With the global pandemic trapping people at home, it probably won’t come as a shock that Netflix experienced substantial viewership for its second quarter. But what is surprising is the two Netflix Originals that racked up impressively high and similar numbers.
According to the latest shareholders report, the military comedy Space Force blasted its way into 40 million households since launching on May 29. In an even shorter timeframe, the new game show Floor is Lava jumped across 37 million living rooms after it erupted onto the streaming service less than a month ago on June 19. Netflix also saw solid performance from several other of its originals, and according to Deadline, the streaming giant took a shot at its growing number of competitors who are attempting to repeat its success and peel off subscribers:
“All of the major entertainment companies like WarnerMedia, Disney and NBCUniversal are pushing their own streaming services and two of the most valuable companies in the world, Apple and Amazon, are growing their investment in premium content,” the Reed Hastings-run company said with the prose equivalent of gritted teeth. “In addition, TikTok’s growth is astounding, showing the fluidity of internet entertainment,” they added one day after NBCU’s Peacock had its national launch, with no Olympics and few originals.
“Instead of worrying about all these competitors, we continue to stick to our strategy of trying to improve our service and content every quarter faster than our peers,” Netflix noted sticking the shiv in. “Our continued strong growth is a testament to this approach and the size of the entertainment market.”
Starring Steve Carrell, Greg Daniels, and Lisa Kudrow, Space Force is a satirical comedy named after President Donald Trump’s real-life attempt to build an actual military force in space. (It’s not going well.) Meanwhile, Floor is Lava is more family-friendly fare that features teams of three contestants as they attempt to recreate the childhood game of jumping across furniture. Only instead of avoiding your mom’s carpet, the floor is a bubbling hot tub of orange water that makes leaping from wet surface to wet surface all the more precarious. The successful game show formula was apparently a hit with Netflix audiences as it almost matched the numbers for Space Force in under a month, and it could overtake the scripted comedy in the weeks ahead.
(Via Deadline)