Netflix Has Created a Self-Fulfilling Cancelation Loop with Its New Shows

Re:Netflix Has Created a Self-Fulfilling Cancelation Loop wi... by jsnell on Monday January 16, 2023 @06:21PM (#34406917)

I doubt that the holidays are the explanation.

1899 released five weeks before Christmas. The peak viewership for a Netflix show is typically first or second week (I guess mostly since the first week tends to be partial) and drops of fairly rapidly.

For comparison, Wednesday released 1 week after 1899, even closer to the holidays, racked up 5x the view numbers of 1899, and even had more viewers on Christmas week than 1899 had in its best.

(For me, it's that the word of mouth on 1899 was not good. The specific complaints people had were just the kind of thing that would drive me up the wall. So while I binged a bunch of shows during the holidays with different subsets of family, 1899 wasn't even in the discussion with any of them.)

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Re:Netflix Has Created a Self-Fulfilling Cancelation Loop wi... by mixmastamyk on Monday January 16, 2023 @06:31PM (#34407022)

Where do you get these numbers?

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Re:Netflix Has Created a Self-Fulfilling Cancelation Loop wi... by jsnell on Monday January 16, 2023 @06:41PM (#34407097)

Netflix publish them weekly: https://top10.netflix.com/tv?week=2022-11-20

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Re:Netflix Has Created a Self-Fulfilling Cancelation Loop wi... by iforgotpassword on Tuesday January 17, 2023 @02:49AM (#34410108)

I guess it's one of those shows you need to mentally prepare yourself to watch. Maybe I'm just trying to make excuses now to feel better, but there's something different about watching a mystery show where I have to pay close attention if I really want to get it, and something like Wednesday which I can watch in whatever exhausted state of mind.

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Re:Netflix Has Created a Self-Fulfilling Cancelation Loop wi... by eli_gottlieb on Tuesday January 17, 2023 @10:43AM (#34413824)

>something like Wednesday which I can watch in whatever exhausted state of mind.

Ironically, everything "mysterious" is foreshadowed perfectly well. They're just using enough Standard Netflix Writing to cover it up at the start.

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Re:Netflix Has Created a Self-Fulfilling Cancelation Loop wi... by justsid on Tuesday January 17, 2023 @07:26PM (#34421580)

I do think there is a mood aspect to it. I didn’t watch 1899 right when it came out because I wasn’t ready for it mentally yet. A lot of things I watch around Christmas are lighthearted movies, including a bunch of Hallmark stuff. I don’t have the time or headspace to get to something like 1899, but when I finally did, I enjoyed it greatly.

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Re:Netflix Has Created a Self-Fulfilling Cancelation Loop wi... by washadjeffmad on Wednesday January 18, 2023 @08:25AM (#34426341)

Demographics and density matter.

1899 was a detailed slow burn, not something you could throw on in the background while you're doom scrolling and still capture 90% of. Wednesday was a shallow faux-dark drama for the kids on holiday. We watched one episode, decided it wasn't for us, watched one more just to make sure, then never picked it back up.

Minors are where the money's at. Just look at YouTube and Twitch. Content for mature audiences is effectively over.

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