Netflix Plots An Unscripted Content Push

Netflix is ramping up unscripted programming in music, game shows, and competition series in order to become the true cable replacement that so many of its users already view it as.

The Big Picture: For many audiences, especially younger ones, Netflix is synonymous with television as cord-cutting reaches a fever pitch. But there are still mainstay genres that feel… well… very old-school TV. Netflix wants to ensure it has that programming too, in an effort to win over customers wary of canceling their cable subscriptions.

Behind the Scenes: Soon, the only thing you won’t be able to watch on Netflix is the literal flipping of channels.

• Netflix is looking to get much deeper into music content, including launching the new music-competition show Building the Band and discussing a partnership with Spotify to host a music-awards show or a live-concert series.
• It’s getting into game and competition formats, including rebooting the classic series Star Search (where audiences can vote live) and rolling out a trivia-based show called What’s In The Box? that will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.
• It’s planning a non-political news show with The Daily Beast — a sector that streamer is dubbing “information” programming.
• It inked a deal with NASA+ to give the space streamer a dedicated feed within the platform, allowing subscribers to watch livestreams of rocket launches.

Final Selection: Netflix is sparing no expense to get the varied programming up and running, recently hiring NBCUniversal exec Jeff Gaspin (he greenlit The Voice) to oversee the content expansion. The streamer sees this type of content as integral to boosting its ad-supported tier, per WSJ.

Prediction: Going back to channel surfing, don’t be shocked if Netflix also rolls out that functionality to totally mimic the lean-back cable experience.