It was only a short four years ago that Netflix was best known as the company with the red envelope that you return in the mail once you finally get around to watching Blue Velvet. Then House of Cards premiered in early 2013, and everything changed. Now, the streaming service has been nominated for 75 Emmys, resurrected Arrested Development, and introduced us to BoJack Horseman, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Stranger Things, the show of the summer. Netflix is currently spending $6 billion a year on original content — in fact, CFO David Wells is “hoping to make at least 50% of the streaming platform’s content to be original series and productions.”
It’s a bold, costly maneuver that works when it results in Master of None or Jessica Jones, but there’s one negative consequence, and I don’t mean another season of Flaked. The Exstreamist reports that “the Netflix library has collapsed 50% in total title count since its peak four years ago.”
While the exact number of titles available on Netflix in 2012 is unknown, sources who used to work for the streaming giant have told us it was close to 11,000 movies and TV shows. Over the years, this gradual decline has come from major content owners pulling the plug on giving Netflix distribution rights, as well as Netflix decreasing their total spend on third party content. (Via)
Basically, Netflix is spending more money on finding the next Orange Is the New Black or Lady Dynamite, and less money on the rights to shows like Seinfeld, which they’ll happily let Hulu have for $180 million. It’s better, the streaming giant supposes, to keep everything in-house and not deal with out-of-company content producers. (Just don’t get rid of Parks and Recreation, please.) Besides, as of Sept. 2016, there are still 5,302 titles on Netflix. That’s enough Marvel and pointless ’90s nostalgia for any one person.
(Via Exstreamist)
