Does Netflix Make Too Much Original Content?

The release of House of Cards season two seemed like a major television event, even though the episodes were being released all at once on a streaming service. 

When users logged in, they were presented with an obvious choice, scan the Netflix library for a half an hour trying to find something to watch, or binge the second season of Netflix’s hit show. 

Five years later, it’s once again nearly impossible to choose something to watch on Netflix, original series or otherwise. 

While Netflix plans on turning their streaming library into essentially an original content distribution company, the home screen of the service is now overrun with [Netflix Original] labels on the title thumbnails of most of their available content. Long gone are the days where they were the rare and exciting exception, and instead they are now more the norm.

For a while, Netflix couldn’t be beat, their original library was lean and fantastic. But as of late it seems like it’s far more fat than quality television. Maybe that’s not a bad thing, after all, we all have diverse tastes, and Netflix knows their audience better than we probably know ourselves. The library doesn’t have to consist solely of Emmy nominees, but is there too much junk these days?

HBO boss Casey Bloys might have subtly suggested just that, saying HBO is far more focused on high quality content, and that they like to release their content slowly in order to prevent fatigue. 

“In a crowded marketplace, it matters how you put things out into the world. We don’t put a new show out every week. We take our time, and we try to make every show feel like an event,” said Bloys  in an interview with THR.

This appears to be directed at Netflix, which has quite literally taken it upon themselves to release a new series every week, it’s nearly impossible to keep up. But would Netflix be producing more winners if they slowed down a bit? We think so.