Have you ever felt personally victimised by a Netflix cancellation?
Streaming services are increasingly quick to cancel an original series. Most recently, Netflix cancelled Kaos about a month after it premiered. An RMIT expert explains why this happens – and its impact on viewers and the industry.
Dr Djoymi Baker, lecturer in media and cinema studies
“Programs have always lived or died by ratings, but the binge model puts viewers on notice: watch it all straight away or face the risk of your show being axed. This gives less breathing space for a program to build an audience, like we saw with The Last of Us whose viewership increased per episode.
“Netflix has always promoted its preferred model of binge viewing as part of its brand identity. Its cancellation trajectory puts renewed pressure on audiences to follow this model.
“However, binging doesn’t suit all audiences. Some prefer to pace their viewing, alternate between several programs or finish their current shows before starting something new.
“We’ve also seen a return to appointment viewing, demonstrated in the success of Binge making us wait for a weekly drop of Succession and generating old-fashioned anticipation and water-cooler conversations as a result.
“Even shows that were immediately successful are in danger of disappearing from streaming services. Last year, multiple streaming services, including Disney+ and Paramount+, started dumping old content for tax purposes. This impacts the viability of the creative industry, with cast and crew no longer receiving residuals from programs after they are dumped from streamers.
“With the decline in popularity of physical media, like DVDs and CDs, audiences also rely on streaming services to act as archives. This could become problematic if content continues to be removed under cost-saving measures."
Dr Djoymi Baker is a lecturer in media and cinema studies at RMIT University. Her most recent book is Netflix, dark fantastic genres and intergenerational viewing: family watch together TV, co-authored with Jessica Balanzategui (RMIT) and Diana Sandars (University of Melbourne).
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