by Hannah Boggs, Arts and Style Editor
The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.
Recently, Netflix has been announcing the removal of specific shows that are supposed to be leaving the platform sometime throughout 2020-2021. A lot of the shows that are being removed are very popular among the teenage audience. This removal may cause Netflix’s viewing to drop significantly and cause its users to switch to other streaming platforms.
Other platforming sites still have a wide variety of shows for people to watch. This may cause some competition and ultimately result in users making the switch. When asked, Natalie Hall (12), said that she believes “people will start using Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ way more”. Natalie also commented that Netflix’s “viewing is going to go down”; she says that “when they removed That 70’s Show, [she] stopped using Netflix as much”. The majority of shows that are getting removed are widely viewed by a teenage audience which could result in a large drop in their audience.
There are tons of rumors going around as to why Netflix may be removing these shows. Whether it’s the fact that they don’t want to pay the license for them, or because these channels are creating their own streaming platforms and claiming the rights to the show. Mr. Howard believes that “Netflix is trying to push toward more original content because the model that they created isn’t what’s most profitable”. He says that “Netflix will go more towards their own original programming”, this is seen with a lot of Netflix Originals that still have a large viewing on the platform because they’re unique to Netflix only. Mr. Howard says that he “foresees a lot of people bouncing around” between platforms because it’s something that “[he] does often”.
It’s hard to tell whether or not Netflix’s views will go down. Baylie Lawrence (12) seems to think that Netflix will “keep the same amount of viewing because of their original shows”. Although Netflix may be getting rid of popular shows that are owned by other channels, they still have a wide variety of Netflix Originals. These original shows may be what will keep people interested in staying on their subscription.
Some of the shows that will potentially be leaving Netflix throughout 2020-2021 are Parks and Recreation, The Office, The Vampire Diaries, and many more. There are also a ton of movies that will be getting removed as well.
Although Netflix is removing all of these television shows and movies, it’s still possible that people will keep their subscriptions due to Netflix’s originality. It’s hard to tell exactly what will happen, but with more streaming platforms being created, Netflix is bound to lose at least a small amount of viewers.