Netflix is reportedly struggling with a decline in engagement. Live TV and content bundles may be the solution, executives believe, according to a new report
Jessica Toonkel and Ben Fritz, reporting for The Wall Street Journal (Apple News link):
But one metric was pointing in the wrong direction: Subscriber engagement was showing signs of decline, according to attendees. At the time, it was a small part of a conversation about the company’s goals, but it has since become a frequent topic of discussion at meetings, people familiar with the matter said
Engagement, which measures how long people spend watching content and how frequently they finish a movie or series, is the holy grail in modern Hollywood. It signals that customers are satisfied and less likely to cancel their subscriptions
To help with its engagement problem, Netflix is reportedly considering adding “live channels” to the service that presumably play movies and TV shows. The idea seems to be that users could just turn on a “channel” instead of browsing for the next thing to watch
The WSJ adds that Netflix could borrow a page from Apple and bundle Netflix with a competing service as well
To bolster engagement, executives at the company have recently discussed adding live channels that would continuously stream certain programs, or shows and films from a certain genre, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has also explored bundling other subscription-based streaming services, including NBCUniversal’s Peacock, into its offering. It would sell those subscriptions through its main app as rivals such as Amazon.com and Apple have long done, some of the people said.
Netflix’s discussions about adding TV channels and potentially streaming bundles, which would appear like tiles on the streamer’s home page, show how the company is willing to pivot from its roots
The report goes on to make the point that Netflix’s version of live TV would be a new avenue for delivering ads that can’t be skipped
For Apple’s part, it made a rare content trade with Netflix over a Formula 1 race and the most recent season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series this year
Apple TV box users would still love to see Netflix properly integrate with Apple’s TV app
So far, Netflix has enjoyed its position at the top as a reason not to engage with Apple’s TV app. The idea seems to be that Netflix doesn’t want users to browse its content next to another catalog or library
However, if engagement is an issue, surfacing Netflix content outside of the Netflix app, like in the TV app, sounds like a great place to start
Instead, more than a year has passed since Netflix confirmed it didn’t mean to support that Apple TV feature everyone has wanted for years
The custom video player is another area to reconsider, if Netflix is looking for ways to improve
- You’re paying for 80+ iPhone and iPad games through Netflix, here’s the full catalog
- Netflix viewers keep abandoning hit series after one season
- Netflix announces price increases for every streaming plan
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