Netflix has become one of the biggest companies that provide Video on demand (VOD) content for their users. VODs were vastly different from the DVR as VODs allowed the searching for content whereas the DVR focused more on planned recording making it harder for television to compete. This forced other major television channels to create their own ‘On demand’ services preaching that they were able to watch ‘anytime, anywhere’ and a prime example of this is ITV X.

Changes like this made Netflix further evolve from being a distribution of series to then producing their own ‘Netflix originals’ and the one genre that has taken a large rise in popularity is the stand-up comedy specials that they release. These specials included the likes of comics such as Theo Von, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock this form of content allowed comedians to gain more reputation as an audience was able to view them whenever they wanted and their content had a place where viewers could come back and watch without going to a comedy club or show.

This impact was massive and it was first shown through the likes of a previously unknown comic ‘Ali Wong’ whose special was released in 2016 called ‘Baby Cobra’ which propelled her career from opening for other comedians to then headlining her sold-out shows to venues and starring in another special called ‘Hard Knock Wife to then starring in a Netflix movie called ‘Always be my maybe’.

This switched the model from previously featuring on traditional television like HBO representing a comics pinnacle to now a Netflix special that can help uprising comics and increase veteran comedians’ ticket sales.

These changes helped reshape the comedy culture as Netflix became a hub for viewing stand-up comedy making amateur or veteran comedians strive for a ‘special’ for themselves.

By Mirza Zafar Tariq

References

Jenner, M. (2014) ‘Is this TVIV? On Netflix, TVIII and binge-watching,’ New Media & Society, 18(2), pp. 257–273. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814541523.

Amanda D. Lotz, “Television Outside the Box: The Technological Revolution of  Television”, in: The Television will be Revolutionized, 2nd edition, NYU Press, 2014, 53- 94
Keegan, R. (2019) ‘Why a Netflix special is just the start for many Stand-Ups,’ The Hollywood Reporter, 25 June. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/why-a-netflix-special-is-just-start-stand-ups-1219342/.