As coronavirus brought Hollywood and other film producing units to a halt, Netflix saw a record success. However, will the streaming giant’s well-stocked slate of future shows be enough to maintain that growth? Netflix reported this week that it has completed filming the large portion of movies and series that are due for release this year, turning down concerns that its stock of hit shows like “Tiger King” could end, or the subsequent Unorthodox be delayed until normalcy around the world.
Content chief Ted Sarandos in a statement said, “Our 2020 list of series and movies are almost shot, and are in post-production remotely in places all over the world.”
“And we are already preparing our 2021 list. So we are not expecting the issues around could delay our schedule.” Many analysts are saying that Netflix’s scale when it comes to its vast number of ongoing productions, post-production, and global presence, make it top-placed to climate the pandemic storm.
“There are a lot of productions that are produced by Netflix, and it’s exhilarating. Netflix’s team is putting out a lot of content that can be equaled by putting all the studios together.”
Jeff Bock, the senior analyst at Exhibitor Relations, said that “Any studio in general, might have merely four or five films in their bag or in post-production works that they can still work on. But Netflix possibly has hundreds of shows in its bag getting ready to release.”
The online streaming giant may also incline to its huge network of overseas partners to license the content — (of course, subtitled) — for domestic audiences.
Will The Present Situation Hurt Netflix?
But even Netflix’s content pipeline has certain limits if this unexpected shutdown extends much longer.
Bock said that “They like to put out many series and shows every week, and maybe as we continue with this situation into the fourth or fifth months with complete lockdown, they definitely will be forward in the game but will be hurt for sure at some point.”
New and original content plays a major role in Netflix’s charm than rival platforms like Disney+ — which is the home to the Mouse House’s enviable catalog of 80 years. The streaming wars heated up in the present situation, and Netflix lost its evergreen and most popular hits like The Office and Friends to the upcoming rivals such as Peacock and HBO Max in the United States.
“People are distracted in a way by all the archival content — they will watch the shows again and again,” and “There are lots of buffers there,” said the senior Comscore analyst, Paul Dergarabedian.
According to Steve Nason, the research director at Parks Associates, “The delay of this summer’s complete theater blockbuster list also means those films will premier later on streaming platforms such as Netflix. This may not hurt in the short period, but hurts Netflix in the longer term.”
When will Netflix and its Rivals get back to Shape?
However, Netflix has another tool as its backup arrangement, which is the platforms’ ability to find alternate routes to keep making new content every time. Due to the rapid global expansion, Netflix is now gearing up production in countries which are easing restrictions — namely Iceland and South Korea — whereas Hollywood remains shut as of now.
Bock told AFP, “The Netflix brand is spread all over the world; there’s no reason why they can not buy their own island to shoot their content there.”
Its latest hits in reality TV, like “Too Hot to Handle” and “Love is Blind,” point to areas that require smaller crews and that too with rapid turnaround times.
The streaming platform quickly capitalized on the exceptional success of the strange zookeeper documentary “Tiger King” with a follow-up episode showing interviews with the show’s alumni that are conducted using low-budget video calls.
Nason said that “Many content distributors are trying to shoot documentaries in a short period, to fill some holes, and Netflix has already shot documentaries and succeeded.”
“If the production halts nine months to 1 year, then everyone will be hurt,” he added. “However, compared to some of its competitors, Netflix is going to be in better shape.”
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