Streaming Success: Unpacking Netflix Trends

Intro:

In this project, we chose to look at a Kaggle dataset containing TV shows and movies from Netflix's streaming service and analyze which shows were successful.?Our objective was to determine what TV shows and movies are most successful and how Netflix could potentially capitalize on that.

Data Overview:

With that being said, let's dive into it. So, to give an overview of the data, as we all know, Netflix is a streaming service that offers a wide variety of TV shows, movies, anime, etc. Within our data, there were numerous columns. However, the most beneficial columns to our analysis were genre, production country, age certifications, and IMDb scores. IMDb stands for Internet Movie Database.

Those four columns helped us understand what shows and movies Netflix wants in their library. So what exactly do they want, you might ask? Well, they want movies and shows that are successful; how is success defined? Success = High IMDb score; registered IMDb voters can go onto the IMDb site and rate a show or movie on a scale of 1-10, defining its ultimate success with an average of all registered voters who voted.?

Now, given the graph above, let's take a closer look; as we can take into account from the graph, there are a total of 5,269 entries, and of those entries, 65% of them are Movies, and 35% of them are Shows. It's important to note that the library had a timeline of the shows and movies from 1945 to 2022!?

Moreover, in 2016, Netflix's CEO, Reed Hastings, established a mission that, within the next couple of years, Netflix's goal to stream more Netflix Original content. More specifically, it raises the percentage to 50% of Netflix's original content. However, at the time of the statement, only 1.5% of Netflix's library was original content, so they had a little bit of work to do. Fast forward 3 years to 2019, Netflix Original content increased to 13%, and fast forward an additional three years, that number increased to 36%; so we can see that their goal is slowly starting to be accomplished.?

Now, because Netflix is increasing the number of originals within its library, does this mean that the average IMDb score is increasing as more originals are being produced and streamed? Well, the short answer is no; both movies and shows have had a decrease in ratings. More specifically, movies had an 8.3% decrease, and shows have had a 5.5% decrease since the statement made in 2016.?

Transition over to genres: So, to better understand what we can do, let's look at the top genres and what can be done to increase the ratings as a whole.?

Genres:

Throughout this section, we looked at the overall percent difference in IMDB scores for Netflix shows vs. movies. We analyzed the top five genres for each respective media pre-2016 and post-2016 to determine if Netflix's corporate decisions impacted IMDB scores. We also compared Netflix's top genres, which occupy the most space in their current library. We compared those results to the top genres based on IMDB scores to determine if there is an opportunity for Netflix to leverage other genres for their future production pieces.?

As a general overview, we wanted to demonstrate the stark difference in score averages between different media types. This graph clearly indicates that overall, TV shows, on average, receive a higher IMDB score by an average of 11% in comparison to movies.?

Next, let's take a look at the top five genres of movies and TV shows determined via IMDB scores. Below, we separated these categories into two, pre-2016 and post-2016, to determine if Netflix corporate decisions are reflected in the respective results and timeline. The top five genres for pre-2016, in order from highest to lowest average IMDB scores, are reality, history, war, documentation, and western. For the post-2016, the highest to lowest average IMDB scores are for documentation, reality, history, music, and war.?

As demonstrated by the results, four out of five results for each graph remained in the rankings of the top five genres pre and post-2016. These results are reality, documentation, history, and war. We also noticed significant decreases in IMDB scores for these four respective genres between the two time periods: history decreased by -7.01%, reality by -6.21%, documentation by - 3.37%, and war by -3.37%.? Both charts below follow the same color scale to numeric scale, so color to scores are accurately compared between the two graphs.??

Furthermore, we followed the same procedure to analyze the top five genres for TV shows pre and post-2016. In descending order, the top genres for pre-2016 are war, thriller, history, crime, and documentation. Regarding post-2016 average IMDB scores, the top five genres rank in descending order: history, war, European, western, and romance. We noticed one interesting observation in the post-2016 chart: European genre TV shows ranked within the top five. A possible explanation for this is that Netflix announced in 2016 that it plans to expand internationally to approximately 130 additional countries. With this global expansion, they also decided to expand their content globally and acclimate it to their target audiences, thus increasing the average IMDB scores for European content.??

