NFLX ranks high on engagement
Quality is not the same as engagement. NFLX ranks low on actual quality, high on engagement.
A lot of their engagement is generated by things other than content, such as: their alleged algorithm that matches your tastes to content, which I'm pretty sure has been turned off. They tell everyone that a show or movie that they want to promote is a 98% match for them. I watch it, turn it off after 5 minutes and conclude NFLX is full of it. But the halo effect will influence the less sharp minded among the population and make them think they actually like it.
They are changing their interface now to add more engagement driving elements such as autoplay when you so much as roll over a thumbnail. That drives me bonkers but it's another thing that works on most people.
Another engagement generating trick is what they did with Baby Reindeer: deliberately getting themselves into legal trouble to generate ongoing hoopla and controversy that makes people curious to see what all the screaming is about and subscribe. If it had just happened once, I'd figure their lawyers were snoozing but this is the fourth or fifth time they've gotten into trouble over their true-crime-ish content and it's gotta be a deliberate stratagem.
They pissed off some psycho lady in England who is posting nutty stuff all over Facebook and suing them. NFLX will make more off the subscription boost from her energetic efforts to give them free publicity than they'll ever have to pay out in the unlikely event she wins her lawsuit.
"much of Netflix's original programming is unique and even daring, whereas established media are largely milking new iterations of the same franchises."
What evidence do you have of this? NFLX content is no more unique and daring than competitors but that's not what counts for engagement.Hulu recently produced Shogun, which became a huge hit while being artistic and intelligent. Something good being a popular hit is about as unique as you could ask for.
Amazon and Max have taken video games and turned them into quality series (Fallout and The Last of Us). Considering how lowbrow video games are supposed to be, that's a notable accomplishment.Speaking of Amazon, check out The Boys sometime. I've never seen pointed political satire like that on Netflix.
Apple $Apple(AAPL)$ gets the prize for being unique and daring. They're adapting Asimov's Foundation! Not 100% successfully of course but it's amazing that they would even try.
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