Summary
- Netflix navigates growth challenges with live events and gaming to stay ahead in the streaming industry.
- Live-streaming content and upcoming gaming initiatives reflect Netflix’s strategy to attract new audiences.
- Despite slow adoption, Netflix’s foray into gaming and live events signals a proactive approach to future trends.
Netflix has remained a giant in streaming. Despite ups and downs, it is still the number one platform for original content and highlights cinema and television worldwide. However, through the rough patches and potential challenges, the streaming giant has started looking at ways to attract new audiences and keep their current subscribers on the platform. Those who have stayed with Netflix for the long term may have noticed the slow inclusion of live-streaming events and the subtle introduction of gaming onto the platform. While both are still in their infancy, the inclusion is very much to set the future groundwork for the direction of Netflix.
We will look at how Netflix has dealt with rough patches in the past and why this has pushed them to embrace live-streaming and gaming to save the company from current trends and future threats.
Netflix’s Has Had Problems with Growth
In 2020, Netflix benefitted from the strain felt by millions as stay-at-home orders shifted to a higher demand for streaming entertainment during the pandemic. In this period, Netflix added 36.6 million new subscribers, bringing their total subscriber count to over 203 million by the end of 2020. 2021 would prove less fruitful for the streaming giant, only managing to grow its database, adding around 18 million new subscribers.
This led to a very rough 2022 for the company, both in trying to drum up viewership and in public opinion, with Netflix increasing pricing and cracking down on password sharing. This was mocked through online discourse early into 2023 as Netflix tried rebounding when it was revealed in 2017 that the streaming giant tweeted, “Love is sharing a password.”
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However, Netflix was still able to maintain growth, thanks in part to its focus on international content and riding the massive success of K-drama and anime (also allowing them to expand into Asian markets), as well as developing stand-out true-crime content and binge-worthy reality TV shows that would compliment their bigger budgeted in-house productions. By the end of 2023, Netflix had reached around 260 million global subscribers, adding nearly 39 million that year. This trend has continued, with 2024 still proving to be a good year for the streaming giant to maintain its dominance over other competitors like Disney+, Peacock, and Crave.
However strong Netflix is compared to other streaming platforms, with some struggling to turn a profit, they undeniably have taken note of the increase in competition, with more vying for a market share. In addition, younger generations, particularly Gen Z and Generation Alpha (born after 2012), have declined in watching traditional movies and TV shows. It is already being proven that the next generation will likely shift away from streaming movies and TV and instead embrace social media and platforms focusing on user-generated content (via The Wrap). This means that Netflix has to look forward to trends to ensure they don’t see dips like in 2021-2022, offering unique content to its existing subscribers and growing to appeal to new ones.
Netflix’s Move into Live Streaming
Netflix has begun to offer more live content, with notable releases to date including Chris Rock: Selective Outrage, Everybody’s In LA, Love Is Blind: Reunion (though technical difficulties caused the show to be released later), and The Greatest Roast Of All Time: Tom Brady. While many of these programs could have been released without the live-streaming format, this content has proven to offer some advantages for Netflix, including expanding options for advertising and sponsorship, increasing engagement and buzz, and diversifying itself among its competitors with the type of content offered. The recent The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady being viewed over 2 million times on its debut night of Sunday, May 5, 2024, is a testament to the viability of offering live events alongside other content.
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Testing live-streaming as early as the start of 2023, two of Netflix’s recent live events — John Mulaney’s talk show Everybody’s in LA and the upcoming Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight card — points to a greater focus on attracting those looking for live content. Everybody’s in LA offers viewers several nights of entertainment and content around the “Netflix Is a Joke Fest” in Los Angeles. This includes sketch comedy, interviews, and field pieces shot around LA, offering the show a raw and exciting vibe. This also created the feeling of ‘appointment viewing,’ enticing new viewers to live TV’s unpredictability.
FOMO and Netflix’s live audience potential will further be tested with the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight, which will also aim to help bring in more of the younger audience and appeal to trends of social influences over Hollywood stars for content. Announced on April 30th and taking place live on May 16th, the fight card is uncontested territory for Netflix. However, this event is of particular note, with Jake Paul appealing to the demographic that Netflix is struggling to capture and exploring the viability of live sports on the streaming platform.
Netflix’s Slow but Steady Approach to Gaming
While the gaming industry has faced its own recent issues, with layoffs at most major publishers and recent gaming flops like Skull and Bones and Kill the Justice League, it remains the largest entertainment industry. It eclipses movies, music, and print by a substantial amount; in 2022, it was estimated to be worth $249.6 billion as an industry, dwarfing the movie industry ($93.4 billion) and the music industry ($31.2 billion). Gaming is likely to stay, with Gen Z and Gen Alpha fully embracing the medium; engagement with Gen Alpha (93%) and Gen Z (93% for teens) is significantly higher than other generations, and there is little reason to believe that trend will slow.
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Unsurprisingly, Netflix has taken a step towards gaming and, as of 2021, has offered subscribers access to mobile games. Still, this may be news to many who use the platform; as of 2023, with 72 original and popular indie games on offer, less than 1% of subscribers play Netflix games daily (via CNBC). Still, this does not mean that Netflix has abandoned the idea of moving into gaming, stating that they are taking a ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach to integrating games into their service.
The streaming platform has taken significant steps towards growing its gaming services and has continued to look at adapting its popular shows into games, including hiring industry veterans like former Halo lead Joseph Staten to develop a “AAA PC game.” However, these still seem to remain on the back burner, with the limitations of cloud gaming not allowing them to offer triple-A games through their streaming service. This will likely remain a vital tool in the company’s continued growth in looking forward to innovative technology to keep Netflix at the forefront, as cloud streaming gaming seems inevitable.
The company’s push towards gaming and streaming seems intelligent yet inevitable. Will streaming and games help save Netflix in the future, as technology and entertainment are constantly evolving? Who knows, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
