With Amazon unveiling its latest slate of original pilots for viewers to vote on in the company’s latest round of potential series orders, one would imagine all of this week’s focus would fall on the retail giant. However, that’s not the case, and it has everything to do with Amazon’s biggest streaming rival,
1) The company renewed its latest original series, the animated BoJack Horseman, for a second season four days after its premiere.
2) In a move to expand its international reach, the company put into production its first ever French original series, Marseille.
3) Setting a record for the most lucrative streaming video on demand deal ever, the company purchased the exclusive streaming rights to NBC’s highly rated series, The Blacklist, for $2 million an episode.
These three stories, especially in the rapid succession they’ve occurred, show off not just the power Netflix wields, but its commitment to the one thing that’ll keep it competitive: content diversity.
At face value, the BoJack renewal isn’t surprising when pay-cable services such as HBO do it all the time, but it is worth noting the series has not been as well received by critics as some others on the services’ original programming slate. We’ll never know for sure what the numbers for BoJack look like as Netflix has remained devoted to its initiative to never reveal viewership data, but it’s an interesting sign that regardless of reception, the network’s willing to give the series another shot, something that similarly received Hemlock Grove had to fight for after its first season premiere (the series debuted in April of 2013, but wasn’t renewed until June of the same year). It seems Netflix is out to prove its willingness to give all shows a chance to grow before writing them off which, in the end, will attract higher-profile content creators to its side of the court.
Regarding Marseille, the series fits right in with the currently untitled spainish-language soccer comedy that will debut in 2015. Clearly, there’s a push to make the streaming network not just a one-stop-shop for all the best content in North America, but the world. Little attention’s often given by American production companies to the untapped market that is international production. Companies like 20th Century
Finally, there’s the record setting deal for NBC’s The Blacklist, the streaming rights of which are actually controlled by
Netflix is making some very extensive moves heading into the upcoming television season. While some may view them as risky, the company’s tactics have operated on the side of fringe strategy for so long, that the only risky thing it could do at this point is play it safe. Of course there’s always a possibility of Netflix one day losing its grip on the streaming market, but that day is not going to come in the near future, not with the likes of these and 4 upcoming Marvel series secured under its belt.