People love cinema, but this live love is quickly fading in the new age of streaming sites.
For most, watching a movie or TV show is more than just viewing what’s playing on a screen, but the broader cinematic experience and subsequent movie magic that comes with it. However, the rapid growth in popularity of profit-driven streaming sites like Netflix and their corporate structure has effectively exchanged that magic for monetary value.
As the world’s leading streaming platform, with roughly 301.6 million global subscribers, Netflix has proven the influence it holds over film and TV. What started as a convenient streaming platform that, for a small monthly subscription fee, gave people access to their favourite movies and shows at any time has increasingly shifted into an experience shaped less by viewer enjoyment and more by monetization.
Many Netflix users have expressed frustration over the platform’s crackdown on password sharing, which resulted in a nine million subscriber increase in 2023. This shift from viewer satisfaction to profit was first notable and painfully obvious for many members of the platform in November 2022. This day marked Netflix’s introduction of advertisements as part of viewers’ monthly subscriptions for $7.99 USD a month, requiring customers to pay more for an ad-free experience.
A hike in prices effectively signaled to members that they would need to upgrade their subscriptions for the privilege of uninterrupted viewing. Not only does this move by Netflix expose the capitalist priorities of the platform, but the fact that Netflix originals contain 12 per cent more ads per hour than their licensed titles makes this claim undeniable.
Netflix’s focus on monetization and engagement often comes at the expense of the viewers. Staggered releases of Netflix original shows like Bridgerton and Stranger Things have stirred upset among fans who claim this new model is merely a strategy to manufacture hype, keep up engagement and subscription renewals by removing the binge-watching culture they once had. By keeping online hype and engagement strong throughout a season’s release, despite a decrease in episode quality, this release model has had a large impact on how Netflix originals are now written and paced.
The most recent season of the Netflix original show Stranger Things highlights how monetization increasingly shapes contemporary television. This season drew criticism from fans early on, with some online accusing the show’s creators of using ChatGPT during writing, because of the disappointing quality of the season. Anticipation for the delayed finale sustained massive viewership.
Netflix announced that season 5 of Stranger Things was to be released in three parts: Volume 1: Nov. 26, Volume 2: Dec. 25, Finale: Dec. 31. The long anticipation for the two-hour finale of the show kept online hype, and fans engaged despite criticisms that the season was lacking cohesion, feeling rushed and poorly done. The season finale acted more as a spectacle than meaningful storytelling, leaving many fans disappointed.
Netflix’s staggered-release model is reshaping how shows are written, leading to stagnant seasons and oversized finales. Originals increasingly prioritize profit over viewer satisfaction, and as Netflix expands its control over film and TV, corporate cinema continues to drain creativity and expression from film, diminishing viewer experience and taking the fun out of the movies. Netflix’s recent $72 billion USD acquisition of Warner Bros is another step towards their monopoly over streaming and entertainment, pushing us further from bold, creative storytelling and deeper into a world where film and television are directly shaped by corporate interests.
What started off as a convenient streaming platform has transformed into a corporate engine that stifles creativity, prioritizes profit over audience satisfaction, and in the process, kills the magic and fun of cinema.
Tags
Entertainment, Internet, Netflix, Streaming, Television
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