As demonstrated below, it is clear that the genres' war and history both scored high enough to remain in the top five rankings before and after Netflix's corporate 2016 initiatives started. Nevertheless, we again noticed decreased average IMDB scores for history and war-genre-oriented TV shows. History genre-oriented TV shows decreased by just under 4% to exactly -3.79%. The average IMDB scores for war genre-oriented TV shows decreased by 6.08%. Both charts below follow the same color scale to numeric scale for clarification and accurate display of heatmaps, so color to scores are accurately compared between the two graphs.??

Lastly, we decided to observe the genre demographics of Netflix's current library. As demonstrated below, we only observed the top genres that comprise most of Netflix's library. For TV shows, the top five genres in descending order by the amount of content genre type out of total content is 18.64% for drama, 13.05% for comedy, 7.41% for action, 7.8% for animation, and 6.78% for sci-fi genre-oriented tv shows. In terms of movies, drama-oriented movies rank first as they make up almost ? of total Netflix content strictly at 20.72%, comedic movies rank second at 17.15%, thrillers at 9.23%, action movies at 7.13% and romance movies make up 7.72%.?

One interesting observation we noticed was that the top genres that make up most of Netflix's library do not align with the highest-ranking genres by IMDB scores. A potential explanation for this could be that Netflix intentionally continues to diversify its content and does not solely concentrate on IMDB scores as a measure of success.????

Production Countries: Jose

The graph on the left showcases the Top 5 countries by Average IMDb score (Pre-2016). The graph on the right highlights the Top 5 countries (Post-2016) after Netflix's commitment to producing 50% original content and expanding its film production internationally.

Before 2016, the IMDb rankings were dominated by Western countries, with the United States, the United Kingdom, and France leading the charge. Interestingly, Japan and South Korea from the East also held decisive positions at the top, reflecting the growing global influence of international films.

However, after 2016, a dramatic shift occurred. The United States dropped in the rankings, and the Eastern region emerged as the new leader in average IMDb score. Countries like Japan and South Korea took center stage, reinforcing the power of Eastern cinema in shaping global tastes.

This trend clearly demonstrates that the location of film production can significantly impact IMDb ratings. Given the rise of Eastern and European films in recent years,? we propose a strategic pivot for Netflix to invest more heavily in film production in international regions, potentially boosting its content's quality and global appeal.

Age Certifications:

Another thing we chose to look at was Age Certification. We noticed that we could divide the age certification into two categories: adult shows (TV-14, TV-MA, TV-PG) and kid shows (TV-Y7, TV-Y, TV-G). After doing that, we found that adult TV is consistently rated higher on average than kids. We did a similar analysis of movies and did not find a notable correlation between age certification and movie rating. Our findings with the study of age certification confirm what we already know, that TV shows have a higher IMDb score, but added another layer to it, revealing that adult television is especially high-rated.?

Conclusion:

To recap, we've discussed that while Netflix's library consists of over 65% of movies, we believe the platform should refocus its resources on creating more original content—specifically adult TV shows. Why? Because TV shows consistently receive higher IMDb ratings than movies.

One key takeaway from our analysis is that although there was a decrease in IMDb scores post-2016, this doesn't mean Netflix should scale back on its original content. Quite the opposite! To stay competitive against streaming giants like Hulu and Amazon Prime, Netflix must prioritize creating original, relevant content that resonates with global audiences.

Additionally, we discovered that content demographics do not directly correlate with IMDb scores. Interestingly, the top five genres with the highest average IMDb ratings for both movies and TV shows aren't necessarily the most prevalent in Netflix's library. This presents an opportunity: Netflix should focus on producing more content in the genres with the highest IMDb scores to better align with audience preferences.

Another significant finding is that international film location plays a crucial role in IMDb ratings. Our data shows that Eastern films, particularly those from countries like Japan and South Korea, dominate the rankings. Therefore, we recommend that Netflix increase its international content production, especially in the Eastern regions, where audiences have shown a clear preference.

Lastly, and most importantly, Netflix should focus more on creating adult TV shows, particularly those fan favorites like Breaking Bad and Narcos. These shows continue to capture the audience's attention, making them a wise investment for Netflix's future growth.

In conclusion, by shifting focus to high-rated genres, investing in international content, and creating more compelling adult TV shows, Netflix can continue to stand out and thrive in the ever-evolving streaming landscape.