Netflix has redefined the digital media industry, bringing an era of streaming and cinema that has tilted the entire film industry on its axis. Mareike Jenner’s analysis of Netflix’s role in reinventing television explores how binge-watching and the platform’s unique structure have reshaped viewer experience for serialised programmes (2018). 

An example of this is Riot Games’ “Arcane: League of Legends” (2021–2024). Unlike many of the series that Netflix distributes, the majority of the entire season was released in one day, and the remaining few episodes were released later on in the same month. The series was adapted from Riot Games’ multiplayer game League of Legends. Netflix pioneered the “season dump”, which meant that viewers could watch an entire season of content immediately, in contrast to the weekly or daily scheduled programmes that traditional television used. While the shift from linear television strategies may cause lower economic value (Lotz, 2017), Netflix, as a platform, is only available for subscription customers, making up for the loss.

Arcane (2021) Official Opening; Imagine Dragons – Enemy

Arcane contains post-cinematic aesthetics, with dynamic action sequences and animated camera movements that resemble gameplay to attract viewers, and the series did exceptionally well, leading to a surge of players of the original game. The original soundtrack, produced and performed by well-renowned artists like Imagine Dragons, Ashnikko, and Stray Kids, captivates the audience with its popular songs. Outside of aesthetics, the narrative explores political clashes and intrigue, familial conflict, and moral ambiguity in a nonlinear story that mirrors its gaming origin, which is Netflix’s strategy of tapping into popular culture fandoms to create globally demanded content.

Ekko vs. Jinx (Season 1, 2021)

Jenner also discusses how Netflix’s binge-watching model recharacterizes audience engagement with serialised narratives. Arcane illustrates this by structuring its episodes into thematic arcs, encouraging viewers to consume multiple episodes immediately; Season 1 and Season 2 have three arcs, each telling a coherent story. The last arc, released later, encourages viewer interaction in popular fandom culture, including prosumerism and theories, which ultimately increase audience engagement, thus increasing popularity and viewers.

References:

Jenner, M 2018, Netflix and the Re-Invention of Television, Springer International Publishing AG, Cham. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [10 November 2024].

Lotz, A.D. (2017). Portals: A Treatise on Internet-Distributed Television. doi:https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.9699689.

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