Netflix had a year of triumphs in 2017; but will its rise continue unchallenged in 2018?

This article is part of our 2017: A Year In Review series; and the first of three stories that examine the Netflix phenomenon. 

Usually at a restaurant, when a person needs a bottle of mineral water, he/she orders a ‘Bisleri’, regardless of which company’s mineral water bottle they finally receive. In the same way, when one needs to duplicate something in a copy machine, one tends to use the word ‘Xerox’. It’s a simple case of the power of branding and how these terms have become ubiquitous for daily consumption.

When it comes to streaming, a majority of the people still use the word ‘Netflix’, even though a lot of big players like Hotstar and Amazon are part the market as well. Netflix India may have a fraction of the actual size of the US catalogue; however,  it is still the highest quality streaming site. The content is stronger and the UI is the best in class. The numbers might say otherwise – Hotstar has more unique visitors, but it offers a different kind of content as opposed to Netflix — which offers you a ‘cinema experience’ right at home. Just look at some of the original series Netflix offered this year alone — they’re nothing short of 10-hour-long movies with impeccable production values and even big stars.

For a company that started off as a DVD mailing and delivery service, Netflix has come a long way — investing up to $6 billion in 2017 and more than $8 billion in 2018 for programming. The tactic seems to be working because people are absolutely hooked to binge watching. A recently released stat table from the company revealed that collectively, humans watch 140 million hours of Netflix each day. That comes to a billion hours of Netflix content watched per week.

Whether or not this is a healthy habit for humans who are increasingly spending more time at home in front of their screens instead of exercising, these are astonishing numbers. There is also an element of obsession and addiction here — the company also revealed that there is one person who watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean film every single day — 365 times this year. One other user watched Seinfeld’s Bee Movie 357 times last year. It could be possible that this was at a daycare center or a children’s hospital where a random default movie was chosen to stream for the patients every day, but it could be possible that there is someone who actually likes the movie so much.

Whatever the case, the bets that the company has placed are paying off handsomely — but that’s not just because of their risky business running, but also risky programming. The year’s best Netflix show is a German thriller called Dark which is rather complex to follow due to the sheer number of characters and the twisting storyline; your patience is rewarded handsomely at the end of each episode. The company could have played it safe and made it a more accessible show but they trusted the filmmakers in making something really special. The company also delivered the hilarious American Vandal which was a milestone in itself, because the show made fun of the kind of programming that made Netflix popular: true crime docu dramas.

It seems the company has all three tiers sorted — the risky shows like The OA, the casual/populist ones like the Marvel series, and the blockbuster ones like House of Cards, Stranger Things and Narcos have all largely worked. With Black Mirror set to arrive at the fag end of the year, it seems like a fitting sendoff with firecrackers to boot. What is surprising is that seemingly ‘mid level’ shows like 13 Reasons Why, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Gilmore Girls, Riverdale, Chef’s Table have become as popular as the star-driven vehicles such as Ozark, The Crown and GLOW. Every genre, from drama to sci fi to comedy to Young Adult has been placed under Netflix’s belt. They’re still to make a quality horror show, maybe that’s something we’ll see next year.

A major disruption comes in the form of Bright starring Will Smith, directed by David Ayer — and regardless of what you thought about Suicide Squad it’s truly a blockbuster move by the company, and one that genuinely threatens the future of movie theaters. The film is a fantasy action thriller with otherworldly creatures living alongside humans, and although it hasn’t been well-received, there will more of these in the years to come; and people will have even more reasons to watch this kind of entertainment right at home instead of going to the multiplex. Note that this ‘big star-big movie’ experiment didn’t exactly work with Brad Pitt’s War Machine either — a rare misfire from director David Michod. Another prestige project — Martin Scorsese’s $130 million The Irishman with an all star cast of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Harvey Keitel — is due out next year, and could possibly right the ship.

The most interesting development in Netflix, however, is the recent deal that puts Ex Machina writer and director Alex Garland’s new film Annihilation on the streaming platform just 17 days after the theatrical release. The film, which stars Natalie Portman and is based on a classic sci-fi novel, was already one of the most anticipated films of 2018, so Netflix throwing this onto their platform after such a small release window is a landmark deal. It is not entirely clear whether this is good or bad for the film, because the source material is visually bonkers, and with Garland’s track record of dazzling visuals, we would ideally like to see it in theaters. On the other hand, the sci-fi geeks in countries where the film had no chance of release should be celebrating. This deal also makes a case for a renaissance of sorts in film distribution, because theaters and studios are generally prickly about locking films in theaters for a long time before letting them roam free on the internet.

So with everything going Netflix’s way, what can stop this seemingly unstoppable force?

There is a little snag that had been lurking in the shadows all this time but is now suddenly out in the open. A few days ago Disney announced a deal to take over a major portion of Fox. The optics of this deal have been mostly confined to people thinking about which superheroes can cross over from Fox to Disney and when we’d get a movie where the X-Men meet the Avengers.

Everyone is missing the bigger picture. Disney’s strategy was not just to expand its superhero roster, it was actually to pose a giant danger to Netflix. With the Fox acquisition, Disney now has its hands on the streaming platform Hulu – which means once the takeover is done, Disney would straight away pick up Fox’s films from Netflix and put them for streaming exclusively on Hulu. It’s hard to overstate the gravity of this scenario — all the Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Fox and Disney’s own live action and animation films would be exclusive on Hulu. The only way Netflix would be able to stream those titles is by paying exorbitant fees to Disney, and the house of the mouse would make sure those numbers are impossible to come to an agreement to.

Then there’s the issue of branding — Disney would also soon rename Hulu to something Disney-oriented, and perhaps even improve the user experience of the site. So in the eyes of the public, a Disney streaming site, containing the gigantic catalogue of Disney films would probably be more enticing than anything else. There’s no doubt that Disney will also begin cultivating original content in the near future.

All this could explain why Netflix has suddenly pulled its socks up and is fighting for Net Neutrality. The company needs a free and open internet, because the contrary scenario could see ISPs offering special Disney content in package deals — something that most families would go for. The next couple of years are going to rather interesting, but we’ll be there with our eyes peeled, binge-watching cinematic history as it unfolds.

Stay tuned:

Part II — From Dark to Midnight Diner, foreign language programming on Netflix is a must-watch

Part III — 2017’s best shows on Netflix