Cord cutting is eventually going to cost everyone more money than cable ever did because all of the networks are now launching their own proprietary streaming services. You probably read about the reports that NBC Universal is launching its own streaming service and that is putting Netflix’s rights to The Office in peril.
Reports that Netflix might lose The Office began to swirl recently. Netflix hasn’t announced an end date for when The Office would leave its streaming platform and there are rumors that they’re in talks to do everything possible to stop this from happening, especially after a WSJ/Nielsen report on how much time users spend streaming the top shows.
Netflix wants us to believe that subscribers care first and foremost about the original programming and while the Netflix Originals are definitely a huge draw when you look at the most-streamed shows it’s The Office at #1 and every other show is waaaaaaaaaay behind.
It cost Netflix a reported $100 MILLION to keep the streaming rights to Friends so I can’t imagine how expensive it would be for Netflix to retain the rights to The Office based on these stats.
According to the report, Top 10 programs on Netflix based on minutes watched in 2018 are as follows: “The Office,” “Friends,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “NCIS,” “Criminal Minds,” “Orange is the New Black” and “Shameless” (tied), “Supernatural,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “Ozark.” What is potentially problematic for Netflix is that only two of these 10 shows are original productions: “Orange” and “Ozark.” Non-originals made up 72% of the total number of minutes people spent watching Netflix as of October 2018, Nielsen reveals. (via Indiewire)
So The Office is #1 but just how much more is it binge-watched than the others? Here’s the report from the Daily Dot:
The Office was by far the most popular show to stream on Netflix in 2018. Viewers spent 52.1 billion minutes streaming the completed NBC series, while only 32.6 billion minutes were spent on Friends and 30.3 billion on Grey’s Anatomy.
Nielsen’s ratings only include the U.S. and consider only connected devices. That means between 20-30% of Netflix viewers are not included in these numbers. It’s unfortunate news for Netflix’s original content, though both Orange Is the New Black and Ozark made the top-10 list—the only Netflix originals to do so. (via)
The Office is being watched for a total of 52.1 BILLION minutes compared to only 32.6 billion for Friends at #2. Steve Carrell’s show is in a class of its own and this feels like it could cost Netflix half of its company just to retain those rights.
For context, Stranger Things was streamed for a total of 27.6 billion minutes but nearly half of those streaming minutes took place in November so people aren’t really going back to re-watch that show while subscribers watch The Office at a steady rate all year long.
I think what’s getting lost here in the NBC Universal vs Netflix streaming service is how, yes, a shit ton of people binge-watch The Office but I don’t think anyone in their right mind is going to pay for a monthly streaming service ONLY to get The Office. I sure as shit won’t. It’s great to have these shows on Netflix so that we can binge watch them in between watching all of the new original content.
Tack on this Disney+ streaming service that will be launching and I think we can agree that this shit is getting out of control. Some people will subscribe to all of them but most won’t and they will cannibalize themselves over time.
For more on this report, you can click here to visit the Daily Dot.