When Netflix started its streaming services many years ago, many people saw it as a platform on which their favourite shows would be saved: the service rarely canceled its own original productions and even revived some shows which had been cancelled by other networks, such as 'Arrested Development' or 'The Killing'. However coinciding with the termination of some of their longstanding series, 'House of Cards' and the imminent farewell to one of their most emblematic fictions, 'Orange is the New Black', the platform has also canceled more than a dozen other shows in the past twelve months.
'Everything Sucks', 'Seven Seconds', 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt', 'Iron Fist', 'Luke Cage', 'American Vandal' and 'Daredevil' are only a few of the victims of this recent purge of cancellations.
A few days ago, one Reddit user shared the news that Ted Sarantos, the leader of contents at Netflix, had stated in the most recent conferences organised by the Swiss Investment Bank UBS, that the company not only takes into account the audience at the time of cancelling a show, but also the quality of these spectators. That is to say that Netflix is not interested in which shows attract hundreds of new subscribers if they then quit once they have finished a series. The company values subscribers who will maintain an active subscription for an extended period of time.
This would explain the fortune that the service paid in order to have 'Friends' available in their catalogue. Sarantos himself stated that the series with the least views, like 'Longmire', are more beneficial to the streaming service, as they tend to have a loyal audience and, therefore, have a higher chance of being renewed.
Disney+: the New Netflix Competition
Among the many fallen shows for which Netflix viewers are mourning, are several Marvel superhero series, such as 'Daredevil', 'Iron Fist', and 'Luke Cage'. The news of the shows' cancellations comes just after Marvel promised that there would be more 'Daredevil' adventures to come, thus leaving many fans to speculate that Marvel themselves might be to blame for the cancellation of their own shows on Netflix, anticipating the launch of the Disney+ streaming platform. It looks like Disney could have very different plans for 'The Defenders' on it's new platform. Following this, the coming episodes of 'Jessica Jones' and 'The Punisher' could be the last that we are able to enjoy from the Netflix catalogue.
The third season of 'Jessica Jones' comes to Netflix in 2019.
