Netflix has earned a very bad reputation because it seems to spend the day canceling series. But you will be surprised when we tell you that this is not the service that cancels the most series in the streaming production company environment. A recent study reveals that the biggest “canceller” is something very different. Can you imagine which one?
Those who have been enjoying streaming platforms for a few years are aware of something important: television series do not usually last too long. Cancellations are the order of the day and these digital services are not as patient as you might imagine. For this reason, more and more are cancelled, something that is considerably affecting the market. Among all this, one name rings a bell: HBO Max, the platform that, according to the study we are talking about, cancels more series.
Non-stop cancellations
The study in question has been carried out by Variety, which is one of the main media related to the world of cinema and series, and the analysis company Luminate. They have gathered data that not only covers streaming platforms, but also takes into account traditional television. And the best of all is that they have analyzed from 2020 to the present. The intention was to realistically check which of the streaming services is the one that is taking the ax to “cut off heads” first.
As we said before, it is surprising to see that HBO Max (or Max, as the service is already known in the United States) is placed in first position. Their cancellations do not sound as loud as Netflix’s, possibly because this service has already earned a bad reputation for cancellations due to the journey they have had in recent years. But the statistics do not lie and place Max in first position with a cancellation rate of 26.9%. They even surpass the cancellations made on free-to-air television, whose second position with 26.6% is also notable.
What other services cancel the most?
One of HBO Max’s problems has been that its cancellations, in some cases, have broken all predictions regarding the speed with which they have been carried out. Nobody forgets that the company decided to cancel, for example, the premiere of the movie Batgirl even before it was released. This maneuver, which they have used to save costs in paying taxes, has not exactly helped them improve their image. In addition, HBO has also been canceling a good number of series, hiding behind the fact that they were looking for alternatives for their marketing (at least for the seasons already recorded, because it is obvious that they would not continue).
The second position in the cancellation rate is occupied by Disney+, a platform that has suffered the same problems as HBO Max. They have canceled series openly without any type of limit only with the objective of reducing tax payments. Some of those series had a newly released season, while others were beginning to gather followers. But, for Disney, the goal was savings. Its catalog has been considerably reduced, since we are not talking about a service like Netflix that releases a handful of new productions every week. Thus, Disney+ ends up with a percentage of 21.1%, which is quite problematic.
For its part, Paramount+, which we can consider as the American version of SkyShowtime, occupies the next position with 16.9%, while Netflix appears on the list with only 10.2%. It is important to highlight one of the details included in the study of the results, where they place special emphasis on the fact that Netflix has been the only platform that, over the years, has been reducing its cancellation rate. Possibly those responsible have gotten tired of seeing the bad reactions of viewers and are trying to cancel as little as possible. They still cancel a lot, but they are improving in their decisions.
Lastly, Prime Video has 9% cancellations and Apple TV+ series only 4.9%, the latter being good news considering that they don’t have too many premieres either. For Netflix, the cancellation of 10 series in one month should not be a drama, but if Apple had those cancellations it would mean that practically none of its productions would be working.
Series cancellations have always happened. We know perfectly well that it is something real since the beginning of television, but with streaming everything is becoming more pronounced. The platforms are getting impatient and, before letting their productions grow, they decide to nip them in the bud. But it is obvious that when it comes to generating interest, broadcasting weekly episodes is not the same as doing it all at once, as is the case in most cases in streaming. The formula might need a review as they have already taken into account more commonly on platforms like Disney+.
