Netflix 2022 — a year of financial angst and some great shows. We consider the highlights
There were times in 2022 when Netflix seemed to have lost its mojo. Since then things have improved. Several great shows have graced us with their presence. Other streamers (particularly Disney) had their own problems. As the year draws to a close, it’s time to look across the year.
Those financial worries (feel free to skip the boring bits!)
Investors like growth. Streaming companies are a recent arrival and stock exchangers aren’t necessarily valuing them appropriately. Lockdown booms in audience have given way to more competition and a wave of global financial challenge. The year started with the share price at $597; it dropped month on month to under $200 at the start of May. With bad subscription data, the price dropped further, but recent financial data has reassured the markets and the years looks to end at around $285.
Before lockdown, the price had ended 2019 at $329, so values are down across three years, but lockdown meant 2020 ending over $500 and 2021 ending over $600. There’s a massive inflation in value across the pandemic, magnifying the size of the recent drop. Things have picked up with more recent numbers. On to the actual shows!
The content — Netflix celebrating success in series and film in 2022
Netflix has produced a piece giving lots of positive news on successful shows (and ignored bad news, as all companies would). If you follow the link, scroll down past last week’s viewing figures (spoiler — Wednesday just tops Emily in Paris). Here’s a few of their reasons to celebrate:
Nielsens — as we often reported in our Nielsen ratings features across most of the year, Netflix is the #1 as far as US viewing is concerned. They have the #1 original series 46 out of 48 weeks so far this year and almost half of the #1 weekly movie spots on streaming
A big year for big series — five of the Netflix Top 10 most popular English language series of all time premiered this year: Stranger Things 4, Wednesday and Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (all of which crossed the 1 billion hours viewed mark), Bridgerton season 2 and Inventing Anna
Big films as well — three of our Top 10 most popular English language films of all time premiered this year: The Adam Project, The Gray Man and Purple Hearts
Returning favourites galore — a long list includes: Stranger Things 4, Elite season 6, The Crown season 5, Bridgerton season 2, The Umbrella Academy season 3, Cobra Kai season 5, Ozark season 4, Enola Holmes 2
Going viral — let’s not forget Kate Bush’s return to chart stopping status following the use of Running up that Hill in Stranger Things or Tik Tok going mad for variations of that dance by Jenna Ortega from Wednesday.
Another top 10
Finally it’s good to see Cultbox favourite The Sandman make the Top 10 for the year (technically up until December 2028):
Can 2023 live up to the standard set in 2022? We’ll start finding out from next week!