- Netflix has launched a new hub for young adult content, including hundreds of original and licensed movies and shows, due to the genre’s popularity with viewers and success on social media.
- The streaming giant faces growing competition from other platforms like YouTube, but Netflix’s large library of content and high percentage of viewership for young adult programs set it apart in the streaming industry.
- Netflix is expanding its young adult offerings with new shows like “Sid & Zoey” and “Sunshine Girls,” as well as the upcoming drama “The Body,” in an effort to continue attracting viewers and creators to its platform.
Young adult dramas have always been pivotal to Netflix’s programming. Think of massive global hits like “Stranger Things” and “Outer Banks.”
Now, the streaming giant wants to make it easier for viewers to find them on its vast and eclectic platform.
Netflix has launched a new hub for YA content that includes several hundred titles of original or licensed movies and shows about the coming-of-age stories of young adults.
The genre is popular with viewers: 23 young adult titles made Netflix’s global top 10 list this year. Those include the third season of “XO Kitty,” about a young woman studying in Korea; and ice skating drama called “Finding Her Edge.”
Since 2023, Netflix said its YA shows and movies have generated more than 10.5 billion global views. The programs also are buzzy on social media, with YA titles representing 30% of Netflix’s most-talked-about titles since 2022, according to the Los Gatos-based company.
“It’s just been really clear that this audience has a voracious appetite, and they really look to Netflix as a premier destination for these types of stories,” said Jinny Howe, Netflix’s head of scripted series for US and Canada.
Netflix is not alone. The genre has become increasingly important to streamers as stories about first loves, high school drama and coming-of-age tales connect with a wide demographic, from young people to older generations. The third and final season of “Euphoria” ranks among HBO Max’s three most-watched returning seasons. Amazon Prime Video in June held a fan event for its YA series and films called “Obsessed Fest.” “Off Campus,” which launched in May, reached 36 million viewers in its first 12 days on Prime Video, Amazon said.
Disney+, Paramount+ and HBO Max have also released young adult titles, including “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” “School Spirits” and “Euphoria,” whose third and final season was among HBO Max’s most popular.
“There’s just this hunger for this kind of content that’s very relationship driven and set in a time period of growth and struggle and really figuring yourself out,” said Sarah Lampert, creator and executive producer of Netflix YA series “Ginny & Georgia,” about a mother and daughter’s relationship. “It’s just so deeply human.”
The young adult push comes as Netflix faces growing pressure from investors to increase the amount of time people spend on the service. To that end, Netflix has diversified the type of content it offers, adding games, video podcasts and live events like NFL football games to its platform.
Still, the streamer’s stock is down 35% from a year ago, as competition from other platforms has grown. Shares closed Thursday at $78.24, up 5%.
YouTube in particular remains a formidable rival, representing about 14% of streaming-watch time by US viewers on TVs, compared to Netflix’s 8% in May
Despite the competition, Netflix’s original programs still dominate the most-watched streaming lists.
What sets Netflix apart is its large library of content, said Alejandro Rojas, a vice president with Parrot Analytics. Netflix gets a higher percentage of viewership on its platform for programs whose primary audience are young adults compared to other streamers, he said.
“Netflix has so much more content than some of the other competitors that in every category, they’re always going to be either the leader, or be close to leading in that category,” Rojas said.
More shows are on the way. On Friday, Netflix announced two new YA shows, the supernatural mystery series called “Sid & Zoey,” about an amoral teenager who is sent to live with a police chief and his family and develops a mutual attraction with the chief’s daughter; and “Sunshine Girls,” about a teenager who moves from New York to the suburbs of Valley Hills, California. The series will launch this December and will be shot in L.A.
Another young adult drama debuting later this year is “Minimum Wage,” which focuses on teens managing part-time jobs and love triangles. Comedian Randall Park plays an eccentric boss of a pizza shop. “Minimum Wage” films in Syracuse, New York.
Many credit the growth of Netflix’s young adult content to its bet on the sci-fi series “Stranger Things,” which launched a decade ago with a cast of unknown child actors and first-time showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer to become one of its most popular shows ever.
The series ended last year and Netflix is rolling out a new crop of YA shows.
“We’re very much looking at creators who have something to say, who really want to be very sharp in their perspective they’re trying to relay about the story they’re telling,” Howe said.
Howe has high hopes for “The Body,” about badly behaved Catholic school girls who have prophetic visions after a dance team initiation goes awry. The drama, which debuts Nov. 11, was created by a 31-year-old first-time showrunner, Quinn Shephard.
“I have really felt a lack of censorship of the show,” Shephard said. “Netflix was the right home for it because of their willingness to not be afraid of something being slightly provocative, a little bit more adult and have a bit of teeth to it in this genre.”
Felicia Pride, creator and showrunner of “A Different World,” said her sequel series to the original NBC show about Black students navigating their way through a fictional college should resonate with young people worldwide.
“That is a huge benefit of being on Netflix and being on streaming … is the ability to have that reach,” Pride said.
Director Julia Hart hopes her film, “Don’t Say Good Luck,” will be something families can watch together. The movie, which was released Friday, is about a student who lands the lead in a school musical at the same time her mom’s cancer returns.
“The dream,” Hart said, “is that the kids see themselves in it, and the parents see the kids that they once were, and it gives them a point of connection that they can talk about.”
