Netflix has reported to have increased 14% in viewership during the power outage that prevented people from using Facebook and Instagram for most of the day. Netflix continues to be one of the top streaming services, continuing to grow substantially with subscribers, especially this last year with the pandemic. It has added millions of subscribers every quarter of every year with their original content of successful, binge-worthy programs including Bridgerton, The Crown, The Queen's Gambit, and Lupin.
On October 4, a global outage took place that affected the major social media apps including Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Users were prevented from accessing their accounts where they can spend time messaging others, checking news updates, or posting images. The outage extended for about six hours, with Facebook accounting the problem to networking issues, and because of the disruption, many were left to turn to other various platforms.
Per Variety, Netflix has now brought word in their quarterly earnings report that the streaming service viewer engagement went up 14% during the outage. Netflix has become a hot commodity with their audience this past month with the release of the comedy series Seinfeld and most stunningly, the impressive performance of the Korean survival drama Squid Game, raking in 142 million households in the reports. Along with the release of the third season of You and the upcoming season of Cobra Kai, the platform is expected to continue that trajectory well into the fourth quarter of the year, with the third quarter adding 4.4 million memberships.
While Netflix is the most successful premium streaming service with its excess and variety of television shows and movies, they still continue to set a very high bar for themselves, with the report noting that they only have a 6% piece of consumer viewing time in TV in the U.S., being topped by cable and broadcast television markets. Netflix considers themselves to have a strong and broad rivalry ahead and views any activity that utilizes an individual's time, such as reading, playing games, or checking out social media, as competition.
With the day-long outage of Facebook services becoming unavailable, it is not surprising to have Netflix's viewing figures raised for that duration as content has overwhelmingly resonated with the media and the use of free time. More original content has been produced for streaming services such as HBO Max, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video, and many network shows and films that have been in theaters are available to view on various platforms. Even though Netflix believes there is much more room to improve, the upticks during the social media outage prove to be a triumph for them in a time where the number of streaming services will continue to rise.
Source: Variety