Yahoo News The shows Netflix cancelled in 2023 and what the viewing data reveals
Netflix recently launched a report that outlined viewing figures for the year
Netflix has cancelled several shows in 2023, calling time on fan favourites shows like Shadow and Bone and Sex/Life following the performance of their most recent seasons.
Over the course of the year, Netflix has cancelled several series including Lockwood & Co., Glamorous, Agent Elvis and Bling Empre: New York City. But since then the streamer has revealed a report outlining viewing data for all of its programmes in 2023, which provides interesting insight into how cancellations came to be.
Read more: Netflix is wrong to cancel Shadow and Bone and its Six of Crows spin-off
Since announcing its cancellations, Netflix is reported to have plans for spin-offs for several major series such as Wednesday, Peaky Blinders, and its film franchise Extraction. According to a report from Bloomberg, Netflix is keen to create new franchises through a Wednesday spin-off centred on Uncle Fester, two series set within the Peaky Blinders universe, and a TV spin on the Chris Hemsworth action caper.
But how did the shows that were cancelled perform at Netflix? And why exactly were they cancelled? Yahoo UK has investigated the viewing data to find out.
The shows Netflix cancelled in 2023 and what the viewing data reveals
In an interview with Bloomberg in January 2023, Netflix co-CEO Ted Saranos claimed that the streamer "never cancelled a successful show", reasoning: "A lot of these shows were well-intended but talk to a very small audience on a very big budget. The key to it is you have to be able to talk to a small audience on a small budget and a large audience at a large budget. If you do that well, you can do that forever.”
Shadow and Bone was the most high profile cancellation of the year, with fans of the Grishaverse franchise outraged that Netflix would cancel the show after its second season and ditch plans to green-light its Six of Crows spin-off. The second season had set up both the spin-off and the third, and likely final, season of the franchise well, and the show's writers had already prepared scripts for the former.
According to the data released by Netflix, which collated viewing figures from January to June 2023, Shadow and Bone's second season was viewed for 192.9m hours from its debut on 16 March til June. It has been claimed that Netflix executives felt the series was too costly to make, namely because of the CGI used in the show, and its viewing figures didn't merit it being renewed.
Shows that were renewed in 2023 like The Diplomat and Vikings: Valhalla also gained more than 200m hourly views, which reveals the general benchmark for a show's performance on Netflix. The streamer's most popular shows of the year like The Night Agent was viewed for 812.1m hours, while You season 4 was seen for 440.6m hours. However, this does not mean that Shadow and Bone was not popular enough to get renewed, necessarily.
For example, Sweet Tooth season 2 was viewed for 182.3m hours, and yet the series was renewed for a third and final season earlier this year. Sweet Tooth makes for an ideal comparison because both it and Shadow and Bone have a loyal fanbase based on its source material, and both fit into the fantasy genre to some degree and feature CGI. Put plainly, if Sweet Tooth could be renewed with less viewing figures then why couldn't Shadow and Bone?
The next most viewed Netflix series that was cancelled is Sex/Life, the second season of the romantic drama launched on 2 March and was viewed for 175.5m hours since its debut to June. Similarly, Lockwood & Co. was viewed for 113.6m hours, and Glamorous was only viewed for 36.6m hours since its debut on 22 June. These shows failed to reach 200m hours viewed, which seems to explain why they were not given a renewal order.
However, it should be noted that there are some series within the comedy and sit-com genres that had lower viewing data and yet were still green-lit for new seasons. That '90s Show, for example, was renewed after earning 95.1m hours viewed, while Unstable was viewed for 35.3m hours. The highest performing comedy was XO, Kitty which garnered 200.7m hours viewed and resulted in the series being renewed.
Black Mirror was also recently renewed for a seventh season despite its sixth season only being viewed for 139.9m hours, which is still no small feat but seems to highlight the fact that viewing performance is not the sole factor in Netflix executives deciding whether to renew a show or not.
Of all the shows to not be given a renewal order, the one to draw the most criticism is Shadow and Bone as fans of the series has called for the show to be saved by one of Netflix's competitors, or for Netflix to simply reverse its decision. Backlash around the show's cancellation has also resulted in fans launching a petition on Change.org, which has more than 180,000 signatures at the time of writing and may well help prove the show's popularity despite its cancellation.
