Facing increasing competition and slowing user growth, what’s Netflix’s plan to stay atop the streaming mountain? A survey email sent to some users may hold the clues. Netflix is considering a new initiative called N-Plus.
“N-Plus is a future online space where you can learn more about the Netflix shows you love and anything related to them,” the survey said.
Those who received the emails got hints about supplemental features Netflix may come to offer. One feature in consideration is the ability to curate custom playlists so you could share recommendations with friends. “If viewers are not members, they can only see a trailer for the show itself,” the email said.
The survey also asked how people would feel about N-Plus listing all the music from a TV show and the ability to create playlists from it. It’s unclear whether the music would be available directly through Netflix or through an outside partner like Spotify.
Netflix might also let users influence the direction of their shows. The survey asked how users might feel about the option to “learn about a planned show (pre-production) and influence its development with feedback before filming has finished.”
In late April, Netflix debuted its Play Something feature, designed to help users discover new shows and films that might appeal to them. While Netflix has a substantial catalog, discovery is always tricky on any streaming platform, so it’s encouraging to see Netflix bringing new features to help.
Netflix’s share of the U.S. market shrunk from 29% to 20% during 2020. That’s a drop of around one-third during a year when streaming content became king due to the pandemic. While Netflix added 36.58 million new subscribers globally over the course of last year, it only added 4 million in the first quarter of 2021.
That said, Netflix subscribers tend to be quite loyal. Its churn rate has held steady below 2.5% over the last two years.