Content material is king for streaming companies, and Netflix could also be going the additional mile to make sure its content material is as much as par with subscribers. Based on the Wall Street Journal, Netflix’s prerelease screening program will quickly enlist tens of 1000’s of subscribers to preview new films and reveals and supply their suggestions.
Netflix declined to remark to TechCrunch on the Wall Avenue Journal’s report.
Just like how main Hollywood studios have take a look at screenings for brand spanking new movies, the “Netflix Preview Membership” has over 2,000 previewers that evaluation Netflix titles earlier than they launch to the streaming platform, the Wall Avenue Journal wrote. This system will reportedly improve by 400% in early 2023, ought to the report show correct.
This system has existed since Might 2021, Variety previously reported. Netflix confirmed to Selection that it runs subscriber-feedback panels within the U.S. solely.
Based on Reddit users who declare to be in this system, the Netflix Preview Membership is invite-only. Subscribers are required to signal an NDA earlier than watching the movie after which reply a collection of survey questions one person wrote. “You get a particular Netflix account, and so they e mail once they have a film in there so that you can watch. Normally, you must watch and evaluation inside per week,” the Reddit person added.
Amazon and Hulu have related applications, the “Amazon Preview” program and the “Hulu Brain Trust,” the place subscribers supply suggestions on content material.
WSJ factors out that “Don’t Look Up” was apparently too severe for the Netflix Preview Membership, and creators took this suggestions and added extra humor earlier than it was launched. Though “Don’t Look Up” was poorly reviewed by critics and has a 56% Tomatometer rating and 78% viewers rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it had 4 Oscars nominations and broke a Netflix file with 152.29 million weekly viewing hours.
Netflix intends to spend $17 billion on content material subsequent yr, so it’s crucial that it’s sensible about what it invests in. And so as to keep away from repeating the catastrophe of Netflix’s first and second quarters of 2022, the corporate must hold subscribers engaged to restrict churn.
Netflix rebounded in Q3 2022, leaping to 223 million global subscribers, so if increasing its preview program proves to achieve success, its content material might develop its subscriber base much more.
The streamer has seen success with its drama reveals like “Stranger Issues,” “Bridgerton,” “Squid Recreation,” and Tim Burton’s latest collection “Wednesday,” which simply topped 340 million hours viewed. Nevertheless, Netflix wants greater than that if it needs to fill within the gaps. Hopefully, this system will assist give the streamer a greater thought of what viewers need.
