Netflix remains the most popular streaming service in the UK, but its growth is beginning to stall. A number of recent reports show that Netflix isn’t attracting new subscribers at the same rate as some of its competition. Prime Video and Disney+ are both biting at the heels of the Californian streaming service. However, Netflix has an ace up its sleeve to try to turn the tide.
Netflix plans to release more original television shows throughout 2022 than ever before at a cost of $17 billion. According to London-based market research firm Ampere Analytics, a total of 398 shows are scheduled to air on Netflix throughout this year.
This jaw-dropping figure excludes all shows that have yet to be commissioned or announced, so it could continue to grow. For comparison, 259 of the 395 original shows added to Netflix’s platform in 2021 were announced that same year.
In other words, there’s potential for even more titles to arrive on the streaming platform in the next 10 months.
Ampere Analysis research shows that, as of the second week of February, Netflix has already added 55 new television shows with 56 more set to be released later this year. Some 97 titles have already been announced by Netflix, but with no release dates confirmed.
According to Ampere Analysis, the rest of the lineup for 2022 are considered to be “in-production”, while a further 88 boxsets are now completed and “premiere ready” for whenever Netflix decides to add them to million of subscribers’ apps. Another 102 shows are currently in the script or shooting stages, which Ampere Analysis expects to finish production in time to be broadcast before the end of the year.
Commenting on the latest research, Ampere Analysis director Richard Cooper said: “The competition to keep hold of subscribers in the face of aggressive studio-backed competition has turned Netflix into one of the world’s leading creators of Original content. Netflix’s planned releases for 2022 display an increasing level of diversity, with a greater level of international content and a broader spread of genres than ever before. This promise of more and better shows is exactly what the streaming giant needs to sate the voracious appetite for content of its 222 million global subscriber base and to minimise churn going forward.”
Streaming recently reached a new milestone in the UK – with 19.1 million households paying for at least one subscription service. That equates to 66.9 percent of all households nationwide.
With the vast number of viewers available for the taking, companies are pouring more and more funds into content that isn’t available to watch anywhere else. Disney+ has revealed plans to spend $33 billion on new content in 2022, marking an $8 billion rise from the previous year. That will result in roughly 60 unscripted series, 30 comedy series, and 25 new drama shows for the subscription service.
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Meanwhile, Amazon – which is the most popular choice as a second streaming service behind Netflix – is believed to be splashing $10 billion on new shows this year. Its feverishly-anticipated Lord Of The Rings series, which begins in September, is widely tipped to be the most expensive show ever made. Amazon paid $250 million for the rights, before pouring $465 million into the first of five planned seasons of the show, which is set before the events of the Academy Award-winning trilogy made by Peter Jackson.
Sky is bolstering its own catalogue of shows too. The satellite company has partnered with US networks to bring the exclusive boxsets and movies from streaming services currently only available in the United States, including Paramount+ and Peacock. The latter is already available, bringing boxsets like Joe vs. Carole (based on the documentary series Tiger King from Netflix) and Girls5Eva to Sky Q, Sky Glass, NOW and its companion smartphone and tablet apps.
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