Product Profile: Netflix
INDUSTRY
entertainment
Category
video streaming services
product Profiled
Netflix video streaming service
H-Score
18
ranked 20th of 20 within the entertainment industry
ranked 76th of 76 overall
product description
Netflix’s video streaming service allows subscribers to watch video content on screens of all sizes (including televisions, computers, tablets and smartphones) on a 24/7 basis. Usage of the service is unlimited and charged at a flat rate. Netflix offers a lower cost plan with advertisements and multiple plans without ads
As of the 3rd quarter of 2021, Netflix has approximately 74 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada.(1) It has approximately 4,000 movies and nearly 2,500 television shows available to stream.(2)
product use
Most people use the product by sitting, for sustained periods of time, and watching content on a screen. Most users watch the service indoors most of the time and use the service sometimes alone and sometimes with friends or family. While using the service, the service consumes most, if not all, of the user’s attention. Netflix is one of several competing video streaming services and most users who watch programming on Netflix also spend time watching other services as well. Netflix has stated, as of 2019, that its users watch an average of two hours of its content per day.(3)
who’s affected
The age distribution of streaming users in general have been estimated to break down as follows: 19% ages 2-17; 23% ages 18-34; 30% ages 35-54; and 9% ages 55 and over. In terms of race and ethnicity, streamers are estimated to be 60% White; 17% Black; 17% Hispanic; and 2% Asian.(4)
influence on health-related behaviors
EATING
slight to moderate negative influence
Television viewers frequently eat while watching TV and the foods they eat tend to be less healthy than foods consumed at meal times. Watching TV multiple hours a day has been linked to unhealthy dietary behaviors, and increased outcomes of diet-related diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.(5,6)
People tend to eat more mindlessly while watching TV because they’re distracted: food is less satisfying, and you miss cues that you’ve eaten enough.(7)
In Building H’s consumer research 64% of video streaming users (not specific to Netflix) reported eating at least one meal per week and 59% of users reported snacking sometimes, usually or always, while watching streamed content. 37% of users who streamed more than 4 hours per day reported eating more than one meal per day and 49% of those users reported snacking usually or always, while watching.(8)
Some association between diet and television watching has been attributed to the presence of advertisements for unhealthy foods.(9,10) Netflix does offer a version of its service with advertisements, but we do not have information on the content of those advertisements to determine if unhealthy foods are being featured.
- Establish standards for screening out ads that promote unhealthy food, particularly unhealthy food targeted at children.
PHYSICAL ACTVITY
moderate to strong negative influence
Television watching is typically a sedentary activity, thus time spent watching television limits opportunities for physical activity. In addition, television viewing is an especially sedentary behavior, having a lower metabolic rate than other sedentary activities.(11) While a moderate amount of television watching would leave time for more active pursuits, Americans on average spend approximately five hours per day watching TV.(12)
Netflix’s implementation of streaming video uses features that encourage greater use of the service; the flat subscription rate sets no maximum limit on viewing; and, when enabled, the autoplay feature automatically plays next episodes, typically within 5-10 seconds,(13) thus encouraging binge-watching. Autoplay is enabled by default for both adults and children, but can be disabled in settings. It’s not clear how many users are aware of this option or how many exercise it.
Netflix further encourages binge-watching, for subscribers of its ad-supported plan by offering an ad-free episode if users watch three episodes in a row.(14)
- Shift away from encouraging binge-watching:
- eliminate the autoplaying of next episodes or at least eliminate autoplay for children’s programming
- make autoplay opt-in rather than opt-out
Sleeping
moderate negative influence
Late-night television viewing negatively affects sleep in two ways: 1) by offering a competitive alternative to sleep; and 2) through the bright, blue spectrum light of the screens that has been shown to suppress the production of melatonin, a hormone that signals the onset of the sleep cycle.(15)
Building H’s consumer research found that 55% of video streaming users (not specific to Netflix) reported that watching TV or movies caused them to lose some sleep at least once a week on average, with 37% reporting that they got less sleep for this reason two or more times a week. Fifteen (15) percent reported their sleep being affected four or more nights a week.(16)
Netflix encourages binge-watching (which can compete with sleep) through the use of autoplay.
