most of the current Netflix catalogue is still filled with movies and tv shows that are licensed from other TV studios and networks. The problem is those TV networks want to launch their own streaming services and they are started to pull their content from the service after a period of time which makes the company content pipeline insecure. Services like Peacock(NBCUniversal), Disney+ etc. are competing for the streaming pie and are gradually making most of their movies and content to be exclusive to their platform to attract new users which sounds terrifying to Netflix execs.
The Old Netflix Plan
Netflix decided to ramp up their content strategy to 11, acquiring new tv shows or movies by the day. Think of it as a strategy for the inevitable day that will come when the real owners of Netflix content will take what’s theirs. The problem with the strategy is that there have been a lot of poor quality TV shows with some successful ones. The ratio of bad shows to good shows has been increasing a lot due to Netflix's need for more content to occupy its fading catalogue. Also paired with an all-you-can-eat model, bad shows hardly have time to marinate in the public consciousness and go away. A show might be bad but if released weekly, there is a chance to create a niche following and further increase interest in the service. It is basically shovelware just created to satiate its users but lacks the quality for long-term retention. This has been detrimental to Netflix's content quality.
Second Chances
Netflix is revamping its services and trying to change its content direction to improve its content quality and retain its users and I believe they will come back. Disney is piggybacking off its legacy characters to increase its user base and steal Netflix customers but in the end, the streaming wars will still be decided on content quality not reputation.
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