Netflix shows are all global hits, until they're not

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. 

“It’s a competitive advantage,” said Anthony DiClemente, an Instinet analyst. “They know more about who and how many people are watching than content creators know.”

Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at Netflix. Photo: Reuters

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. No one knows how many see Netflix’s House of Cards — especially the Hollywood insiders vying for a chunk of the company’s $6 billion yearly programming budget.

“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 personalised.”

Bloomberg