Will Paramount's "School Spirits" S2 capitalize on the Netflix Effect?
What multi-platforming could achieve for streaming originals
Over the last 18 months or so, a whole lot of movies and shows from other companies started appearing on Netflix, even if they used to be exclusive to another streamer. For instance, signature HBO series such as Six Feet Under and Sex and the City became subject to “co-exclusive” licensing agreements that allow them to stream on Netflix and Warner’s Max platform simultaneously. And as of July 1, you can watch the seminal ABC series LOST on Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus all at once.
Licensing content is, of course, nothing new. But it used to be that exclusive deals were the norm and the expectation. Even when a studio-owned production company licensed a series to rival streamer like Netflix or Max, the show in question could typically only stream on that one platform, at least in a given geographic territory.
Nowadays though, it is becoming more and more common to see a series appear on multiple streaming platforms in the same market (eg. the US) at the same time.
A great example is that of the supernatural mystery show, School Spirits.
School Spirits
The first time I saw School Spirits was when I was taking a flight via Delta Airlines last year. It had a great pilot and it made me immediately want to see more of the series. I subsequently purchased and downloaded the entire first season via Apple TV.*
*Paramount puts most of its original series on home video, meaning you can purchase and download individual episodes if you don’t wish to subscribe to the platform.
I’m pretty certain though that a lot of people hadn’t heard of it until it was dropped on Netflix on November 30 with little advance warning, over 8 months after its debut on Paramount Plus in March 2023 as an Original Series that had been made wholly in-house by Paramount Global (production company AwesomenessTV is a subsidiary).
What’s really interesting here is that the show’s Netflix debut didn’t follow the typical scenario. Usually, a streaming original is cancelled and pulled from its initial platform due to low performance before getting re-licensed to another streamer. This is precisely what happened to the animated Star Trek Prodigy, which disappeared from P+ after its first season and concluded its second season on Netflix.
By contrast, Spirits not only remained available on its initial platform but also retained the “Paramount Plus Original” labeling, even though it would no longer be operating under a wholly exclusive licensing agreement in the US market.* More than that, the show’s previously announced second season was not cancelled, remaining instead in active development and beginning production on June 13, 2024.*
*That it had been renewed in the first place and before the Netflix reissue suggests that the series was performing relatively well for P+. I’m guessing that a key factor is that it has a lower budget than some of the other originals.
So, why then did Paramount decide to share this series with a rival, despite the fact that it hasn’t canceled or removed it? There have been no official answers as of yet. But putting aside the obvious fact that this allows P+ to more directly monetize the show by having Netflix pay it a licensing fee, I believe it likely that Paramount is trying to see if it can get the “Netflix Effect” to work on a streaming original.
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The Netflix Effect
The “Netflix Effect” refers to how the re-release of an older series on Netflix has the potential to greatly increase its audience and popularity, often beyond its initial ratings on broadcast television. It is often associated with the drama Breaking Bad, whose ratings on AMC increased following the release of previous seasons on the streaming service. Showrunner Vince Gilligan was quoted as saying in 2013:
"I think Netflix kept us on the air… I don't think our show would have even lasted beyond season two. It's a new era in television, and we've been very fortunate to reap the benefits."
In September 2023, the Netflix Effect became a trending topic due to reports about how the Netflix reissuing of various TV shows could actually increase the viewership of those shows on other streaming services, like Max and Peacock.
Per an Indiewire article by Tony Maglio, HBO Chief Casey Bloys stated at a conference about the releases of HBO shows like Insecure and Ballers on Netflix:
““What’s been nice about it is, without doing a thing on Max, the viewership of… ‘Ballers’ and ‘Insecure’ [on Max] really saw a spike when it was on Netflix,” Bloys said. “You’re introducing it to more people, it’s marketing.”“
The same article also discusses how the Netflix reissue of the USA Network Drama Suits (2011-2019) had turned the series into a new hit, garnering it much larger viewership than it ever received on its initial streamer Peacock, and increasing the ratings of the Peacock-exclusive final season.
The sudden surge is not all Netflix, of course — except for the fact that it pretty much is. Nielsen does not separate Peacock viewership from Netflix’s, but suffice it to say the vast majority is coming from the vastly larger platform. As of June 30, Netflix had 238.4 million global paid subscribers; Peacock had 24 million….
