Netflix has increasingly focused on TV rather than movies in recent years.
New data from Flixable, a third-party Netflix search engine, shows that the number of TV shows on Netflix has nearly tripled since 2010.
The number of movies, meanwhile, has decreased by more than 2,000, according to Flixable's data.
If you thought Netflix's movie selection has been lacking lately, it looks like you're right.
The streaming service's number of movies has decreased by more than 2,000 titles since 2010, while its number of TV shows has nearly tripled, according to data from Flixable, a third-party Netflix search engine.
Flixable's data suggests a dramatic shift in Netflix's priorities in recent years.
In 2010, Netflix had 530 TV shows and 6,755 movies, according to Flixable. Today, the number of TV shows has nearly tripled, to 1,569, and the number of movies offered has decreased to 4,010.
This chart from Flixable shows Netflix's number of TV shows compared with its movies. Flixable
It's no secret that Netflix has focused more on TV shows and less on movies in recent years.
In 2016, Netflix's chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, said that no matter how good the movie catalog was, Netflix would "end up with a third of our watching being movies."
He explained that if viewers were passionate about a movie, they would have already seen it in theaters by the time it ended up on Netflix.
To counter this, Netflix has released original movies — 80 are expected to premiere this year. It's an expensive solution that's likely to lead to a smaller catalog, but it could make Netflix more valuable for its users.
Sarandos has called the Netflix original movie "Bright," starring Will Smith, a big test for Netflix. Though critics shredded film, 11 million people in the US viewed it in its first three days of streaming availability in December.
ImJustSo on February 21st, 2018 at 13:34 UTC »
Personally, I just hate trying to find something good to watch on Netflix. So when I finally do find something, a TV show increases the amount of time I get to watch something, and decreases the amount of time I have to search through a bunch of garbage.
Ever since they removed ratings, I have to tab over to IMDB to see if something is worth watching, increasing the amount of time I spend looking for something to watch.
So yay for more TV shows, but fuckin boo for removing ratings that necessitates the need for more TV and less movies.
Edit: I didn't expect this many up votes, so I keep getting a lot of similar messages about the way the old ratings worked. Let me just say, I don't care. They worked better for me than this current system and whatever you're telling me about the old system doesn't change my opinion at all. You're all slightly misrepresenting the old rating system as well. Which tells me you're repeating things you've heard on reddit, rather than reading any articles or research on the topic.
woolyboy76 on February 21st, 2018 at 13:11 UTC »
Netflix has a problem with content getting buried. Something comes out, it gets attention for 2 to 3 weeks (if they're lucky), and then it disappears. After that, you have to know to look for it.
A movie, being a singular entity, only increases the odds of being permanently buried under the sea of new content.
Tv shows come back for multiple episodes and seasons, so they naturally get bumped back to the top when new material is released.
EatingLunchAt on February 21st, 2018 at 10:55 UTC »
Good call, their TV shows are spectacular while the movie division seems to produce some pretty mixed results. Plus the site itself is far more suited to longer, bingeable content than one off pieces of entertainment.