REPORT: Reviews Show That Netflix Originals are Stronger Than Ever
Late in 2015, we pulled critic ratings data on all the Netflix originals, and found that the streaming service was better than the major networks at picking television shows, but still lost out to HBO. On average, Netflix originals were pulling about a 71% rating on RT, not bad for a service, who at the time, was just starting to increase their original series output.
Because of how fast they have been releasing new content lately, we wanted to check in to see how Netflix has been doing since, as they are now averaging several new seasons of originals being released each month.
We pulled the Rotten Tomatoes scores of all their Netflix Original Series programming in 2017 from, and found that, despite an increase in volume, the service has actually improved their ability to pick winners. See below:
| Title | Rating |
| Santa Clarita Diet | 72 |
| Ultimate Beastmaster | 73 |
| Love (s2) | 95 |
| Iron Fist | 17 |
| Grace and Frankie (s3) | 81 |
| 13 Reasons Why | 86 |
| A Series of Unfortunate Events | 94 |
| The Get Down | 74 |
| Mystery Science Theater | 100 |
| Bill Nye Saves the World | 75 |
| Girlboss | 30 |
| Dear White People | 100 |
| Sense8 (s2) | 86 |
| Master of None (s2) | 100 |
| Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (s3) | 95 |
| House of Cards (s5) | 76 |
| Average | 78.375 |
To be frank, this actually surprised us a bit, we thought that as volume of output increased, the quality would actually decrease, at least critically. Sure, Netflix has released some duds this year (Iron Fist), and has cancelled both Sense8 and The Get Down, but this all seems well within the healthy benchmarks of other television networks.
In fact, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said it himself, that they have too many hits right now. Instead, he wants the service to take more risks, and expects more cancellations in the near future.
From a Re/Code event last week, Hastings mentioned: “Our hit ratio is way too high right now. I’m always pushing the content team, ‘We have to take more risk.’ You have to try more crazy things, because we should have a higher cancel rate overall.”
What do you think of Netflix’s recent expansion of their original content library? Are they moving too fast and releasing too much, or do you enjoy this increasing pace? Let us know the comments below.