While “Suits” Season 1 has been the huge hit on Netflix (it makes sense, that’s how sample viewing works) Season 9 has seen a disproportional lift on Peacock. There’s a logical explanation: Peacock is the only platform with the ninth and final season of “Suits” available to subscribers.
Given all this, the licensing of Spirits to Netflix was likely intended not so much to give P+ some additional income but rather to boost the show’s exposure and so attract more people to check out its upcoming second season on Paramount+.
Granted, we don’t know how exactly the Paramount-Netflix deal for this show will work going forward, but it’s been confirmed in a press release that S2 (now premiering Fall 2024) will remain a P+ exclusive, at least initially. Windowing the release in this way simply makes the most commercial sense, essentially replicating the broadcast network and cable licensing strategy with a streaming original.
Assuming this is indeed Paramount’s strategy, I’d say it’s paying off. Per a January 1, 2024 article by Paul Tassi, the series
“…has been in Netflix’s Top 10 list spanning three months now, as it debuted on November 30, 2023, and now here on January 1, 2024, it’s still #9. I never saw it actually hit #1, but this demonstrates staying power that few shows ever have.”
So, the show clearly has reached a wider audience, which, coupled with an evident surge in social media discourses, indicates good things for its future. And while the licensing fee is probably not huge, given the second-run status and lack of exclusivity, it certainly creates additional incentive for Paramount to keep the series in production.
Multi-Platforming as the Future of Streaming Originals
Now, I’d say all this is actually far more significant than it might seem on the surface. To reiterate, Spirits is a very recent show and a non-canceled steaming original, as opposed to a catalog or library series. If its second season indeed gains a huge boost from the Netflix Effect, then its success might signal a new direction for streaming originals as a whole, or at least for those of Paramount Plus: multi-platforming.*
*One could point to AMC+ temporarily licensing its shows to Max or Amazon giving viewers access to MGM+ original content for a limited time as another instance of multi-platforming. But I find that there are various distinctions. Amazon owns MGM, while AMC+ series also tend to air on the AMC channel rather than remain web-exclusive.
Rather than outright canceling and removing promising but low-rated new Original shows, streaming services might keep them active, while also licensing them to a bigger streamer like Netflix to offset their expenditures and increase the viewership of future seasons. So certain streaming programs that would otherwise get quickly canceled and pulled could potentially stick around longer and make more impact.*
*I really hope that this is what happens with Spirits, as it’s a great show that almost nobody really noticed when it first premiered. It might not always make sense in terms of its world-building (I’m still confused as to whether or not the spirits can actually interact with the physical world) and the plotting isn’t particularly that strong or attention-grabbing. (Though S1 ended on a great cliffhanger.) But the series excels when it comes to creating compelling characters with truly immersive emotional journeys that can hit you like a ton of bricks. So, I hope the series gets more seasons to fully tell its story and resolve the fates of its ghosts.
This direction would be completely in line with the attempts by streaming services, following David Zaslav’s lead, to adopt traditional cable and broadcast TV business models, such as windowing releases. As I’ve said before, streaming services are becoming increasingly similar to classic broadcast television networks.
“The fact is licensing some library content to others VOD platforms like Netflix or Amazon as part of a co-exclusive agreement is just smart business,” Zaslav said. “We’re expanding our audience, while maximizing the value of the asset and providing more revenue streams. And that is our job, to optimize the windowing to get the best possible return on investment.”
Multi-platforming in that sense seems like a potentially viable business model for the low-rated streaming original moving forward. It probably won’t be able to overcome the side effects of the ongoing consolidation happening in the media industry, but it can help extend the life of a streaming series and its service, at least for a little while.
But what about you?Have you seen School Spirits and if so, what did you think of it? Do you think co-licensing originals to Netflix might indeed help them survive longer? Are there any other series that have shown up on Netflix that you’d never expect? Is the loss of exclusivity a bad thing? Please,
I really like School Spirits and I started watching it because of Peyton List from a Netflix original, Cobra Kai.
Supposedly the Starz show Heels is hoping that the Netflix effect will bring it back. The show’s star Stephen Amell is promoting the Netflix premiere date despite the fact that it was canceled by Starz after the second season. He seems to be trying to get the show back. Even though he’s currently working on the Suits spin-off “Suits: LA”.