This new function would be part of an upcoming Netflix strategy, after losing subscribers and percentage points in the stock market in the first quarter of 2022
Netflix may be expanding into live streaming. According to a report from Deadline, Netflix is currently working on a live streaming option for stand-up specials and other live content.
As Deadline noted, supporting live streams could open up the ability for Netflix to air live meetings, like the one recently held by real estate reality show Selling Sunset, as well as allowing live voting for competition shows.
Netflix could also use the feature to stream stand-up comedy specials. This year, Netflix held its first live, in-person comedy festival, called Netflix Is a Joke Fest. The Los Angeles-based event spanned multiple days and featured more than 130 popular comedians, including Ali Wong, Bill Burr, Jerry Seinfeld, John Mulaney and more.
Netflix is set to start streaming some of the shows it recorded at the event later this month and into June, but a live option could give users at home the ability to watch shows as they unfold (it’s say, if Netflix chooses to bring the festival back next year).
So far, not much is known about the upcoming feature yet. Disney Plus, one of Netflix’s biggest rivals, has already entered live streaming. In February, Disney Plus aired a live screening of the Academy Awards, a first for the service.
It has also become the new home for the celebrity dance competition series, Dancing with the Stars, which will debut as a live series on the platform later this year.
In Netflix’s most recent earnings report, the streaming service reported losing subscribers for the first time in more than a decade, while Disney Plus managed to add 7.9 million new users in the first quarter of 2022.
To help offset a drop in revenue and subscribers, Netflix has hinted at potentially cracking down on password sharing, as well as adding a cheaper ad-supported streaming option.
Netflix has a wide catalog of movies and series, although at the beginning there are almost always the same titles, there are many more that the hidden platform can access with a few simple clicks.
The above occurs because the platform uses an algorithm that recommends titles appropriate to the user’s profile so that, for example, he does not have children’s movies next to criminal series and fishing documentaries at the beginning, when he is interested in action movies.