Netflix launches a new show. You start watching. You love the story. But before you can finish the season, Netflix pulls the plug.
You’ll never get to the bottom of that sci-fi mystery. You’ll never learn how the story ends. Is there any reason to finish watching the remaining episodes?
Netflix is becoming notorious for leaving audiences hanging after they’ve gotten hooked on a new show. Ambitious projects like “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance” or “1899” were killed off after just one season. The trend is becoming so common, many subscribers will wait years until a show concludes properly before deciding whether to dive in.
But if there’s a show that interests you, there’s one important thing you can do to save it from cancellation: watch it as quickly as possible. And watch every episode.
While Netflix tracks lots of data points with its titles, one increasingly important metric is completion rate: the percentage of people who watch every episode available. It’s not enough to watch the first few episodes. The whole season needs to be viewed. Creators have confirmed that a low completion rate will sink their project.
It’s also important that the series is completed in the first 28 days of release. While most of us raced through “Squid Game” in one weekend, we’re also guilty of starting a show and giving up after a few episodes. That tells Netflix the show isn’t sticky enough. Netflix's own Top 10 site features a prominent graphic highlighting how many hours of a show were viewed in its first 28 days.
A show like “Wednesday” was an immediate hit (Netflix’s second most-watched show ever in its first 28 days). It’s still in the Top 10 shows 20 weeks later. You can’t deny success like that.
But not every show comes roaring out of the gate. First seasons are notoriously tricky. The first season of “Parks and Recreation,” like many sitcoms, struggled mightily to find its footing. The first season of “Breaking Bad” also took time to discover its momentum — the creators were planning to kill one of the lead characters until a writers’ strike gave them time to reassess the plan. Both shows got stronger over time. The shows Netflix kills early never have that chance.
Although Netflix may cancel a show because of budget or critical reception, your best shot at keeping a show alive is to stream the entire season as soon as it debuts. You don’t even have to be sitting in front of the TV. Just fire up the show on your phone or tablet and let it run through the season. If you actually want to watch later at your own pace, you will have the option to do that. But racing through the season after the premiere will give Netflix the signal it needs to consider a second season.
It’s not a perfect solution to save every show, but if enough people watch a show in the first 28 days and stream every episode, Netflix will take notice, and that may be enough for the story to live again.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.