The Crown and The Queen's Gambit are without a doubt smashing blockbusters drawing Netflix's 2020 catalog to a close. In this article, we reveal how these two reveal the queens of content are expected to rule Netflix's future.
Queen One: Dynasties & Multiple Season
The Crown Season 4 premiered on November 15, 2020. The Netflix original has been a successful staple for its previous three seasons. However, the demand for the Season 4 premiere has far exceeded any previous season.
Following its Season 4 premiere, US demand for The Crown peaked at 83 times the demand of the average series in the US. Average demand for The Crown in the week following the Season 4 release was 85% higher than demand in the week following the Season 3 release – an incredible year on year growth for an already very popular series.
This season, set in the 1980’s, has seen enormous buzz particularly around the introduction of the well-known characters Princess Dianna and Margaret Thatcher. As the series approaches contemporary times, the demand for Season4 could bode well for future seasons as more viewers have personal memories of the events depicted in the series.
Netflix has often received criticism for prematurely cancelling shows in their second or third season. The Crown is a good example of how shows often see their best performance when given time build on the groundwork that has been laid in the first several seasons.
Moreover, the title has been a global hit, land itself among the most in-demand shows worldwide. Even nearly a month after the show's release, the title remains its rank and attention amongst international audiences.
The Crown follows in succession with another great international hit with a fourth season, La Casa De Papel or Money Heist, which similarly had a similar global takeover. Moreover, both reinforce audiences time on the platform.
As of today, here's the top 10 shows The Crown's (see for yourself by scrolling to the bottom here) audience is most likely to watch:
Audiences that watch The Crown also watch other non-US hits such as the German title Dark and La Casa De Papel in addition to other Netflix hits such as The Witcher, Narcos, Altered Carbon and Stranger Things.
Now, here are the top 10 shows that La Casa De Papel's (see here) audience is most likely to watch:
Again, in the top we see many Netflix hits including: Dark, The Witcher, Altered Carbon, Stranger Things, Narcos, and Peaky Blinders (originally BBC).
Releasing globally appealing series with multi-seasonal growth in-demand and high affinity to its catalog is essential to Netflix's streaming dynasty.
Queen Two: Buzz, Binge, Buzz (Repeat)
The limited series The Queen's Gambit has broken the mold - the show has been a certifiably successful debut. The platform boasted success with 62 million households viewing the standout series, leading the book to land on the New York Times bestseller list 37 years after release, and driving searches about how to play chase.
But its success reveals another key strategy for Netflix in 2021: buzz.
The shows demand has continued to climb over the 30 days post-release, contrasting the average binge-released title's demand that declines one week post-release (see the data behind this here).
The series appears to have grown in-demand via word-of-mouth spread, peaking at over 20x the demand of the average US show.
Therefore, The Queen's Gambit illustrates the powerful reinforcing cycle of buzz, even for binge releases, which many assumed are more vulnerable to spoilers. Specifically we see the show generated two audience behaviors:
1. Must-Talk-About-It: For every consumption, there was exponentially more research and social media engagement.
2. Buzz First, Watch Later: Research and social media conversations about the show came first, leading audiences to consume the show.
The future of the "streaming wars" appears to be a battle of the buzz: creating hits with conversational value. Netflix is showing its ability to create buzzworthy bingeable shows that sustain their buzz.
With these two queens, Netflix sets its trajectory to expand its matriarchy.