It does not adapt any of its features to treat “bedtime” differently than any hour of the day.
Netflix might also influence sleep indirectly through its influences on physical activity and time spent outdoors, as both of those behaviors are positively correlated with better sleep.
- Enable users to set a bedtime mode, as with iOS and Android, such that they can specify the hours when they hope to go to sleep and then respect those hours by making the user choose affirmatively to watch new episodes after the set bedtime.
- Adapt recommendation algorithms to promote less intense programming in the hour prior to the user’s set bedtime.
Engaging Socially
slight negative influence
Television watching can be either a solo or a social activity. Building H’s consumer research found that 36% of streaming users (not specific to Netflix) reported watching with others at least 75% of the time, 27% reported sometimes watching with others and 37% reported watching with others less than 25% of the time.(17) These results are consistent with other research that found Americans split their time evenly between watching alone or watching with others.(18)
Watching television alone clearly competes with social activity, but watching with significant others, family and friends may enhance opportunities for engagement.
Third-party developers offer browser extensions that facilitate joint watching of shows while people are separated by distance. Such extensions create opportunities for more social viewing of Netflix content, though Netflix does not offer this functionality directly.
On the negative side, Netflix has acknowledged, on its Investors site, that it seeks to capture time currently spent socializing.(19)
- Promote and/or make more prominent opportunities for social viewing by promoting Teleparty or other third-party services. (Or develop a native social viewing feature.)
Getting Outdoors
moderate to strong negative influence
As most viewing takes place indoors, time watching television competes with time spent outdoors.
- Shift away from encouraging binge-watching.
Notes
Julia Stoll. Quarterly Netflix paid streaming subscribers in the U.S. and Canada 2013-2023. Statista website. April 20, 2023
JustWatch. What can I watch on Netflix? JustWatch website, accessed November 8, 2023.
Elsa Keslassy. Netflix’s Cindy Holland Says Subscribers Watch an Average of Two Hours a Day. Variety. March 11, 2019.
Sean Nyberg. Report: Age and Racial Demographics Of Disney+ and Hulu Users Compared To All Streamers. The DisInsider, August 22, 2021.
Georgina Cairns et al. Systematic reviews of the evidence on the nature, extent and effects of food marketing to children. A retrospective summary. Appetite. Volume 62, (March 2013), pp. 209-215.
Ahmad Alghadir et al. Television Watching, Diet and Body Mass Index of School Children in Saudi Arabia. Pediatrics International. Volume 58, Issue 4 (April 2016), pp. 290-294.
Janna Smith and Tanya Ditschun. Controlling satiety: how environmental factors influence food intake. Trends in Food Science & Psychology. Volume 20, Issues 6–7 (July 2009) pp. 271-277.
Steve Downs. A Survey of Modern Life: Food; Delivery Apps, Meal Kits, Groceries and Cooking Dinner. Building H on Medium. January 20, 2022.
J.L. Harris et al. Priming effects of television food advertising on eating behavior. Health Psychology. Volume 28, Issue 4 (2009), pp. 404–413.
Cairns et al. (2013)
Barbara Ainsworth et al. Compendium of Physical Activities: Classification of Energy Costs of Human Physical Activities. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Volume 25, Issue 1 (January 1993), pp. 71-80.
The Nielsen Company. Connectivity is driving how Americans are engaging with TV. Nielsen website, access June 22, 2023.
Building H user testing, November 2023.
Emma Roth. Netflix’s ad-supported plan will reward binge watchers with ad-free episodes. The Verge. November 1, 2023.
Matthew Walker. Why We Sleep. Scribner (2018), pp. 267-270.
Steve Downs. A Survey of Modern Life: Sleep; New Data on American Sleeping Patterns. Building H on Medium. May 25, 2021.
Carlo Martinez. A Survey of Modern Life: Entertainment. Building H on Medium. May 4, 2021.
When You Watch, Are You Alone? Radio & Television Business Report January 15, 2019.
See Top Investor Questions, response to “Who do you see as your main competitors?” Netflix Investors website, accessed December 9, 2023.