What nonsense. I can’t think of a word to better describe the headlines born out of a recent poll by Morning Consult. The poll indicates that Netflix could lose 49% of its viewers between the ages of 18-29. What would cause this? A loss of Disney and Marvel content coupled with the loss of Friends and The Office. Because apparently, a few shows from the early 90’s and 2000s and the remaining selection of comic book movies on Netflix are the only reason this suposedly selective group of people pay for the service. Here is a question.
What happens once the 18-29 year old group of people watch the run of the Office and Friends. Will they immediately cancel their subscriptions then? Or will they rewatch the shows again and again loyally and be surprised with each time Ross and Rachel break up and reunite. Spoiler alert, She got off the plane, There you go, you can get it out of the way and cancel if you want to.
I have been following Netflix’s streaming since its inception and have seen the same scenario play out again and again. “If they drop Dr. Who I am going to cancel it”, “If they lose content from EPIX I’m going to cancel it”, “If they drop Dare Devil I’m going to cancel it” Just name your work lunch buddies favorite title and say did you hear Netflix is going to lose it and see if they don’t say something similar. I have heard that schtick from whiny cousins, friends at work, parents and more. Do they cancel? No.
We have been seeing this for decades on another topic. “There is nothing good on TV anymore. I think I’m just gonna cancel cable,” said everyone’s curmudgeon uncle. And yet despite a trackable and notable drop in overall cable subscribers across the country over 90 percent of the country still subscribes. But if you read the yearly polls, typically the ones that come out at the start of the year, you will see that a huge percentage of customers is “thinking of dropping their service”
Here is a perfect example of expectation vs reality. A story in Yahoo finance said cable companies will lose 5.5 billion due to cord cutting. By the end of 2018, Comcast, the poster child of big cable announced that cable networks revenue increased 8.9% to $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018. Cable Networks revenue increased 8.9% to $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2018. Yup looks like a death spiral to me.
That was just 2018. You can find numerous examples, probably some of the most amusing based on polls from websites who’s lack of actual scientific and research-based rigor should disqualify them from being considered in the first place.
Are these young people concerned that the shows their older sisters liked in high school might leave Netflix? Maybe. But is it such a big problem that they will cut into the overall number of subscribers to the worldwide service. I highly doubt it. What will happen if and when these few programs leave the service? I bet that the audience, and you might have to suspend your sense of disbelief here, will find something else to watch. The real question may be as to how many of those surveyed even pay to watch Netflix in the first place.
