Netflix Officially Dethroned As Top Streaming Service Thanks To 'The Mandalorian'
It's undeniable that cable TV is going the way of the dinosaurs. With its high prices and oceans of useless channels that you're paying for, streaming services have exploded in popularity over the last decade plus. The undeniable juggernaut of the industry is Netflix. Since it exploded in popularity in 2007, it has dominated the streaming industry, helped along by having such megahit shows as The Office as part of its library. While new streaming services did pop up, such as HBO Max, Shudder, and Hulu, Netflix was still the leader of them all.
Well, until recently, that is.
It's no secret that Disney is the most powerful entertainment company in history, and with its films and shows being a big part of the childhoods of pretty much everybody on the planet, it's instantly recognizable in the way that none of the other production companies can touch. When it started its own streaming service, Disney+, which took their properties away from other streaming services and onto just their own, it was an instant success. If you wanted to watch your favorite Disney shows, you couldn't go onto Netflix anymore. To top it off, they started making their own shows you couldn't see anywhere else. The biggest example of that is The Mandalorian.
The most critically acclaimed Star Wars property since The Empire Strikes Back, The Mandalorian became an instant megahit with its clever writing, engaging stories, characters, and, of course, Baby Yoda. Fans have religiously watched it to get the next installment of the adventures of Baby Yoda and Din Djarin.
Well, it finally came to a head when the season two finale dropped. For the first time ever, Netflix was bumped from the top spot in the Nielsen ratings for the top ten streaming shows. Now, Netflix took the other nine spots with viewers using their last opportunities to watch The Office, with The Crown taking the third spot.
Whether or not this is going to be a trend is still unknown. With The Office now off of Netflix and a large slate of new Star Wars films on the docket, Netflix could see a decrease in its weeks as number one on Nielsen rankings. As streaming services become more popular, more and more companies are making their products exclusively for their platforms as opposed to adding it to Netflix's library.
Netflix isn't going anywhere, of course. In the past few years, it has created several new movies that have gained major acclaim, with several of them being nominated for Best Picture Oscars. Its library is losing more and more popular films and shows, but that doesn't mean that their library is shrinking overall. However, it isn't the only player in the industry anymore, and artsy films like Roma, Marriage Story, and The Irishman aren't going to get as many views as more popular fare such as The Mandalorian. Roma gets Oscars. The Mandalorian gets views.
Given how powerful and prevalent Disney is, and given the rate at which it's buying up new properties and companies such as Star Wars, Marvel, ESPN, and Fox, the amount of more widely known fare is going to be slipping away from Netflix. No matter how much they pay, they're not going to get The Simpsons away from Disney. It's going up against a giant that has essentially unlimited resources and a worldwide fanbase that will watch almost anything, especially Star Wars-related, that the company produces. The pie is getting smaller, and Netflix will never win an all-out war with Disney, especially if they lose more shows like The Office. A third season of Making a Murderer wouldn't get nearly as many views as the first episode of the Obi-Wan miniseries.
Of course, that's not all happening tomorrow, but it is likely a small glimpse of what is to come. Netflix is still going to have a huge user base, and it will take a while for Disney+ to catch up. Netflix has had a lot longer to build up its user base. On the other hand, as time goes by, more and more accounts are being canceled every day.
Source(s): Yahoo!