Netflix and Chill: Binge-Watching Goes Global
Do you want to watch Netflix and chill? With 65 million users worldwide spending 10 billion hours each month in front of a screen, you are definitely not the only one.
It's no false claim that Netflix has become a global phenomenon. Whether it's watching the newest season of Orange is the New Black or re-watching all 10 seasons of Friends (fyi: if you have been binge-watching all 238 episodes, you have now successfully hibernated for a full 84 hours), Netflix users are hooked. Sure, we are measurably less productive with Netflix in our lives, but the expansion of Netflix has an upside. Here are a few.
1. Netflix has given Western countries exposure and access to foreign media like never before:
There has always been global exposure to American television, and it has thrived abroad. Baywatch was watched in 142 countries and more than 1 billion people have viewed the show. But thanks to Netflix, this media exchange is finally becoming a two-way road. For example, Americans are going crazy for K-dramas. Buzzfeed posted multiple articles about the trials and tribulations of Korean dramas over the last year, proving that Americans are not just interested but obsessed with this new foreign media that they may have never been exposed to if it weren’t for the international impact of Netflix.
Americans are not the only ones obsessed with Netflix. Take Australia for instance. Netflix arrived there last March and almost instantly Australian internet usage spiked. This 40 percent growth in usage seems to be entirely attributed to Netflix, as many internet providers noticed that Netflix was constituting 50 percent to the internet traffic. The impact continues to grow more furiously, as Netflix just entered Asia last month when it released in Japan, and it will continue to expand across Asia, with plans to push on to Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan by 2016.
Even France is seeing developing interest in the Netflix phenomenon. Last weekend marked the first ever “Netflix Fest”. The event catered to the interests of all genres of Netflix users. Working with Netflix, Ogilvy, created the event to reimagine what we know to be a film festival. The festival consisted of 15 screenings of the brand's content, in a range of interesting and even downright odd settings such as an American police car, the Eiffel Tower and an abandoned hospital. This intercontinental exchange of media is made possible by the international scope of Netflix viewers.
2. Netflix is creating quality content based on what they are sure people want:
When you sign in, you agree to allow Netflix access to your deepest darkest secrets. Are you a closeted Grey’s Anatomy fan? Do you secretly watch episodes of Bates Motel before your significant other? Have you not watched a single one of the documentaries you added to your “List”? Netflix knows.
Orange is the New Black has become an Emmy-award winning Netflix Original Series
Have you ever noticed that Netflix shows do not have pilots? They just release an entire season and cross their fingers. But the reality is, they don’t have to cross their fingers. They know their shows will become hits because they studied the viewing patterns of their 65 million viewers and crunched the data. According to Business Insider, “Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has called Netflix a data machine, one that crunches every second of Netflix you have ever watched, and then crafts TV shows exactly the way you want them." Of the top six networks Netflix is second in choosing content, trailing ever so slightly behind HBO.
3. Netflix is giving millennials a way to tell one another they want to have sex without actually having to say it:
Netflix and chill? Not even grammatically considered a sentence, this phrase has left the Tinder chat box and headed straight for global domination. Though some may still be out of the loop, most people under 30 have heard “netflix and chill” in one context or another. Even The Guardian is in on the joke. The downside is, soon your parents will be in on the joke too, which makes it a lot less funny.
(Photo Sources: Rolling Stone, Netflix and Chill Condom, Daily Mail)
