NEW YORK • Last year, Netflix produced 140 original programmes, but the most-watched series was The Office (2005 to 2013), made by traditional network NBC and which ended its successful run six years ago.
According to ratings tracker Nielsen, The Office is followed by Friends (1994 to 2004) and far outpaces any of the streaming giant's own offerings.
But in 2021, Netflix will have to surrender the rights to The Office, when the show moves to NBCUniversal's video platform in a deal that will cost about US$500 million (S$687 million) over five years.
From next year, Netflix must also give up Friends, which will shift to WarnerMedia's HBO Max platform – at a steep price of US$425 million for five years.
HBO Max is said to be looking to acquire the rights to The Big Bang Theory (2007 to 2019) and Two And A Half Men (2003 to 2015) for an eye-popping US$1.5 billion.
When Netflix entered the streaming game in 2010, networks and production studios generally maintained a policy of using the platform as the third option after a show's original broadcast run and a life of reruns in syndication.
But with nearly 160 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix is now a direct threat to the television industry's traditional power players, which are now launching their counter-attacks.
"People want an experience that they can share," said Dr Dominic Caristi, a professor of communications at Ball State University.
"In the golden years of television, we always talked about 'water cooler' shows – the programmes that people at work the next day would talk about," he noted.
"The shows that have been here longer like Friends have a cumulative audience – people who saw them in the 1990s when it first aired, the ones who saw the reruns, the people who are watching them now. And so they're able to share that experience with more people."
No one thinks classic
