With the arrival of the 2020 pandemic and the quarantine of viewers in many parts of the world, streaming platforms became a good place to consume the emotions of viewers, and Netflix’s model of operation and high-quality content became the main platform of the streaming industry and changed the habits of viewers’ film and television consumption to a certain extent. From the rise of the ‘swipe’ culture to the global popularity of non-English-language dramas, Netflix redefined global film and TV consumption patterns and trends during the epidemic.

The culture of ‘brushing up’ is not new to the epidemic, but it has been reinforced by the quarantine at home. Take “The Queen’s Gambit”, for example, a miniseries centred around chess that became a phenomenon when it was released in 2020. The ease with which viewers could watch everything at once created a frenzied buzz about the show in a short period of time and fuelled the growth of chess sales worldwide (Wilson, 2021). Swiping is not only a viewing habit but also a catalyst for a cultural phenomenon.The Netflix platform is designed to allow users to watch at any time, rather than at a fixed time slot, and this non-linear viewing model allows viewers an unprecedented level of freedom (Jenner, 2018).

The launch of multilingual content has also completed Netflix’s global reach, with non-English-language series becoming the biggest growth driver in streaming content, including the classic case of The Squid Game, a Netflix original Korean series that became a breakout hit for Netflix and sparked a global trend of cultural parodies of costume and game elements (Park, 2022). content locally and distributes it globally, a distribution model that allows viewers from different cultures to make cultural connections with each other, while also allowing non-English dramas to have a greater global reach. The development of streaming platforms has, to a certain extent, enabled non-English language content to break down language and cultural barriers and quickly resonate with viewers globally (Lotz, 2017).

Despite the end of the epidemic era, Netflix has had a long-term impact on global film and TV consumption habits in the interim. Netflix’s success represents, to some extent, the power of streaming distribution, but it also demonstrates the attractiveness of film and TV productions from different countries in the marketplace, with more and more productions appearing to signify that streaming platforms are an indispensable part of today’s entertainment industry.

Reference

Jenner, M. (2018) Introduction: Netflix and the Reinvention of Television. In Netflix and the Reinvention of Television. 1st ed. pp. 1-31.

Lotz, A. D. (2017) ‘Theorizing the Nonlinear Distinction of Internet-Distributed Television’, Portals: A Treatise on Internet Distributed Television. Available at: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/maize/mpub9699689/ [Accessed 27 November 2024].

Park, J. (2022) Global impact of Squid Game and the rise of non-English TV shows, Journal of Media Studies, 34(2), pp. 15–29.

Wilson, L. (2021) Binge-watching in the time of COVID-19: Netflix and the evolution of viewing habits, Entertainment Analysis, 12(3), pp. 56–70.

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