Report: Former Netflix Employees Say Streamer’s Use of Data is Powerful, Flawed Tool in Series Cancellations
Why do some TV shows get renewed, and others end up on the cancelation heap? The answer is complicated, involving a myriad of different factors from viewership numbers and ad revenues to social and political attitudes of viewers. Netflix has its own unique calculus for determining which shows get renewed, and now some former employees are speaking out about the streamer’s methods.
That’s according to reporting from Business Insider, who spoke to former Netflix employees regarding the company’s use of internal data. The former employees made it clear that Netflix does not rely on simple gut instincts when making creative decisions.
“If something is really unique or a risk, they’re not going to say, ‘Go with God,’ or ‘Take that risk.’ They’ll say, ‘Our data does not support [it],’” one former Netflix exec said according to Insider.
Netflix uses machine learning and statistical modeling to aid content executives in their decisions. The creative process in determining whether to acquire an IP involves examining comparatively similar shows and movies, and plotting them all out on a “similarity map” in which titles with more similarity are grouped more closely together. Then Netflix assesses how many viewers might tune in, and the property’s potential global reach.
These methods can be a powerful way of harnessing analytics to aid in the next bunch of new shows and movies added to the service. But reliance on such numbers alone can ignore potentially significant factors of audience participation.
Another Netflix exec who spoke to Business Insider said flatly that “some of [Netflix’s use of analytics] is a flawed science.”
The use of data can sometimes cause contentious debates at the company regarding whether or not to proceed with a show. Sometimes, even shows that are regulars on Netflix’s own top-10 lists struggle to make their cases for renewal analytically. It can even fall on high-level producers or actors to make impassioned pleas to Neflix higher-ups in order to keep a show off the chopping block.
It’s no surprise that Netflix sticks to its analytical approach so closely. With streaming growth slowing in the U.S., and the market growing closer to its saturation point, streaming services must do anything they can to try and stay ahead of the competition. Many in the industry, however, see Netflix’s reliance on analytics as stifling to their employees’ growth.
“These streamers don’t have proper training,” said the former Netflix exec. “The [analytical data] is filling the hole of human knowledge and human experience — skills you learn when you come up in a traditional way.”
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.