How does your company measure success? For a few years now, the world of marketing within large companies has become a maddening mix of methodologies; added to the meaninglessness of some KPIs (Key Performance Indicator; in free translation “Key Performance Indicator”). And this is all a taboo that many prefer to ignore on a daily basis — not least because it would be more complex to question the way we measure success than to accept the format already applied — whatever it may be. But the truth is, many don’t even know what they’re measuring.
One of the definitions of the Michaelis dictionary for success is “any result of a business”, but in the dictionary of capitalism we know that success is defined as “money in the pocket”. There is no success in the corporate world without a positive annual balance sheet. But, after all, how to measure something intangible? Something that has countless definitions, not just in the dictionary?
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One of the answers to measuring success was to define parameters and leave it up to the algorithms to define what is positive or negative. Even if the “algorithm” is an Excel spreadsheet, or complex systems built by the technology team. And, with the rise of artificial intelligences (AIs), the tendency is for this task to be increasingly delegated to machines.
It was then that I decided to ask an AI to define success and here is the answer:
“Although it is difficult to define what success is, it is possible to understand that, in the corporate world, success is a positive result of a business. In general, this is measured in terms of profit, but there are other parameters that can be considered, such as the number of customers, user satisfaction, employee satisfaction, product or service quality, and many others. So, success may vary depending on the contextbut it is always a positive result.”
Not even AI can nail what success is. Positive result… for whom? The shareholder? The consumer? The environment? In the calculation of success, perhaps one factor is decisive in the result. Machines are great at reading data and analyzing complex scenarios, but they depend on parameters defined by the machine in front of the screen: people. Unlike the “perfection” of machines, human beings are imperfect. We change our minds, change our habits, make mistakes and correct them.
Streaming: The Sandman vs. the warrior nun
According to The Street website, Netflix announced in October 2021 that it would consider the number of hours viewed of its content, in addition to the number of accounts that access a given program. A little less than a year later (in August 2022), the famous comic book writer and author of the American Gods and The Sandman universes, Neil Gaiman, stated on his Twitter: “they [a Netflix] are looking at ‘completion rates’. So people who are watching the episodes [da série The Sandman] at their own pace, do not appear.”
That is, it was more important to “marathon” a series than to watch it tasting like a good wine. The problem is that each episode of The Sandman is, on average, 50 minutes. It’s not an easy series to marathon, despite being an incredible work. But even so, the series won a contract for the second season.
Even with 100% approval from Rotten Tomatoes and 99% of the audience, the third season of the series Warrior Nun (“Warrior Nun”, in free translation) did not have the same luck. The second season had barely made its debut on the streaming platform, and its cancellation has already been announced, leaving those who followed the struggle of the sisters of the Order of the Cruciform Sword without a conclusion to the story.
According to Deadline, “Season 2 [de Warrior Nun] spent just three weeks in Netflix’s Weekly Top 10 for English Language Series, peaking at #5.” If we take into account that this was a series with very little promotion (it doesn’t even compare with the volume of promotion that series like “Wandinha” had), we can say that it was not a bad result. I mean… if you don’t go by Neftlix’s metrics.
Since the cancellation announcement, many fans have asked the streaming platform to review its decision on the series. On the last Monday (16), the terms “NETFLIX CORRECT YOUR MISTAKE” (“NETFLIX CORRECT YOUR MISTAKE”, in free translation) and the hashtag #SaveWarriorNun appeared among the subjects of the moment on Twitter.
Before canceling the nuns, the salvation of “Lucifer”
Ironically, before it was known as the platform that cancels series in half, Netflix was the savior of fans who came from television. When “Lucifer” was canceled by Fox in 2018 – after 3 seasons – the streaming platform rescued the title and produced 3 more seasons. This was also the case with other series, including: “Manifest” on NBC; ABC’s “Designated Survivor”; A&E’s “Longmire”; and “You” by Lifetime.
The decision to redeem some titles seems to be linked to fan mobilization. At least that’s what appeared to have happened with “Lucifer”. After all, what other reason would Netflix have to rescue a canceled series after three seasons?
Another curious point is that traditional metrics, those used by television channels, are completely ignored by streaming platforms. Something that makes sense, after all, digital services have an infinitely greater scope than traditional channels.
Just one example, to understand the comparison between the traditional and digital market, Netflix has more than 223 million subscribers globally. This is almost 20 times the size of the entire pay-TV market in Brazil, which, according to data from Anatel, ended 2022 with just over 12.6 million subscribers.
Less algorithm in streaming, more humans
Far from wanting to sound like a luddist, but streaming platforms need to learn that, before being a technology company, they are a people-to-people company. They need to bet more on the talent and experience of their professionals (especially those with extensive experience in audiovisual content), and leave algorithms and AIs as a support tool in decision making.
How long will the Golden Age of Streaming last, where quantity is more important than quality in virtual collections? Where the contents are seen as disposable, experimental and the pilot episode concept has become a pilot season, which can be ended at the apex of the story.
If today the constant cancellations of series in half are a joke on social networks, how long will streaming platforms bet that subscribers will continue to consume content in half, without first switching platforms?
Featured Image: r.classen/Shutterstock
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