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The Collapse at Netflix Signals the End of Audience Capture

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Re: The Collapse at Netflix Signals the End of Audience Capture

#21
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Netflix said it had more than 325 million subscribers worldwide as of the end of 2025 — up from 301.2 million a year prior https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/netflix-q4-2025-financial-e...

Yup, up 7.9% on that year. And until this week, they would release numbers every six months. Now they are NOT releasing numbers. If the numbers were up, they would post them. This sudden change of Netflix' reporting shows they decided it is less bad to raise the flag of halting reporting than to expose the size of the subscriber loss. That is not good. Maybe they are just fearful of showing any loss at all, or maybe…

They’re handing out free/inclusive ad subs in some markets to prop their numbers.

Re: The Collapse at Netflix Signals the End of Audience Capture

#22
post #4

> The situation is so dire that even Netflix’s biggest new series of the second quarter failed to get renewed. And all the other numbers tie back to this. No one wants to invest in a story that ends on a cliffhanger to not be renewed or even worse to get season 2 that is >50% filler because the writers save up for 5 seasons and then season 2 ends on a cliffhanger to never be renewed. It's all got too much sprawl and…

Also what really annoys me as a viewer is that even on a good series that has already been renewed, the waiting between seasons has crept up from 1 year (already bad) to multiple years. Then when the new season finally comes out (in two parts!) I already lost most of the context and am not nearly as interested.

The multi-year gap kills my interest. After a huge hiatus, I have forgotten key plot points, so I have to either accept that some elements will not make sense or commit to re-consuming the original season. Both of which are deeply unappealing.

I keep meaning to watch Arcane season two, but the first one was so dense (not necessarily plot, but just so many little things) that I know I would be cheating myself to watch it after the sizeable gap. Yet rewatching S1 just to start S2 is such a time commitment.

Re: The Collapse at Netflix Signals the End of Audience Capture

#23
post #17

Netflix always used to get a lot of crap for refusing to renew series. The "second season slump" graph suggests that they were right: viewers don't tune in for the second seasons. It doesn't matter why that is. It only matters that they put their money to something that does keep people subscribing. If they don't have the creative wherewithal, that's a different problem. It's hard to feed the gaping maw of people see…

I think it would only be fair to count S2 if it immediately followed S1. A big gap means I cannot recall details from the original.

Working down the list:

  - Night Agent: S1 2023-March, S2 2025-January => 2 years
  - One Piece: S1 2023-August, S2 2026-March => 3 years
  - Four Seasons: S1 2025-May, S2 2026-May => 1 year
  - Running Point: S1 2025-March, S2-2026-April => 1 year
  - Beef: S1 2023-April, S2 2026-April => 3 years
Some of those are enormous intermissions! It is no surprise you cannot maintain an audience when you leave them hanging for so long.
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